MANCHESTER, Tenn. (WTVF) — It is Halloween season in middle Tennessee, and we're seeing amazing decorations everywhere. This is among our favorites. It's a place using all things creepy and crawly for a wonderful cause.
For every night in the month of October, 190 Grandview Drive in Manchester is the Haunted Hallow Walk.
"We're in my yard!" laughed Stacy Lester.
"This is my house," added husband Ted Lester. "I live right here."
"Why worry about what lies ahead!" an animatronic ghoul told a group of visitors. "You have nothing to fear!"
Well, that's good to hear.
In the three years Stacy and Ted have done this, it's become a new tradition.
"We just kinda feed off of each other's energy," Ted said.
"I have always loved Halloween since I was a little girl," Stacy added.
"She's probably a little more fanatical than I am about it," Ted laughed. "My earliest memories are of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., Lon Chaney Sr."
Stacy and Ted want a place where kids make early Halloween memories in a sort of campfire tale atmosphere.
There is a lot more to this than what you initially see.
Stacy and Ted had a close friend, Roger Owen. Roger had three grandchildren who were treated at Shriners Hospitals for Children.
"This past December, Roger passed away," Ted said. "It's kinda hard to talk about."
"He is missed," Stacy nodded.
They wanted to do something in honor of Roger. The past two years, Stacy and Ted have collected donations for Shriners Hospitals for Children at their Haunted Hallow Walk. They're doing that again now in memory of Roger.
"100% of the donations we take here, we give to Shriners Hospital," Stacy said.
There's a lot to love along the walk, but I like what one visitor had to say.
"I think my favorite part of it is just the people who host it," he said of Stacy and Ted.
I asked Ted what Roger might think of all these donations in his memory.
"He would say I'm crazy!" Ted said. "He'd tell me I'm wasting my time on him, but no, it makes me feel good."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
One of the best things about Tennessee is its beauty. Reporter, Chris Davis, certainly makes the most of it as an avid hunter and fisherman. When he turned the spotlight on the potential funding shortfall the TWRA is facing - it hit a nerve with many of our viewers. To find out more, make sure to watch this story.
- Carrie Sharp
