Boo-tiful Halloween decor on display at Marion home

When it comes to Halloween, Robert and Zhen E. Rammelsberg don't mess around.

Every year, the couple goes 'all out” for their favorite holiday with an impressive collection of spooky decorations amassed over nearly a decade.

Their house stands out on their quiet Marion street - with six skeletons crawling on the roof, a red-eyed spider the size of a bear hanging from the gutters. Tombstones litter the front yard, with a skeleton appearing half-buried. Spider webs stretch across the awning and bay window as a spider mummifies a skeleton in its web. A zombie claws at the front entry, surprising guests with an intermittent spray of fog as they approach the front door.

'I've always loved Halloween since I was kid,” Robert said, reminiscing about his father's antics to scare trick-or-treaters - including building a coffin in which his mother would pop out with a candy bowl.

'And I've always loved throwing parties,” Zhen E added.

For years, Zhen E has thrown a costume parties, every year inviting more than 70 friends to enjoy Halloween-themed foods, drinks and decorations which don't stop at the door.

Once inside, guests are greeted by a display of creepy masks. Black lights set the mood in the living room, where a hand-built coffin serves as a cooler for drinks. In the dining room, the table is set for platters of caramel apple fangs, mummy dogs, witches fingers and more. The couple plans to serve jello-shots in syringes and a 'witches brew” punch, too.

Planning for the annual party begins a year in advance, Zhen E said.

The Rammelsbergs purchase most, if not all of their decorations after the holiday, hitting clearance sales to get the biggest bang for their buck. But not all decorations are store bought. Some are handmade, like the cooler coffin built from wood and tombstones made from Styrofoam.

'We're a good team because I come up with the ideas and he executes them,” Zhen E said of her husband.

Although decorating doesn't happen all at once, the month of October is a whirlwind of cleaning, decorating and last-minute party put-together, Zhen E said.

'October is crazy,” she said. 'It takes at least a month to get ready. ... Every waking moment we're not at work, we're doing this.”

Many decorations make reappearances every year - like Zhen E's favorite, a jar of plastic doll faces and Robert's favorite, the hand-built coffin - but the set up usually differs every year.

The most noticeable difference, though, is the Rammelsbergs costumes, which are always a big hit and kept secret until the big reveal at the party.

So far, Zhen E's favorite costume was last year's, when she dressed as the singer Bjork in the signature swan dress worn during the 2001 Academy Awards. Robert's favorite was Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - a costume he completed with a chain saw used to scare partygoers and trick-or-treaters.

'Trick-or-treaters are terrified to come up to our house,” Zhen E said. 'Even their parents stay back on the sidewalk. ... But everyone's always impressed.”