Livermore Haunted House Will Have You Shaking in Your Boots

By John Staton:

Aaarrhhhhh! Avast Ye, one neighborhood in Livermore has been thoroughly promoting Halloween excitement for 15 years. 2014 is the 15th Anniversary of the Staton Halloween Extravaganza so the family joined forces with long-time neighbors, Kevin and Lisa Gemberling, to go bigger than ever before extending the lengths of two houses. We all know that dead men tell no tales as a deserted sunken ship floats nearby in a glowing green moat while the Wicked Wench skeleton pirate ship sails nearby. The Wicked Wench sports a speaking Medusa at the masthead and all the while the ship’s captain shoots cannons at the fortress next door.

Trick or treaters will “walk the plank” between the cannonball battle of the fortress soldiers and the skeleton pirates. Watch out at you might get wet! The journey then takes the little scallywags around the burning fortress to observe skeleton pirates hanging in their jail cages and poor Carlos getting dunked in the well for information he will not provide.

Come on over to walk the plank on Winding Stream Drive … don’t be a chicken! Candy and camaraderie awaits those who brave this Halloween eve.

Attendance at the neighborhood has grown over the years, prompting the neighborhood to get a permit from the City of Livermore to close the street to traffic for safety reasons. Although John Staton has started the trend, many of the houses on Winding Stream Drive decorate up big during the Halloween season and, certainly, are going through multiple bags of candy and take “shifts” getting the door on Halloween night for the steady stream of scurvy scallywags and wenches.

The Staton house has become an annual community event for Livermore residents and friends across Alameda, Santa Clara and Contra Costa County. The main visionary is John Staton, a Mechanical Engineer who works in the Silicon Valley with the help of Jeremy Travis, Kevin and Lisa Gemberling, Dave and Logan Warner and too many other contributors to mention.

Neighbors not only have donated time but also gift cards to Home Depot and candy to keep the event going year after year. Thanks to Borg Fencing for donating scrap lumber for this year’s display.

The Staton House is located at 1312 Winding Stream Drive in Livermore.

Photo courtesy John Staton

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