TYLER, Texas — When you arrive to Alamo St. in Tyler, Jeanie Gallegly's yard will definitely catch your eye as it's filled to the brim with ghouls, zombies, witches and skeletons.
For a few years, the Halloween decorations, which are often handmade and come from repurposed donations, have been a passion project for her.
But this year, Gallegly is a part of a national contest, Face of Horror, where she needs people's votes to win $13,000, a walk-on role in an independent film and a two-night stay at Buffalo Bill’s House.
The winner would go head-to-head with horror legend Kane Hodder, who played Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th movie franchise, in a photoshoot for Rue Morgue Magazine.
Some votes are free in the contest but people can also buy votes to support fundraising for the B+ Foundation, a charity that helps those with pediatric cancer.
The current deadline to vote for Gallegly to reach the next round is Oct. 13 at 10 p.m. People can vote for Gallegly here.
However, Gallegly didn't always have a love for horror. In fact, she was "traumatized" by 1980s scary movies and was scared until around age 45. Her daughter wanting to have a scary Halloween party helped change her mind.
"My daughter said we should have a Halloween party. But don't make it like lame, it should be scary," Gallegly said. "I don't know about making scary stuff. And then I was like, 'well, you know what I'm going to try' and so now I'm not scared of anything because I make scary stuff."
Gallegly added that when the neighborhood kids show up, she lets them poke and prod to see that nearly all of decorations are homemade, such as foam, pool noodles, paper towels, glue, and other repurposed items. It helps them to see her yard is nothing to be scared of.
One of the ghoulish children is an old lamp with a mannequin head and pool noodles for arms and fingers. One of her more expensive items is fake blood that is used for horror films.
"I'm hoping to get a Demogorgon (from Stranger Things) done. I just ordered 500 stiletto press on fingernails to do the teeth," Gallegly said.
Gallegly's day job is a program manager of indigent grants at UT Health and she's also been an adjunct human disease professor since 2014.
"It's scary in itself. So creating, you know, a fake smallpox victim like my little Victorian girl is nothing compared to what teaching and going through the history of real smallpox is just real terrifying," Gallegly said.
All of her graduate degrees are in health care and when COVID-19 it was so stressful that an outlet for her creativity grew. This includes her passion for Halloween décor along with writing short horror stories and books.
The Saturday and Sunday before Halloween she plans to host an outdoor dinner for people to come out and celebrate the holiday.
She recalled someone sending the link to the contest on Facebook. If she wins, she wants to use the $13,000 to fund assistance for her eldest daughter who is legally blind. The scary side of the prizes will be for her to enjoy.
Afraid of the frightening creatures for decades, Gallegly now has a deep appreciation for the creation of horror.
"Once you start making it and once you start thinking about stories, you start noticing the lighting and the way the makeup is done and the costumes and you start really thinking about how you can make it look scary," Gallegly said.
She aspires to be the face of heart of horror and although she loves working in health care, she would enjoy transitioning to Stephen King-style writing full-time.
"I would love to win," Gallegly said. "I'm really hoping that even if I didn't make it, they would still continue to promote and support the B+ Foundation because it really is helping kids with cancer."
