Halloween is celebrated most places, and Sun City is no exception.
Driving through the streets of Sun City, a few homes are adorned with orange lights glowing brightly. Some Halloween lover’s yards are packed with pumpkins, scarecrows, jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, and cornstalks. But the best symbols of the feast can be found inside homes in Sun City.
Entering Helen Wiederkehr’s home, one can find many holiday decorations scattered throughout the house.
Wiederkehr said, “It is fun decorating for Halloween but a bit of a chore doing Christmas because I put up so many trees. I think I am getting more into Halloween because I can’t resist anything that is orange. I kind of started decorating more when the kids were in college, but we always had a lot of decorations up, since I had them from my mom and grandma’s collections.”
“Witch” is Wiederkehr’s main attraction?
Wiederkehr has an assortment of brooms displayed “For Sale” along with a sign for broom rides. Wiederkehr points at one of her Halloween trees decorated with harpies.
“These are mythical figures from Greek mythology, having the form of a bird and a human face. I found these handmade by two sisters and a craft fair and I loved them,” she said.
The harpies in Greek mythology carried evildoers to be punished by the Erinyes.
What is Wiederkehr’s favorite decoration?
“My crow,” she said. “I found this at a resale shop. It caught my eye immediately. It looked so realistic. I picked it up to buy it and found out it looked so real because it was. I put it back down, but in the end, I ended buying it. As I carried it to the register, I could have sold it 3 times. My daughter, who is a Park Ranger, has told me the taxidermy of crow is excellent. The crow is the perfect Haunted Halloween faux prop decoration.”
On the kitchen table, not far from the stuffed crow, lies a fat black cat. At first appearance, Fergus appears to be another prop but is Wiederkehr’s cat, quite alive.
Wiederkehr shows a Hallway of framed photos, some covered with black webbing, but a closer look reveals some oddities of the people photographed. A number of the hanging portraits are digitally enhanced to have faces that change and show demon qualities.
“Here is my trick or treating display.” Wiederkehr has a display of a home decorated for the Halloween festivities with tiny trick or treaters, trees shedding autumn leaves. She continues as she picks up a tiny pumpkin, “These are tiny pods that I used for pumpkins.”
A number of the tiny items in Halloween yard were made by Wiederkehr.
The Victorian guest bedroom has an early dress form made from paper. A Victorian wedding dress covers the form and the skeleton face wears a wedding veil. “Look at her hands.” Wiederkehr points out.
“I found these salad tongs that were the shape of skeletons,” she said.
The bony hands peek out of the lace sleeves. The bride is not alone in the room. A pirate skull skeleton with long black hair braid covered by a tri-corner hat.
Wiederkehr’s work in miniatures which has been featured previously is displayed at Huntley Village Hall for the entire month of October. Stop by to see her room boxes, tiny vegetable creation flowing out of vegetable basket, a horse-drawn cart. Wiederkehr challenges visitors, “Look for my signature in all these scenes, my tuxedo cat, Merlyn.”
This year, Halloween occurs on Thursday, October 31. It is believed to have started with the ancient harvest Celtic festival of Samhain. Bonfires would be lighted and people would wear costumes to ward off ghosts.
