Halloween fun for all ages at Hennesy Hallow

Editor’s Note: This article was written in 2017. Due to COVID-19, the Hennesy’s will not have their Halloween wheel out and will not be handing out candy. Decorations are up and everyone is welcome to drive by.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for the Hennesy family.

While a few Mahomet residents have Christmas displays that can rival the Griswold’s, the Hennesy’s Halloween decorations are already drawing spectators to their home located at 1809 E West Lake Dr. in the Cobblecreek Subdivision.

“We’re like the Griswold’s of Halloween,” Meghan Hennesy said.

Halloween has always been a special time for Meghan and her husband, Michael.

Both Meghan and Michael grew up in Colorado with mothers who enjoyed celebrating the holiday by making their children’s costumes, decorating around the house, cutting the kids loose for hours to collect candy on Halloween night and even dressing up on their own for Halloween.

“My mother likes Halloween as much as Christmas,” Michael said. “We had a lot of Halloween decorations; I was the only person I knew who had Halloween decorations.”

“My mom always wanted us to have the coolest Halloween costume of anybody,” Michael said.

The Hennesy’s love for Halloween was not the only trait that was inherited. Their mothers’ example of going “all out” also was inherited.

Michael’s mother taught him how to sew so he, too, could make costumes. And Meghan, who has been known to wear a tutu while leading the Dawg Walk, took the bravery of her mother who dressed up for Halloween.

“My mom came to school in a costume,” she said. “In third grade, I didn’t think it was so cool, but now I look back and think she was so awesome.”

Now the Hennesy’s take pride in bringing that fun, nostalgic Halloween vibe to their home and neighborhood during Halloween each year.

In a tradition steeped in friendship that started in a 1790’s home in Boston a couple decades ago, Meghan and Michael have grown the Hennesy Hallow display in front and inside their home to include family, friends, neighbors and the community.

While in Boston, the Hennesy’s friend spontaneously invited the couple over for a house party.

Living generously, Michael and Meghan packed their car full of fall and Halloween decorations to make sure the house had the vibe it needed before guests arrived.

The house party became an annual event that Michael and Meghan carried on when they moved back to their childhood home, Colorado.

Although they had a few indoor Halloween decorations here and there, the Hennesys added to their collection as the party rolled around each year.

The outdoor decorations began with creating a graveyard.

“We started off with foam tombstones in the front yard that we bought at a dollar store,” Michael said. “They blew around a bit, so we needed weighted tombstones. I realized that I could make as many tombstones as I wanted to out of concrete, so it didn’t take very long to make an entire cemetery.”

The cemetery eventually became a neighborhood affair as other neighbors used the molds to make their own concrete tombstones.

From there, the Hennesys purchased an inflatable spider and bats to hang from the trees.

Meghan’s sister found a $20 sarcophagus that the local Rotary club made and was selling at a garage sale.

“Of course she was right to buy it because we love it,” Meghan said. “Now we have a sarcophagus, so now we have to make a mummy.”

After extensive mummy research, Michael knew how to make a durable mummy. Meghan put on old clothes, which Michael duct taped over, then he wrapped the cast in tea-dyed burlap.

Being outside and in the heat for nearly 10 years, the mummy is now about 6 inches longer than Meghan.

Their sons, Brogan and Kelton, also got in on the fun. They made a mummy of Brogan and used saran wrap and clear packing tape to make a ghost in the shape of Kelton.

Since the boys were babies, the family has also dressed up for Halloween together.

For the first time, Brogan and Kelton picked out the family’s costume theme this year. The boys chose to be characters from the movie “Princess Bride”: Princess Buttercup, Count Rugen, Inigo Montoya, the Man in Black and they have a rodent of unusual size.

When the Hennessy’s first moved to Mahomet in September of 2012, they did not have the energy to put up all of their decorations, so they scattered a few here and there.

“Everybody said, ‘Wow! You guys go all out,” Meghan said. “And we thought, ‘Oh my, these poor people have no idea what is coming.”

When Michael put the tombstones out the following year, he realized that the graveyard wasn’t going to be enough.

So, like always, he researched how to make a fence. Combining three or four techniques, he constructed a fence that resembled something someone might actually have in their front yard.

In fact, there was concern among neighbors that the Hennesys were breaking their Homeowners Association covenant that states they cannot have a fence.

