For the kids, Easthampton family goes all out

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

EASTHAMPTON - Some families go all out on their Christmas decorations, others do it up big on cookouts and patriotic displays on the Fourth of July - but for the Ringer family, Halloween is the best night of the year. This time around, they've spend a solid month preparing, each week adding a little more to their elaborate display.

Trick-or-treaters in Easthampton Sunday will be invited to take a stroll through a foggy graveyard and visit a morgue run by a mad scientist at the family's 46 Mount Tom Ave. home.

Continuing what has become a spooky Ringer family tradition, Robert Ringer Sr., 59, Robert Ringer Jr., 35, and Joseph Ringer, 31, have worked together over the past month to install creative displays and carve more than 50 pumpkins for their display.

"Our letter carrier has been coming in every day to look and see what we've added and then he goes back to the post office and tells everyone what's new," said Robert Ringer Sr.

Robert Ringer Jr. noted that visitors come from as far away as Springfield to trick or treat in their quiet Easthampton neighborhood, drawn by their display.

"Last year we had people coming from Westhampton, Holyoke and as far away as Springfield to come and see the house," he said. "It just keeps getting bigger every year."

It's all part of the fun for him.

"For me doing this is all about the kids," he said as he set up earlier this month. "There's nothing better than seeing kids having fun on Halloween, whether they get scared or just love walking around and wondering what our different things are."

In a dimly lit morgue next to the pale white three-story house, Joseph Ringer will assume the role of a mad scientist, hungry for the fake eyeballs, fingers, legs and arms of a decapitated corpse within.

Above the house, among cobwebs and bats, hangs an assortment of spooky masks and characters, meant to delight, and delightfully scare, trick-or-treaters.

As word of the setup has spread, Robert Ringer Sr. said the family's yearly display has become increasingly elaborate, this year including fog machines and a hand-crafted hearse driven by a skeleton.

"We get bigger and bigger because we figure we can expect to see more people showing up this Halloween than last year," he said.

In years past, family members have hidden in a pile of leaves dressed as a pumpkin or scarecrow, waiting to jump out at trick-or-treaters distracted by the cobwebs, floating skeletons and scary masks adorning the house.

The family has enlisted help from extended family and friends at a pumpkin-carving party Saturday.

"We get about 50 good-sized pumpkins and we have people come over for a cook-out to help carve them and get them ready for Halloween night," Robert Ringer Jr. said.

When all the pumpkins are ready, they are lined up in rows and illuminated with candles to be displayed along the roadway.

"We've had trick or treaters go running back to their Mom or Dad after stopping by," he said with a laugh. "And for us that's what its all about - seeing the kids get into the spirit of Halloween."

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.