Cudahy family transforms house into "Nightmare on East Vogel Avenue"

CUDAHY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- For the fifth year in a row, one house in Cudahy is going all out for Halloween - and scaring people actually takes a lot of work.

This family living on East Vogel Avenue says it takes a full work week - 40 hours - to get their decorations in place. But they actually do it in a pretty thrifty way.

"Cause everything we've got here - 90% of this stuff - we get at the thrift shop. Be creative, make stuff and it just comes out to be fun stuff," Dave Sweeney, who runs the 'Nightmare on East Vogel Avenue', said.

Becky Sweeney says her husband's objets d'Halloween art have built up over years.

"You know, when Dave used to dress up as Michael Myers we'd have carload pull up watching and waiting for him. Of course, he would follow the cars and walk up the street and you would hear the women screaming," Becky said.

New additions this year comes from another what-you-might-call "abandoned" property: The now-closed Boston Stores. They picked up a family-worth of mannequins for $90 a piece.

"Which isn't bad because originally they were $500-$600," Becky said.

"And now we made zombies and nuns, scary nuns...and it's part of our decorations now," Dave said.

And with night trick-or-treating returning to Cudahy this year, the display might keep growing.

The issue isn't really if they can fit more items in their yard - it's more a question of if where they will put the stuff outside of October.

"Now I have to make more space in my shed because I kind of ran out of space in my garage," Dave said.

They say they get visitors all the time who are definitely welcome to pass through the area. However, they do normally turn off the lights at about 10:30 p.m.