On a yard designed to look like a playground, strewn with maimed dolls and skeletons, a doll named Chucky from the Child’s Play movie is perched atop a slide, pushing down the disembodied parts of his companion, Bride of Chucky.
It’s one of dozens of equally terrifying scenes on display at the home of Wendy and Wayne Steller at 513 Mariposa Way in Santa Maria. The couple’s haunted house has been a staple in Santa Maria for 20 years; thousands and thousands of people have crossed through their yard over that time, in search of a giddy good fright during the Halloween season.
But the story of this gruesome yet comedic scene didn’t begin with a horror movie.
It started at the Santa Maria Inn on another Halloween night.
Wayne was attending the party with his then-girlfriend, Wendy. He was wearing his chosen costume for the night, a Chippendale’s exotic dancer dressed only in sleek tight black pants and the dance troupe’s signature tie.
“Later that night I dressed up in a different costume,” he said. “I came out as Darth Vader, and I was holding a carved pumpkin that said, ‘Will you marry me?’ She had no idea it was me.”
Inside the pumpkin was a Princess Leia figure, also from the Star Wars films. Around its neck was a diamond ring. From that point on, the couple not only wed and bought a house together, they decided to start their own unique Halloween tradition to commemorate the occasion.
“Since it had such special meaning we decided to try a haunted house,” Wayne said. “We thought we would get maybe 50 people; that’s it.”
Wendy said growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness did not allow her the opportunity to celebrate holidays such as Halloween.
“I don’t have any memories of celebrating anything for that day,” she said. “I left the religion when I was about 28. I think I’m just making up for my lost childhood. For me it’s just so much fun, for that reason.”
The haunted house is really a haunted backyard and front yard that bleeds into the couple’s garage. Wayne said every year Wendy exercises her creative juices and comes up with a theme.
“This year’s theme is a schoolyard and a classroom,” Wayne said. “We’ve got Jason [from the Friday the 13th franchise] out there; he’s a crossing guard. Freddy Krueger [from the Nightmare on Elm St. franchise) is the bus driver.”
The front yard is a playground and the garage is Haunted High, Wayne said. A creepy looking witch serves as a school teacher and other disturbed looking figures sit menacingly in the rows of pupil seats.
“I think the people like it because we change it every time we do it,” Wendy said. “So they really look forward to it.”
Wayne said the couple took off from work to run the haunted house through Halloween night. The most rewarding parts of the project for the couple are the comments people leave in their guest book.
“They write, ‘You should be working for Universal Studios,’” Steller said.
The couple works for United Parcel Service, and Wayne said because the company is so swamped at Christmas, they don’t get a traditional holiday with each other. Putting up the haunted house is also an extremely laborious process that the Stellers now take every other year off, which means fans who don’t head out this year to see the house won’t see it next year.
“It’s the day to be a kid again,” Wayne said. “You can be yourself and take a break from this fast-paced world we live.”
Arts and Lifestyle Writer Rebecca Rose is not afraid of clowns. Contact her at rrose@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 26 – Nov 2, 2017.