Enter If You Dare: A walk through Halloween 2026 in the Heights.
By Jim Towers, M.J.A., J.D. · HHI Heights · Photo essay
The first ghost of the evening was lashed to a utility pole on Pecore St , directly under a sign that read NO OUTLET. Nobody had to explain the joke.
Halloween fell on a Saturday this year, and the Heights treated it like one. The yards were finished by afternoon. The candy bowls were full. By the time the light went gold, the sidewalks belonged to people who had plainly been planning since September.
It started quietly. In front of one house, a carved bear sits on a tree stump with "K+B 1992" cut into a heart. For the occasion, someone gave it a jack-o'-lantern hat. Witch hats hung from the porch ceiling behind it.
Then the street came alive, giant ghosts were strung from tree to tree across the whole block. A row of skeletons pushed a red classic Mini down a driveway, going nowhere fast. At , the yard had a name painted on a weathered board: DEADMANS PARK. Ghosts swung from a gallows frame. A graveyard of tombstones filled one side of the lawn, and a gravedigger crouched by the steps. A marker on the front walk said ENTER IF YOU DARE. Two women in costume stood on the porch and handed out candy to everyone who did.
Chula sause.
The costumes ran from homemade to all-in. Two parents came as Ghostbusters, complete with proton packs and a Slimer strapped to Dad's chest. Their crew included a ninja, a gap-toothed Hermione and a full-bearded Gandalf. Outside a fenced yard where a fog machine was running, Dorothy stood next to the Wicked Witch of the West under a hanging reaper. A grown man walked by dressed as a bottle of hot sauce. Somebody wore an Alvarez 44 jersey, because this is Houston.
The Ghost busters family. Great job guys!
At Michaux and Euclid, the witches arrived. A pack of them rolled through on bicycles, in pointed hats and capes, laughing and waving while families crowded the fence line with strollers and wagons. [TK: who organizes the ride, how long it has run, whether there is a cause behind it.] They rode off down Euclid past Norhill and were gone.
At dusk the inflatables took over. One house had built an arch of Hello Kitty jack-o'-lanterns, with a spider on the roof and paper luminarias along the curb. A family crossed the street with an inflatable rat bringing up the rear. A green T-rex stepped off a curb on and came straight at the camera, arms up. Neighbors had pulled chairs onto their lawns and porches to hand out candy instead of waiting behind closed doors.
By full dark the mood had turned. The last frame of the night is a figure in a Saw puppet mask, standing alone in a car's headlights. Beside him, a couple dressed as ketchup and mustard walk past without a glance.
AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
The Heights spends much of the year arguing about parking, drainage and what is getting torn down next. For one evening, the only argument was over whose yard was best. Nobody needed an outlet.
The Heights never lets you down.
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