THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 TAG: 9610310309
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 83 lines
Halloween is the one day when Donna Mooney isn't the lady in the wheelchair. On Oct. 31, she becomes the woman in the coffin.
For the fifth year, Mooney has turned her home into a haunted house. She plans to be in position tonight, handing out candy from the coffin.
Her observance becomes more elaborate each year, as she works to put on increasingly better shows. And each year, it becomes more difficult because of her disability. At 37, Mooney is paralyzed.
But for her, the Halloween tradition that started out as a birthday celebration for her son, now 15, means everything.
As she lies in the coffin, Mooney said, ``sometimes I hear the kids trying to figure out if I'm the woman in the wheelchair. I just hand them their goodies.''
Mooney was paralyzed after being shot in the back 10 years ago, she said. She can do most things for herself, except shower, and she said, she is determined to let nothing strip her of her dignity. She gets about with help of family and friends.
``This is one day when I show these kids that, no matter how bad things are, you can't let them get you down,'' Mooney said. ``And if my son can see it, then he can do the same.''
From the first of October until Halloween, Mooney and her family spend at least four hours a day preparing for what has become a neighborhood tradition in Burnetts Mill, a subdivision off Virginia Route 10. The display is open only on Halloween night.
More than 20 neighborhood residents also help - everything from dressing up like Frankenstein or the devil, to helping decorate pumpkins and place spider webs.
The fenced front yard is a graveyard with tombstones for ``John and Jane Doe'' and with such statements as: ``Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, It's Halloween, So Party We Must.''
Shutters on the house are crooked. There are skulls, and signs read, ``No way Out'' and ``Last Chance.'' And there's a ramp - with organ and treasure chest - leading to the garage-turned-haunted house. Inside are everything from witches to brains.
``The kids are hilarious,'' Mooney said. ``They are so scared!''
Admission is free, and Mooney and her family give out candy. The crowd, larger each year, last year reached about 500.
Mooney said she started her Halloween celebration in Virginia Beach as a way to enjoy her son's birthday with him on Halloween - something she hadn't been able to do because of her disability.
``I never could go to haunted houses and celebrate the day with him because my wheelchair wouldn't fit,'' Mooney said. ``As an adult, I really started liking the holiday and wanted to enjoy it with my son.''
That first year, Mooney and Melvin ``BeBop'' Demarest, who lives with her and her son, decorated their house. Demarest dressed as a Grim Reaper to scare the neighborhood kids.
A year later, the family moved to Suffolk. And every Halloween since, she's been with her son at her home.
Katherine Harrell, a neighbor, said Mooney is ``always doing something for the kids. She gives me strength just watching her do this and footing all the costs. The kids love her and love helping decorate the house.''
Mooney said she wants neighborhood kids to see, through Halloween, that a disability doesn't have to be all negative.
``For me,'' she said, ``Halloween is a day of lessons, togetherness and fun.'' MEMO: To get to the house: Take U.S. Route 58 to the Smithfield/Route
10 exit. Take a right and go to the Burnetts Mill entrance. Take a
right to 276 Burnetts Way. ILLUSTRATION: Color JOHN H. SHEALLY II photo\The Virginian-Pilot
Donna Mooney stretches out the make-believe spider webs in her
Suffolk yard to greet her guests on Halloween night, which has
become a Burnetts Mill neighborhood tradition. She'll welcome the
visitors from her coffin, handing out candy.
Photo
Donna Mooney and her father, Chuck Mooney, look at her Suffolk yard
to see if all is in place for the hundreds of trick-or-treaters she
expects to visit her at 276 Burnetts Way, in the Burnetts Mill
section of Suffolk.
KEYWORDS: HALLOWEEN by CNB