Area trick-or-treaters enjoy a wealth of riches when it comes to spooky Hallowe’en attractions in Orléans and top among them is the Albert residence on Pintail Terrace in Queenswood Village.

The father and son team of Brian and Patrick Albert have been entertaining trick-or-treaters from far and wide with their Hallowe’en menagerie for years.

This house at the corner of Pimprenelle Terrace and Leclair Crescent is a new addition to the list of Hallowe’en attractions in Orléans. STAFF PHOTO

The attraction takes up every inch of both their front and back yards as well as the entire garage, which also serves as the entrance to the walk-through display.

Upon entering the garage, visitors get to pass through eight different themed rooms that are filled with animatronic witches, goblins, skeletons, vampires and every sort of creepy character you can imagine. You also have to navigate through severed limbs hanging from the ceiling and skulls...lots and lots of skulls.

Brian and Patrick start setting up the display in August. It takes hundreds of hours to get everything ready in time to open to the public on Oct. 1. In the early days, they would only welcome visitors on weekends, but the attraction has become so popular that they have to open it up every night of the week except Mondays.

“Monday is our bowling night,” explains Brian.

On Hallowe’en night last year, more than 650 people lined up around the block for a chance to pass through the popular attraction.

Besides providing a spook-tacularly entertaining location for Hallowe’en fans, the display also doubles as a means to raise money for the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. In fact, the Alberts managed to raise over $15,000 for CHEO last year alone.

But the Pintail Terrace home isn’t the only Hallowe’en house in Orléans that raises money for CHEO.

Martha and Luc Deslauriers have also raised thousands of dollars for CHEO thanks to their Hallowe’en display on Deancourt Crescent in Fallingbrook.

The Deslauriers started decorating their front yard in 1994 when their oldest daughter was just three. Over the years, the display has grown in both scope and size to the point where it now takes up both their entire front yard and their neighbour’s yard.

“It went from something that was fun to do, to being something for the whole com-munity,” says Luc.

The walk-through display includes a Pirates of the Caribbean section featuring a large pirate ship, a section dedicated to zombies, a witch’s homestead, a creepy corridor, a pumpkin inferno and a 20-foot skeleton that lights up and flashes.

When visitors started offering them money several years ago, the Deslauriers decided to turn their Hallowe’en attraction into a fundraiser for CHEO where one of daughters works. During the past four years they have raised over $20,000.

Although donations can be made anytime by scanning the QR code displayed at the front of the driveway, the attraction will only be open for viewing this Saturday and Sunday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 30 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., and Hallowe’en night starting at 5:30 p.m.

This year also marks the return of the Guertin display on Mockingbird Drive in Chatelaine Village.

A broken pipe caused a major flood in the home two years ago, forcing Jean-Marc Guertin and his wife Jesana to focus their attention and finances on repairing the damage done to the main floor and base-ment. Around the same time Jean-Marc also underwent back surgery.

But after two years with the repairs behind them, they were ready to pull all of their Hallowe’en decorations and animatronic figures out of their garage and set them up in both their front yard and their neighbor’s yard. Or at least half of them. There’s not enough room for everything the couple has amassed over the years.

They also had to purchase $50 worth of batteries to replace all the ones that have died after being kept in storage for two years.

Although his back is nowhere near 100 per cent, Jean-Marc puts up with the discomfort knowing all the smiles the display will put on the faces of the kids who drop by to see it in the lead up to Hallowe’en and the big night itself.

“A lot of people have been dropping by while we’ve been setting everything up to tell us how happy they are that it’s back,” says Jean-Marc.

Unlike, the Hallowe’en houses on Pintail Terrace and Deancourt Crescent that are raising money for CHEO, the Guertins aren’t taking any money.

“No donations. We’re just doing it for the fun of it and to put smiles on the kids faces,” says Jean-Marc.

Other Hallowe’en houses of note can be found at 118 Pimprenelle Terrace in Queenswood Heights, 603 Wilkie Dr. in Fallingbrook, 6086 Rivercrest Dr. in Chapel Hill, and 407 Doverhaven St. in Chapel Hill South.