What started with a few lights, ghosts and pumpkins has grown into a massive home Halloween display featuring more than 250 animatronics, props, trinkets and toys in Silver Spring/Kensington.
The Catalina Haunt, located at 11423 Catalina Terrace in the Silver Spring/Kensington area, is the creation of homeowner Holly, who has turned her yard into a Halloween attraction that draws families from across Montgomery County and well beyond the area each October.
Holly said she has always loved Halloween, from trick-or-treating and haunted houses to Halloween parties. When her sons were young, the family would decorate a tree in the front yard with lights, ghosts and pumpkins. As they got older, the display expanded to include homemade scarecrows made using her father-in-law’s old clothes.
Things really took off in 2014, when a friend brought Holly to a Spirit Halloween in Annapolis where merchandise was 50% off. She purchased her first two large animatronics, an Evil Scientist and The Demon, both of which remain part of her collection today.
From there, the display grew every year. Holly would shop post-Halloween sales at Spirit Halloween, Party City, Halloween City, Home Depot, Lowe’s and Big Lots, often finding decorations discounted between 50% and 90%.
The display didn’t get its name until several years later. Holly recalled a young boy who had been visiting with his family since he was a baby telling her that the house needed a “spooky name.” After the neighborhood kids tossed around ideas, someone suggested “The Catalina Yard” because the home is on Catalina Terrace. The group eventually settled on The Catalina Haunt.
Today, putting the haunt together is a months-long undertaking. Holly begins bringing out boxes in mid-to-late August and starts construction over Labor Day weekend. Setup takes nearly the entire month of September before the display opens during the first weekend of October.
Holly estimates the collection now includes more than 250 animatronics, props, trinkets and toys. The display uses three large contractor extension cords, approximately 80 smaller extension cords ranging from six to 12 feet and roughly 40 lights.
She also purchases eight to 10 bushels of cornstalks each year, removes the corn and individually plants approximately 80 to 90 stalks throughout the yard to create a homemade cornfield. Broken animatronics and Dollar Store items are repurposed for DIY projects when time allows.
Holly said one of the biggest attractions is a window projection featuring a looped video she created using AtmosFX clips she has collected over approximately 15 years. Some children sit in the driveway and watch the projection repeatedly “like a movie.”
The Catalina Haunt typically attracts 25 to 30 families per night during the week and approximately 100 to 200 on weekend nights. On Halloween, Holly prepares roughly 450 to 500 individual trick-or-treat bags and said she often has to ask her husband to make additional bags once the initial supply runs low.
Visitors range from young children to seniors, with Holly recalling guests as young as 1 and as old as 91. Some families travel from West Virginia, Hagerstown, Southern Maryland and even Roanoke, Virginia, to visit each year.
For Holly, however, the most meaningful part is hearing from families who have made the display part of their Halloween tradition. Some parents who originally brought their children as babies are now returning with those same kids at 10 or 12 years old. Others have told her that a trip to The Catalina Haunt has become motivation for children to finish homework, take a bath or eat dinner.
“It makes me feel so good knowing that all of the dedication and hard work brings so much joy to the community no matter the age,” Holly said. There’s also one person she wishes could see what the display has become. Holly’s father-in-law would stop by on his way home from work while she was building the display and repeatedly encouraged her to contact local news stations because he believed it deserved attention. He passed away before he could see how large and popular The Catalina Haunt eventually became.
After Halloween, Holly gives herself one day off. She puts on sweats, grabs a blanket and spends the day watching movies before beginning the lengthy process of taking everything down, cleaning it and putting it away. That includes removing approximately 200 batteries and scrubbing roughly 400 metal garden stakes before everything goes into the “Halloween Shed” her husband had built for her in 2019.
The Catalina Haunt is located at 11423 Catalina Terrace in Silver Spring. Visitors are welcome to walk up the driveway and onto the porch but are asked not to enter any grassy areas because of the large number of extension cords and lights throughout the yard.
The display is open Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 6:45-8pm and Fridays and Saturdays from 6:45-8:30pm. The display is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Halloween night is the final night of the season, with the lights typically remaining on until approximately 9pm. The Catalina Haunt can also be found on Instagram at @thecatalinahaunt.
