Witches, Goblins and Mummies—Oh, My! The Ruks’ Halloween House
by Poki Hampton
Who says Halloween is just for kids? Certainly not Patricia and Michael Ruk. A former party-store owner, Patricia began their Halloween party tradition years ago. It has grown to include more than 100 guests, who partake of all types of scary merriment.
As you enter the back courtyard from the street, you see the Metry Cemetery, complete with tombstones, a fleur-de-lis fence, moss and bats. The courtyard is filled with hand-carved jack-o-lanterns. Fog from a fog machine blankets the pool area. Beside the back door sits a skeleton dressed in witch’s garb. The bar is set up in the back—beware of goblins!
There is an eerie glow as you enter the breakfast room. Black lights replace every bulb in the house, making everything look spooky. The chairs are dressed in black gauze, while skulls, a coffin and black candelabra top the table.
The dining room is perhaps the pièce de résistance. Patricia says the “people” sitting around the table are her dysfunctional family. The spider-web- draped skeletons are seated before fine china filled with pickled pig’s feet, marbled boiled eggs and raw kidneys. Fake blood, created with food coloring and Karo syrup, is drizzled over it all for a gruesome effect. Bugs, spiders and rats crawl on the table and the spider webs. The Murano-glass goblets are filled with “red blood,” as well. But best of all is the centerpiece of a man’s severed head dripping blood. Guarding the dining entrance is a mummy Patricia calls “Grandmother.”
A fortuneteller’s head greets you in the powder room. Skulls with fog stare back at you from the mirror. And the black light prevents you from immediately seeing the screaming rat caught in a trap at the base of the toilet. Frightened, you try to get away, only to find a severed hand hanging from the doorknob. Shivers run up your spine as you make your escape.
The Ruks encourage their guests to dress for the party, so they offer prizes for the best costumes. Last year, they gave away four gift certificates to Rockefeller’s restaurant, which had been closed for some time. There was a door prize. You guessed it—an 8-foot door. They also gave a booby prize. Guess what that was! Prizes are given for Best Costume, Best Couple’s Costumes, Most Original Costume and Cheesiest Costume.
Guests use their imagination in selecting their costumes. One couple came as a husband with his “trophy wife,” who was dressed in a gold ball gown with her skin covered in gold body paint; the man was in a tuxedo and walked with a walker. Another man came as a cheerleader with rhinestone eyelashes and balloon boobs. One woman came as a table, with her severed head on a silver platter. But the most original costume was “Miss Debutramp,” whose costume consisted of a formal, two 2-pound bags of rice, bubble wrap, a blond wig and rhinestone glasses.
“To give a party like this, you need to have a weird sense of humor,” says Patricia. “You don’t have to clean before, you just decorate. The more dust the better.” The first year, Patricia made all of the food herself and dyed it green, orange, yellow and black. “No one would eat a thing.” No wonder. Now she serves jambalaya and other “normal” food the guests enjoy.
Think about bringing out your scary side at your own Halloween party. Be creative and “out there.” After all, it is the one night when you can be as weird as you want to be.
