Professor’s elaborate Halloween decor transforms Utah home
Oct 27, 2019, 12:04 PM
Stock photo of Halloween decoration on the door of the house. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) — A Utah college professor has completed a massive project decorating the exterior of his house in an elaborate Halloween tribute to Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.
Josh Pedersen, a professor in Dixie State University’s computing and design department, studied more than 200 images of the attraction to model the design as close to the original as possible, The Spectrum newspaper in St. George reported.
He started by taking detailed measurements of his roofline, then went through a lengthy, careful process to create digital plans for an intricate pattern reminiscent of the movie “Nightmare Before Christmas.”
He printed the design on maple plywood using a large-format laser printer available at a university Makerspace, a shared facility where people can make things with equipment that can be hard for individuals to access on their own.
It took Pedersen and his team more than 27 hours to print the roofline pieces, and the design had to be modified to fortify weak areas.
Once the pattern was cut out and attached to a base, he added 168 electric candles made with PVC pipe and 66 fake pumpkins purchased from the same Colorado company that Disney uses.
Many people pitched in to help with the installation, which took about a week.
St. George residents can stop by and see the house in southern Utah every night or find Pederson on Instagram.
Pedersen, who used his own money to pay for the project, said he’s wanted to do the project for years and finally found the time.
“I am super happy with what we came up with,” Pedersen said.
