South Jackson Street is the red carpet road that leads to downtown Brookhaven. The stretch is lined with an eclectic mix of antebellum mansions, Victorian homes, and turn-of-the-century bungalows. It’s the main artery locals use to get from Highway 51 to the downtown area, but the foot traffic rivals the automobiles on pleasant evenings. Residents take to sitting on their porches to wave to friends and canines strolling the shady sidewalks under the deep-rooted oak trees.
While the centuries-old homes on South Jackson—dubbed the “Most Victorian Street in Mississippi”—are the perennial attraction, the vibrancy of youth makes the street come alive on Halloween. Just before dusk, local children in their make-believe-best gleefully descend on the area. Families drive in from rural parts of Lincoln, Copiah, and Pike Counties, making the street a one-stop social and candy destination. Residents have embraced their role of playing host to almost 2,000 princesses, pirates, ghosts, and goblins.
The Halloween celebration’s unofficial gateway is the three-story Victorian house of and Wendi and Ryan Case on nearby Natchez Avenue, where six huge monster-themed blowups populate their front yard during October.
“It began with the giant cat,” says Wendi, who hands out candy in her trademark Maleficent costume. “I was looking for an archway for the front of the house. I found this cat online, and it was big enough for the kids to walk under it! How cool is that?” she laughs, adding, “It keeps getting bigger every year. The kids love it. His pediatric patients know Ryan as the doctor with the giant cat in the yard—one even asked if it hibernates in our attic!”
After walking under the 20-foot tall “Binx” the cat, trick-or-treaters continue to South Jackson Street, where the busiest house is Patti and Ed Moaks’. The most quintessential Brookhaven rite of passage for children is receiving “their number” each year from Dr. Moak. “It started in 1998. I was curious as to how many children came to the door that evening, so I started keeping count. As each child came to get candy, I’d announce their number to keep track. We had 265 that first time.”
As it does in small towns, Word got around, and “it started to self-propagate,” says Ed. “There’s something about children and parents that they love about having a number,” he muses. “I’ve had children ring my doorbell at 3:30 on Halloween afternoon, as soon as school lets out. They wanted to be number one.” In 2006, the number hit 1,300. “I thought surely it couldn’t expand beyond this, but it has!”
When the “tsunami of children coming down the street” reaches the upper thousand, Ed inserts history facts when a child hits a significant year. “I’ll say, ‘You are number 1817, which is the year Mississippi became a state’. Or I’ll throw in sports history facts. Most of it goes over the children’s heads, but the parents seem to enjoy it.”
Ed can recollect the count for most of the banner years. The lowest recently has been 563, when torrential rains washed away most fair-weather trick-or-treaters. The record high was in 2017, at 2,060. Add in the parents who escort the children, and there can be upwards of 3,000 people on the half-mile stretch of Brookhaven’s Old Towne neighborhood.
Across the street, neighbor Amy Valentine says, “We’ve got a front-row seat to all the action on my front porch.” As children walk up her circular driveway, they’re greeted by eight gleeful witches, having just as much fun giving out candy as the little ghouls and goblins do taking it.
The Valentines’ long-standing supper club meets at their house each October, so it made sense to have it on Halloween and move the dinner outside. “We had everyone bring a bag of candy, and we would take turns handing it out.” Soon the super club wives became a coven when witch outfits were added to the tradition. “It’s been over a decade, and we just have the best time,” says Amy.
This normally quiet street, lined with homes that stood when Halloween was full of treats, not tricks, has brought families together for an old-fashioned celebration of make-believe and community. Whether it’s igniting imaginations with larger-than-life decorations, creating a unique tradition embraced by an entire town, or revisiting the joy of dressing up, these South Jackson street residents offer a sweet taste of Mississippi’s famous hospitality on All Hallow’s Eve.