All families have a few buried secrets; Brian and Donnette Plant have nearly a hundred at their Lake Street home in Trussville
. Tombstones dot the landscape, warning visitors that this is a place best avoided, but few heed that warning. In fact, more victims arrive each year.
The Plant family goes all-out for Halloween the same way some people do for Christmas. Halloween is Brian’s favorite holiday, he said. Every year since moving to Lake Street in 2007, the Plants have turned their yard into a full-scale cemetery, complete with corpses escaping from the graves. They also convert a part of their home into a laboratory and their garage into a house of horrors open to the public on Halloween night. They refer to their home during this time as “The Lake Street Mortuary.” The whole thing began with a Halloween party when their oldest child was around eight years old.
“It started out as our oldest child having some friends over for an experimental laboratory,” Donnette said. “Then we started doing the haunted garage. It started out with just friends and then, the next year (the Plants’ children Alexander and Brianna) would be in another class or another sports thing and we’d invite those people too. By year three it was public.”
Donnette estimated that, last year alone, between 400 and 500 people visited their home and more come every year. As the crowd has grown, so too, have the number of volunteers to work the event. So many people now volunteer that Donnette has had to make time sheets to make sure everyone gets a chance. Many have played a part since the beginning.
“We’ve got kids that have been coming and playing a part since they were six or seven,” Brian said.
Each year the Plants up the ante in order to keep things as shocking as possible. More than thirty new graves have been added to the yard this year and there are numerous surprises. Donnette admitted the sight of her yard at night frightens even her sometimes.
“As the kids get older you have to do something scarier,” Donnette said. “Last year we had a kid with a chainsaw prop outside the back door. Just when you thought you were done he would chase you around with it.”
The Lake Street Mortuary has featured a butcher’s shop, several surprises and a real coffin belonging to a special surprise guest. Each year, this visitor comes in a different guise, but he always comes to the Plants’ home in his hearse. Fun and scares are provided for all ages and people don’t have to worry about going outside of their comfort level.
“Children and people who don’t like to be scared can go through the laboratory without going through the garage, so they don’t have to go through the scary house if they don’t want to,” Donnette said.
The Plants open their home to the public only on Halloween night. The first few visitors are invited to a dinner party that, in the past, has included a DJ and other entertainment, but once the food is gone no more is provided. Entrance to The Lake Street Mortuary is free and events begin just before dusk. For Donnette, all the work put into these festivities is worth it for the smiles she sees on her family’s faces.
“It is a memory for them,” she said. “It is a memory for the community.”