One last fright night for Halloween house couple

Children in a Sheffield street are preparing for a final night of fright before the owners of a spectacularly Halloween-themed house pack away their collection of ghosts, witches and ghouls for the last time.

Every 31 October for over 20 years, Kate Marshall and husband Steve, both 63, have delighted and scared local youngsters in equal measure with the spine-chilling displays at their house on Bromwich Road.

But, after two decades of spooky celebrations, which have sometimes attracted several hundred scare-seekers, the Marshalls have said this will be their last year.

Ms Marshall said it would be sad to bring it all to an end: "We'll definitely miss the joy on the children's faces."

A former child minder, Ms Marshall said their annual Halloween horror-fests took off from very humble beginnings.

"One day, Steve disappeared into my craft cupboard and pinched all my paint," she explained.

"A couple of days later, he emerged with two witches heads made out of papier mache and balloons."

Mr Marshall's homemade witches were soon combined with his wife's hand-crafted "dangly spiders" and pumpkins to create a ghostly display at their house.

"I used to make bits with the little children that I worked with and we'd hang them up in the window," Ms Marshall recollected.

In no time at all, the display was attracting a lot of interest from children in the neighbourhood getting ready for Halloween.

"Suddenly other children would come down our driveway and they loved it," Ms Marshall said.

The couple embraced the challenge of entertaining local youngsters with their Halloween displays and, before the Marshalls knew it, they had taken on a life of their own.

Over the years, the pair got hold of toy witches, ghosts and inflatables from around the world to boost their displays.

Also added to their creepy collection was a flag from Salem, home of the famous 17th Century witch trials in America, and a large green witch from Croatia known as Witchy Pooh.

"It started off fairly simple, but then it went crazy," Ms Marshall said.

"We counted 500 people outside the house last year queuing down the road."

Mr Marshall, described as "the ideas man" of the partnership, even used to take off a couple of days of annual leave from his sales job construct the displays.

At the peak of their hair-raising Halloween antics, the Marshalls would also open up their back garden to visitors, but that ended during the Covid pandemic.

Although the Marshalls' ghostly abode has been widely accepted as the best decorated Halloween house in their street, their neighbours have also joined in.

One of them, Liz Gordon, said: "It's so good for the community."

"They all come to me afterwards. My goodness, it costs me a fortune in trick or treats," she smiled.

Meanwhile, Josh Booth, who has lived next door to the Marshalls for seven years, said he had also embraced his role in the eerie events.

"We're essentially the starters and they're the main course," he said.

"It's amazing what they do. I see him taking it down the day after, though, and he looks shattered."

Ms Marshall reflected that since starting their first display, "many lessons" had been learned.

"You can never have enough sweets, drawing pins, fishing wire and duct tape. That's just the rules," she smiled.

However, with the Marshalls' three children having grown up and moved away, this year's Halloween display is expected to be the couple's last, amid plans to sell up and downsize.

Neighbour Ms Gordon said: "It's really sad. It's the end of an era. We'll miss them terribly."

Mr Booth joked: "Whoever moves in will have big shoes to fill. The bar has been raised."

However, Mr Marshall said it was time to take a well-earned rest from the Halloween fun.

"It's taken over our lives. It'll be sad to say goodbye, but it's a lot to take on."

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