A look at Halloween decorations creeping into town

I’m fairly uninspired when it comes to holiday decorations. I presently have one tiny pumpkin perched on my stoop next to my pathetic plants to celebrate the onset of the holiday season. (See above.)

And though it’s not quite time to deck the halls, residents around town are certainly decking their yards with Halloween accents. Some may be symbolic, like the jack-o-lantern, which is rooted in a practice from the Irish festival Samhain (acknowledging the switch from summer harvest season to winter darkness) when people carved faces into large turnips and placed candles inside to deter fairy spirits in the shadows.

Or like the skeleton, which is reminiscent of a part of Mexico’s el Día de los Muertos celebration that features skulls, skeletons or photos to honor and engage the dead and their departure.

Some decorations may just be spooky, reflecting the modern Halloween theme of the macabre.

Regardless, Halloween came to America thanks to immigrants arriving in the mid-1800s from Ireland and Scotland.

Now, with our traditions of trick-or-treating, costume-wearing and decorating, we Americans reportedly spend $6 billion annually on Halloween, which makes it the second-largest commercial holiday in the US.

I’ll stick to my $2 pumpkin, I think. But I do enjoy what the neighbors are up to with their festive preparation. The best part of scoping out some neighborhoods around uptown: I realized that no neighborhood stood out from the other. They’re all creative and they all show a similar spectrum of decorations. Could Halloween be our great equalizer?

The themes creeping into town:

Hanging ghosts. Borderline heart-stopping when caught off guard. (Dilworth)

Onslaught of webs. Admirable creative disarray. (South End)

Ghosts in trees. A subtly spooky, semi-adorable effect. (South End)

Pumpkins and mums. Minimalist, classic. (Plaza Midwood)

Inflatable jack-o-lantern. Tacky yet endearing. Bonus points for string of pumpkin lights. (Dilworth)

Just. So many spiders. Plus one demonized skeleton. (NoDa)

House-climbing skeletons. (Dilworth)

Skeleton in distress, pirate skeleton, thick webs with spiders, tombstones, dangling body. All the tricks in the bag. (Dilworth)

Nothing says “fall” like creepy yards.

What have I missed? Share your favorite Halloween finds with @Charlotte_Five.

It’s 17 days until Halloween and Katie Toussaint still hasn’t gorged on candy corn. When she’s not setting personal records of restraint, Katie edits for CharlotteFive and community news at the Charlotte Observer. Follow her on  Twitter @katietoussaint.

This story was originally published October 14, 2015 at 1:00 AM with the headline "A look at Halloween decorations creeping into town."