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Beloit's house of ghouls set for Halloween
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| Staff photo by Hillary Wundrow Halloween mannequins line the Hoiberg family’s front lawn at 722 Central Ave. The Hoibergs hope to attract more than 600 trick-or-treaters this year. |
By Hillary Wundrow
Daily News staff writer
One Beloit family and their lawn of Frankenstein, the baby witch skeleton, and Jack-the-Ripper turned Bob Dole are awaiting trick-or-treaters with even more surprises this year.
Cyndie Hoiberg and her kids hope to attract 600 trick-or-treaters this year with their ornate yard of smoking graves and disco dancing werewolves at 722 Central Ave.
On Thursday morning mother Cyndie Hoiberg was directing Daniel Hoiberg, 18, and his friend Scott Anderson, 17, as they propped up 20 mannequins in their front yard.
“The wolf needs his saxophone,” Cyndie Hoiberg said. “Remember your coffin.”
The family is known for draping costumes and masks over bodies made of chicken wire and empty milk jug heads on their front lawn.
Cyndie Hoiberg said she started crafting the creatures with her own father when she was only 10 years old. The family tradition has grown into a full fledged freak show with a smoking coffin, strobe lights and Michael Jackson music.
Last year the theatrics brought in 441 trick-or-treaters. Stocked up on toy rats, bats, bracelets, wolf fangs and Teddy Grahams for the babies, Cyndie Hoiberg hopes to treat even more children this year.
“I work on this all year, it's like an obsession,” Cyndie Hoiberg said.
Despite their music and lights, Cyndie Hoiberg said the neighbors have been understanding. One anonymous donor dropped off a blinking witch decoration this year and many others have chipped in with odds and ends in the past.
Five years ago the Hoiberg lawn suffered a blow when its ornaments were set on fire. After the mini-graveyard was burnt to the ground, many Halloween lovers stopped by with donations to help get the show started again.
Hoiberg has grown pretty protective of her ghouls after the fire.
“Everyone's got names and a personality. If someone says something bad, they are hurting my babies,” Cyndie Hoiberg said.
Although her son made her a “cure for Halloween” patch to wear, Hoiberg said it has little effect.
The family keeps their entire home decorated for Halloween year-round when not hunting for ghosts and werewolves. Lovers of all things paranormal, the family often searches for spirits in cemeteries and other suspicious haunts.
Anderson often has assisted the family and claims to have seen a ghost at the Manor, an abandoned restaurant in Beloit.
“It's a little girl in a white dress who kicks a ball in the street. She's all dancing and going ‘la, la, la',” Anderson said.
Cyndie Hoiberg isn't afraid of the supernatural and believes the ghost of her fiancee lives in her bedroom.
This year the ghost might be sharing some closet space with the mannequins and any new stray visitors. The family often drives along Bray Road near Elkhorn looking for a werewolf, which reportedly has been spotted there..
“If we found him we would keep him as a pet,” Cyndie Hoiberg said.
Cyndie Hoiberg and her kids hope to attract 600 trick-or-treaters this year with their ornate yard of smoking graves and disco dancing werewolves at 722 Central Ave.
On Thursday morning mother Cyndie Hoiberg was directing Daniel Hoiberg, 18, and his friend Scott Anderson, 17, as they propped up 20 mannequins in their front yard.
“The wolf needs his saxophone,” Cyndie Hoiberg said. “Remember your coffin.”
The family is known for draping costumes and masks over bodies made of chicken wire and empty milk jug heads on their front lawn.
Cyndie Hoiberg said she started crafting the creatures with her own father when she was only 10 years old. The family tradition has grown into a full fledged freak show with a smoking coffin, strobe lights and Michael Jackson music.
Last year the theatrics brought in 441 trick-or-treaters. Stocked up on toy rats, bats, bracelets, wolf fangs and Teddy Grahams for the babies, Cyndie Hoiberg hopes to treat even more children this year.
“I work on this all year, it's like an obsession,” Cyndie Hoiberg said.
Despite their music and lights, Cyndie Hoiberg said the neighbors have been understanding. One anonymous donor dropped off a blinking witch decoration this year and many others have chipped in with odds and ends in the past.
Five years ago the Hoiberg lawn suffered a blow when its ornaments were set on fire. After the mini-graveyard was burnt to the ground, many Halloween lovers stopped by with donations to help get the show started again.
Hoiberg has grown pretty protective of her ghouls after the fire.
“Everyone's got names and a personality. If someone says something bad, they are hurting my babies,” Cyndie Hoiberg said.
Although her son made her a “cure for Halloween” patch to wear, Hoiberg said it has little effect.
The family keeps their entire home decorated for Halloween year-round when not hunting for ghosts and werewolves. Lovers of all things paranormal, the family often searches for spirits in cemeteries and other suspicious haunts.
Anderson often has assisted the family and claims to have seen a ghost at the Manor, an abandoned restaurant in Beloit.
“It's a little girl in a white dress who kicks a ball in the street. She's all dancing and going ‘la, la, la',” Anderson said.
Cyndie Hoiberg isn't afraid of the supernatural and believes the ghost of her fiancee lives in her bedroom.
This year the ghost might be sharing some closet space with the mannequins and any new stray visitors. The family often drives along Bray Road near Elkhorn looking for a werewolf, which reportedly has been spotted there..
“If we found him we would keep him as a pet,” Cyndie Hoiberg said.
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