Family Continues To Grow Home Haunt In Croydon

For the Prendergasts of Bristol Township’s Croydon section, Halloween is everyday.

The family at 507 Girard Avenue goes all out for the spookiest time of the year. This year, more than 50 volunteers have worked with the family to put together their Halloween haunt on the normally quiet residential street.

In what has become an annual tradition, Colleen and Steve Prendergast will open their homemade haunt – this year’s theme is “Twilight Zone Timeline of Terror” – on Sunday and Wednesday evening from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. For the first time, the Croydon Haunted Hollows will open from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday for a special sensory-friendly walk-through for families. In addition, students from the Bucks County Dance Center in Bensalem will perform a special choreographed “Thriller” dance outside the home at 6:45 p.m. Sunday.

The free-to-the-public haunted property has grown over the years and now has spread into the yard of neighbors Mike and Sue Kuznick, Colleen Prendergast said.

The work to prepare the spooky display that welcomed more than 1,000 people last year takes time around the year.

“On Christmas, we’re opening gifts and think ‘we could use that box for Halloween,’” Colleen Prendergast said.

Steve Prendergast, who works for a paving company, explained how the family maps out the yard and lets each set of volunteers determine the theme and script for their section.

On a private Facebook group, each of the volunteers share with others their makeup, scripts, set designs, and ideas. Colleen Prendergast showed LevittownNow.com some of the posts on the page that demonstrated how the process plays out.

Earlier this year, the Prendergasts had the opportunity to attend a convention in Atlantic City that was aimed at home haunters and those who run professional attractions. Among the events were classes on set design, script writing, and foam cutting.

It was not until the family attended the convention that they realized just how massive their at-home display had grown to become.

Colleen Prendergast said she was shocked when other home haunters told her they could not believe how many people came through their display every year.

The growth and the feedback from the community helped push the Prendergasts to turn their haunted home into an arts-themed nonprofit this year.

The nonprofit status has allowed Croydon Haunted Hollows to accept help from Harry S. Truman High School students who work at the display and gain valuable skills while building community service time for graduation. Steve Prendergast said one of the teens who was helping recently showed an interest in learning everything he could about constructing the display.

Along with the nonprofit status came the first sensory-friendly Croydon Haunted Hollows walk-through. The lights will be dim, strobes kicked down a level, fog machines turned off, and music turned down. Colleen Prendergast said the actors will be friendly but still in costume. In addition, Jacqueline Breault-Straffe of TB Children’s Services has teamed up for the Sunday evening event and will offer some assistance for families with children who deal with sensory issues.

“We have 13,000 people who viewed it so far on the Facebook event. I don’t think we’ll get 13,000 people but we expect a lot of families,” she said of the sensory-friendly event.

Jarrod Bolton, who is dating the Prendergasts’ daughter Shannon, said he thinks the sensory-friendly event is a fantastic idea.

“It means kids (with sensory issues) can experience this and make them feel the same as other kids,” said Bolton, who has Aspergers. “It hope this idea spreads.”

While the display is a lot of work and takes a lot of the family’s time, they said it is a benefit.

Shannon Prendergast, who attends Truman, said the festivities have grown on her after years of staying away from her family on Halloween. She said everyone in school knows her because of the display and it has helped her move past previous bullying incidents.

“There’s always a pre-Halloween meltdown where we ask why we do this or say it’s not fun anymore, but we still love it,” Colleen Prendergast said.

Colleen and Steve Prendergast said their current display has roots in their 22 years of being married. At the time, the newlyweds noticed there were not many trick-or-treaters on Halloween and they recalled the scares they had growing up in the area.

About 10 years ago, Colleen Prendergast learned that Adriane Swenson of Lower Southampton was ending her home Halloween display and moving. She worked with Swenson to round up her displays that were in storage around the region over a year and grew her own collection in Croydon.

“I think we drove all over the tri-state to find Adriane’s pieces,” she said with a laugh.

From there, Croydon Haunted Hollows has only become larger and more sophisticated.

The family invited everyone to the festivities on Sunday and Wednesday. They said parents with young kids shouldn’t worry and performers are hooked up to a radio system to give the heads up if little ones are coming through.

While the event is free, donations for the nonprofit are being accepted.