Campers build Halloween tradition at Montgomery RV park

Brad Harper, Montgomery Advertiser
·2 min read

Joe and Carol Neville looked around in amazement. Ten-foot ghouls screeched from their left. The flames of animated cauldrons flickered through the trees to their right. Elaborate, spinning skeletons and illuminated ghosts ringed the lots around them.

The Nevilles booked their RV spot at Gunter Hill Park campground in Montgomery six months ago, like most everyone here, but they never realized why there was so much demand. Not until they arrived. “We had no idea,” Joe Neville said. By Friday evening they had put up a few Styrofoam headstones.

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Mike Mosley fine tunes his decorations as campers deck out their campsites with Halloween decorations at the Gunter Hill Campground in Montgomery, Ala., on Friday, Oct. 28, 2022.
Mike Mosley fine tunes his decorations as campers deck out their campsites with Halloween decorations at the Gunter Hill Campground in Montgomery, Ala., on Friday, Oct. 28, 2022.

A few lots away, Mike Mosley turned on a light just in time to surprise a passing kid. He’s lost count of how many years he’s spent Halloween by the river at Gunter Hill. A row of trophies he's won for the year’s best display stands behind him. When he doesn’t win, his neighbor and friend in the next lot often does. Both book the same spots every year – that always means booking the day reservations open in April.

Campers deck out their campsites with Halloween decorations at the Gunter Hill Campground in Montgomery, Ala., on Friday, Oct. 28, 2022.
Campers deck out their campsites with Halloween decorations at the Gunter Hill Campground in Montgomery, Ala., on Friday, Oct. 28, 2022.

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“We just enjoy coming out here and putting out the decorations for the kids,” Mosley smiles. “Of course, it helps that we’ve been winning quite a bit.”

A passing kid bends over to take a closer look at a creature in front of Kelli Ewing’s RV.

Ewing presses a button and the creature leaps into the air and screams, sending the kid backpedaling away – before he quickly recovers and asks her to do it again. Ewing smiles.

Camper Kelli Ewing holds her dog Murphy as campers deck out their campsites with Halloween decorations at the Gunter Hill Campground in Montgomery, Ala., on Friday, Oct. 28, 2022.
Camper Kelli Ewing holds her dog Murphy as campers deck out their campsites with Halloween decorations at the Gunter Hill Campground in Montgomery, Ala., on Friday, Oct. 28, 2022.

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Today is her birthday, and it’s the second time she’s spent it with friends here at the RV park. This is just the appetizer. There's a day-long celebration tomorrow complete with a costume parade across the campsite. Tonight, a few families walk the trail that loops past her camper while others crowd around fires behind their own vehicles as dusk falls.

“I love Halloween,” she said.

Brad Harper covers business and local government for the Montgomery Advertiser. Contact him at bharper1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Campers build Halloween tradition at Montgomery RV park