Extreme Halloween: Some residents go all out for holiday

What makes a true die-hard Halloween fan?

Driving a hearse is a good start.

That's what Jarret Bollinger tools around in this time of year. By day, Bollinger's a mild-mannered K-12 art teacher in Bell City, Missouri. But as Halloween approaches, he puts his artistic skills to other use, making props and oddities to decorate his house.

"I'm not some weird, Halloween-obsessed person, you know, whose house is always decorated," he said, but concedes "I'm an art teacher, so I'm always sculpting or creating. It's almost like I'm in a constant state of [building props]. So on Halloween, my house is usually decorated from top to bottom."

From scratch-made cheesecloth mummies to pickled Fiji mermaids, Bollinger says it's all part of Halloween's grotesque, theatrical fun.

"Some people get creeped out by the whole thing, but I think that everyone's kind of curious about scary things," he said.

Kevin Schearf, Jackson antique-store owner and fellow October hearse driver, says going all-out decorating the house is something he and his wife, Debbie, happen to get into.

More specifically: "My wife tells me what she wants, and I build it," he jokes.

But the Schearfs' home in downtown Jackson sees thousands of visitors each year. Schearf says it's become somewhat of a local landmark.

"People will sometimes start asking me in July what we're going to do this year for Halloween," he said. "But, I mean, we don't have any kids. We just do it for the fun of it."

He said they also get serious about decorating for Christmas and have won several competitions around town. But he says Halloween is more fun.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com Kevin SchearfÂ’s front yard is loaded with pirates for Halloween, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, in Jackson.

This year, it's a haunted nautical theme, with a pirate ship facade Schearf crafted from leftover fenceposts and a ghoul-piloted dinghy in the yard. Schearf explains at night, other decorations are visible.

"There are some other pirate silhouettes up in the windows that move around," he says. "They're all just sort Jerry-rigged together; oscillating fans and mannequins, stuff like that."

He says people sometimes ask him who he paid to fix up his yard, which makes him smile. But the point is for people to have a good time.

"I like to see people slow down on the road to look at it or what-have-you. The more the merrier," he said. "Next year I plan on being even bigger and better."

tgraef@semissourian.com