Anita's Shoeburyness home is packed with Halloween decorations, lounge to kitchen, and her niece says hundreds of children have come in for spooky stories.

There is a house in Shoeburyness where Halloween does not stop at a pumpkin on the doorstep. The lounge is full from floor to beams, the kitchen is full too, and over the years, according to the family, hundreds of children have been shown round it while Anita tells them spooky stories.

The display was put forward to us by her niece, Julie Gilbey, who sent 16 photographs of the house this week.

“Over the years, hundreds of children have visited to look around, with my aunt telling them spooky stories,” Julie wrote. “Her lounge is absolutely full of Halloween decorations, with so much to look at, and the kitchen is full of them too.”

A person in a clown costume, red nose and tartan trousers beside the lounge fireplace.
A person in a clown costume, red nose and tartan trousers beside the lounge fireplace. Photo: supplied by Julie Gilbey

What is in the house

The pictures bear Julie out. Skeletons hang from a beamed ceiling. Rows of skulls, glittered in pink, green, red and gold, line the mantelpieces and sideboards. Pumpkins sit in old china jugs, with rubber hands reaching up behind them. There are two Halloween trees, one black and one pink, hung with lights, pumpkins and witches’ hats.

The lounge, with Halloween garlands strung across the ceiling and every surface decorated.Skeletons hanging from a beamed ceiling.

2 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: supplied by Julie Gilbey

The Halloween things share the room with what looks like a collector’s house: walls of decorative plates, a cabinet of china, a stand of carved walking sticks. Ghoulish faces peer out from among them, and a skeleton version of the American Gothic painting hangs above one display of skulls.

Glitter skulls and black candelabra beneath a skeleton version of the American Gothic painting.Pumpkins in china jugs, with rubber hands behind them.A pink Halloween tree hung with pumpkins and witches' hats, beside a table of skulls.A black Halloween tree lit up in a corner of the room.

4 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: supplied by Julie Gilbey

Stories for visiting children

Julie’s point is less the decorations than what happens among them: the children who come to look round, and Anita telling them stories as they go. The family did not say how long she has been doing it, only that it has run “over the years”, or whether the house will be open to children again this Halloween, so please do not turn up uninvited: this is a private home.

Skulls, clocks and candelabra crowd a long shelf above a stand of walking sticks.Costumed figures and a garland of skulls hanging by the stairs.A skeleton figure in a striped suit inside a cage, with a sackcloth ghoul behind it.A carved head on a walking stick, among the house's collection.

4 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: supplied by Julie Gilbey

What it means for you

If you want Halloween in Southend with a crowd rather than a front room, the Southend Halloween parade leaves at 6pm on Saturday 31 October, and our What’s On guide has the half-term events. Dexter’s Halloween in Rayleigh is a free walk-through on 30 and 31 October.

Do you know a house, street or shop in Southend that goes all out for Halloween or Christmas? Send us your news with a few photographs.