This year as Halloween approaches, engaged couple Amanda Peden and Sam Lee are once again begging their neighbors: “Please do not call the fire department!”
The South Carolina couple are local celebrities for their shockingly realistic Halloween decorations. Similar to what they did in 2023, their decor — a smoky light show created with special effects that gives the illusion of a burning home — is drawing spectators … and phone calls to emergency responders.
“Most people appreciate it, but you’ve got the one percent who are never happy with anything,” Lee, who lives in the home with Amanda and her 15-year-old son, tells TODAY.com.
Peden tells TODAY.com: “There’s always going to be someone who doesn’t like it.”
This month, Peden shared a video of the “burning” home on Facebook, writing: “Our house will be on fire (not real fire) as Halloween decorations every night from 8-10 PM between now and October 31. Please do not call the fire department again!”
Social media reactions to the home include:
- “Bet 911 loves you this time of the year, LOL.”
- “It’s all fun and games until you actually have a real fire and all the fire stations are like, ‘Nah, we ain’t falling for that one again.’”
- “This is the best!”
- “They need to put a sign on the yard stating it’s not real.”
- “It looks real-life scary, not Halloween scary.”
- “That is awesome!”
- “It does look cool, but that honestly should be illegal.”
- “This is stressful.”
“We like to give out the full-sized candy bars on Halloween — we’re ‘that house,’” Lee tells TODAY.com. “It’s just gotten crazier and crazier every year.”
Lee says setting up takes anywhere from several hours to an entire day and credits the mirage to deceptive lighting and camerawork.
While the home is “burning,” Peden and Lee sit comfortably inside.
“We watch TV and keep our regular lights on,” says Peden. “The windows are loud, though.”
The couple says they’re in communication with the Fountain Inn Fire Department.
“If dispatch gets a call about the fire, they call me directly and check in,” says Lee. “We say, ‘No, we’re good.’”
Fountain Inn Fire Chief Russell Alexander tells TODAY.com that his department, and much of the wider community, are aware of the Halloween decorations.
“The first year, we were inundated with phone calls from people driving by the home,” says Alexander. “This year hasn’t been as bad … we’ve only had a few calls from people who are new to the area.”
The chief confirms that his department is in touch with Lee and Peden, however, he sends emergency responders to their home (located a few blocks from the fire station), with each concerned call.
“It’s bad practice to not send a truck and, ethically, I can’t take that liability,” says Alexander. “If we get a call, we’re sending a truck, no matter what.”
According to Alexander, the couple’s Halloween decorations don’t look like a real house on fire, from his past experience; an actual fire, he says, produces different-colored smoke with a higher velocity, indicating imminent combustion.
Still, Alexander recommends that people with lifelike Halloween decorations communicate with local authorities.
Peden says her teenage son loves setting up on Halloween and the fact that his home is famous.
“It’s cool for him to see his house all over TikTok,” she says.
Lee, the former mayor of Fountain Inn, tells TODAY.com that most in their small town support their Halloween spirit.
Every year, Lee and Peden fill a coffin (bought online) with candy for trick-or-treaters.
In 2022, the couple built a car accident, with an upside-down van containing a 12-foot skeleton stuck inside. In 2021, their homemade aviation disaster featured a broken plane with skeleton passengers, one of which hung from a tree, secured by a parachute.
In 2018, Lee and Amanda tied red balloons to every sewer drain on Main Street, to celebrate the movie “It.” Lee, then mayor, posted a Facebook press release stating he was sending sewer workers underground for an “extensive” investigation.
Lee and Peden, who drive around town in a hearse each October, are most proud of their annual pumpkin patch. The event, funded by the couple, offers upwards of 2,000 free pumpkins to families in the neighborhood.
“It’s a small way to give back to our community,” says Lee.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
