We start crafting our Halloween garden of horrors in July and it gets more terrifying every year

Every year, at our home in Blackpool, we fill the garden with ghoulish creations.

Over the past seven years, we’ve had remote-control ghouls that chase away trick-or-treaters down our Layton street.

We had a life-size coffin with a blood-soaked demon, and a 5-foot spider (which was eaten away by mice in the shed).

And ‘Scary-Mary’ – our resident zombie who guards the gate every year.

They are all made by my friend, Brian, who has no interest in horror films but loves to experiment with gory visual techniques.

He crafts them in his workshop, by following YouTube tutorials and using SFX materials bought from specialist online stores.

This years’ heart-stopping additions include an 8-foot troll, made out of chicken wire, cardboard tubes and covered in building foam.

And a gigantic 10-foot skeleton, erected with scaffolding with help from a neighbour.

It all started when we’d made some creepy props for a photographic studio, and decided to put them in the garden one Halloween night.

The trick-or-treaters loved them – and parents were asking all about how they were made.

So we’ve gone bigger and better every year since then – enjoying the many smiles and screams from passers-by, and the challenge of making our creepy garden even creepier.

On the big night, of course, it will all be lit up in green, with smoke and spooky ambient sound effects.

And, we have a cupboard full of sweets and treats, all ready for the occasion.