Local home haunted by DIY Halloween sculptures

There’s a house in Falls Church that’s gone above and beyond for Halloween with about a hundred mostly homemade sculptures.

“Haunted Acre,” at 510 Broad St., just northwest of Seven Corners, has one-of-a-kind pumpkins, candy corn ghouls, clowns, and much more made by resident Jack Lanouette. There’s even a haunted house and a UFO with aliens. The display is augmented by other decorations he purchased over the years.

Jack makes the sculptures out of foam rubber from fabric stores. He covers them with a plastic coating made of acrylic latex and adds finishing touches with spray paint and airbrushing. Some, like a big werewolf, are covered with faux fur.

Jack started making foam sculptures when he was a child. He was inspired by an article he read in a kid’s magazine about Geppetto Studios, a prop and puppet maker. After college, he got a job at Geppetto.

He started making Halloween sculptures at Broad Street in 2003, and the display has grown over the years.

For Jack, it’s all about nostalgia and remembering the fun times he had visiting haunted houses with his friends. “It brings back the fun you felt as a kid.”

Currently a personal trainer at the Providence Rec Center, Jack has put up an even bigger display for Christmas for the past 10 years with more lighting and more unique characters.

He hasn’t decided whether he will do the Christmas display this year and is considering doing Halloween and Christmas in alternating years.

The Christmas display takes five weeks to get together, Jack says. Halloween takes two weeks.

“It’s getting to be too much,” he says. He’s also running out of storage space in his house.