EVERY Halloween, for the past quarter of a century, spooks, spectres and the ghoulish ‘undead’ have come out to play in this Baildon garden.

Visitors have been greeted by coffins lain open, skeleton limbs; zombies roaming across the drive; witches cackling in the hedge; blood spattered across the fence and the occasional arm sticking out of the lawn, between gravestones.

The spooky decorations in Adele Ward’s house and garden have thrilled generations of children over the years, and she comes up with a different theme each Halloween. This year it’s ‘scary movies’ - Freddy Krueger, the razor-hands killer from A Nightmare on Elm Street, currently stands in her living-room, staring out of the window.

“I started off with fake cobwebs in the hallway, a witch made of bin liners and a bucket of sweets. And it just got bigger,” said Adele. “People used to come into the house and out the back door. I had a creepy butler standing at the end of the hall. I started changing the butler into a different character each year; he’s been a skeleton, the Grim Reaper - and Santa at Christmas! This year he’s Freddy Krueger.

"I’ve made Pennywise out of a mannequin - he’s in the dining-room and sometimes I forget and get a fright when I come downstairs - and I’m making a wig for Samara from The Ring. I’m dressing as Michael Myers from Halloween and my friend will be Jason from Friday the 13th. I’m going to do a ‘Christine’ number plate for my son’s car and hang half a 'body' covered in fake blood out of the bonnet."

Previous themes included spooky Alice in Wonderland and Red Riding Hood, with Adele’s dog Nuka in a nightdress as Grandma.

“I’m always thinking of new ideas,” said Adele. "The kids love it. On Halloween night I hear them come round the corner and say: ‘Yey! She’s done it again!’ I decorate the house and garden but last year, because of restrictions, it was all outside. I dressed as Pennywise, the clown, and sat very still, then suddenly moved my head. One boy jumped out of his skin and ran off.”

Adele makes the decorations and creepy characters using an assortment of materials, including coat hangers and chicken wire. “Charity shops are great, I got some dolls and painted their faces to look like ‘Chucky’. The gravestones are Polystyrene. One year I wore a Plague doctor’s beak, and we had a stomach cut open that kids put their hands in for sweets. I've got bits and pieces everywhere. I think there's a zombie baby in the loft.

"I love Halloween more than Christmas. I’d love to have animatronics like they have in America. In the meantime, I can do wonders with a mannequin!"