Good nightmare and good luck: Bidding adieu to the haunted house of east Renton

By the time you read this, the east Renton haunted house will be shuttered forever.

Not a real haunted house, but a home that has gone all out for Halloween, both inside and out, with enormous spiders, several 12 foot tall skeletons and walking jack-o’-lanterns, flying witches, evil dolls, undead Daenerys Targaryen on a dragon, a creepy vampire baby and the dreaded clown room — just to name a few.

For Marc and Lisa L., the owners of the house and lovers of Halloween (they both have birthdays within the last week of October and a black cat for a pet), decorating their home started out as a way to make the neighborhood trick-or-treaters happy (and scared) on All Hallow’s Eve.

“My parents used to throw Halloween parties for 20-plus years when I was growing up and then my brother started doing some and then I was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna start doing it too,’” said Marc, who asked that their last name not be used. “So every year we started doing a little bit more, and then more and more people came. Then word got out, and things got bigger and bigger.”

The couple began buying the best of the Halloween lawn decorations from Home Depot, Spirit Halloween, Costco and more to make their house look as haunted and scary as possible. A giant Pennywise the Clown from “It” adorns their front garage, and they were among the first people to buy the enormously popular 12-foot-tall skeletons that burst onto the Halloween scene in 2020.

They began creating a haunted maze in their house and allowing visitors to tour the spooky decorations of their home and celebrate the holiday with a big party in the back garage and patio, complete with a DJ. Marc said that each year, he begins the Halloween makeover as early as August because the themes are so detailed and there are just so many decorations. One year, he said, they covered the house and the yard with hundreds of spiders, which ended up being his favorite theme.

“We have cars drive by and stop to take pictures. The window comes down and you see the little kids look out,” said Marc. “I had parents that would use [visiting the haunted house] as a bargaining tool so, if the kids got a good record or a good report from school, or if they behaved at home before they went to bed, they could do a drive.”

Lisa, who teaches at a local elementary school, said that many of her students would visit the house on Halloween — then they would begin using the haunted house as a topic for their writing assignments in other classes.

Once the number of trick-or-treaters and visitors began to tick up, Marc and Lisa also began accepting food donations, which were given to the Issaquah Food Bank and then the Renton Salvation Army once the pandemic began.

“Every year when we bring the food, they’re just so appreciative,” said Marc. “Like last year, we had 558 pounds, or something like that. And then another year, we had 600 pounds. Another year we had 660 pounds of food. So we’re hoping to break [that record] this year.”

Before 2014, only a handful of trick-or-treaters would come to their house and now, 10 years later, Marc and Lisa have gotten visitors every evening driving up to see the outside of their home, and over 200 visitors have entered their home each Oct. 31.

Despite the haunted house’s growing popularity as a Halloween destination for kids and parents alike (Fireball whiskey shots are the traditional treat for the latter), it began to become a bit overwhelming for Marc and Lisa.

“It’s just, when you have over 250 kids come through your house, and then all the parents come through, and when you have that many people come through, it’s great if they are neighbors,” said Marc. “But we were getting people coming out from Auburn, from Federal Way, from Maple Valley, and just word of mouth got out. So I kind of took a little bit of a poll, and every year, more and more people came from out of the neighborhood and when your house is wide open like this, it’s a little bit scary.”

Last year, it was decided and then announced to the community that Marc and Lisa would no longer decorate their house for Halloween, and they would no longer open their home to the public, with Halloween 2024 being their supernatural swan song.

When Marc brought out this year’s decorations, he also put up a sign that said, “THIS IS OUR LAST HAUNTED HOUSE, THANK YOU FOR THE MEMORIES, THEY WILL HAUNT US FOREVER.”

Many people were disappointed and sad to see that the neighborhood Halloween tradition was coming to an end. According to Marc, he offered to give people their decorations so that they could continue the haunted house, but nobody wanted to take on the beast. But for Marc and Lisa, it’s the best decision, not only for them, but for their other neighbors.

“We did get complaints from a couple people over [in another cul-de-sac] saying ‘We don’t get trick-or-treaters because of your house, we miss seeing the kids.’ So now, I think next year [in 2025], it’ll be more spread out,” said Marc.

Another reason Marc and Lisa want to end their Halloween tradition is because they want to start new ones with their grandchildren. With four grandkids under age 4 (and one on the way), Marc says that they would like to be able to go trick-or-treating with their family and make new memories with them.

One flickering light at the end of the creepy tunnel is that Marc and Lisa sold all of the large decorations in their front yard to their former neighbors, who now own Christmas Creek tree farm in North Bend. Marc says that their decorations will live on at the tree farm’s new Halloween attraction, including their 12-foot-tall skeletons.

As for the inside of their home, Marc said that he and Lisa will still decorate for themselves.

“We’re getting rid of the two big Skellies outside so we need the two small ones in here,” said Marc, pointing to the two skeleton decorations standing on top of his kitchen counter, posed to resemble their giant brethren outside the former east Renton haunted house. R.I.P.