What started as a type of marketing ploy seven years ago — with a cemetery and a cauldron of bubbling liquid — has grown into a fright-filled walk across a rambling five-acre property that raises thousands of dollars for charity.
When their neighborhood started growing around them, Paul and Lisa Johnson found there weren’t many trick-or-treaters willing to make the long walk up their dark driveway on Cragwood Way off Lake Potomac Drive.
To entice the neighborhood children to come to their house, the Johnson’s put in a cemetery and cauldron.
“Lo and behold, people started coming,” Paul Johnson said.
THE MODEST BEGINNING has expanded and now includes carved pumpkins, spooky light shows, smoke machines and maniacal surgeons.
“It grows every year,” said Nicole Johnson, 15.
The tour starts with the long walk up the driveway to the side of the house. Visitors pass by a table where the Johnson have some refreshments and accept donations for charity. This year the money will be given over to benefit breast cancer research.
None of the money is kept to defray costs, everything is given to that year’s chosen cause, Paul Johnson said.
In the past, the Johnsons have raised money for autism research and to support the family of a soldier who was killed on 9-11.
The family does not require donations, said Paul Johnson.
Even accepting donations on a voluntary basis, the Johnsons raised $2,600 last year.
AFTER PASSING the house, visitors wind through a wooded area, where many helpers wait to pop out of hidden spots and scare passers-by.
Initially, the walk had been much more tame. “At the beginning, it was, 'Don’t scare anybody,'” Paul Johnson said. But he found that the people enjoyed it.
The trail offers a spot where small children can stop before the fright and gore are ratcheted up to a level that may be too intense.
“What Paul does is make sure everyone has a safe Halloween,” said Mike Boyland, a neighbor who helps with the fright fest.
“The key is it’s safe,” Boyland said, just before loading a mock electric chair onto his truck and transporting it to its assigned place in the yard.
After the break for the little ones, guillotines, pirates, vampires, snakes and spiders — all played or operated by Johnson and his neighbors — wait to frighten the unwary.
“I’ve found that doctors make some of the best goblins and spooks,” Paul Johnson said.