North Bellmore family welcomes all to their backyard haunt

Halloween began in August for the Errico family when Peter, his wife Bonnie and their children Justin, 15, and Sophia, 12, began constructing a 13-room haunted house in the backyard of their North Bellmore home.

“We used to be the crazy Christmas house,” Bonnie said, referring to the lavish holiday display that neighbors could see passing their property each December.

However, starting in 2010, the Errico’s transformed their house into Monroe Manor, named after its location at 1975 Monroe Avenue. That year, the family started a tradition of hosting a Halloween party on Oct. 31 and, two years later, they built a small haunted house outside of their home for family and friends to enjoy.

“Now he dreams about it all year and what he can do to make it bigger,” Bonnie said and Peter added, “And what I can do to make it different.”

Last year, the Errico’s earned a five-out-of-five “pumpkin” rating on lihauntedhouses.com, a database for all haunted houses on Long Island. The same year, residents lined up along Monroe Avenue for a chance to experience Monroe Manor.

A week before Halloween, the Errico’s led the Herald through the labyrinthine haunted house, which Peter constructed out of miscellaneous materials, including wood framing, metal sheathing and tarp made from recycled pool covers.

Each section is home to an array of monsters and ghouls, some controlled by animatronics and others on a pulley system that will be operated by an actor on Halloween. The entire house will also be crawling with actors dressed as fiendish creatures and horror icons.

“For us it’s a blast,” Bonnie said. “And we get to hang out for three months making it.”

Monroe Manor is open to the public and free of charge from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Halloween.