the creepiest house on Cape Cod

An eye moves back and forth in the window of Chris Baker’s house in South Yarmouth, MA.

WARNING: SOME OF THE IMAGES BELOW ARE GRAPHIC AND POTENTIALLY FRIGHTENING (ALTHOUGH ALL IN THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEEN). USE DISCRETION WHEN VIEWING AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Ask anyone in South Yarmouth, MA and in all likelihood they will know exactly where Chris Baker’s house is. During the days leading up to Halloween, he has so many people drive by (43 Captain Daniel Rd, South Yarmouth) to look at his house that his kids have a special name for them–“peepers”. While many people decorate their yards for Halloween, Cape Cod DJ and mobile device technician, Chris Baker, has taken Halloween decorating to a whole new level. Not only is his yard full of skeletal creatures, humans drowning in tar pits, gravestones, bloody decapitated heads, evil pumpkin creatures and frightening scarecrows, but a red-eyed reaper beckons one to enter a spinning vortex of green fog. Once through the ominous entrance, a pneumatically-animated skeleton jumps violently towards one, activated by a secret trip switch under the floor boards; a decapitated head hangs above a man in Hazmat suit; a bat bares its teeth over an electric box whose wires it has clearly eaten through; a spider victim hangs upside down, immobilized by a thick cobweb and an acid-eaten corpse offers up its horrifying visage. Chris himself can be seen creeping around–half creature, half plant–and just as one thinks one can escape, a wooden panel falls away to reveal a frightening doll-like woman who hands out candy.

Chis fell in love with Halloween as a child and when he outgrew the “trick or treating” phase, he graduated to making his own Halloween getups. Over the years, he has learned new crafting techniques online and through others who share his creative passion. When he moved to the Cape ten years ago with his three children, he set up the beginnings of what has become “The Village Mire” and every year, his props have become more complex and sophisticated. On a good Halloween night, he’ll get over 350 people coming through. “Kids tell me they love that my house gets scarier and scarier every year,” he says. For the past couple of years, Chris hired me to photograph his Halloween setup for a multi media piece he puts together. Even though I knew what to anticipate, I still found myself jumping and shrieking as I photographed what I know is the creepiest house on Cape Cod. Below are some of my images. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

Fog rises up over Chris Baker's yard, shrouding the creatures in a cloak of mystery.

A creepy scarecrow, with an owl perched on it, looms over the graveyard.

A red-eyed reaper beckons you to enter through the spinning vortex of green fog

After entering the vortex, a pneumatically-operated skeleton suddenly leaps towards one after a secret switch is tripped in the floorboards.

Chris Baker, the master behind the madness at The Village Mire, lurks behind “Sam”–the “spirit of Halloween” character from the cult classic “Trick ‘r Treat”.

A decapitated head hangs from above while a man in Hazmat gear is visible in the background.

After a wooden panel suddenly drops from the wall, a woman with a doll-like face (played by volunteer, Kiki Goguen) is revealed and she hands out pieces of candy.