Popular Halloween Haunt recognized as Lincoln’s October Home of the Month

[October 12, 2017] 

LINCOLN

On Wednesday afternoon Lincoln Mayor Seth Goodman and Aldermen Michelle Bauer, Rick Hoefle, and Ron Keller called on the home of Dr. Don and Jan Sielaff, to award the couple with the October Home of the Month. As part of the recognition, the Sielaff's will have the Lincoln Home of the Month Sign in their yard for the balance of October, and were given $50 in Chamber Bucks.

The Sielaff's were chosen at the Monday, October 2nd Lincoln City Council meeting by Goodman. He noted that he was going to make the call for October because he felt that recognizing the Sielaff s in the Halloween Month was a given.

On Wednesday, with chilly temperatures and rain drops falling lightly, the weather outdoors felt typical to a Halloween evening. While many people see the home after dark, when lights and mechanical displays are turned on, walking around the yard in the daylight unveiled items that the eye may miss after dark.

Speaking with the Sielaffs, Don said he’d been doing the Halloween House since their daughter Anna was about four, and she is now 19. Jan added though, that the first decoration on the outside of the home was actually Christmas when Don would decorate the yard for the Yule season. Then it was later that he began doing Halloween. She laughed and kiddingly said that for her husband, Halloween decorations have become a “sickness,” a rather ironic statement coming from the wife of the good doctor.

She went on to say that, while Don claimed he was doing it as a gift for Anna, she felt he was doing it more for himself.

Don said that many of the items in the yard he has built himself. He pointed out specifically the Hearse, which is prominent in the corner of the lawn, and drawn by what other than a skeletal horse! Even the bat hanging from the roof of the hearse has seen better days!

Don said that to get everything assembled takes several weeks.  For Halloween, he generally starts in September.  After Halloween, all this will be taken down and stored away and Don will move right into decorating for Christmas.

Jan also noted that Don is the one with the imagination for Halloween, and she is surprised by some of the things he comes up with, and builds himself for the display.

The home is located at 145 Tenth Street in Lincoln. It is an older structure, with a black wrought iron fence and a large metal arch at the entrance to the property. Garbed in the Halloween décor, the lawn takes on the persona of a graveyard with many a tombstone and casket. The black fence and archway add to that impression seamlessly.

Each year, the Sielaffs participate in Trick or Treat night in Lincoln. The crowds that come out have grown to enormous numbers. Don said last year, they saw between 1,200 and 1,400 people, not all children, but adults also enjoy coming to experience the house.

Jan said that they have in the past been asked if the inside of the house was open for Halloween as well. She said it is not, though the inside, she said, is also nicely decorated for Halloween.

On Trick or Treat night, there are special items brought out into the yard just for that one night. So though we have pictures today in LDN, this is obviously not everything you will see if you stop by the house.

Trick or treat night in Lincoln will be Tuesday, October 31st from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The Lincoln City Council, next Monday night, will be approving a request from the Sielaff's to close Tenth Street in the 100 and 200 blocks to assure the safety of children calling on their home.

[Nila Smith]