About 11 years ago my wife and I, and our newborn baby daughter Ceili (Kaylee) moved from the capital city of Providence, Rhode Island, to our newly built house in the sleepy seaport village of Wickford. The first thing I noticed about living in Wickford was there was the lack of gunshots and sirens piercing the night, which is a good thing.
Our house is across the street from the neighborhood beach; although as beaches go, there are a lot more stones than sand, but we can’t complain. As our first Halloween approached, we decided to adorn the grassy area adjoining the beach with some Halloween decorations. Actually, my wife decided we would do this, I’m just the mule. Halloween is my wife’s favorite event, right up there with Christmas. That first year was a relatively modest display of ghosts, some lights, skulls, etc. Thus was the birth of Spooky Beach.
Over
the next few years Spooky Beach gradually grew to be a little more elaborate
every Halloween. People in the neighborhood enjoyed it and began making
sure they brought their kids by to see the display.
Then it happened. We got new neighbors. They moved in right next door. And they loved Halloween. In fact, they even got married on Halloween. This is when Spooky Beach started getting serious. The collaboration with our new neighbors brought it to a new level. They had their own collection of bizarre additions to add to the attraction. Lights were added, scary music was piped in, smoke machines were added. It was getting out of control, and more and more people were coming to check it out. This just fed the addiction.
Last year, after we all went to Salem, Massachusetts, to see all the witch trial attractions; we knew we had a theme for Spooky Beach. Prisons were built out of shipping pallets. Dummy after dummy was stuffed with fallen leaves to simulate imprisoned witches. Tombstones with actual names of witches executed; chains, screams, people in period costume roaming around, you name it— such became part of our Spooky Beach, Word got out around town, and the turnout was surprising. Many neighbors later commented on how much they and the kids enjoyed the display.
Then,
this years Halloween approached. We were at a loss. What are we going
to do for spooky beach this year? We weren’t just asking this of
ourselves, but the neighborhood was asking also. The pressure was on,
but still no answer.
Then came the inspiration. On the weekend before Halloween, I decide to pull my Vacationer off her mooring. I towed her out of the water and backed her up onto the grassy area to pressure hose her bottom and pull her sticks down. When my wife came home and saw the boat there, she looked at me and said “That’s it! Pirates of the Carribean!”
And
so it came to be. We had a blast putting it all together. Several people
commented on how much work it must have been and my reply was always the
same, “Well, the toughest part was building the boat.” My
daughter is 11 now and loves helping create Spooky Beach every year. People
are beginning to come from distant neighborhoods as word is spreading.
Neighbors are already asking what we’ll be doing next year. I have
no idea.
Back Yard Yacht Builders
A non-commercial association of amateur boat-builder enthusiasts.
All our wooden boats are Stevenson designs.