Haunted Battle of Alberta-themed yard dazzles St. Albert Halloween

EDMONTON -

When it comes to haunted houses, this St. Albert spooky yard takes the prize for most Canadian with its ghoulish Battle of Alberta.

Amber Emmons loves Halloween and has always decorated her yard in the past 13 years to mark the spooktacular event.

“The first year, I put out a spider theme and I thought I was going to be the only one,” Emmons said. “Then my neighbour Vince started setting up his display.”

Over the years, the two neighbours pushed each other's displays to get bigger and better in a friendly competition.

“It started off with just a bunch of stuff bought from the store and then I thought, I have a creative background so I want to do something a little cooler, something more handmade,” said Vincent Sinclair.

This year, Sinclair’s Halloween display at 3 Addison Crescent jumped to a new level. He decided to make a Battle of Alberta display, featuring the Calgary Ghouls and the Edmonton Blood Suckers.

Each of the skeletons on ice has its own jersey and name, like McGraved.

“And then I have the two boys, the two St. Albert boys, Messier and Iginla fighting in my front yard,” Sinclair added. “Nothing cooler than that!”

Sinclair shared how he had always talked about doing a hockey-themed haunted yard. This year his daughter finally asked him if he was going to get around to doing it.

“She said, ‘Dad, are you ever going to do the hockey theme?’”

“And I said, ‘I guess it’s time ‘cause it kinda put a lot of pressure on me,” Sinclair said. “So I got ‘er done.”

“He has done the best hockey theme Halloween I have seen,” Emmons said. “I love it. We’re hockey buffs ourselves, and the fact that he can bring something so Albertan, Canadian, and then mix it with my favourite holiday too, I love it.”

Emmons says she is glad there are another 365 days to work on her display for next year.

“This year Vince (Sinclair) gets first place, second place, and third place too,” Emmons added, as she laughed. “I really don’t know if there’s any topping this.”

According to Sinclair, it took about 60 hours to assemble the entire hockey display, as well as some help from staff at his design company.

“I asked my guys if they would come up with a logo, so they came up with the Deadmonton Blood Suckers at Rotter’s Place,” Sinclair said.

There is no shortage of spectators. Krista Homeniuk brought her eight-year-old son Ethan to see the ghoulish game after his hockey game.

“I think it looks pretty good, and it looks like the Oilers are winning this one,” Krista said.