RYE — The spookiest season of the year has always been an obsession for Jeremy Wellman. He's an artist and Halloween fanatic who views October as the prime time for everyone’s inner child to reemerge. 

The strip of land in front of Wellman's residence has become a holiday sightseeing spot for Seacoast residents and tourists.

For the past decade, Wellman has annually created “The Giants of Rye,” a mix of tall, homemade, Halloween-themed characters that draw visitors from near and far.

Outside the Wellman family’s home on spacious West Road sits a cast of handmade characters: Monstrose the Skeleton, Creeper the Snake, Crawlie the Spider, Gourdo the Pumpkin Giant and the group’s newest addition this year, Hagatha the Witch. Aside from Creeper, each of Wellman’s creations stands close to 20 feet tall, a towering presence on a quiet Rye road illuminated at night by the eye-catching display.

“I love the absurd and ridiculous,” Wellman said.

Halloween happenings in 2022:Here's our list of Seacoast events you don't want to miss

The entire cast of giants, each with a foam gravestone with their names, has been built over the years from everyday items collected in the runup to each Halloween.

The random assortment of materials includes pool noodles, buckets, milk jugs, small plastic balls, PVC pipe, Legos, empty vinegar bottles, wire, foam, duct tape, beef netting and more.

Monstrose, a largely homemade, gargantuan skeleton which has only two store-bought features (face and hands), was the first character Wellman created 10 years ago. Over the years, Wellman’s inaugural giant has grown taller, and now the Rye artist has it standing nearly as tall as a two-story house, attached to a long ladder with a roughly 80 pounds of counterweight attached to support its mass.

'Hoot, holler and scream':Portsmouth Halloween Parade lifts spirits, builds community

“People who are walking by or driving by or riding their bike or something, and they have to turn around,” Wellman said of passersby taking in his holiday artwork for the first time. “That’s the best. It just shocks them out of their day a little bit.”

Over the years, Wellman constructed Crawlie, which Wellman’s son offered up an old sneaker for to have it appear that a child became tangled in the web, Gourdo and Creeper. 

“I want everybody to come and have a good time and not feel like they have to shield their kids’ eyes,” he said. “That’s my speed for Halloween — I want the spooky, fun stuff.”

Wellman, whose personal art studio is located next to his family’s residence, credits his mother for instilling in him an undying passion for Halloween. 

As a child, Wellman, who is from Delaware, his mother, also an artist and a seamstress, and their family, would make their own holiday artwork and displays, though none were as large as what Wellman now produces on West Road. This February, Wellman began piecing together the latest giant, Hagatha, complete with a green face, a broom and a pointy black hat.

Who ventured north from Delaware to help Wellman build the witch? His mother, in tow with seemingly endless amounts of black fabric for Hagatha’s attire.

Real estate development:WHEB radio station property in Portsmouth sold for $2.1 million

“We were pulling it all across and doing all the sewing,” Wellman recalled. “It was just an absolutely wild experience.”

Visitors to the Seacoast heard about the giants during their stays in years past and have driven into Rye to come witness Wellman’s work for themselves, he said. On one occasion, a visitor told Wellman that he had traveled from an hour away just to come see the art firsthand. 

In all, with help from his 9-year-old son, Avett, who has also caught the Halloween bug, putting up each giant and their individual decorations takes five to six days, Wellman stated.

“My son and I come out here and we sit out and just watch the cars go by,” he said. “Sometimes we’ll put on some Halloween music.”

And in the future, there’s still room to grow the group of giants: The Wellman’s property in front of their home along the edge of the street has bare grass available.

“The wheels are always turning for the next year,” he said.