Dartmouth Home Transforms into a Halloween Attraction for All Ages

Now that fall is in full swing, “haunted” houses are starting to pop up all over the SouthCoast as lawns turn into graveyards and scary scenes.

While some of these scenes may be too scary for children, a mom in Dartmouth decided to transform her home into a Halloween site fit for all ages.

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Mickey Almeida has always loved Halloween. Growing up, her family would go all out with decorations, and she knew she wanted to do that with her own family.

With an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old, one of them on the Autism spectrum, enjoying Halloween can get a little tricky. Almeida decided to bring the holiday to her own front yard where she could design a fun experience for all kids to enjoy.

“There are so many scary options during Halloween, but it’s hard to find family-friendly and sensory-friendly options,” she said. “So I keep it fun for everyone.”

Her decorations started with a simple skeleton and a dog, but nowadays, it’s a gigantic scene where she encourages the neighborhood to walk through and take in every scene.

“It’s just getting bigger and bigger,” said Almeida. “I like to do little scenes that people can recognize. I have an 'Under the Sea’ theme, a 'Beauty and the Beast' scene, and I added a 'Tangled' scene this year. My daughter was so excited, she gave Rapunzel a hug.”

And this isn’t an average set-up. This scene takes days to complete.

“It used to take me about a day or two, but now it takes about a week,” she said.

This year’s scene is almost complete, and she promises to bring the right amount of fright to the neighborhood as she has for the past eight years.

“I love the fact that I can bring joy with the simplest thing,” she said.

Almeida encourages the community to stop by 22 Pine Hurst Street and take a stroll through her “not so spooky” Halloween scene, day or night.

It promises a scary good time.