Every year my son has been sending me pictures and stories about a ” Halloween House” in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
When I would pull the pictures up and zoomed in , I was blown away by what I saw.
There were little stories being told by groups of skeletons, spiders and gargoyles and the author of those visual Halloween Treats for your eyes was a man named Jeff Omen.
Jeff Omen used to pull a coffin behind his Cemetery themed motorcycle and he had a silver hearse parked in his front yard.
He wore a top hat decorated with skulls.
This year I was out in Wisconsin to celebrate some Halloween events with my granddaughter in Fox Lake and I wanted to explore some cemeteries. But top of my list was a visit to Jeff Omen’s Halloween House. After all these years I was going to get to visit it, explore it and celebrate it in person. I was hoping to meet Jeff Omen too. I had a million questions for him and I was hoping he’d answer a few.
Then my son sent me a new article. Jeff Omen had died unexpectedly.
A few days later I learned he had fallen from a ladder while he was decorating his house for Halloween.
Photographer Unknown
We went to take a look at Jeff Omen’s house and I was not prepared for what I saw- the house was huge and the exterior was decorated. The yard was massive and was occupied by skeletons, a couple of coffins, a sports car under attack by a giant spider. There was so much to see and I would have loved to have explored it more, but I took my pictures quickly and I moved about the displays carefully because I was very much aware that Jeff Omen had died here recently and at that moment I felt like I was visiting a memorial and not a Halloween House.
That didn’t take away from my enjoyment that afternoon. I just enjoyed myself quietly- the way the people walking by seemed to be doing too.
I hope you enjoy my tribute to the Halloween House in Beaver Dam- at the end of this post is a news story about Jeff Omen.
In addition- I did work on the pictures a bit because I took them quickly and I had to correct shadows and sunlight the best I could to flesh out the displays. But I think you will catch the vibe. It’s a haunting vibe, but I think that was Jeff Omen’s intention.
anita
Photo A.M. Moscoso Beaver Dam WI October 2023
Photo A.M. Moscoso Beaver Dam WI October 2023
Photo A.M. Moscoso Beaver Dam WI October 2023
Photo A.M. Moscoso Beaver Dam WI October 2023
Photo A.M. Moscoso Beaver Dam WI October 2023
Photo A.M. Moscoso October 2023 Beaver Dam WI. USA
I’ve been taking pictures at cemeteries for a few years now and I feature them here on my blog.
This year’s collection was different- these pictures have oomph and I am excited to share them with you.
Photo A.M. Moscoso Oakwood Cemetery. Beaver Dam WI USA October2023
Meet the Peacock Family: I loved their name and call it a moment of inspiration or a haunting- but as soon as I saw the Peacock’s tombstones I just knew there’s a story here just waiting to be told.
Photo A.M. Moscoso Oakwood Cemetery. Beaver Dam WI USA October2023
J.H. Peacock and Caroline Peacock’s headstones were in the best shape, I’m sorry to say the other Peacock’s markers were harder to read. I included them in a group portrait below:
Photo A.M. Moscoso Oakwood Cemetery. Beaver Dam WI USA October2023
Photo A.M. Moscoso Oakwood Cemetery. Beaver Dam WI USA October2023
Photo A.M. Moscoso Oakwood Cemetery. Beaver Dam WI USA October2023
The Family Tree- this was the second tombstone I saw like this one while I was visiting Wisconsin- the other was in Fox Lake. I captured different angles so that you could see the beautiful work that went into creating this lovely tombstone.
Here is some information I found about “Tree Stones “.
Tree-stump tombstones like these can be found in graveyards across the country ( USA). They tend to surprise people who come across them, since they’re not quite what we expect to see at the head of a grave. They date mostly to 1880s to 1920s, when funerary art in the United States was moving away from the grand mausoleums and obelisks found elsewhere in Green-Wood. The tree-stump stones were part of a movement to turn the focus of death back to life, and they’re a unique form connected with the secret societies of the time. “They qualify as folk art,” writes Susanne Ridlen, in her 1999 book Tree-Stump Tombstones.
Photo A.M. Moscoso Oakwood Cemetery. Beaver Dam WI USA October2023
Photo A.M. Moscoso Oakwood Cemetery. Beaver Dam WI USA October2023
Photo A.M. Moscoso Oakwood Cemetery. Beaver Dam WI USA October2023
Photo A.M. Moscoso Oakwood Cemetery. Beaver Dam WI USA October2023
As my Son and I were leaving Oakwood, we passed by this tombstone flanked by two trees glowing in gold and red leaves and I thought of a Christmas Tree.
I know, it’s silly. After all, it’s almost Halloween.
Despite my holiday snafu, it was a beautiful sight:
Photo A.M. Moscoso Oakwood Cemetery. Beaver Dam WI USA October2023
Photo A.M. Moscoso Oakwood Cemetery. Beaver Dam WI USA October2023
I have more pictures to share and I will add them to my blog here through the winter. I don’t want to do a photo dump because all of my Graveyard pictures have a story to tell and I want to give them their moment to shine.
anita
Photo A.M. Moscoso Oakwood Cemetery. Beaver Dam WI USA October2023
Daily Prompt: What food would you say is your specialty?
Still Life with Wine and Fruit Léon Bonvin1863
I don’t really cook a lot anymore.
But what I still do is look for weird stuff to try – like the donut burger.
My heart screamed in my chest when I bit into my first donut burger and I think my arteries tried to shut themselves down before I swallowed my first bite.
