Chesterfield Couple's Love of Halloween Haunts Neighborhood

Chesterfield Township residents Julie and Chris Singer don't exchange chocolates and flowers for their wedding anniversary.

They'd rather receive a bloody zombie or cobweb-covered casket.

And, their yard on Julies Street near 23 Mile proves it every October as scores of eerily clever creatures rise from the ground to haunt and delight trick-or-treaters and Halloween fans alike.

"I like Halloween so much because it's a time when everyone gets to have fun, regardless of how young or old they are," said Julie Singer, 45, a vice president and regional services supervisor at J. Walter Thompson-Team Detroit.

While she hosts their annual party inside their home on Halloween night, her husband is outdoors scaring the daylights out of neighborhood passersby. This year, he's converting their garage into a mad scientist's lab.

The General Motors designer spends about two weeks setting up the zombie graveyard, with so many pieces he can't keep track. He plans for his spook-tacular masterpiece to be complete this weekend.

When finished, a fog machine casts a white smoke over the front lawn, revealing dozens of figures, coffins, caskets and tombstones. Some of the menacing dummies shift while other movement comes from real people clad in costumes, waiting to pop out at just the right time. The latter effect is courtesy of the Singers' friends who love the autumn holiday almost as much as they do.

And, for Chris Singer, 48, it's all worth it to see the faces of unsuspecting children, teens and adults.

"We get returning customers, if you will," he said. "Some of them will come by a couple times."

The couple's mutual love of Halloween even took prominence at their wedding 13 years ago. They held it one week before the holiday, out of respect for guests with children who wanted to trick-or-treat, and some attendees even came in costumes. But, the bride and groom wore traditional attire.

"We toyed with the idea of me being the bride, but that didn't go over well," he said with laughter.

After getting married they eventually took their decorations from their Harper Woods home to Chesterfield, where they've had their display up for the past 10 years.

And, one wedding memento sits on their front yard every Halloween in front of bride and groom corpses. The faux tombstone engraved with "RIP, Oct. 24, 1998" was actually the envelop drop box at their reception.