Hatboro Homes Offer Halloween Thrills

When you stand at the corner of Spring and Delft lanes in Hatboro look to your left then to your right. You are bound to see two of the most impressive Halloween displays in the area.

Thom Bathe, of 121 Spring Lane and Glenn Fitzgerald, of 263 Delft Lane, who live just houses apart, both go all out to decorate their homes for Halloween.

But, the men insist there is no competition.

“[Thom’s] helped us over the years, and we’ve helped him,” Fitzgerald said.

“There’s really no competition here. It’s all about the kids,” Bathe insisted as a young boy stopped his bike outside the home to take in the display.

Bathe said he has been decorating for Halloween for more than 30 years, but he admits his display got to its present size once he moved out of his Northeast Philadelphia home and into his Spring Lane residence six years ago.

“It started out small and it keeps getting bigger and bigger,” Bathe said.

Fitzgerald, on the other hand, says his large display began about a dozen years ago with one light-up Frankenstein piece that sat in his front yard.

When his brother-in-law, Brad Richardson, an Emmy-award winning Hollywood set designer, moved into his house 11 years ago, Fitzgerald’s display really took on a whole new life.

Featuring hundreds of movie quality props including a 20-foot-tall spider, a Stargate (from the film "Stargate") and a huge crocodile, many of the one-of-a-kind objects are made by Fitzgerald and Richardson.

“There is tremendous detail in the props,” Fitzgerald said. “People are always discovering new details.”

Many props at Bathe and Fitzgerald’s homes are made from foam which is crafted and then painted.

“Foam is the key,” Fitzgerald said.

Bathe also makes many of his own props from foam and concrete. If he can’t find something he wants for his display on sale, he gets to work and constructs it himself.

Nature also helped Bathe get creative this year. After a sinkhole appeared in his front yard after Hurricane Irene, he filled it in and made it look like a freshly dug grave.

Both Bathe and Fitzgerald admit their large displays take months of planning and work.

Fitzgerald begins setting up his display on Labor Day when he closes his pool for the season.

Bathe said setup for his display begins in late September. And both men said that props are being added up until Oct. 31.

On Halloween night, Delft and Spring lanes are filled with cars and trick-or-treaters. Bathe’s display features thunder booming and simulated lightning. Fitzgerald, on the other hand, has images of ghoulish creatures projected onto a large tree in his backyard.

The two men tell Patch that people come from around the region to see their displays. On Oct. 31, the streets can become so congested in the neighborhood police are sometimes needed to direct traffic.

“I have to thank my wife. She puts up with all this and helps come up with ideas,” said Bathe. “But, if it was up to her, she’d put out a few pumpkins and have some bails of hay.”