If you mention “the Halloween house” in Prairie City, locals will know which one you mean. Up Main Street, just off Front, Shawna and Jamey Clark have gone all out for the past 20 years, the last 10 of which have involved full-scale themes such as The Giant Pumpkin, Beetlejuice, Ichabod Crane and a pirate ship. This year they went with “Ghostbusters,” including a custom-built Slimer and life-size Venkman and Stanz firing proton blasters into an animated ectoplasm portal.

Spengler and Zeddmore were less cooperative, their mannequins refusing to stand up. So they ended up on the porch, one seated and one prone, covered in “marshmallow goo,” which on inspection proved to be a mixture of spray foam insulation and shaving cream. Shawna Clark says they usually start on the next year’s plan right after Halloween. “It’s all her ideas,” said Jamey Clark. “I just do it.”