We asked, and you delivered. When we shared a Coverdale Drive house that goes all out for Halloween, readers filled the comments with their own favourites, from Amherstview to Sydenham to the east end. Giant spiders, dragons, a spooky carnival, and a porch guest you may not want to meet after dark.
Here are the homes you nominated, plus two haunted houses you can actually walk through. Wait for dusk, load up the car, and go see what your neighbours have been building.
π¦ Your Spotlight Takeaways: Halloween houses worth the drive
What: Halloween houses in Kingston, Amherstview and Sydenham, nominated by Kingston Spotlight readers.
When to go: any evening before Halloween. Most displays are built for the lights, so after dark is best.
Walk-throughs: two invite you in, marked π». Wilson Manor on Yonge Street runs October 30 and 31, and Weller & Wilson runs October 31 only.
Want more? The Kingston and Area DIY Halloween group keeps its own map of home displays (details below).
Be a good guest: admire from the sidewalk or the car, and leave the props where they are.
π In this guide
π About this guide
π About this guide
Every October, some houses around Kingston go all out. We asked Kingston Spotlight readers which ones are worth the drive, and this guide is what came back.
Most are houses to admire from the sidewalk or the car. A few, marked π», invite you in for a haunted walk-through. Wilson Manor on Yonge Street runs October 30 and 31.
Most displays are built for the lights, so go after dark. Admire from the sidewalk, and leave the props where they are.
This page stays up, and we update it every year.
π Maps of the Halloween houses
π Our map
Every house on this page, pinned with the name of the reader who nominated it.
πΊοΈ The DIY group's map
Larissa Gerow and Ray LeBlanc of the Kingston and Area DIY Halloween group keep a much bigger map of home displays in and around Kingston, with 61 locations at the time of writing. It's the one to use if you want to make a night of it. Open the DIY group's Kingston Halloween map.
π West End
943 Auden Park Drive
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Jason and Sonja Steele sent us this night-time tour of their yard. Skeletons glow under red and blue light all over the yard.
π Video: Jason and Sonja Steele
Auden Park Drive, beside 943
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Right next door to the Steeles, a crowd of glowing inflatable ghosts, jack-o-lanterns and a bubbling green cauldron fills the front yard.
π Spotted by Kingston Spotlight
948 Auden Park Drive, at Henderson Boulevard
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Just past 943, on the same side of the street but across Henderson Boulevard, this corner house has a giant skeleton in a top hat standing guard by the front door while another climbs a ladder into the tree, all under green and red light.
π Spotted by Kingston Spotlight
Boxwood Street
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
π Nominated by Angelic Perry
Chatsworth Place
Ray LeBlanc builds his own animatronics for his display on Chatsworth Place. The lights and inflatables go up at the start of October, and the animatronics come out on Halloween day itself, he told Kingston Spotlight.
"It's a curse of loving Halloween, being mechanically inclined and wanting animatronics to be unique!" Ray told Kingston Spotlight. He has one personal rule: no blood and gore. He would rather let your imagination do the work, and aims for psychological tension instead.
Here's the yard on Halloween night 2024:
His newest creation is Nagina, a giant snake.
π₯ And the dragons on our October 26 drive-by (video: Kingston Spotlight):
π Photos and video: Ray LeBlanc
Coverdale Drive
π 1145 Coverdale Drive
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
The house that started it all. We pass it on our drives out to Lemoine Point, and once we shared it on Facebook and Instagram, you answered with the rest of this list.
π Spotted by Kingston Spotlight
Dunham Street and Plainview Place
π 913 Plainview Place, at Dunham Street
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Look for the convict skeleton doing hard time in an electric chair on the front lawn.
Zenko started in 2020 with a few dollar-store skeletons and has added to the cast every year since. The house is near a school and a park, so the display is really for the kids walking by, and they help dream up the scenes: a ballerina skeleton in a pink tutu, a skeleton birthday party, and this year a stargazer peering through a telescope his husband 3D-printed.
He keeps it friendly for little ones, with small skeletons and no witches, since one young neighbour was scared of them. As Zenko sees it, neighbourhood kids like Ava, Presley and Sharon are the real creative directors.
π Photo and videos: Zenko Takei
247 Ellesmeer Avenue
Photo: Tammy A Bentley
Tammy A Bentley's comment on our Facebook post had just one question: "Jason is on the porch!?"
π Nominated by Tammy A Bentley
220 Ellesmeer Avenue
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
A few doors from Tammy's pick: tombstones across the lawn, ghosts hanging from the tree and a light show on the front of the house.
π Spotted by Kingston Spotlight
Hudson Drive
π 1072 Hudson Drive, beside Bayridge Public School
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Beside Bayridge Public School. They go all out every year, and their nominator says they do incredible work.
π Nominated by Tracy Hubbard
Juniper Drive
π 1266 Juniper Drive
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
π Nominated by Tanja Gorr McNea and Carrie Slater-Holden
1013 Lombardy Street
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
A skeleton graveyard spills across the front lawn, and more skeletons climb the walls of the house.
