Falls Church has an even bigger house for Halloween, with about 100 mostly handmade sculptures.
The Haunted Acre, located at 510 Broad Street just northwest of Seven Corners, features unique pumpkins, candy corn ghouls, clowns and more created by resident Jack Lanouette. There are also haunted houses and UFOs featuring aliens. The display is enhanced by other decorative items he has purchased over the years.
Jack makes sculptures from foam rubber he buys at a fabric store. He covers them with a plastic coating of acrylic latex and adds finishing touches with spray paint and airbrush. Some, like large wolves, are covered in faux fur.
Jack started making foam sculptures as a child. He was inspired by an article he read in a children’s magazine about Geppetto Studio, a manufacturer of props and dolls. After graduating from university, I got a job at Geppetto.
He started making Halloween sculptures on Broad Street in 2003, and the exhibit has grown over the years.
For Jack, it’s all about nostalgia and remembering the good times he had visiting haunted houses with his friends. “It brings back the fun I had when I was a kid.”
For the past 10 years, Jack, now a personal trainer at Providence Rec Center, has been setting up even bigger displays at Christmas, with more lights and more unique characters.
They have not decided whether they will have a Christmas display this year, and are considering alternating between Halloween and Christmas.
Jack says it will take five weeks for the Christmas display to come together. Halloween takes two weeks.
“It’s too much,” he says. Storage space at home is also becoming scarce.
