You wouldn’t know from driving one block down Blackburn Avenue that it is a top destination for St. Matthews trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Passing homes with no decorations other than falling yellowed leaves and a few carved pumpkins on their porches, it seems to be a fairly normal street this time of year. Pass the stop sign and continue driving a half a block and you then realize this is no ordinary street around Halloween, or any holiday for that matter.

Bill and Linda

Ottman

, dwellers of 219 Blackburn Avenue, started decorating for Halloween over 30 years ago. Rivals to the popular street, Hillcrest Avenue, which is just three streets over, they get approximately 300 trick-or-treaters each year in awe of their elaborate display on Halloween night.

Buses full of trick-or-treating church groups and schools drop off on Blackburn Avenue to see the

Ottmans

, who are known to give full-sized candy bars and sometimes a can of Coca Cola.

One neighbor said, “The first year I lived there I had no idea and we ran out of candy in about 20 minutes. We had to turn off the lights, lock the doors, and act like we weren’t there for the remainder of the night. We watched it all from our upstairs window in the dark”.

Bill

Ottman

happened to be outside turning the lights on for his evening trail of visitors when I passed by to take some pictures. The friendly man welcomed me in and showed me around his front yard, which had everything from tombstones, a spinning carousel of skeletons, vampire coffins, a guillotine, and a tree full of ghosts.

Ottman started decorating almost ten years before Hillcrest Avenue did and used to get even more visitors before then. Despite Hillcrest’s busy street full of decorated houses,

Ottman

is proud of his Halloween masterpiece and still receives hundreds of visitors each year to see the one and only decorated house on Blackburn Avenue.

Ottman decorates for almost every calendar holiday, especially Christmas, with decorations extending from his front yard, inside his house, and to the back yard.

“The day after Halloween I start taking decorations down and start setting up for Christmas, which takes about five weeks,” said Ottman, who plans to have his Christmas decorations completed by December 1st.

Be sure to stop by the Ottman’s home at 219 Blackburn Avenue on or before Halloween to check out his amazing display of spookiness.  

Photos courtesy of Krista Walker