A Neighborhood of Scares: The Haunted Homes of Rogers Park

Just off the Jarvis Red Line stop looms a monster house nestled between two unassuming residences. On the balcony, a skeleton toasts the neighborhood with a vibrant orange drink in hand. When activated by a clap, twin girls with sunken, charcoal-stained eyes audibly invite passersby to join them in a grave. 

This is the home of Rick Schmitz and Chad Fabruada — a couple now “famous” in the neighborhood for their decorated haunted house. 

The idea was inspired by Schmitz’s father who used to decorate the yard of their home when Schmitz was a child. After his dad died in 2011, the couple inherited his village of ceramic Halloween houses, which now fill their living room shelves. 

This was the beginning of Schmitz and Fabruada’s Halloween decorating. After their move to Rogers Park seven years ago, the couple decided to follow the traditions of Schmitz’s father.

“The idea is it’s a feel-good kind of thing,” Schmitz said. “It’s not a competition. If the neighbors do more than us — great. Absolutely fantastic. I’d love to have the whole street do it.”

The decorations began with only a few inflatable characters and then grew to the size of a small coven. Schmitz said he’s noticed certain decorations becoming neighbors’ favorites, like the menacing werewolf growling at passersby. 

“My dad loved the fact that Chad loved to decorate,” Schmitz said. “They’d be chatting about what they could make next.”

He said he’s also seen neighbors sincerely spooked by the cast of creepy characters.

“One couple, the wife won’t walk by the house because she thinks she’s being watched,” Schmitz said in reference to the greenish, corpse-like woman surveying the street from a wooden swing beside the house. 

A few decorations are handmade by Schmitz and Fabruada, like the “Sleepy Hollow” pumpkin-head character hidden in their bushes. As a general contractor, Schmitz said he has the physical ability to engineer their elaborate displays, while Fabruada spearheads the creativity.

This frightening festivity is not only for the benefit of Schmitz and Fabruada, but for the Rogers Park community as well.

“We enjoy doing it because we just want to bring some fun to the neighborhood and make sure the kids like it and adults like it too,” Fabruada said.

Kristen and Kevin Mayes, who live down the street from Schmitz and Fabruada, said they’ve felt the communal benefit of the couple’s Halloween displays.

“It increases a lot of foot traffic in the neighborhood,” Kevin Mayes said. “We see a lot more people just walking around looking at decorations, stopping in front of Chad’s house and coming down to our house.”

On West Estes Avenue, just one street over from Schmitz and Fabruada, Linda Krei and her family set up an annual, free-of-charge haunted maze in their home. 

Krei’s husband, a design engineer, invents a new maze configuration each year, while managing the attraction’s more technical aspects like hidden doors and fake decor, she said. 

“It started with just cardboard boxes and we did a cool maze and thought, ‘Oh, well, we’ll invite the neighborhood to come in and do a haunted house,’” Krei said. “But then it just kind of caught on.”

The maze switched from cardboard to plywood as the years progressed. Krei said they found the cardboard to be too flimsy as terrified guests inevitably knocked into things.

The family adds on decorations every year, usually finding new items during sales after Halloween.

While Krei works at the front door, her family and friends play the frightening characters in the haunted house.

In prior years, Krei and her family have followed themes relating to Halloween media, like Stephen King’s “It.” This theme in particular included doors labeled “Not Scary At All,” “Scary” and “Very Scary,” in reference to a scene where the characters enter Pennywise the clown’s lair.

Though typically a maze, Krei and her family have created escape rooms as well — which Krei said have proved to be too scary for some participants. Krei recalled an incident in which a frightened woman with a baby fell onto a coffee table in their escape room. Fearing the woman had been hurt, Krei opened the door to find the woman laughing, while her baby appeared to have been tossed onto the couch.  

“The baby was on the couch and he was unfazed,” Krei said. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re gonna get sued.’ But they were fine.”

Krei said she’s noticed a pattern of adults being too scared to enter the maze while their kids march boldly onward. She said the maze has two fear levels for those with varying scare tolerances. 

The haunted house only operates on Halloween night and is open to anyone daring enough to test their courage. A lengthy line of eager onlookers is likely to form after 6 p.m. when the maze opens, according to Krei. The theme for this year’s maze is kept secret until then.

Just a mile North from Krei’s haunted maze, at Jordan Community School, 7414 N. Wolcott Ave. a 12-foot tall skeleton named Gladys looms over elementary school students with her trusty pet spider, Jack. 

For Jessica Bernardi, Gladys is a “beacon” alerting the community to her annual Dead on Damen Halloween event, a party on Halloween night, which will raise money for Jordan Community School and The ALS Association this year. 

Bernardi, a Rogers Park native and creator of Dead on Damen, said she started decorating for Halloween when she bought her condo 13 years ago. A single mom at the time, Bernardi recalled buying the condo with pride. 

This year marks a turn in the fundraiser’s history. For the first time, it will not be held at her home due to new restrictions put in place by her condo’s board president, according to Bernardi. 

However, with support from Senator Mike Simmons, who Bernardi said has attended and helped sponsor the party in prior years, Dead on Damen is partnering with Jordan Community School. 

“I think our partnership with Jordan is gonna really bring in more people,” Bernardi said. “I really hope it does.”

What began as an act of motherly love slowly transformed into an act of love for her community, according to Bernardi. Now Dead on Damen is an established event, as Bernardi creates a spooky soiree beloved by the neighborhood.

The “haunt,” as Bernardi calls it, includes a wide variety of ghastly and gruesome decorations, including a butcher’s table, a giant spider’s web and a killer clown. Bernardi said the decorations, which are mostly homemade from recycled materials, are projects she is constantly expanding. 

“Halloween? It’s a year-round thing,” Bernardi said. 

The annual Halloween party, which takes place Oct. 31 from 4-9 p.m., is a night filled with food, frights and fun. Last year, over 600 people attended the Halloween party, raising nearly $1,500 for Chicagoland Dog Rescue, according to Bernardi. 

This year, Bernardi has raised their goal to $2,000. Bernardi said she knows the majority of her neighbors, explaining that Dead on Damen helps foster her sense of “home.” 

“I have that close connection with them, and it’s to make it a home,” Bernardi said. “Otherwise, you just, you know, live in a place. That’s not a home. You don’t really feel safe. You don’t really feel connected.” 

Bernardi will be outside of Jordan Community School selling homemade wreaths and taking donations every night from Oct. 22-31. At the Halloween party, creatures, cryptids and costumes of all kinds are welcome to attend — if they dare. 

Featured image by Eliza Thomas / The Phoenix