The ‘Canberra Halloween House’ in Wanniassa has been recognised as one of the country’s best – by which we mean scariest – displays.

Photographers from The Wall Street Journal even spent an entire day with Connie and Ian Warburton at their house on 26 Osmand Street, Wanniassa, for a feature story the famous paper is working on about whether Halloween belongs in Australia, too.

“They wanted to talk to people who put on really big displays, and there’s us and another guy in Darwin they decided to go with,” Connie says.

For those who haven’t seen it yet, the Warburton House is one of the busiest places to go in Canberra on 31 October.

A “big Halloween fan”, Connie kicked off what has become an annual tradition with a small display of inflatables “here and there” and some giveaway lolly bags. It’s now at the point that up to 3000 people queue down the street for a look, waiting for up to 45 minutes.

Last year’s theme of piracy – complete with a large ship crafted from plywood and pallets and a kraken made from air-conditioning pipes and pool noodles – has become a ‘haunted forest’ for 2024.

Key features include trees made from giant cardboard tubes the couple collected from a digital print shop in Sydney and then cut in half and covered with expanding foam and paint – and the 3-metre tall ‘demon’ on the front lawn dubbed ‘Predator of the Night’.

Then there’s the ‘Haunted House’: three separate covered rooms of jump scares that run almost the entire length of the driveway.

Connie says it takes hundreds of hours each year surfing the internet for items, creating displays and compiling thousands of lolly bags.

“You should see the things I get suggested on Facebook Marketplace because of my search history,” she laughs.

When they first started in 2012, however, she says Canberra’s Halloween scene was very different.

“We had to import absolutely everything from the US – we just couldn’t get it here. There was no such thing as a trick-or-treat trail either, and we would put up notices on the Canberra Notice Board Group every year, and people would always comment, ‘It’s just an American thing’.”

Ian Warburton posing by last year’s pirate ship display. Photo: James Coleman.

Technically, Halloween originates from a pagan Celtic festival called ‘Samhain’, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. Then, in the 8th century, the Catholic Church put a Christian spin on it and designated 1 November as a time to honour all saints and ‘All Saints Day’ was born. However, over the years, traditions from both became intermingled and we ended up with Halloween.

“American pop culture just commercialised it, as they do to so many things, which I think a lot of people resent,” Connie says.

But she says even the naysayers are beginning to question what harm it can do to join in.

“We’ve sort of lost that sense of community a little, and Halloween is an occasion when people can get out – they’re talking to each other, the kids are dressed up. It’s like a giant street party, when we don’t tend to do those things anymore.”

The result is that each year attracts more visitors, so the couple are making some changes for 2024’s display.

Rather than funnelling more than a year’s worth of effort into one night, they’ll keep the Halloween House open for a few more nights after the actual date.

“We also changed the way our setup works, so we’re bringing stuff out and putting it on the street so you can be waiting in line and still interacting with things like the slime bucket. It’ll just break it up a bit.”

It is all for a good cause, too. Over the years, the Warburtons have raised thousands in gold coin donations for the Stella Bella Foundation, which supports families and children with terminal illnesses, with nothing taken out to cover their own expenses.

And it’s fun.

“October is just like my Christmas,” Connie says.

“And we have kids that have been coming every year since they were tiny, and now they’re teenagers, and it’s really fun to watch them grow up and hear them talking about their memories of coming.”

An estimated 3000 people turned up last year. Photo: Connie Warburton.

The Canberra Halloween House is located at 26 Osmand Street, Wanniassa. It will be open this year on Halloween, Thursday, 31 October, from 4:30 pm to 9:30 pm and from Friday, 1 November, to Tuesday, 5 November, nightly from 6 pm to 9:30 pm.

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