It sprawls out over his entire 40 by 120-foot yard, fills up five tents, encroaches into his garage and surrounds the outsides of his single-family home in Burkeville, Richmond.
Oh, and over 33 years, he’s probably spent tens of thousands of dollars on it and devoted the majority of his waking hours shaping it into one of the city's best-known Halloween haunted houses.
In fact, it’s more of a theme park than a haunted house, and if Tim Jordan had his way at his home in Burkeville, he’d be working on his amazing displays 365 days a year.
The only reason he takes a break in December and January, said Jordan, is that his wife “wants her living room back and wants to put up a green tree or something.
“I usually start physically putting up the main displays about Labour Day, but it’s really an all year round thing; building new figures and new displays and preparing sets.“Some guys are golfing, some guys are fishing; this is what I do. I’m on Craigslist every day to find something new for the displays.”
Jordan — who runs his own catering company, Jordan’s Caterers, from his home with his wife — has been hooked on the haunted house genre ever since his parents took him as a wide-eyed 11-year-old to the haunted house at Disneyland.
From then on, it’s been an obsession, of sorts, for Jordan, beginning in his parents’ home and finally his own garage more than three decades ago.
“I do it because I love it and it’s my hobby,” said an enthused Jordan.
“I’ve been fascinated by this kind of thing since I was a kid and when I came home from Disneyland, I started building my own.
“Now, my garage actually stinks like a haunted house, I’ve been in there that long!”
As for what it has cost him to put on the magical, free displays for 30 plus years — that have wowed generations of kids in Richmond — Jordan was reticent to add it all up, or even contemplate the dollar value.
“I don’t want to give out financial details. It’s my hobby,” he said.
“I spend $100 here and there all the time on light bulbs and extension cords. A tin of paint costs $60 these days and then there’s plywood all the time.”
Donations are always welcome, added Jordan, but “it doesn’t even touch the surface of the cost.
“I do spend a lot of money on it and, after 33 years, the value of the displays must run into thousands and thousands of dollars.
“It is completely free, however, and I would not want a single parent with three kids to think he or she has to make a donation; I don’t expect a thing from anyone. As I said, I love doing this.”
Jordan hasn’t added anything “new,” per se, this year, but that doesn’t mean it’s not better than it was the year before. Not by a long shot.
And if you’re worried the haunted house might be too much for the little ones, Jordan is always careful to make sure everyone can enjoy his work.
“Hell’s Gate Cavern has five new demons,” he said.
“This year, I mainly added things to the current displays, there is a Glow Gallery Carnival though, that you have to enter through a clown’s mouth.
“It’s all black-lit in there, so everything glows. It’s 100 per cent family fun, though, with a low-scare rating for sure.
“I do have some edgy stuff, but I don’t like getting the crap scared out of me either!”
Jordan’s “Haunted Hallowfest 2014,” as he’s calling it this year, was open 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. every night up to and including Oct. 31 at his home at 1051 Hudson Ave. in Burkeville on Sea Island.
