A Del Rey Oaks home becomes a Halloween night destination for brave candy seekers.

As night falls on an unassuming street tucked into Del Rey Oaks, all seems quiet as the kids get back from school and the adults return from a day at work.

But there is one house that stands out among the rest on Work Avenue. Ghastly figures have taken residence in the front yard, daring all who pass by to enter, if they are so brave. For the souls who take a step inside, they may hear a faint scream coming from one corner. Is someone in danger, or is it just their imagination?

There’s no time to think – zombies have spotted their prey and begin crawling toward the living. Suddenly a spider jumps out next to the path, and as one runs toward the front door and, perhaps, safety, another ghoul is waiting, tearing off its head in one final, grotesque jumpscare.

This is Paul Hastey’s pride and joy, a Halloween tradition for nearly a decade where he attempts to go bigger and better every year.

The trick-or-treaters are taking notice. Hastey’s Work Avenue home is a block away from Portola Drive, a Halloween night hotspot for the many families who live there and go door-to-door among the many cul-de-sacs lining the neighborhood.

Hoping to get a slice of the crowds to check out his display, Hastey says he put a 12-foot-tall ghost figure in the back of his truck beginning about nine years ago for the trick-or-treaters to spot from the adjacent street.

It worked, perhaps even better than he imagined.

“Now, people are coming from Pacific Grove, Monterey,” Hastey says. “They’ll make the trip over to see what I’ve done.”

Hastey may have gotten the ball rolling in his neighborhood. He’s noticed more homes getting decked out for the season in the years since he first put up his display, and the trick-or-treaters are following suit.

This year’s display, Hastey says, is “the most elaborate I’ve ever done.” The zombie crawlers are new (he adds that he has to keep an eye on them, because they may end up wriggling their way through the entire neighborhood), as is a more prominent spot for Gordon the ghoul with his horde of gourds. A laser lights up the fog created by a machine, adding a sea of red low to the ground across the entire display.

On Halloween night, Hastey dresses up as Michael Myers from the Halloween films, lurking up and down the street.

Most of his pieces are purchased online or from stores such as Spirit Halloween and Home Depot – “I’m pretty picky about what I get,” he says – while he has to strategize which animatronics to turn on and which to keep off. Not only because of the sound factor (too much on at the same time just leads to white noise) but also for how terrifying they can be to younger children.

Hastey is proud to hear from kids who were too scared to walk into the display in previous years, but as they grow older, so too does their courage.

“When they make it up here, they don’t get just one candy,” he says. “They get a handful. There’s a reward to come through the yard.”

One animatronic remains turned off. It’s just too scary.

“I want to give the candy away,” Hastey says. “I don’t want the kids to not want to come up here.”

Hastey, an electrician for 30 years, says he didn’t have many opportunities to go trick-or-treating while he was growing up in rural Carmel Valley. But one neighbor who put up a display in their garage with candy has stuck with him all these years.

“I remembered it, and I’m 57 now,” he says, adding that he now wants to give children a place to look forward to visiting on Halloween every year. “That’s probably one of the reasons why I do it big as an adult.

“For me, Halloween is all about ghouls, goblins, ghosts and demons. I try to stay true to what Halloween actually is.”

Some may argue that he goes too far with the display, Hastey notes, but he adds that it’s all make-believe, and he gets his grandchildren involved in setting up the display so it doesn’t scare them at night – at least, not too much.

“Come nighttime, that’s when this thing comes alive,” he says. “I love Halloween. It’s one of the funnest days of the year for me.”