Halloween wonderland filled with spirits
Halloween seems to arrive a bit early for one household along Brush Creek Road in Killen. Before the leaves even begin to change, skeletons are seen waving at passersby, pumpkins glow from the front lawn, and one life-size ghoul reappears each year in a new costume.
For Keith and Paige Gray, the holiday is a season- long celebration that begins each September and transforms their home into a whimsical showcase of their shared joy — all things spooky and fun.
“We both love it, but I think Paige’s passion might run just a tad bit deeper than mine,” Keith said with a laugh.
Keith lived alone in the house he grew up in for several years until he and Paige married in September 2019. Before that time, he admits he collected antiques and figurines that lean a little into the eccentric, crafted models and dioramas of some of his favorite film monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein, but he never really decorated for his favorite holiday.
When Paige moved in, that all changed.
“I grew up with comic books and ‘Famous Monster’ magazines. Before we got married, I had a bookcase that took up this whole wall,” Keith said, gesturing to the couple’s living room. “It was covered in true crime and murder mystery novels, oddities and things I’ve collected over the years. I’ve just always had a fascination for it. We got together, and it just kind of ballooned, honestly.”
Paige agrees, her husband’s enthusiasm blossomed her own interest in many of those very same things.
“I love that I have help with the decorating now,” she said with a laugh. “Seeing how he enjoys it, too, just makes me enjoy it that much more. I can get excited about something, and then he does. It’s the other way around, too. I love seeing him get excited about things, and then we just jump into it together.”
Paige’s love for all things spooky and slightly macabre is rooted in her childhood as well, but rather than fiction, her inspiration comes from reality — memories she cherishes of her father, Herbert Tucker, who passed away when she was eight years old.
Most of those memories, she said, are of him playing pranks around the household. Aside from those antics though, Paige also vividly remembers the nights in October, when like most families, she and her father reveled in costumes and candy.
“Of course, he took me trick-or-treating, and that is a very fun memory I have of him. I don’t have a whole lot of those, but that’s a memory I do have that really stands out to me,” she said. “I think that makes me love this time of year even more.”
With renewed encouragement from her husband, Paige leaned further into her knack for taking store-bought decorations and creating something all her own.
The first year the Grays transformed their front lawn into a haunted wonderland, they nodded to a favorite Halloween classic, “Sleepy Hollow,” rolled up their sleeves, and got out the hammer and nails.
“Oh man, we went all out that year,” Keith said with a big grin.
Together, they constructed their own drawbridge using a stack of old wooden pallets, and the scene they created wouldn’t be complete without their own custom-built Headless Horseman.
Combining their talents for crafting and model building, the Grays have turned decorating into an artform. Some of the figures seen on their lawn and throughout their house are handmade. Others that were purchased are personalized with a little paint and a hot glue gun.
“We’ll be out shopping somewhere, looking at decorations, you know, and we’ll get an idea,” Keith said. “It’s like a little light bulb goes off. I can look at her and see she’s already thinking up something, too.”
That creativity extends beyond Halloween. The Grays’ home — inside and out — tells the story of two lifelong crafters and collectors who found one another.
Guests at the Grays would be hard pressed to find a spare corner or blank wall space that doesn’t exhibit Keith’s or Paige’s handiwork, which includes a vast collection of clocks, collectible tins and pottery, hand carvings and paintings, and custommade wreaths and centerpieces.
“It’s eclectic,” Keith said with a laugh.
“Some people might not think all this stuff goes together, but we love it,” Paige chimed in. “It’s our home, so why not make it ours?”
All those hand-painted and handcrafted items were the work of experimentation, she added. Neither Paige nor her husband have ever taken an art class or workshop.
“You just figure it out,” she said. “I have sat in my craft room for hours. I may spend all this time on one thing and then think, ‘No, I really don’t like that.’ I’ll wash it all away and start over.”
It may sound tedious, but Paige and Keith said they find peace and joy in their hobbies.
When asked whether the couple has considered selling their work in craft shows, Keith answers with an emphatic, “No.”
“We do it because we like it,” he said. “We have talked about it, and people have been interested, especially in the things she makes. I’m just afraid as soon as we start doing that, it’s not going to be fun anymore.”
The Grays may not sell their work at pop-up markets and fairs, but they still enjoy sharing their imaginative creations with their neighbors, especially as Halloween season approaches.
“We keep some of this stuff out all the time,” Keith admitted. “I’ve told her, why don’t we just leave it up? It’s just us here, and we both like it. Why not?”
Indeed, a closer look reveals subtle nods to their favorite holiday tucked throughout the house with small skeletons and other gothic accents mixed with everyday décor.
That sense of playfulness is contagious. In the years since the Grays’ first over-the-top Halloween made its debut, Paige said a few of their neighbors regularly join in the spirit of the season.
“When I moved in, I didn’t notice anyone else decorating, but after that Sleepy Hollow scene my first year here, I’ve noticed others who put up decorations. The people behind us do, and there are a few houses over here,” she said, gesturing around the block from their home. “There are several who’ve started decorating.”
