A San Jose man known for his elaborate haunted houses is creating a Victorian mansion this year after a two-year hiatus. Garvin Thomas reports.
For the past 22 years, Bob Schiro and his "Boo Crew" have built haunted houses from scratch for the benefit of their San Jose community. Each year, the crew picks a new theme and then builds an entirely new, multi-story structure from the ground up to reflect it.
Every year, that is, except for the past two years. In both 2020 and 2021, the conditions due to the pandemic, Schiro believed, were not right to host a haunted house that traditionally gathers thousands of people on Halloween.
Schiro is thrilled to be back doing what he loves with a crew he loves working with.
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“That's the biggest part: the energy from the community. I think when you get people at their best together and converge on something, you can't explain that feeling,” said Schiro. “It just is and you just enjoy it at its highest.”
From a pirate ship to a haunted hotel to this year's Victorian mansion, no two years are alike. The lone constant has been why Schiro does it.
“We want to build people up and I think we build people up here and make them feel better about themselves,” said Schiro, who began building the houses for his daughter's elementary school fall festivals.
Nine years into it, Schiro switched locations to his front yard, building a temporary home each year in front of the one he already lives in.
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“This is a journey for three and a half months, building every day, every weekend,” said Schiro.
All of the time, dedication, and blisters, become worth it for Schiro when, “A car comes by, a 75-year-old man is in it and he's a kid again because he just can't get over the excitement that he gets from it.”
Seeing how his endeavor has connected people, particularly in his neighborhood, is what keeps him going.
“To me, 'What else can you ask for?' We are not dividing right now, we are connecting," he said.
And Schiro is not done yet.
“The tank is not full for my journey on this. Every year I'm enhancing it and I have fun ideas for the next year that we haven't done yet. It's exciting as ever," he said.
