Creepy display scares a Kanata neighbourhood ahead of Halloween

Halloween is nearly here and as many homes scare up their creepiest display, an Ottawa family may just have the best spooky sculpture out there. Feel free to take a peek, if you dare.

An eight-foot-tall pumpkin-headed monster wilts the life from more than a dozen others; and this beast, haunting Barrow Crescent in Kanata, shall be known forevermore as 'The Patch Collector'.

"It’s all hand-crafted and pieced together with old deadwood that I collected around the park," creator John Moore says.

"Once I get an idea in my head I just do it. I let it flow, but when I was piecing this together like the small pieces for the hand I could see them. When I found them in the bush, I would separate them and save them and think OK that will be a finger, this will be part of its elbow or shoulder."

Used to grasp the many screaming souls of the pumpkins attached to this ghoulish beast, many of which were carved by his eight-year-old daughter Shayla MacIntosh-Moore. 

"It took about five days," she says. "I’m absolutely proud of my dad and when it was done, some of my friends they thought it was real."

A pumpkin-headed monster wilts the life from dozens more from an eight-foot beast which haunts Barrow Crescent in Kanata. Oct. 20, 2022. (Tyler Fleming/CTV News Ottawa)

This entity, 'The Patch Collector', came as a nightmare deep within Moore’s subconscious. A collection of thoughts from various social media posts and TV shows.

"It’s a monster and a scary one," says Moore. "I would say it has a big ‘Stranger Things’ kind of feel to it."

This is a family who is no stranger to Halloween. Crawl back to 2021, when Moore used branches to build a giant spider.

"Our neighbours love what we do," says Moore’s wife Shawna MacIntosh. "And every year there is just so much excitement with the kids and the grown-ups, everyone always has a great time at Halloween."

But for pumpkins deemed unworthy of the Patch Collector, Moore has constructed a catapult, to launch them into the netherworld. 

"It attracts a crowd every time it’s been out," he says. "All the neighbourhood kids love to watch this thing in action."

So, what ghoulish creation awaits next year? Moore has no plan yet, but rest in peace knowing that another monster will rise.