It all started with a spider.

Nine years ago, Andrew Hedquist set up a hairy, eight-legged decoration next to a candy bowl on his front porch the night before Halloween.

"Eventually, it spiraled into this," he said, gesturing toward his front yard on a recent fall morning. In formation of a winding maze spanning the front lawn, there are 41 creatures, including the likes of screaming skeletons, bloody clowns, ghosts and monsters so tall that they come close to meeting treetops and second-story windows.

Andrew, now 15, set up this year's showcase of frights in his Bethpage yard earlier than ever before: The second week of September. He's continued to add more eerie props and brooding figures annually, so the setup "just got progressively earlier," Andrew said.

Around this time of year,

See Full Page