Cruising the city for ghouls and ghosts

Come Halloween season, Portland yards and front steps become a sprawling gallery of things dead and undead. Photographer K.B. Dixon tours the neighborhoods to collect the evidence.

Over the years, Halloween, with its ghouls, goblins and assorted miscreants, seems to have found a special place in Portlander’s hearts—also, it seems, in their front yards. Below is a curated collection of this year’s eerie undertakings.

Dragon, 2024

Halloween dragon display in front of a Portland house. Photo by K.B. Dixon

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Angel of Death, 2024

Outdoor Halloween display of the Angel of Death, holding a large sword with a skull on the handle. Photo by K.B. Dixon

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Hourglass, 2024

Halloween outdoor display of a skeleton holding an hourglass. Photo by K.B. Dixon

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Sponsor

Orchestra Nova Northwest MHCC Gresham The Reser Beaverton

Glisan Graveyard, 2024

A graveyard display for Halloween in a yard on Portland's Glisan Street. Photo by K.B. Dixon

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Skulls, 2024

An array of skulls in a Portland outdoor Halloween display. Photo by K.B. Dixon

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Dark Down Here, 2024

Photo of a dead body rising from the ground in front of a tombstone that reads, "Damn It's Dark Down Here!" Photo by K.B. Dixon

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R.I.P., 2024

Photo of assorted walking skeletons, angels, and tombstones in a Portland yard. Photo by K.B. Dixon

Sponsor

Portland Center Stage at the Armory Portland Oregon

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Dragon & Pumpkin, 2024

A giant blowup dragon figure with a pumpkin in a Portland yard. Photo by K.B. Dixon

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Skeleton & Pumpkins, 2024

A skeleton with four ghoulish-looking carved pumpkins on the front steps of a Portland house. Photo by K.B. Dixon

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Ghosts, 2024

Four grinning blowup ghosts and three pumpkins outside a Portland house. Photo by K.B. Dixon

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Sponsor

Orchestra Nova Northwest MHCC Gresham The Reser Beaverton

Stabbed, 2024

Photo of a skeleton sitting on an outdoor armchair with a sword sticking between its ribs. Photo by K.B. Dixon

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Anita Moore Tishan, 2024

Three ghost figures hanging from trees behind a tombstone labeled "Anita Moore Tishan" (read it fast). Photo by K.B. Dixon

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3 Sisters, 2024

Photo of three ghoulish sisters in the yard of a Portland house, with two cats at their feet. Photo by K.B. Dixon

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Web, 2024

A huge spider web display in front of a Portland house, with a giant spider crawling over the webbing. Photo by K.B. Dixon

Sponsor

Seattle Opera Tosca McCaw Hall Seattle Washington

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Pumpkin, Gargoyle, Skeleton, 2024

A carved pumpkin, a gargoyle, and a skeleton wearing a fancy plumed hat on the steps outside a Portland house. Photo by K.B. Dixon

K.B. Dixon’s work has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, and journals. His most recent collection of stories, Artifacts: Irregular Stories (Small, Medium, and Large), was published in Summer 2022. The recipient of an OAC Individual Artist Fellowship Award, he is the winner of both the Next Generation Indie Book Award and the Eric Hoffer Book Award. He is the author of seven novels: The Sum of His SyndromesAndrew (A to Z)A Painter’s LifeThe Ingram InterviewThe Photo AlbumNovel Ideas, and Notes as well as the essay collection Too True, Essays on Photography, and the short story collection, My Desk and I. Examples of his photographic work may be found in private collections, juried exhibitions, online galleries, and at K.B. Dixon Images.

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