Halloween happenings on Ocracoke are a hit

By Connie Leinbach

In a scary turn of events, the Haunted Howard Street on Halloween night netted $2,700 to go towards smoothing out the unpaved road that, like most unpaved roads on Ocracoke, is beset by potholes.

The fundraiser (Oct. 31) was a series of scary vignettes all along Howard Street. While a private road, this much-photographed road has become iconic on Ocracoke.

Howard Street representatives requested money to smooth out the road from the Ocracoke Tourism Development Authority, but were declined with the board saying if they financed one private road they’d get requests from all of the other private road residents.

William Howard, who has lived on Howard Street all his life, said he’s seen the potholes come and go and is working on a road improvement plan.

Katy Mitchell, one of the organizers, said Jennifer Kidwell came up with the event idea, and then 40 cast members came together in two days to create 13 vignettes.

Mitchell herself was part of the “Witches Three” scene, boiling up something sinister in a cauldron in Kate McNally’s yard.

Susie Scott O’Neal, another organizer and the treasurer, said the proceeds and some pledges by neighbors should raise enough to start some work this winter.

O’Neal’s vignette was one where she could be seen on her porch dispatching trick-or-treaters.

“I was a babbadook,” she said

She noted how much fun the actors had putting it on.

“If you tell people they can get dressed up and play a role, they’ll show,” she said.

Mitchell said other scenes were “Choose or Die,” “The Gravedigger,” “Camping Slasher,” “Babba Yaga’s Bake House,” “Vampirate’s Lair,” “The Holy Man,” “Adrift Sailors and Sirens,” “A wedding Funeral,” “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” “When Death Comes to Dinner” and “The Narrowing.”

“It was such a fun event,” Mitchell said, echoing many who participated. “We were all lit from within by terrifying excitement. The community pulled together beautifully to make it happen.” 

Earlier, along Lighthouse Road, costumed youngsters fanned out to gather treats from street residents and other community members who don’t live on the street.