Seasonal & Holidays
Mr. Krickl Up To His Old Halloween Tricks With Haunted Garage
The candy will be flowing Mr, Krickl's haunted garage in Oak Lawn sporting a "Hounds of Hell" theme for Halloween, Sunday, Oct. 31.
OAK LAWN, IL — Billy Krickl, who’s been scaring up his garage for more than a decade, is up to his old Halloween tricks. His garage haunt at 10520 S. Kildare Ave., Oak Lawn, has been a neighborhood tradition, drawing over 1,000 trick-or-treaters each year.
He’s stuffed his garage with 80 hay bales, lunged at children from a cage dressed as Michael Myers, and conquered his own fear of clowns (his dad used to drink beer with Cookie from WGN’s “Bozo’s Circus”) in “Krickl’s Karnival.”
This year, Mr. Krickl’s court jesters-in-training — his sons — thought they would make a change from the 1980s and 1990s horror movie characters to old school werewolves, and are going with a “Hounds of Hell” theme.
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“Kids today won’t remember Lon Chaney or Abbot and Costello movies, but I loved ‘em,” Mr. Krickl told Patch. “ We added some brand-new monsters to the garage display, as well as using some props we already had.”
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After last year’s weird pandemic Halloween, Mr. Krickl and his wife, Nancy, were approached by scores of kids and parents this past summer begging them to do a “walk-thru” haunted garage.
“It seems people really enjoy our efforts more than I thought,” Mr. Krickl said. “That makes it all worth it.”
Despite his designs and good intentions, the merry band of pranksters ran into some snags, so this year they’re planning on a display. However, there is and always will be one constant, Michael Myers, just to throw an element of surprise into the mix.
The candy will be flowing at Mr. Krickl’s haunted garage during Oak Lawn’s trick-or-treat hours from 2 to 6 p.m. (and maybe a little before and later) on Sunday, Oct. 31, at 10520 S. Kildare Ave., so be sure to stop by with your youngsters on Halloween. The weather looks good.
As we’ve said before, every neighborhood needs a Mr. Krickl.
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