To make the fence a more obvious decoration, Michael repainted the black frame with rusting paint so neighbors knew the fence was only a temporary fixture.

“When I had the fence, I decided, it has to be spectacular,” Michael said. “I have to have an entryway.”

So, he constructed a grand entrance to the graveyard that reads, “Hennesy Hallow.”

Neighbors look forward to the display each year.

“We do have a few people who know about it that have asked if it’s up,” Meghan said. “They tell us, ‘My kids want us to drive by every night.’”

Some neighbors even try to get the Hennesy’s to put their decorations out around September 1 because “it’s close enough.”

But Michael and Meghan shoot to have the decorations finished by October 1.

This year, neighbors, who have watched Michael methodically put up the fence in five to six hours, helped him put it up and carry the gravestones out in under two hours.

By the beginning of September Michael and Meghan have an idea of the project they want to undertake to bring Hennesy Hallow up a notch.

Last year, Michael began building a pyramid of skulls that have fog coming out of them.

This year, he constructed two skull pillars that frame the Hennesy Hallow entryway.

“You can never buy exactly what you want, so we like making our own,” Michael said. “This is our craft season.”

But, projects sometimes take longer than expected. Michael may guess a new creation will take three to four hours, then twenty-four hours later, he has finished the project.

The couple guesses that each year they put in approximately 80 hours in crafting and decorating each year.

But by mid-October, the couple really gets to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Last weekend they hosted their annual Halloween house party for friends.

And on Tuesday, Hennesy Hallow will be open to kids of all ages.

While in Colorado, Michael also made a 4-foot wide “Treat Wheel” for trick-or-treaters.

The wheel, which comes outside for Halloween, only if the weather is nice, includes 30 spaces with sections labeled for the child to win money, soda, candy of all sizes or, in tribute to Charlie Brown, a rock.

Michael took another memory from his childhood to create this memorable experience for the children that come to their house for Halloween.

“There was a crazy biker, who never came out, except for Halloween,” he said. “He passed out a one-pound baking candy bar and a can of soda to every trick-or-treater.”

“Then, the neighbors behind made his garage into a prison cell. He was like a caveman: a big, burly, 6’4” guy who had a gigantic lamb shank that he was chewing on; there was food in his beard.”

“That is what I’ve aspired to do; to create memories,” he said. “And nothing would be more fun for a kid than spinning a prize wheel at Halloween.”

Over the years, the Hennesys have seen toddlers cry when they win $20.

“You bend down to hand this child $20 and they look at you like, ‘I don’t want this. I was pretty sure I was promised candy,’” Meghan said.

They’ve seen children change costumes and try to spin the wheel more than one time.

Michael said the kids who change costumes won’t talk as they approach the wheel because they are scared the adults will recognize their voice.

“I asked one kid his name, and (in a high-pitch), he said, ‘Billy.’

“I said, ‘You’ve already been here once tonight.’ Then he said, ‘No, I’ve been here three times! You didn’t catch me the other time. And I won 10 bucks!’”

The Hennesys have also met kids who are excited when the wheel lands on a rock.

But no one leaves Hennesy Hallow empty handed.

“I let them get about 20-feet away, and then I let them spin again,” Michael said.

The fun isn’t just for little children, though.

The Hennesys are adamant about creating memories for all ages in the community.

The couple, who still loves to dress up, wants teenagers to feel welcome to trick-or-treat at their home, too.

“Just because you’re in middle school, all of a sudden you’re not supposed to think this is fun anymore. We’ve had a few instances where people come and you can see the kids right on the cusp; where you can see in their eyes they really want to do it, but they think you’ll think they’re too old.”

“Hennesy Hallow will accept anyone trick or treating always,” Meghan said. “Always.”

“You’re never too old to trick-or-treat.”

And bringing joy to children and their parents is what Hennesy Hallow is all about.

Last year, the Hennesys had a line of about 20 people to spin the wheel. Meghan said the interesting part, though, was that, after spinning the wheel, people stuck around to see what other people would win, too.

“The parent’s faces light up,” Meghan said. “It kind of became a community building event,” Meghan said.

“That’s what we want to create,” Meghan said. “Memories. That’s something they will remember forever. And we get to be a part of it.”