Yarmouth woman’s haunted garage invites Halloween spirit and neighborliness
Karen McKenna in her Yarmouth yard decorated as a haunted house Thursday. She decorates her garage and yard every October for Halloween, opening it to the public on Friday and Saturday evenings and encourages people to make a donation to a food pantry fundraiser. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer)
YARMOUTH — In October, entering Karen McKenna’s garage feels like stepping between the pages of a Halloween “I Spy” book.
A bookshelf displays jars of witchy “ingredients” like bat wings and dodo feathers. A mad scientist’s lair in the corner features laboratory equipment and Frankenstein’s head in a jar. A potion-making table holds dozens of bottles and liquids for visitors to mix, and several decorated dollhouses are inhabited by bats, owls and mice. Above it all hangs a canoe — which is always in the garage and not particularly spooky — as well as twinkling lights and floating candles that illuminate the hundreds of different pieces of carefully crafted Halloween paraphernalia.
“The more you look, the more you see,” said McKenna, 65.
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The collection of delicately placed items were either handmade by McKenna, found at thrift stores or gifted to her over the years. The retired senior caregiver gives visitors lists of items to find in a scavenger hunt — three ways to tell a fortune, white ghosts made from canned whipped cream caps, or Snow White’s poisoned apple.
“Some kids are so into it, they really want to get the challenge. And others just want to soak up the magic,” she said.
For the past three years, McKenna has invited the community into her transformed garage on Newell Road. The display takes her a steady week to set up, and she opens it to visitors on Friday and Saturday evenings throughout October, plus Halloween. Last Halloween, over 200 people wandered through.
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“It’s always something to look forward to,” said McKenna’s neighbor Mark Priceman, whose young daughters are bringing a party of friends to visit the garage this year. “People will congregate here.”
Karen McKenna’s garage in Yarmouth is decorated as a haunted house. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image
New this year in the yard is “Witch’s Wood,” complete with a full-size goblin and witch and many more hidden details for those brave enough for a scarier experience.
McKenna has loved Halloween since she grew up trick-or-treating in the Cleveland suburbs, and she began throwing parties at her Yarmouth home even before her younger son was born on Halloween 31 years ago. Over the decades, as her children grew up, she collected and crafted more and more spooky decor for their front yard.
Setting everything up always delighted her, and her husband was her biggest cheerleader, McKenna said. After he died unexpectedly several years ago, she kept the tradition going, expanding the setup into a newly built garage four years ago.
“In a way I do this to indulge myself, and in a way I also do it kind of to honor the fact that he enjoyed that so much,” she said.
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McKenna runs a donation drive alongside her experience, offering visitors a chance to drop personal hygiene items — because they’re not covered by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — into the mouths of monsters. McKenna will later take the donations the Yarmouth Community Food Pantry and Maine Needs.
“What’s really scary is not being able to afford the necessities,” said McKenna.
Wearing her simple ghost costume, McKenna plans to welcome her neighbors into her homemade Halloween project on Saturday. She says seeing children — and adults — delight in the details of her haunted scene is her favorite part of her favorite holiday.
“Connecting with your neighborhood is really priceless,” said McKenna. “It’s a labor of love.”
A mad scientist’s lab is set up in the corner of Karen McKenna’s garage in Yarmouth. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image
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Tagged: halloween, halloween 2026
Sophie is a community reporter for Cumberland, Yarmouth, North Yarmouth and Falmouth and previously reported for the Forecaster. Her memories of briefly living on Mount Desert Island as a child drew her. More by Sophie Burchell
