Eric Lowther hoists the head of a scarecrow monster as his wife Janis guides it into place as part of their annual  Halloween haunted house in Exeter.
Staff photo by Sarah Zenewicz

Exeter man has 'scary' down to a science

By Kathleen D. Bailey
kbailey@seacoastonline.com

October 12, 2003

EXETER - It’s a clear fall day. Most of the homes on Garfield Street in Exeter have blazing displays of hardy mums and at least one pumpkin, but the casual passers-by don’t expect what they see at Eric Lowther’s place: a larger clump of cornstalks and at least 100 fresh pumpkins. Near the street, there’s a shed filled with cornstalks - and a skull over the door. Lowther appears from behind a black skull-in-progress that is taller than some adults.

"This one’s going up over the garage," he says matter-of-factly.

Lowther’s Halloween display has been featured on WMUR Channel 9 and in several Exeter News-Letter stories. This year, he’s adding scarier stuff and is also partnering with the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for a fund-raiser. He will collect funds for the homeless animals while he gives Exeter-area children and others a delicious scare.

Lowther is a perfectionist and will replace the smaller skull that hung over the garage last year with this greasy, glistening mass.

"I’ll drill a hole in the beams of the house and hoist him up. He’ll be pretty heavy. By then, I’ll have the red eyes in, and the teeth. I’ll put a smoke machine in the window and have smoke coming out of his eyes."

Lowther makes or customizes most of his "stuff."

"I don’t like cheap, orange plastic pumpkins," he says.

The giant black skull will have teeth carved from pink foam insulation.

"I’ll install these and then put the jaw in after," he says, gesturing at a giant black jaw on the garage floor.

His craft is the result of much trial and error. For the giant, black skull, he made a chicken wire frame and covered it with burlap dipped in a mixture of joint compound and paint.

"That’s what you smell," he says. "I use four parts joint compound to one part paint, dip the burlap into it and shape it around the chicken wire. It dries like concrete. It’s like papier-mâché on steroids." Cruelty to Animals for a fund-raiser. He will collect funds for the homeless animals while he gives Exeter-area children and others a delicious scare.

A smaller head, a jack-o-lantern, was made from rolling a ball of chicken wire like a snowball until it was the right size, then covering it with spray foam insulation. This pumpkin head will grace the scarecrow he’s planning to hang from a 26-foot pole.

"Once it’s hoisted 26 feet in the air, it will be pretty cool," he says.

"These are his hands." He lifts one of a pair of Goliath-like black claws. "And that’s a leg over there. Those aren’t done yet."

Lowther used chicken wire for the base of another head, a green and greasy monster with bloodied fangs.

"He’s going to look like he’s on fire," he says, cheerfully.

There will be a guillotine this year, and lots of characters like the Grim Reaper. He takes tiki lamps and puts skulls over them.

"I used to have a vampire, but I sold it," he says.

Another monster started out as a scarecrow, but took on another persona.

"He’s kind of heavy, so I’m going to turn him into a swamp monster," Lowther says. "Then, only his torso will be showing."

Corpse-ify ’em

Lowther is not above forging his own techniques - or his own vocabulary. Several plastic skeletons hang in Lowther’s basement. But when he brings them home from the store, it’s only the beginning.

"They’ll look better once I corps-ify them," he says.

Corpse-ify?

"Yes, to make them look real. I’ll drape them in cheesecloth, painted to resemble rotting flesh. I may even put some hair on them."

"This one’s always a hit," he adds, gesturing to a figure half-hidden in a corner. The mannequin has long, greenish hair and wears a robe. "Everyone asks for it. They call it the ‘witch in the window,’ but I think she’s more of a ghost. I put black light on her and she glows."

Lowther also plans to corpse-ify a purple plastic skull he picked up at Wal-Mart.

"I’ll put a mixture of wood stain and bathtub caulking on it. In the right light, it’ll look like rotten grass."

Lowther has several different techniques to corpse-ify store-bought ghouls. Sometimes, he’ll take a ball of old newspaper, shape it with masking tape and spray foam over it.

"I’ve developed a technique where, once the foam starts drying, after about a half-hour, I’ll put a glove on and pat the bubbles till they break. They look like sores. Then they morph into smaller bubbles, and I pull on these till I get a really disgusting texture. Then I’ll spray-paint it black."

He’s always on the lookout for a bargain or something he can customize. He goes to Wal-Mart and hardware stores. He bought his tiki torches at a craft store.

"I got an awesome crow at a craft store, and it looked great on the shed last year."

Definitely a ‘treat’

Lowther’s been doing the haunted yard at Garfield Street for about four years. He used to do a haunted house at his parents’ home in the early ’90s, but he sold a lot of his "stuff" when he moved out. Now, the Halloween bug has bitten him again. Last year, he was too busy running around, manning the smoke machines to count, but a neighbor told him he had about 1,000 people on Halloween.

Though people are welcome to drive by at any time, Lowther doesn’t pull out all the stops until the following two nights: Exeter trick-or-treat, Oct. 30, and Halloween, Oct. 31. On those nights, he lights 100 carved pumpkins. Most of his yard will be lighted beginning Oct. 20, but people also drive by in the daytime, he observes.

"Once I looked out and there was a busload of senior citizens."

Lowther doesn’t know how much time he spends on his display; he’s afraid to guess. He starts in February and works whenever he has a minute. He has to phase some of his items in because of cost.

"I’ll buy the chicken wire one week, the foam insulation the next."

And he doesn’t know how much he spends.

"It must run into the thousands," he says.

Furry friends benefit

The SPCA fund-raiser will help both him and the animals. He is planning to split the results 50-50, with 50 percent going to the animals and 50 percent to give him a budget for next year.

"Then it might not be so stressful financially," he says.

The financial relief will also be welcomed by the SPCA, according to Virginia MacDonald, SPCA director of development and marketing.

"We were thrilled when Eric approached us. He brought pictures of some of the things he’s done. Out of the many nonprofits in the area, we were delighted he’d think of us."

It’s been a tough year for the SPCA, MacDonald adds. In the past 12 months, about 1,000 more animals have been brought in or rescued than the agency saw last year. She says part of this is because of cruelty cases. One hundred to 200 new animals are the result of cruelty investigations and rescues. But the rest are usually the result of families surrendering pets.

MacDonald has seen many more cats than she’d like to.

"People aren’t taking the spaying or neutering of cats seriously," she says.

MacDonald adds that the well-appointed facility also affects the spike in new residents. People will drive out of their way to place a surrendered pet in a better shelter, she says, or feel less guilty about surrendering the animal if it’s going to a nicer shelter.

Lowther hastens to add that he needs to thank the other people who made it all possible. His wife is very supportive and helped put up cornstalks; his father helped him get the cornstalks, in the rain. Recently, he was called away to New York for business and a neighbor came over and painted the base coat on the giant black skull. For Lowther, Halloween is a time of sharing and caring.

He doesn’t "think" Halloween all year; he doesn’t watch more horror movies than most people or wallow in the macabre.

"Although I do have a skull on my wedding ring, but that’s just because I like them."

While his wife helps out, the horrific display is definitely Eric’s baby, but she does all the Christmas decorating.

"I’m still cleaning up from Halloween in December," he laments.

For now, he’s preoccupied with getting it all out there.

"I’ve got to finish this witch, too," he says, as he casually adjusts her head.

Lowther’s Halloween display will be available every night after Oct. 20. The fully lighted display will be shown Oct. 30 and 31. The house is at 28 Garfield St., Exeter.

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