The front porch attraction is also synched to a radio station that plays Halloween classics set up by Gardner using a low-level transmitter. At the start of the Oct. 3 show, the song “Spooky Scary Skeletons” played faintly on the front porch, while lights played an image of a skeleton dancing alongside the music.
The house is also complete with its own website, https://oxfordlights.remotefalcon.com/remoteFalcon.
“Oh, it’s not a whole lot right now,” Gardner said. “Eventually I’m planning on trying to get about 1,000 to 1,500 more lights per year.”
The show is set to run seven days a week through the month of October, starting at 7:30 p.m. nightly through Oct.13 and at 6:30 p.m. from Oct. 14 - 31.
Growing up, Gardner said he enjoyed Christmas and seeing houses lit up for the holidays, but after his wife and grandkids felt they could go all out in decorating for Halloween too, Gardner knew it was only a matter of going out and doing it.
“I guess I was more on the Christmas side, my wife was on the Halloween side, so it’s kind of grown on me, so I started doing these lights,” Gardner said. “...But it was mainly started for the grandkids, and I decided to start doing it for the kids up here in Oxford.”
Gardner started his Halloween light show last year and said that many people have stopped to take a look at the show.
“Quite a few people stopped out last year and a lot of people are looking forward to it this year,” Gardner said.
While the lights are bright and outspoken, Gardner said his neighbors don’t mind, and have actually joined him in turning their block into a Halloween spectacle.
“My one neighbor, she never used to put anything out, now she’s started to decorate now, it’s like we started a trend,” Gardner said.
Gardner said that the wiring, sequencing, timing, transmitting, and finally the hanging of the lights take a good couple of weeks, but in the end, it’s always worth the effort to see kids staring and pointing in amusement.
“That’s who I do it for, it kind of keeps me sane,” Gardner said. “It’s kind of like my hobby now, I enjoy seeing the kids smile at the show.”
Gardner said that while still in October, he also has a card up his sleeve for Christmas, too.
“I’ll be doing a Christmas and Halloween show every year,” Gardner said.
About the Author