5 Incredible Halloween Displays by Rhode Islanders
Residents in Warwick and East Greenwich turn on the fear factor with homemade Halloween attractions in their front yards.
Joe and Christy Del Regno, 5 Kenson Drive, East Greenwich
Photography by Wolf Matthewson.
Joe “Captain” Del Regno has been creating the Walkway of Terror on the front lawn of his home in East Greenwich for the last fifteen years. It’s known for its creepy path lined with more than fourteen large animatronic monsters, mummies and zombies that suddenly move and startle you as you approach the scene. Clouds of fog surround bystanders, powered by eight industrial-strength fog machines, all illuminated by lights.
Photography by Wolf Matthewson.
“The fog is a huge part of the magic, because you combine that with the fire effects and the spectral laser, and it really creates the whole atmosphere,” Del Regno says.
The whole display takes about seventy to eighty hours to set up, more if wind and rain require dismantling and then reinstalling. Then it takes about thirty hours to take it all down. Del Regno rents a storage unit just to house all his Halloween stuff.
Photography by Wolf Matthewson.
It’s a lot of work and stress to power all the effects. He had to have not one, but two new electrical boxes installed at his home to keep everything running smoothly. There were years when he kept blowing fuses and would spend the entire night resetting the circuit breakers. Nevermind the electric bill. “I don’t even want to look,” he says with a laugh.
Photography by Wolf Matthewson.
But all the hard work and hours spent are worth it when he sees people’s reactions. “It’s become something I am very passionate about because it gives people a lot of joy,” Del Regno says. “I have seen that firsthand. One year, during the recession in 2008, I had a family tell me, ‘We can’t afford to go to Disney World; would it be okay if you give my kid a private tour sometime?’ I said, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s why I do the display.’ ”
Photography by Wolf Matthewson.
He has guests who have been coming to see the Walkway of Terror since they were kids, now viewing it as adults. “They’ve told me they still have nightmares about the spiders jumping out at them.”
