Halloween with the Henning household

Family keeps tradition of decorating in bulk

By Matthew Nash • October 25, 2023 1:30 am

There’s plenty of haunts outside and even inside the Henning house.

Each holiday season, Josh and Ruby Henning’s home off Old Olympic Highway just east of Towne Road is a must-see spectacle of decorations for Halloween.

There’s family tombstones, inflatables, light displays, creepy creatures and more for passers-by to enjoy.

It’s become such a popular attraction, Josh said, that locals send them cards of appreciation.

“I can’t tell you how many people stop by to take pictures,” he said.

“The school bus even honks when it goes by.”

The Henning’s home features a loop that drivers can use to absorb the breadth of the decorations the family has put up.

Even 16-year-old daughter Abby Henning said there’s a lot to see.

“When I look around the house I always see something new,” she said.

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Just prior to their family photo-op/interview, Josh just brought home another creepy standee to go by the garage. His favorite though is the animatronic grim reaper.

Driving through, visitors can see items such as punny gravestones, dozens of scarecrows, a towering gargoyle, a creepy video broadcast on the garage, and a motion-sensor witch.

Josh said each time a car drives by it activates the witch, so he hears it through the night before unplugging it at bedtime.

Inside their home is a plethora of decorations too, including more standees, video projections and a cool bat effect that appears from a lamp.

One standee of a girl with a knife had to move to a different corner, Josh said, because it kept startling him early in the morning while getting ready for work.

The Hennings have been decorating to this level for Halloween and Christmas for about 14 years, and Josh even built a 12-foot-by-16-foot storage shed just for decorations.

“There’s gonna come a day that I’ll have to build another storage barn for just Halloween and Christmas,” Josh said.

“Christmas almost equals what we have for Halloween.”

The fervor for their annual setup has gotten so popular that Josh said people have even left them decorations because they feel the family could better use them.

This year, the Hennings started setting up in the first week of September, and it took about two weeks to get everything they wanted outside and inside their house. They estimate they still have 10 full tubs they weren’t able to put out.

Looking ahead, the Hennings plan to keep decorating indefinitely.

“The community that comes by gives amazing feedback,” Josh said.

“We love to do it and have as many people come by. I’ll never build a fence in my yard because of it.”

For Abby it’s been a special tradition.

“It’s fun to set up decorations with family,” she said.

Last Halloween, the trick-or-treater turnout was excellent, the family said.

“We started using my candy because we ran out,” Abby said.

“We gotta give ‘em’ a ton because they come all the way out here,” Josh said.

Find the Hennings on the south side of the road at 8352 Old Olympic Highway, in Sequim.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Josh Henning, with his grandson Rylee Robinson admire a witch that is activated by motion sensors.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ One of Josh Henning’s favorite decorations is an animatronic grim reaper by his garage.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Inside the Henning home is a neat bay effect coming from a lamp on their mantle.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ If you’re in the market for various animal, dinosaur or miscellaneous bones, a display at the Henning home might be a spot to look this Halloween season.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Dozens of scarecrows, pumpkins and other characters and creatures can be found at the Henning home off Old Olympic Highway.