Unsuspecting drivers in Miami Lakes will get a treat this Halloween season: Four menacing 12-foot-tall skeletons lurk outside an otherwise peaceful-looking house.
At the corner of Willow Lane and Maple Terrace in the Lake Martha neighborhood, the monsters make their way through a small graveyard toward the sidewalk.
They are joined by a nine-foot tall, lighted werewolf and smaller dragon and unicorn skeletons.
While the spooky tableau may frighten passersby, to Michelle Rodriguez, it’s home.
For the past three years, this Halloween superfan has created memorable scenes in her yard. Her preparations begin in the summer.
“Everyone is like, ‘Already?’. But after the Fourth of July, it’s Halloween for me,” Rodriguez said. “It is my favorite holiday. I am obsessed with it.”
She saw the giant skeletons at a Home Depot and just had to have them. The décor is rounded out with caution tape, pumpkin lights and floating black witch hats. Spider webs will go up after the stormy weather passes.
Rodriguez said she shies away from creepy clowns or the iconic slasher character Michael Myers from the “Halloween” movies.
On the night itself, Rodriguez will dress up as a witch to pass out Skittles, Sour Patch Kids and large gumballs.
The decorating isn’t cheap.
“I make a budget and I try to not go over $1,200 and I am buying stuff throughout the year,” Rodriguez said.
During every Halloween season, her display has grown. It began with some not-so-cute tall, inflatable Jack O’Lanterns and a tree of ghouls that greet people along Maple Terrace.
“I’d love to add more,” Rodriguez said.
She labors on the display during the heat of the day and fights off local monsters -- the mosquitos at night – while also running her business from home.
Rodriguez is also raising her son Christopher Perez, 9, and cares for their three German Shepherds.
Their Halloween house is an attraction in the community.
“I had at least 500 people [last year] come by and take pictures,” Rodriguez said.