A Florida man afraid of clowns is dedicating a large-scale Halloween exhibit to them

CLEARWATER, FL (WFLA) — A Florida man decided to channel his fear of clowns into a creative exercise for his annual Halloween displays.

Jeff Somerville of Clearwater first started decorating his home with creepy clowns in 2019 after moving from the Midwest a few years earlier, he previously told Nexstar’s WFLA. The inspiration came from his own fear of clowns, he said.

In the first year, Somerville spared no expense. He even designed and commissioned the pièce de résistance — a 35-foot clown tunnel located just above the driveway — from a company in China.

“It all started with a hand drawing and they brought my vision to life,” said Somerville, who previously said WFLA that the company “knew how important this piece was to me and the role it played in our Halloween theme.”

The tunnel, of course, returns again in 2022. But the property also features menacing clowns of all shapes and sizes, including animatronic clowns, miniature clowns in cages, a two-headed clown, and numerous clowns riding an electric Ferris wheel or chair swings. One of the more recent additions to the 2022 display is a 12-foot clown with glowing red eyes.

Not surprisingly, Somerville’s “amazing neighbors” began calling his home the “Clown House,” he once said.

Somerville told WFLA it took about two days to set up the display, but admitted it still takes a lot of time for day-to-day operations and maintenance.

“I tune this up every night,” Somerville said. “It takes me about 30 [minutes] for setting and 30 [minutes] to knock down.”

Former WFLA reporter Alexis Pastore contributed to this report.