1 Oct2016

They say that charity begins at home, and that is certainly true of Killiney resident Ken Carraher! Every year he opens his seasonally-decorated house to the public at Halloween, all in aid of DEBRA Ireland. This year marks his seventeenth year of the crypt and the seventh of raising funds for the charity.

Ken took to Facebook in September to announce that he had already begun the long process of transforming his home into a haunted Halloween mansion. A visit to Ken’s Halloween House of Horrors has become a delightful stop for many children on the scariest night of the year, proving immensely popular with thousands of visitors every year.

How Ken Does It

Ken uses his skills as an electrician to create a crypt in his front garden complete with ghosts, goblins, skeletons and everything in between, accompanied by spine-tingling sound and light effects.

The house began with a couple of mannequins that Ken found on a scrap heap, but as the popularity of the event has grown so has the range of weird and wonderful figures. The Haunted House now has over €50,000 worth of figures from around the world. He has thousands of individual props.

Every year there are new additions to scare and enthral his young visitors, and Ken says that sourcing decorations has become easier with the growing popularity of the Halloween holiday. He used to get a lot of decorations from America, but now finds it easy to find materials closer to home. His handiwork is certainly impressive – just look at video of Ken’s 2014 effort!

It takes around 231 man hours to transform his suburban home into a haunted mansion, a mammoth undertaking. It is testament to the character of Ken and his team who put in so much work to delight children and raise money for a good cause. When asked why he chose DEBRA Ireland as his charity of choice, Ken’s answer is simple – he wanted to support an Irish charity that helped children.

How DEBRA Helps

Every year the haunted house raises thousands of Euros for DEBRA Ireland, a charity dedicated to supporting children with the chronic skin condition Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB). EB is a painful genetic skin disorder resulting in blisters which damage the skin internally and externally. It is a rare disease affecting 1 in 18,000 Irish babies. DEBRA Ireland has been on the go since 1988, and does very important work in family support, advocacy and research to help fight EB.

Entry to the house is free, although visitors are asked to donate to DEBRA Ireland. Collection points – including a few inside coffins – are dotted around. You can visit Ken’s Halloween House of Horrors at 5 Bayview Court, Killiney – that’s if you’re brave enough!

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