Drive down Lloyd Street, and it’s easy to tell which house is the spookiest.
It’s not just the boarded-up front windows, the ominous inscriptions on the tombstones in the front yard, the large quantity of skeletons, the zombified creature hanging from the edge of the roof or the crazed maniac wielding a chainsaw like he’s about to cut Halloween in half. Those indeed are all terrifically spooky details, lovingly curated by Andy Rumpf, Jill Sanfelippo-Rumpf and their two children.
But you also can tell they have a superlative passion for the intensity of their haunted decorations by the number of kids and kids-at-heart who are always stopping on the sidewalk in front of their home and gawking at their elaborate display at this time of year. On the October afternoon that Tosa Forward News paid a visit, several spectators on foot, on bike and by car were spotted stopping out front to pay closer attention to the family's display.
And that display has been growing a little bit every year since they moved to the 6800 block of Lloyd Street about 20 years ago.
“Every year it seems it takes us longer,” Andy Rumpf, 56, said during an interview in his driveway. As he spoke, the only thing seemingly containing the horrors on display was the fake black fence and stone columns topped with dim lamps that he installs every year as a final realistic touch. Imagine a home out of Transylvania rather than the Inglewood neighborhood where they live.
There are many homeowners in Wauwatosa who “go all out” with their Halloween decorations, but Tosa Forward News has chosen the Sanfelippo-Rumpfs’ display for its inaugural Haunted Tosa: Spookiest House because it is undeniable that they have set the bar quite high for nightmarish Halloween fun.
Submit your nominations for Spookiest House honorable mention and then answer our five Halloween questions to help Tosa get in the holiday spirit.
Rumpf said he has gotten compliments on his spooky yard from other die-hard Halloween fans. “People who really go all out seem to love it,” he said.
It all started with a simple ghost, something the family bought for its first Halloween after moving in. Then, every year, they expand. Add a zombie here, add a possessed woman there, add a serial killer on the other side of the yard. Sometimes the family would conceive of and create the annual additions themselves, and other times they would buy haunted figures from the store.
They usually start in late September, and the full display now takes about three to four days to assemble. Their son, now attending college in La Crosse, and their daughter, a Tosa East junior, also help out as they are available. When finished, it looks as if a ghoulish graveyard has come alive on the slope of the yard down to the sidewalk.
Those boarded up windows are an impressive part of the illusion — actually insulation foam painted to look like the side of a haunted house and then screwed into the exterior window frames.
“Enter if you dare,” one of the tombstones says.
The family also has given names to many of the scary denizens taking up space in the yard for the season. Rumpf motioned to one of the zombies, whom they affectionately call Zeke.
Photos by Rick Wood for Tosa Forward News.
That is a lot of Halloween for one front yard, and storage has been an evolving challenge. At one point, Rumpf tried keeping all the pieces of the Halloween display in a rented storage unit, but that required a lot of extra transport time. Now he has found space to stow everything in the rafters of the garage and in back.
Rumpf said he works in health care, so haunted landscaping is not a skill he comes by professionally, but he has no immediate plans to retire from this October family tradition.
“I always feel like if we don’t put it up, people will be so sad and disappointed,” he said. The fans on Lloyd Street appreciate that dedication.
As the inaugural Spookiest House honoree, Rumpf got to answer Tosa Forward News' five spooky questions ... if he dared.
Did you have a favorite Halloween costume growing up?
“We didn’t do too much. We usually would have to find our own costumes. We would go out and trick or treat, but it wasn’t as big of a thing as it is now.”
What is your favorite horror movie?
“You know, I’m not really into horror movies, but I’d have to go with the classic, ‘Friday the 13th.' You watch that now, and it’s more of a psychological thriller than gore. I’d also rather watch the family friendly Halloween movies like 'Hocus Pocus.'"
If you had to pick one: werewolf, vampire or zombie?
“I think zombie. I think it’s almost more real. As a kid, I think zombies always kind of fascinated me.”
What’s one thing that scares you the most?
"Growing up in the Cold War era, I always thought of nuclear war as the scariest thing. But I don’t scare easily. I’m not frightened by much."
What’s your ideal Halloween?
"The neighborhood does trick-or-treating, and we’ll do it this year on the 31st. We put a fire pit out, we have food and drinks outside, we’ll have a table out here. We’ll have a whole 100 pounds of candy, and we’ll hand it out."
- David Paulsen, a Tosa East Towne resident and editor of Tosa Forward News, has more than 25 years of experience as a professional journalist. He can be reached at editor@tosanews.com.
