Creative San Antonio craft designer and family transform home into Halloween fright fest - San Antonio Express-News

Around the second week of October, strange sights and sounds at the Hockley house start attracting attention.

Thunder rumbles. Gray fog hangs in the air. Crazed clowns cackle and rattle skeletal arms. And when a visitor nears the door, the eyes of a gargoyle glow red as it growls, “I am the guardian of evil! Welcome to the underworld!”

Halloween displays are a tradition for craft designer Monica Hockley, her husband, Andy, and their four children. She said this year, Casa Hockley’s “Carnevil” will help nighttime visitors’ concerns over politics and the pandemic fade away.

Their only concern is sure to focus on trying to slow their racing heartbeats.

“Halloween is fun and brings out limitless possibilities,” Hockley, 47, said. “Anything goes, there’s no rules. Just let your imagination fly! It makes them smile and that’s the goal.”

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According to a National Retail Federation study, 53 percent of Americans plan to decorate their homes this year. In 2019, the number was 49 percent.

About the author

A 22-year veteran of the Air Force, Vincent T. Davis embarked on a second career as a journalist and found his calling. Observing and listening across San Antonio, he finds intriguing tales to tell about everyday people. He shares his stories with Express-News subscribers every Monday morning.

Unlike the 62 percent of the U.S. population that plans to hand out candy this Halloween, the Hockley family has decided to concentrate on offering plenty of shocks and scares to those who dare approach their Northeast Side home.

Hockley inherited her passion for All Hallows Eve from her parents, whose extravagant displays were rooted in missed childhood experiences.

Her mother, Amalia Matarese, learned about the celebration when she married Airman Glen Hamilton in her hometown of Pozzuoli, Italy. To their three children’s delight, the couple combined their talents to create unforgettable nights of fright. She was a professional seamstress; he was a skilled carpenter.

Hockley’s mother sewed all of their costumes. One of Monica Hockley’s favorites was a leopard jumpsuit that she wore long after Halloween had ended. She still has it.

Her father grew up in a strict religious home in Alabama and wasn’t allowed to listen to rock ’n’ roll music or celebrate Halloween. He made up for lost time with his wife and kids. Hockley said her dad excelled at building porch displays that he would hide behind and then leap out to scare trick-or-treaters.

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The only person who loves putting up the displays as much as Hockley is her husband, a Navy veteran.

Growing up, Andy Hockley’s family couldn’t afford to spend on things other than food and clothes. Now he has the means to buy all of the things he wanted as a child.

The Hockleys set up their first display in 2005, using a set of inflatables while stationed at Fort Worth Naval Station.

He’s the maestro of the gadgets, do-dads and devices that billow smoke, flash lights and spring out at a visitor’s slightest step. And the day after Halloween, he heads out to stores to buy discounted items for next year’s terror-filled display.

“We have fun, my wife and I,” Andy Hockley, 49, said. “We get to break out of the normal routine. It’s a good distraction.”

Each year, the family comes up with a new theme for their displays. In the past, they’ve created scenes that featured graveyards and dungeons. Last year, the theme was “Games of Thrones,” complete with dragon skeletons. Next year’s theme may include creepy dolls painted with cracks that snake across porcelain faces.

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Hockley’s talent for crafts also furthered her parents’ spooky tradition. She’s made concrete skulls and pumpkins that served as planters for greenery and flowers. One year she put out a red wagon with innocent-looking toys, but upon a closer look, the plush animals had sharp vampire teeth and creepy eyes.

Her children wouldn’t let her bring the evil toys into their home.

One of her treasured pieces is a shadow box her father made for her. It hangs in her closet, built with compartments filled with nine dolls that bring back fond memories of her father who died 10 years ago.

Hockley appreciates the care that went into his choice of stain, mitering the corners and choosing the right doll for each nook in the shadow box.

“I know how much of him went into making that,” she said. “That’s why I cherish it. He did all of that for me.”

Recently, two of their children dressed up in full costumes as a dry run for the upcoming fright night. Hockley’s daughter, Juliana, 11, appeared as Wednesday Addams, the pale, unsmiling girl with pigtails of “Addams Family” fame. Their son, Massimo, 9, followed her, caught in the tight grip of a “Bob the Alien” costume.

Once the youngsters are dressed up, they always stay in character.

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A week earlier, Juliana helped set up a fake cemetery with buzzards that Hockley fashioned from plastic pink flamingos. Though trick-or-treaters aren’t allowed in their gated community, it’s not uncommon to see the red flash of brake lights as motorists stop their vehicles to scope out the horrors that lie behind a haze of artificial fog.

The hours of labor spent on setting up he displays are the family’s annual offering to their neighbors and visitors; a fun-filled trip into a twilight zone where at dusk, everything comes alive.

Inflatable creatures unfold and slowly rise in the night air. Front-yard projectors cast bats and black widow spiders across the facade. A floodlight bathes tombstones, chiseled with skulls and crossbones, with a blood-red glow.

And though she knows what lies ahead, Hockley’s mother does her best to avoid the homemade horrors. She limits nighttime visits to their home, and if she does stop by, she will go through the garage. The only time she will go thorough the front door is in the daytime, when she knows the Halloween display is not turned on.

Sometimes, even when you know what’s lurking in the shadows, it’s just not worth getting a case of the jitters.

Vincent T. Davis is a reporter in the Greater San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Vincent, become a subscriber. vtdavis@express-news.net | Twitter: @vincentdavis

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