Halloween homes

Television director Rich Correll loves Halloween. For the last 10 years he's produced Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion party for 1,500 guests, transforming the Holmby Hills pad into "the largest private haunted house in the country." But Correll's favorite Halloween event is decorating his own 1926 French Tudor home in Hancock Park that he shares with his wife, Beth.

Television director Rich Correll loves Halloween. For the last 10 years he’s produced Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion party for 1,500 guests, transforming the Holmby Hills pad into “the largest private haunted house in the country.” But Correll’s favorite Halloween event is decorating his own 1926 French Tudor home in Hancock Park that he shares with his wife, Beth.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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Skeleton heads are just the beginning: A look at homes that offer up a spooky greeting come Halloween. Director Rich Correll’s French Tudor home in historic Hancock Park is a haven for horror movie buffs, with decorations that include his 1,900-plus collection of horror film memorabilia.

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Correll, a noted film historian and collector, uses his home to showcase his collection of horror movie artifacts. With more than 1,900 items -- including makeup effects, sci-fi movie memorabilia and 1,700-plus masks and life-cast figures -- he has his very own Halloween prop house from which to select.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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“It’s the largest grouping of horror movie artifacts in the world,” says Correll, who plans to display his diabolical collection in a new interactive Las Vegas venue, Haunted Hollywood, this coming summer.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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His horror film pieces, valued at $6.5 million, vary in theme from a butler in the guise of Alfred Hitchcock to a T. rex head from “Jurassic Park.” Freddy Krueger’s hat and prized razor-finger gloves are among his favorite items.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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Correll and about 50 of his Hollywood pals work on and off for about a month to transform his home into a spooky mansion.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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The themes change annually, and for Halloween 2008, life-size Batman and Joker from “The Dark Knight” made an appearance.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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The props form a ghoulish crew inside Correll’s home.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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A large Dracula print on a window is one of several images that can be seen from the exterior, setting the stage for a creepy aura inside and out.

About 7,300 people attended last year’s house of horror, with lines snaking for 2 1/2 blocks. Correll was attempting to get inside the “Guinness Book of World Records” and had a guy with a metal clicker counting the kids. They didn’t make it, but not because of the numbers, he says. “A city official is supposed to do the head count, but we didn’t know anyone at City Hall who was willing to tally several thousand kids on Halloween.”  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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In their neck of the woods in Angelino Heights, antique dealers Bruce Lash and David Goldsboro go all out for Halloween. Their 1887 Qeen Anne Victorian is the perfect venue for a haunting good time.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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Goldsboro does most of the decorating, hauling out his collection of Halloween paraphernalia and a half-dozen life-size skeletons from the attic each October.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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The couple moved into the house 28 years ago. Today, its peeling, weathered facade and surrounding overgrown yard help give it the aura of a spooky haunted house.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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A 1920s machine that Goldsboro found at the Rose Bowl Flea Market dispenses streams of bubbles.

“It’s just like ‘The Lawrence Welk Show,’” says Goldboro with a laugh, “but without the Lennon Sisters.”  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)