A ‘haunted alleyway’ experience brings this West Philly neighborhood together

If you are walking around West Philly over the next few days, you might stumble upon a truly horrifying sight.

For the third year in a row, neighbors around 51st and Catharine Streets have built an elaborate and frightening haunted alleyway in between their homes to celebrate Halloween.

Brave visitors are welcome to explore the alleyway and trick-or-treat on Halloween night, free of charge. If you can’t make it on Halloween, the alley will also be open on Friday and Saturday after the holiday.

“We have a ghoul tunnel, a skull tunnel, and a ghost tunnel,” said Tim Reimer, the lead planner and architect behind the over-200-foot alleyway.

“There’s a big bat demon and these skeletons with bat wings.”

Reimer grew up in Philadelphia and its suburbs, but his family never had the money to put up elaborate Halloween decorations for their house, even though it was always one of his favorite holidays.

“It’s sort of like acting out some repressed wishes from my childhood,” he joked. “I always wanted to be able to do something like this.”

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He estimates that last year, roughly 1,000 people came to visit the alley, and he handed out 600 candy bars to trick-or-treaters. For Reimer, the haunted alleyway is not just about personal indulgence, but just as much about providing a fun experience for kids in West Philly who are growing up in a similar situation as he did.

The other day I opened the curtains one evening and all of a sudden there’s three skeletons with flames inside of their chests

“We’re trying to create a haunted house experience for the neighborhood kids,” he said. “The goal is to create something for the lower-income people who wouldn’t really have the opportunity to spend like 30 or 40 bucks per kid ... to bring their kids to something like [the Pennhurst Asylum].”

It’s not just Reimer or his fiancée, Kitty Jauregui, who are committed to transforming the space into a haunted attraction. Plenty of their neighbors have jumped at the opportunity to help construct the alley’s many pieces, too, even including members of the local stagehands union.

“I’m right across the street, so the other day I opened the curtains one evening and all of a sudden there’s three skeletons with flames inside of their chests,” said neighbor Joe Coyle.

Coyle helps out whenever he notices Reimer and others getting to work, volunteering to lift and hang decorations, fueled by Reimer’s enthusiasm. “It reminded me of great times trick-or-treating as a kid. Just all that excitement and some of the nostalgia, I just had to be involved,” he said.

He loves how it’s brought their neighborhood together, whether by working side by side on the alley, or by inspiring other houses to up their own decorations. “It is that really great sense of community and identity. We had some new neighbors who moved in to this street, and they said that when they [arrived], other folks in the neighborhood said, ‘Oh, you’re moving to the Halloween block,’” he said.

“We all come together ... [to] make something really incredible happen and make something unique happen.”

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Hannah Leib, whose bedroom overlooks the alley, hasn’t been able to physically work on the project because of a disability, but she’s made sure to donate financially to Reimer. She appreciates what it’s brought to the neighborhood, and wants to make sure the haunted alley is as spectacular as possible.

“Everyone always wants to chat about it, who walks by [my house], so I offer publicity about the alley,” she said. Leib is happy that her neighbors have found a unique way to give back to their West and Southwest Philly community.

“Offering something to the community that’s free ... it’s such a great thing for all of the kids,” she said.

Reimer said that when he first moved into his home on this block more than 10 years ago, he wasn’t the best neighbor; he lived there with several other younger guys and they would throw loud parties.

But as he got older and entered a committed relationship, he saw the value of connecting with his neighbors and caring for their corner of Philadelphia.

“It feels really good,” he said.