Each year on Halloween, residents of Centreville’s Sequoia Farms community look forward to visiting Linda and Bob Pletcher’s home. And if something scares them on the way to the front door, so much the better.

"They’ve been doing it for 20 years and really go out of their way," said friend Lynne Merritt. "They serve ‘eyeball punch’ in the garage and have hands coming out of the lawn. Easily, 1,000 kids come by every year."

This Halloween, though, will be the last time they’ll do it. "We’re planning to move to Delaware in a couple years and my husband is close to retirement," said Linda Pletcher. "So we’re getting things ready to sell our house."

But not before they decorate their home’s exterior for Halloween one more time, get the candy ready to pass out and prepare a multitude of tricks to spook and surprise all their visitors.

"We started when our sons, Jason and Tom, were 8 or 9," said Pletcher. "They really liked Halloween and were very creative, and it got to be a family affair. They bought lots and lots of props and did lots of arts and crafts. For example, they painted gauze yellow and green and strung it under the porch, along the front of the house and the garage. It’s all black-light lit, so it’s a really eerie effect and looks cool. When the kids come up for candy, their clothes glow, and they think it’s the neatest thing."

For many years, one of the highlights was the Pletchers’ "eyeball punch." They stopped serving it, after awhile, but so many people kept asking for it that they’re resurrecting it, this Halloween, to the delight of their neighbors.

"We pour lemon-lime soda into a punch bowl and float plastic eyeballs in it," said Linda Pletcher. "We light the bowl from beneath with dry ice, so people see this eerie green, glowing punch. Then we drop in dry ice that bubbles and boils and causes steam and fog to roll over the edge, making it look really creepy."

Coffins, skeletons, mummies and spiders will be all over the front yard, as well as a graveyard with hands wiggling out of the ground. "It looks realistic when it’s dark," said Pletcher. "The kids all want to touch the hands. We also have fog machines and a guy sitting in an ‘electric chair’ being electrocuted. So there’s a lot of things to see."

The coffins both contain skeletons, and the Wicked Witch of the North sits on her broomstick atop the roof. Said Pletcher: "We also have ghosts and goblins and all kinds of ghouly things."

Now empty-nesters, she said the hardest part for her and Bob is getting all the props and decorations out of their boxes and then spending two days setting up everything. "But we really enjoy seeing everybody enjoy it after we get done. We see all our neighbors at least once a year, that way. And we love watching the kids — they have so much fun."

And when this Halloween’s hoopla is done, the Pletchers and their visitors will have a lifetime of happy memories from this annual event.

"We would like to let all our friends and neighbors know that we have thoroughly enjoyed seeing them at our Haunted House, these past 20 years," said Bob and Linda Pletcher in a prepared statement. "We started decorating for Halloween when Jason and Tom were in grade school and, over the years, our Haunted House grew and grew. Thanks to all of you for your support over the years. We hope to see you one more time, this year."