Nightmare on Sycamore Street

Those who participated in Trick-or-Treat Thursday night on the streets surrounding Sycamore Street in Morgan City were able to hear the sounds of screams and the roar of a chainsaw. While on any other night this would be something to cause concern, for the past 11 years this has become a regular occurrence.
The chainsaw is being carried by Leatherface, more commonly known as Shane White. White is the owner of the home at 904 Sycamore and he, along with his wife Christy, transform their front yard into the Sycamore Street Graveyard every year for Halloween.
The Whites have a love for Halloween and the graveyard developed because of the desire to get more people to celebrate the occasion with them.
“When we first moved here after Hurricane Katrina I sat outside with a really small bowl of candy and I only got like five trick-or-treaters, so my husband said next year we will try to get some more,” Christy White said.
White continued, “So, Shane dressed up as the grim reaper the next year, and they had more kids come. Then after that we started doing a really small graveyard, but it wasn’t like a walk-through, it was just for viewing.”
The Whites enjoyed being able to grow their Halloween idea and they continued to grow the graveyard a little at a time.
“My husband, he makes the majority of the props. A lot of the things you see out there, like the headless horseman, the pumpkin guy and the scarecrow, he built those,” White said.
“What you see today was built just a little bit at a time. Now we have Facebook that we post on to advertise trick or treat and it had 10,700 views. We estimate we have between 300 and 400 trick-or-treaters now,” she said.
The Whites cover the cost, but the event has grown and they do get help from family and friends. “Our friends, they all pitch in and help, because we also have a party inside. It’s not just an outside thing. So our friends and family come inside and they cook something or bring something and they help us with the photo booth, taking the pictures, keeping things organized. There is no way we could do it just two people anymore,” Christy White said.
The graveyard is just the front yard of the residence. There is a path created with orange lights placed on the ground and around the path are spooky decorations and members of the graveyard’s cast dressed in costume. There is dry ice to create a smoky effect and lighting to create an eerie atmosphere.
The characters roam around the graveyard, scaring those that walk through. The characters also roam around the connecting drive-way and the street where trick-or-treaters and those just wanting to brave the graveyard gather and wait their turn to walk through.
“The cast this year has grown. We have people dressed up as Leatherface, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kreuger, Ghostface from Scream and Valak from The Conjuring,” White said.
When you exit the graveyard, the residence’s garage is converted to a photo booth where participants can have their picture taken and posted to The Sycamore Street Graveyard’s Facebook site.
Along the driveway are tables where children can do the traditional trick-or-treat and get candy put in their bags and buckets, as well as get a cold Capri-Sun from an ice chest.