The gawkers arrived at the red-brick Colonial on Fall Moon Ride in Clarksville this month looking for the Halloween House.
Just as they do every October, visitors from Virginia to Pennsylvania traveled to Howard County to witness the elaborately macabre tableau the Beadel family has created each Halloween for nearly a decade on its front lawn: 40 meticulously designed skeletons dressed as football players, baby-bottle sucking infants and even a postal worker. (Her name? Anne Thrax, of course.)
But this year it was all gone. The only displays in the yard were three black-and-orange signs.
"Dear Riverhill Neighbors," the signs read. " We deeply regret that after 5 years of escalating vandalism and theft of our seasonal decorations, we are unable to continue the Halloween skeleton displays."
The Beadel family's decision to abandon its annual ghoulish designs has distressed residents throughout the affluent community of River Hill and caused many to wonder whether teenage hooliganism has gotten out of control. But nowhere has the loss been felt more deeply than among the Beadels themselves.
"It's like a huge void in my life," said Cathie Beadel, 47, an energy company executive. "It's like one of your kids leaving home. I can't even hang around the front of the house anymore or else I see the empty lawn and get depressed."
The Beadels said the incessant vandalism was just too much. Teenagers would come between midnight and 4 a.m. to steal their skeletons. Sometimes they would just destroy the displays with baseball bats.
It got so bad that Jim Beadel, 47, a corporate security manager, installed motion sensors and began sleeping in his vehicle to catch the miscreants. But most of the vandals escaped into the woods. He couldn't stop the destruction.
"It makes me feel so angry," he said. "I thought I moved into a community where people don't consider the destruction of other people's property commonplace and okay. But these kids are just out of control, and the parents are completely indifferent."
Neighbors and visitors have been disappointed by the Beadels' decision. Martin Ehrlich, who lives across the street, said some people have even expressed anger that the family has abandoned what has become an annual destination for many in Howard.
"Personally, it will be sad for me," Ehrlich said. "But as a friend of the Beadles I'm glad they're not doing it. It's too much stress for them."
But the family's decision to give up their skeletons also has highlighted how much their efforts mean to the community.
