Ken Carlson, a producer and filmmaker who creates short films and documentaries, and his wife have been setting the bar high for 18 years. "My father was a minister and he was only allowed to be 'evil' one time a year so every Halloween he indulged himself," explained Carlson. The Carlson's haunted house takes over their entire yard and driveway.
The Carlsons are recognized for starting the "go big or go home" tradition in the neighborhood. The lawn is full of crashed cars, boats, clowns, skeletons and life-size decorations.
The local businesses invite families out to Montana Avenue for an annual holiday walk for young kids from 3 to 5p.m., which gets the evening started. (Pictured here: Skeletons play ping pong in the side yard.)
The front door has signs directing where to enter the haunted house. "The local police department estimated we had approximately 15,000 people attend our macabre soiree one year," boasted Carlson.
"It has been a slow build, but we really like to create a sense of community whereever we live and this does just that," said Carlson. A Dorothy doll sits on a chair swinging from a tree in this set up.
The Carlson family has special props built for the evening and they buy locally or online. (Pictured here: A car full of clowns is wrecked in the grave yard.)
15-20 actors wear costumes and work the Carlson's haunted mansion.
"I’ll never forget my dad scaring the living daylights out of the neighborhood kids in Ohio as he held a bowl of candy rocking in a chair dressed up as a ghoul," laughed Carlson. "Right there and then a Halloween fanatic was born. Of course, I’ve taken it to the next level!" Here, a one-man skeleton band plays drums in the front.
"Every kid gets a stuffed animal, candy and a good scare when they visited our haunted house," says Carlson. "Last year we gave out 3,200 stuffed animals while raising funds for the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles."
The Jaffes have been decorating their house for seven years and every year the lawn gets more and more crowded. "On average we will have between 3,000-4,0000 people," explained Kimberly Jaffe, a former Warner Bros. employee. "This year because Halloween is on a Saturday we are anticipating closer to 5,000 people."
"As we were signing the papers to buy our home, the relators asked if we knew about 16th street on Halloween and we had no idea," said Jaffe. "I went and started buying decorations immediately." (Pictured here: Ghosts threaten to knock down the front door.)
"I go to Target and buy 35-40 full size bags and we will go through all of the candy that night," laughed Jaffe. "We have bought thousands and thousands of dollars worth of decorations, but we accumulate over time." The home has a grave yard theme.
Robert Morton, producer and co-executive producer of Late Night with David Letterman, likes to get in on the action as well.
The wait can be up to an hour-and-half to see the haunted house and the line spans down the drive way to trick or treat at the Morton's home, where ghosts protect the perimeter of the space.
"We began doing this 12 years ago and started out small, but it has just gotten bigger and bigger," said the Emmy-winning producer.
"It takes three or four days to set everything up, but we do it two weeks before Halloween so the families from other areas can stop by and enjoy," explained Morton. The area is known to have busses drop off families from other parts of town. Dead babies and possessed dolls sit in the inside of the lawn.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has even been known to stop by and shake hands during election season. "People used to get a big kick out of that," said Morton. (Pictured here: A ghost floats in the window at the front door.)
The property takes up much of the block. The decorations can be seen from a few yards away and cover what looks to be multiple houses, even though it is one large home.
Goblins swing from the trees all around the home.
Demonic dolls and bloody eyeballs are just a few of the many Halloweens staples you will see on the property.
In addition to the Halloween decorations — creepy dolls lounging among the trees and bushes, included — neighbors say the family goes all out during the Christmas season as well.
A skeleton with a cane and an old woman in bed terrorize people walking by.
Many of the decorations on the property move and light up. Here, a fortune teller's cards swirl around her.
The decor, like these bloody skeletons on a bench, is known to scare some of the younger children that trick-or-treat in the Brentwood neighborhood.
The sprawling estate near Sunset Boulevard has full-tme security to watch over the props like this caged werewolf.
No detail is too small, as ghouls try to escape the property's rickety fence.
Two giant skulls greet those who drive through the gates.
The family is known to open the house's large gates, guarded by a mummy, and give away king-size candy bars.
A Ouija board is set on top of the home's walls as a child tries to escape.