Scooby Doo, Holy Hill skeletons … and Taylor Swift! These Wisconsin Halloween displays are must-see

As Halloween approaches, homes around southeast Wisconsin are embracing all things spooky, supernatural and silly.

One place not to miss is A&J’s Halloween House at 2943 S. Clement Ave. in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood, which has drawn visitors to its annual displays for around two decades — and has been raising money for youth in need for half that time.

This year’s theme is Scooby Doo. Each year, Jamie Beauchamp and Andy Reid spend months designing and developing a Halloween display for their front yard.

Besides drawing spectators, it raises money for Pathfinders, a Milwaukee nonprofit organization focused on providing outreach services for youth and young adults ages 5 to 25 facing housing instability and other crises.

Visitors are encouraged to donate to Pathfinders at two cash drop boxes at the house or on Pathfinders’ website. The display also has posted QR codes that direct to the website.

In their 10 years of fundraising through their Halloween display, Beauchamp and Reid have raised around $84,000. Beauchamp said they hope to hit the $100,000 mark this year.

He said it’s impossible to count the number of visitors they get to their display.

“There’s heavy foot traffic, and then there’s people that stop on both sides of the street all day long,” Beauchamp said.

Past years’ themes have included “Ghostbusters” and “Wheel of Misfortune,” Beauchamp said. Scooby Doo has been a theme they have been wanting to do for close to 10 years. Beauchamp said they were finally able to find animatronic characters to fit the scene.

“We did the Redbeard ghost, pirate ship, and then we have the haunted house in the opening scenes, and of course the Mystery Machine,” he said.

Beauchamp said construction of the A&J Halloween House display takes about three months each year, in addition to about a month of measurements and planning.

“We start planning, talking about it, early spring, sometimes the year before,” he said. “Mid-spring is when we really start planning, and then building in July.”

Here are two other Halloween displays to consider checking out:

Holy Hill Skeletons

Near Holy Hill, Jimmy Zamzow annually creates displays featuring large numbers of skeletons on his property at 5256 Highway 167 in Hubertus. It’s called, appropriately enough, Holy Hill Skeletons.

This year, Zamzow put up a patriotic scene, featuring hundreds of skeletons, in celebration of the upcoming 250th year of the United States.

Taylor Swift’s ‘Life of a Skullgirl’ in Sun Prairie

If you’re venturing toward Madison, on Broome Street in nearby Sun Prairie, Katelyn McLaughlin again has transformed her yard into a Halloween display dedicated to Taylor Swift.

This year, the theme is “Life of a Skullgirl,” with skeletons dressed in costumes from “The Fate of Ophelia” music video, and even a stack of logs with a Travis Kelce jersey and wig.

McLaughlin gained national attention for her 2023 Taylor Swift-inspired display titled “ScarEras Tour,” which was featured on “Good Morning America,” “The Today Show” and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or [email protected]. Follow her on X at @ArseneauKelli.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Scooby Doo, Holy Hill skeletons … and Taylor Swift! These Wisconsin Halloween displays are must-see

Reporting by Kelli Arseneau, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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