Published: October 26, 2009 09:24 pm      

LEWISTON: Thieves in the night steal most of a popular Halloween display

For Irene Daunce and her husband there’s no holiday quite like Halloween.

“We had a Halloween wedding,” Irene said. “We were in costume, everyone was in costume. We even had the minister dressed up as a monk.”

The couple moved from the Falls to the northern suburb two years ago to “get out of city living” and have enjoyed the quiet life they can lead out on Saunders Settlement Road. With more room, they’ve also taken to creating a large Halloween display on their front lawn.

Working with family members and friends, the Daunces create a ghostly graveyard, complete with scary arches, and dozens of ghouls and witches filling their front yard.

“We make a big cemetery and usually we start to set it up at the end of September so that it’s up for more than a month,” Irene said. “People come from all over to see it.”

Irene said the display brings a steady stream of visitors throughout the month of October.

“They stop and pull in the driveway,” she said. “Then they get out and they take pictures. On Halloween, we get all dressed up and do a little show and pass out candy. It’s the biggest holiday of the year for us — bigger than Christmas.”

Yet, just like the Grinch, sometime after midnight last Tuesday, someone swooped in and stole the Daunces’ Halloween.

“Everything was wiped out,” Irene said. “They took everything from the front lawn that wasn’t close enough to the front of the house to set off the motion lights.”

Putting out a display like the Daunces’ isn’t cheap. The estimated value of the ghouls, witches and other decorations that were taken tops $1,500.

“It had to take at least five to seven people and two pick-up trucks to take everything,” Irene said. “They didn’t just walk away with this.”

Lewiston Police were alerted to the theft and are actively looking into it.

“It is under investigation currently,” Lewiston Police Sgt. Frank Previte said. “But we don’t have anything further on it at this time.”

Previte said police are hoping someone who may have seen suspicious activity or have actual knowledge about the theft will contact them. Irene says she, her husband and neighbors have no idea who would steal their decorations.

“No idea at all,” Irene said with a sigh. “I’m devastated. It’s the one time of the year we so looked forward to.”

With All Hallows Eve arriving on Saturday, Irene said she and her family and friends are trying to rebuild their spooky treat with the decorations the thieves left behind. It will be something to celebrate the day, but not much.

“We’re trying to use the remnants to make a new display,” Irene said. “To replace (the display) now would be a miracle. (The theft) has broken our spirit.”