SUFFOLK, Va. — If you’re looking for some of Suffolk’s spookiest houses this Halloween, you don’t have to drive around hoping to find them. There’s a map showing you exactly where to go.
Jennifer Harrison created a Hampton Roads Halloween map highlighting decorated homes across the region, including about 30 stops in Suffolk.
The idea started with a question from her son.
“My son in 2023 or 2024 said, ‘Hey Mom, do you think the people that go really big for Christmas would decorate for Halloween?’” Harrison said.
On the map, homes are marked with either orange or purple tags, giving families an idea of what they can expect before heading out.
“Orange is someone that decorates. They can have one or two inflatables, doesn’t matter. As long as you have something in your yard, you can be on the map,” Harrison said. “Purple is a must-see house, more with a lot of stuff like this.”
One of Suffolk’s few “must-see” homes is on Strawberry Court, where Steven and Amy DeFreitas have watched their Halloween display grow over the years.
They said it started with a 12-foot skeleton, but it didn’t stop there.
“We started off with just a little bit of stuff, and I didn’t think we were elaborate,” Steven DeFreitas said. “I still don’t think we’re as elaborate as some of the other ones, but as I look at the yard now and realize we have no more room for anything else that can be seen.”
Some of the decorations are meant to give visitors a scare before they even reach Halloween night.
“One of the fun things to see is the ones that scare the people as they come up before Halloween, like the Uber drivers,” DeFreitas said. “The most scary one is where the pumpkin head gets pulled off. It scares everyone.”
The map also features other Suffolk displays, including a home on North Nansemond Drive.
Harrison said Virginia Beach and the Peninsula currently have the most decorated homes represented on the map, but she hopes more families can use it to discover Halloween displays closer to home.
For Suffolk families, that means a Halloween night out can be a little less about searching for decorated houses and a little more about enjoying them.
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