π Spotted by Kingston Spotlight
1009 Lombardy Street
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Right next door to 1013, a giant skeleton and an animated three-headed monster tower over the lawn, with the Grim Reaper standing guard.
π Spotted by Kingston Spotlight
Old Colony Road and Purcell Crescent
π 933 Old Colony Road, at Purcell Crescent
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Kim, the woman behind this display, is a teacher, retired for seven years, who has been decorating for Halloween for over 30 years. She did it at every school she taught at, too, and made it a food drive there. She's considering doing the same here at home in future years.
The scary pieces, animatronics included, are set up so you have to walk past them to reach the door for treats. Sometimes that means parents end up walking the little ones up. Setup takes a full day, with help from a friend.
Come summer, her fruit trees and five raised beds send fresh produce to Martha's Table.
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
π Nominated by Kat Dafter
Sheridan Street
π 166 Sheridan Street
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Tucked in behind the RONA+ on Princess Street, this yard has a skeleton-drawn carriage with a row of skulls, a chain fence, tombstones and skeletons climbing the house. Best seen in daylight.
π Nominated by Jolyn Campbell
Taylor Kidd Boulevard and Liston Drive
π 784 Liston Drive
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
π Nominated by Carol Lyon
π Central and North End
Cartwright Street, Portsmouth
π Around 35 to 41 Cartwright Street
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Just north of King Street West, this yard glows red behind a white picket fence, with a towering skeleton creature, tombstones and corn stalks.
π Nominated by Rosemary Wilson
Glenaire Mews
π Around 5 to 7 Glenaire Mews, near Aberfoyle Road
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Look for the Hatchet Lane Cemetery sign: skeletons, webbing and an archway over the front steps.
π Nominated by Shaun Annigan
π» Weller & Wilson
π 128 Weller Avenue
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
π» Walk-through: Saturday, October 31 only, 5 to 10 p.m.
This is the family's first haunted walk-through. Tyler Kelman told Kingston Spotlight they started building it the last week of August, and added something new every day so neighbours would notice the slow change, like a holiday event in a video game that gets better as the date gets closer.
Tyler says they love scaring people and seeing the community get out. Since Covid they've noticed fewer people joining in on nights like this, so they decided to give everyone a reason to.
π Built by Tyler Kelman with Will, Crysee and Janet
π» Wilson Manor, 236 Yonge Street
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
π» Walk-through: Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31
Poster: Wilson Manor, shared by Rama Kemmerer
Wilson Manor turns a Yonge Street home into a haunted house for Halloween weekend. Pick your scare level: Level 1 has no actors or animatronics, and Level 2 is the full scare. There's even an early session on Saturday just for kids six and under.
Please bring a food donation for Partners in Mission Food Bank. Times are on the poster and the Wilson Manor Facebook event.
π Nominated by Rama Kemmerer and David Edmunds
π East End
Highway 15 and Biscayne Street
π 83 Biscayne Street
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
π Nominated by Joanne Nevens, Marilyn McCumber and Michele Mahoney
π Out of Town
MacDougall Drive, Amherstview
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
π Nominated by Teri Martin-O'Neil
MacDougall Drive at Islandview Drive, Amherstview
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Just around the corner from 186 MacDougall: giant inflatable ghosts, a pair of googly eyeballs and a big Trick or Treat sign on the lawn.
π Spotted by Kingston Spotlight
Nicholson Crescent, Amherstview
π 114 Nicholson Crescent, Amherstview
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
Our nominator said this one has them ALL beat, and she wasn't kidding. Giant green spiders, a skeleton horse pulling a carriage, a glowing red skeleton, tombstones and a haunted tree, all lit up in eerie colour.
π Nominated by Nicole O'Callaghan
Botting Road, Sydenham
π Photo and nomination: Steve Kellar and Ashleigh Rider of Thrift Addicts in Sydenham
Sydenham Road, near Moons Corners
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
A giant ghost crawls across the lawn toward the road, with a pirate skull archway, a haunted tree and an alien among the crowd behind it.
π Spotted by Kingston Spotlight
Wheatley Street, Sydenham
Photo: Kingston Spotlight
A giant skeleton climbs out of the lawn while two more lounge on the porch under a row of witch hats, with pink flamingos standing guard.
π Spotted by Kingston Spotlight
πΊοΈ Find even more: the Kingston and Area DIY Halloween group
Behind a lot of these displays is a whole community of local decorators, Ray LeBlanc among them. The Kingston and Area DIY Halloween group on Facebook is where people who are into this share tips and ideas, show off their homemade props and animatronics, and help each other build their setups.
Every year the group builds a shared Google Map of home displays in and around Kingston, so families can plan a route. Ray pointed us to it in a comment on our Facebook post, and you'll find it in our Maps section above.
π¦ Spotted one we missed?
We'll keep adding to this list right up to Halloween. Tell us about a house in the comments on our Facebook or Instagram post, or email [email protected]. A photo and the street name is all we need.
π¦ Halloween's just one night
Kingston Spotlight is an independent local publication about the people, businesses and stories that make Kingston and the surrounding area worth paying attention to. It's free, it arrives twice a week, and you won't miss when this guide is updated next.
