Kenny Caperton’s House of Horror

There are die hard fans and then there’s Kenny Caperton. Captivated by John Carpenter’s 1978 classic horror movie Halloween, Kenny built and currently lives in a life size replica of the infamous Michael Myers house with his wife Emily.

Call him crazy, call him extreme, the man won’t deny it. He admits that he’s “a different type of fan. One with an insane amount of drive and dedication.”

Building of the house was not an easy undertaking. Among a handful of challenges the biggest was dealing with the 1888 architecture of the original house and its inconvenient floorplan. With patience, commitment and a few alterations to the blueprints, Kenny, his wife and their crew pulled it off and their home was completed in March of 2008.

Word of the Myers House quickly spread across the nation from its location in Hillsborough, North Carolina to as far as Los Angeles.

“We just got back from Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers TV show in LA. It was insane,” Kenny says.

In full planning mode for the Myers House Annual Halloween Bash, Kenny took five to talk about his house of horror.

Every man… and every woman for that matter is going to want to know, how did you ever get your wife on board this crazy project?

Emily has a great deal of patience when it comes to me and my crazy ideas! She’s not a super hardcore horror fan like me, but she loves the architectural look of the original house and the idea of being able to create every single custom element of the house. I love her more than anything, and would have never been able to create this house without her.

Did you ever think the house would get as much attention as it does?

You know, it’s weird. I knew a small group of horror/Halloween fans would find it interesting and would maybe want to visit the house, but I never imagined I would have 300 people on my front lawn on Halloween night just a couple years after we built it. The house is located in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina, so it’s a trek for anyone to come out here. It’s a very strange experience, but I love meeting new people who share my love for all things horror.

Did you initially plan to share and open your home to fans and film productions?

That’s part of why I decided to build this house, to share it with the fans. I visited the original house in South Pasadena on Halloween night in 2008 when I was there attending the Halloween 30th Anniversary Convention. We were yelled at and told to leave! I found it very disappointing that fans are not welcomed at what should be the ultimate destination. So I’ve always welcomed fellow fans to come visit my version of the house, and everyone has been really respectful. We just ask that people make an appointment first. Now the film productions thing was something totally unexpected. Several indie movies, Halloween fan-films, and other productions have been filmed at the house, it’s amazing. We now offer the house as a possible filming location to whoever is interested in shooting something here.

The house must have really put Hillsborough on the map. What do the locals think?

Hillsborough, North Carolina is actually the state’s historic capital and has lots of great history, but we’re slowly making our mark in the books. The town has been very supportive since the beginning, and we’re very happy to live here. I’m sure there are plenty of local residents who think we’re satanists in our weird serial killer house, but most people think it’s pretty damn cool.

You have a lot of Halloween movie memorabilia on display in the house, what’s your prized piece?

I absolutely love my Halloween III: Season Of The Witch replica masks, and the actual Halloween II prop knife that Rob and Sheri Moon Zombie sent me as a Halloween gift.

How do you balance the Myers House being a tourist attraction and your actual home?

It’s hard at times, but Emily keeps me in total check. I want to completely turn the house into a horror museum, but Emily just wants to live here in peace, so it kind of comes together and works out perfectly. The house is a happy medium of a real functional home/horror museum.

What’s your long term goal? Myers House forever?

Myers House NC forever! I will die in this house and haunt the eff out of whoever moves in here!

Kenny and Emily will appear on Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers airing on Halloween (Monday, October 31st) at 3 p.m. on The CW television network. More info here. Visit the Myers House NC.

Posted by Marc Andrew on Oct 28 2011. Filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.