PORTLAND, Michigan — Portland in the fall is a treat.
“There's some beautiful decorations around town," agreed Sue Costello. "But then you look at them a few times, and then you don't look at them anymore."
Though at a yellow house on the corner of Grant and Bridge Street, it seems they prefer tricks.
“We thought it would be funny if they were doing something different," said Sue.
Meet the Costellos, the minds behind some locally-famous, ever-changing skeletal fellows.
“We change it every day," said Sue, gesturing to the display of skeletons in their front yard.
Every night in October, Sue and her husband, Mike, sneak out after dark to set up a gaggle of skeletons in a new scene.
By the time they wake up in the morning, they've got a crowd driving and walking past to see the new display.
“Lot of the parents have let us know that this has to be a stop, either on the way to school or on the way home from school," said Sue.
They've featured everything from Lions wins, a sleepover party, a Twister game and the Boos Brothers.
The day 13 ON YOUR SIDE met them, they had a eerily familiar newsroom setup, complete with a weather woman reporting "bone chilling" temperatures, a camera man looking into a homemade cardboard camera and a skeleton man in a perfectly quaffed wig telling the "breaking news."
“It’s breaking news, but its bones breaking breaking news," laughed Sue. “I thought, 13, it’s Halloween, ya know."
This is the second year the Costellos have set up the rotating display in their yard. It's the first they've started documenting the journey on a Facebook page.
“We've pretty much come up with all the ideas ourselves," she said. "All year long, we write down ideas. You go to bed and you think about an idea, and you say 'I gotta write this down!'"
They're two retirees clocking in when the sun goes down for an unsalaried graveyard shift.
“That's what we call it!" Sue laughed.
The display of the newsroom took them three hours the night before. That's about average to the usual, Sue says.
“Some nights it’s a full job," she said.
Once a year, you may think pretty hard on your Halloween costume, then search for all the elements you need. The Costellos do this once every night.
“We call it our mom and pop project," said Sue.
All that work in the dark is worth it for one reason — their light.
“Brett loves Halloween so much. We decided we'll do something fun," said Sue, gesturing to her son who has Down Syndrome, beside her. “His reaction... it's priceless.”
In Portland this fall, some may simply be keeping up with the season. But on the corner of Bridge and Grant, they’re doing much more than keeping up with the Boneses.
“Everybody's enjoying it," said Sue. "It's worth it."
To see more of the Costellos' creations, follow their Facebook page here. They let Brett pick what scene will be featured on the big night — Halloween.