For those who know Mark and Rhonda Allison, it should come as no surprise that they have an elaborate Halloween display in front of their home again.

In years past, the Niles couple have featured a spooky space ship, a petrifying pirate ship and a terrifying train on their property.
But even those who visit their displays annually will probably agree the Allisons have outdone themselves this year.
This Halloween, they filled their front yard at 2818 S. Third St. in Niles with a monstrous haunted Gothic castle.
The Allisons have welcomed dozens of people through the tall wooden gate of the 30-by-50-foot structure this Halloween season, passing out treats to the children. They expect close to 200 trick-or-treaters this weekend.
Perched atop the castle is a dragon that breathes smoke and used to breathe fire until a malfunction.
“Somebody just doesn’t know when to stop with things,” Rhonda joked, nudging her husband.
Upon entering the castle, visitors are welcomed by a spooky knight skeleton. When they step inside the structure, they enter a courtyard filled with spooky music and ghoulish displays. There are king and queen skeletons sitting on thrones and a butcher skeleton in front of bloody butcher knives and body parts.
If that’s not enough, visitors can step into a dizzying hallway filled with smoke and strobe lights. Down the path they discover spiders, cobwebs, bats, pop-out skeletons and a fountain pouring blood over several skulls.
The Allisons began working on the display in July and finished the first week of October.
“It’s quite a job,” Mark said.
Despite its extravagance, the Allisons say it didn’t cost that much to build. The castle is made of old plywood and paneling painted gray to look like stone.
Most of the display is made from friends’ and family members’ unwanted materials and trinkets, although the couple also scours garage sales for useable items.
“We don’t’ have to buy much of anything,” Mark said.
The dragon is made from an old liftchair, swingset, paper mache and home insulation.
“You just have to play with old materials you got laying around and you can really make a lot of cool stuff,” Rhonda said.
The Allisons put months of work into the castle but when children stop by, it’s all worth it.
“There are so many regulars that come,” Mark said. “There’s quite a few people that bring their kids every year and we get to watch them get bigger and bigger every year.”
The cold, rainy weather this month has the number of visitors down from previous years — one year there were about 100 people at the display at the same time — but the Allisons expect high attendance this weekend.
After such an spectacular setup this year, it begs the question: what’s planned for next Halloween?
“We will downsize a little next year,” Mark said. “This was a little overwhelming.”
But given their track record, it could still fill the front yard.