MILWAUKEE — Ah Jinkies! You aren’t going to see many Halloween displays quite like this one. It’s Scooby-Doo themed, complete with the Mystery Machine, the house from the title sequence, and a few of the iconic villains.
Welcome to the latest version of the well-known A&J's Halloween House in Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood. It's located at 2943 S. Clement Ave.
“I think the special part about this year is that Scooby-Doo has been a part of almost everybody’s life. There’s not one person I know that does not know who Scooby-Doo is. It is generational," Andy Reid, the 'A' of A&J's Halloween House, said.
Every year, Reid and his husband, Jamie Beauchamp, come up with a new display. Construction for the Scooby-Doo theme started back in July.
“The most fun was the Mystery Machine. We had to make sure that that thing came out to look like the cartoon," Reid said.
Like zoinks man! Inside the Mystery Machine, you’ll see Scoob and Shag with a car full of burgers, probably running away from a monster. There’s also Velma who’s saying, 'I can’t find my glasses.' And of course, Fred and Daphne are together, and Daphne is all tied up as it often happens in the show.
You can’t tell me it wouldn’t be awesome to ride around in the Mystery Machine solving mysteries. And then when you get the bad guy, you get to unmask him, and he says, ‘I would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you meddling kids.’ Finally, you could top it off with a couple of Scooby Snacks. That's just a fun day.
A&J’s Halloween House has been coming up with new designs each year for about two decades. I’ve covered displays like Wheel of Misfortune, Ancient Aliens, Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, and a scary circus.
“It gives so much back to the community, and everybody enjoys it. We enjoy it. It’s just fun," Reid said.
For the past 10 years, they have been raising money for the local nonprofit Pathfinders. It helps youth in crisis by offering housing support, shelter for runaway and homeless youth, anti-sexual violence services, and more.
“We just want to make sure that we give to an organization that helps the community, and this year I hope puts over that top mark of $100,000 in 10 years," Reid said.
A&J's Halloween House has raised $84,000, so they are just $16,000 short of hitting that goal. There are multiple ways to donate cash or scan a QR code while visiting the display. You can also donate by clicking here.
“I want (visitors) to not think about anything else that’s going on in the world and just have fun when they’re here," Reid said.
As Shaggy would say, like wow man, this place is totally groovy and maybe a little spooky too. The display will be up until the beginning of November.
Since A&J's Halloween House has been going on for two decades, they've gotten a lot of the same questions. Let's answer some of the most common ones. This was taken from the story we did back in 2024.
- How much did it cost? "Never ever going to reveal that. That is our donation to do this so that the money that is raised goes towards the charity," Reid said.
- Where do you store it all? In the garage. They also donate the materials to schools. Sometimes people have bought features from them.
- What do they do for Christmas? Nothing. They just do Halloween.
- Why do they do it? Reid was inspired by his mom who always put up incredible Halloween decorations.
Watch the story below to see more of what the Scooby-Doo Halloween display looked like...
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