When October rolls around, the residents on Scarborough Road in Cleveland Heights start getting serious about their yardwork.

Well, they get serious on decorating their yards for Halloween and transforming their street from Scarborough Road to “Scareborough.”

Over the past decade, or longer, the Halloween decorations on Scareborough have gotten more intricate and extensive, and the residents have become even more committed to making the street a destination for trick-or-treaters or simply fans of the spooky holiday.

“Scarborough on Halloween is just pure magic—it’s nostalgic,” says Scarborough resident Jeanne Gordon. “We've been so lucky to be able to be a part of this Halloween-loving street for 23 years and love how trick or treating on this street has become a community event for the young and not-so-young, for the toddlers and the groups of teenagers, for the close neighbors and those who come here from other communities. We love Halloween on Scareborough!”

Spooky LaneResident (and former FreshWater Cleveland managing editor) Chris Ball also says he loves the eerily fun community that has grown each year.

“I've lived on Scareborough for 26 years, and it wasn't so busy on Halloween when we first arrived,” he recalls. “We've witnessed it grow steadily for perhaps the last decade—to the point that police have closed the street to cars the last two years”

Ball says he’s not aware of any single person or group responsible for the Scareborough transformation. “I could be simply uninformed, but it seems like it's been an organic development,” he says. “I think it began to build about a decade ago, even continuing on a scaled-down level during COVID. The block between Lamberton and Stratford may have been where it first germinated.”

Cleveland Heights residents Michael Manne and Mike Stawovy, who live nearby on Dellwood and Stillman, came to Scareborough to check out the decorations. Manne says his kids are grown, but he still enjoys coming out on Halloween.

RIP former Cleveland Browns.“The event is an excellent one in Cleveland Heights, especially since they closed the street to cars,” says Manne.” The trick or treaters were loving it, and everyone seemed so happy.”

Manne says Cleveland Heights events and the residents who stage things like “Scareborough” are the reasons he and his family love the city.

“[Scareborough], the Heights Music Hop, and the Candy Crawl and Heights Halloween Festival are some great community events that bring a higher quality of life to those of us who live and have raised families here,” he says, “and we really appreciate it.”

FreshWater photographer Reuben Kutash ventured onto Scareborough on Halloween this past Friday, Oct. 31, to see for himself and share the proof of the ghoulish transformation.