VCU student turns yard into local Halloween attraction

Connor Eppley, Contributing Writer 

In a quiet Chesterfield neighborhood, Robert Yates, a 25-year-old Halloween lover and VCU fourth-year history student, proudly displays his towering animatronics, a massive graveyard with nearly 150 gravestones and a medieval skeleton army. 

Robert Yates goes all out when decorating, ensuring it looks perfect for trick-or-treaters and his neighbors, he said. While he loves Halloween and all things spooky, he decorates his home to give the community something to look forward to each October, and to continue his family’s decades-old tradition. 

Halloween has always been a special time for him, Robert Yates said. For him, the holiday means getting to spend time with family.

“Always growing up, Halloween time was when we would go do fun stuff as a family and go to Busch Gardens and stuff like that for the spooky time,” Robert Yates said. “As kids, we would all go trick or treating with cousins and dress up and go to our uncle’s neighborhood and that stuck with me throughout the years.”

Robert Yates started decorating his family’s home for Halloween at five-years-old with his grandfather, Frank Yates. His grandfather made sure he was not merely a spectator when decorating and included Robert Yates in the decision-making process. 

“I was little but he would grab stuff out of the shed and be like ‘OK where do you want to place this’ and I would point and he’d put it there,” Robert Yates said. 

Some of the decorations are older than Robert Yates himself, with the oldest being from the 1980s, he said.

Frank Yates passed away in 2020, however, Robert Yates was determined to continue the family’s Halloween tradition, he said. 

“As cheesy as it sounds, it’s a way to keep his memory alive more,” Robert Yates said. “Every year, I kind of do a little nod to him in some way.” 

Robert Yates paid tribute to his late grandfather this year by displaying a gravestone that reads “RIP, In memory of Frank A. Yates, 1932-2020.” 

Robert Yates loves seeing the excitement the decorations elicit from his neighbors and trick-or-treaters, he said. 

“The first day of this year when I was putting up stuff I had I think at least six cars stop along the curve,” Robert Yates said. “A lot of families in the neighborhood will walk down to see it throughout October. On Halloween night, a lot of people will stop and take pictures in the yard and pose.”

One neighborhood family stands out to him because the mom knew his grandfather when she was a child, Robert Yates said.

“She said she had been trick-or-treating at my grandpa’s house when she was a kid, and then she started bringing her kids to trick-or-treat,” Robert Yates said. “She knew him when she was a kid, now her kids know us.” 

Robert Yates spends several hours a day for a few weeks getting his house ready. However, the decorating often continues throughout the Halloween season and doesn’t end until Halloween night. 

“I’m low-key changing stuff throughout the season — moving stuff or putting new stuff up,” Robert Yates said. “It’s never actually done-done until Halloween night.”

Robert Yates’ mom, Bonnie Yates, recalls fond memories of watching the two decorate together when Robert Yates was younger. Robert Yates was excited and enjoyed helping his grandfather decorate the yard each year, she said.

Robert Yates would notice if a decoration was in a different spot than the year prior and insisted on moving it back, according to Bonnie Yates.

“We used to laugh at him ‘delegating’ because it was cute to see a little kid ‘delegating’ and saying ‘Well, you put this here last year,’ but it was nice,” Bonnie Yates said. “I always liked watching him and Dad putting the decorations up — it was something they liked to do together.”

Seeing Robert Yates decorate the yard and continue the tradition means a lot to Bonnie Yates, she said.

“I like it when he does it because I feel like Dad is looking down pleased,” Bonnie Yates said. “I feel like Dad is up there — he loved his coffee, so he’s up there with a cup of coffee — he’s watching, and he’s very pleased. It makes me happy to see it keep going.”

Over the last few years, Robert Yates has started to enlist his friends to help decorate his yard. One year, his friend Amanda Springston helped Robert Yates as a way for the two to spend time together, she said.

“I offered to help him decorate his trees so we could hang out and so that the lights could get hung up — it was a fun experience even trying to get the lights on,” Springston said.