Driving along Shari Way in Sparks, it’s immediately obvious why the street is called Scary Way as it gets closer to Halloween. It started with the Beetlejuice house at 3192 Shari Way and now Halloween is a full-on neighborhood event. On Halloween night, thousands of people flock to Shari Way for a one-of-a-kind trick-or-treating experience, usually having to park several streets down and walking to the heart of the action.
Doug and Julie Muhle own the Beetlejuice house, and already had hundreds of decorations up weeks before Halloween. On a late Friday afternoon, Julie was out front painting a monster from the movie and Doug was hanging up decorations wearing his Beetlejuice shirt. “Thriller” is playing from a speaker in the garage. A giant tarantula, 15-ft.-tall skeleton, and a graveyard of monsters dot the front of the yard. A Freddy Kruger outfit hangs from the top of the garage, just behind the wedding chapel.
The Muhles have lived on Shari Way since 1977 and it usually takes them two weeks to prep for the big night.
“We’ve always liked Halloween and went to a Beetlejuice show in Universal Studios and thought that we could try to do something like that here,” Julie says. This Halloween marks the 35th year that the Beetlejuice movie came out, and the couple’s scene has just gotten more elaborate each year. Doug dresses up as Beetlejuice and his friend mics him up, and he wanders the block chatting with people. Julie and her family members are usually in front of the house handing out candy.
One of the centerpieces of the Muhles’ home is the wedding chapel, and Beetlejuice aka Doug has married quite a few couples with spider rings.
Doug Muhle stands proudly in his driveway by his Beetlejuice Wedding Chapel creation. Muhle’s house on Shari Way in Sparks has become an attraction for residents to come and see every year.
“People propose here, and they’ve come back years later with their kids,” Julie smiles. “Last year one couple came back who got married here 30 years ago.”
They have many of the other characters from the Beetlejuice movie like Road Kill Man, Miss Argentina, Dante’s Inferno, the Magician’s assistant cut in half. Julie was getting ready to put out the 9-ft. long sand worm.
“Just fun, silly stuff. We don’t want to make it too scary for the kids,” Julie says.
More of the neighborhood has become increasingly involved, and started decorating their houses based on a theme, too. There’s the Headless Horseman down the street, Hogwarts, the pirate house, Nightmare Before Christmas, the Vampire Lounge, and the Hocus Pocus witches. One of the Muhles’ next door neighbors has a bunch of scary clowns based off the “Killer Klowns From Outer Space” movie, and their other next door neighbor has a Medieval History Club/Society for Creative Anachronism theme going on.
The house on the corner of the block used to have a haunted house but there were too many people showing up to provide a quality experience. The house across the street is full of skeletons, and they have a light show piano bar that the owners put out on Halloween night.
“We put cones across the driveways keeps the little guys safer, and last year a food truck showed up. We never know who’s going to come,” Julie says. Last year Julie noticed entire families dressing up, one came as the characters from Elf, another came as dinosaurs. The neighborhood is full of lights when the sun goes down, coming together to put on a show.
“Everyone in the neighborhood really nice about it; we’ve never had any issues,” Julie says. “Last year what impressed us the most was families saying please and thank you, how polite everyone was. And with that many people we are like peanut chuckers with the candy.”
To get a preview of Shari Way’s festivities without dealing with the crowds, feel free to visit the neighborhood this weekend to get a sense of what is in store for Scary Way on Halloween.
