Birmingham semi becomes Halloween horror house – and 3,000 people queue to get scared
A couple in Yardley turned their home into a full-blown haunted attraction, complete with dolls in the downstairs loo. They've raised thousands for charity.
Most of us manage a pumpkin on the doorstep and a bowl of sweets we eat ourselves by 7pm. Darren Mackenzie and Karen Pearce, of Hob Moor Road in Yardley, have taken a slightly different approach.
Their semi-detached house in Birmingham has been completely taken over by monsters, skeletons and pumpkins, spilling across the driveway, the garage and the garden. The tour even takes in the downstairs toilet and utility room, which are full of dolls – surely the most frightening use of a downstairs loo since someone first invented the avocado bathroom suite.
It has proved rather popular. “It’s just crazy,” Karen told the BBC. “We’ve had over three thousand through the doors and about five hundred in the queue now.”
The whole thing started last October when Darren decorated the outside of the house. This year, family friends are volunteering as actors to jump out at people.
Entry is free, with an optional donation to the mental health charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). The couple have raised more than £3,000 and are hoping to hit £5,000.
“Everybody struggles a bit with their mental health,” said Darren. “We just wanted everybody to come out, enjoy themselves, put a bit of money in the tin if they can.”
The neighbours, we’re told, have been “fantastic”. Brave of them.
