InMaricopa Unveils Winners of the 2024 Mysterious Mansion Mayhem Competition

The winner of this year’s Mysterious Mansion Mayhem is Joseph Sanchez, who created the hauntingly impressive ‘The Graveyard’ displayed at his home in Maricopa. The competition took place on November 1, 2024, as part of InMaricopa’s second annual Halloween event, where 46 haunted houses participated and over 1,300 local residents cast their votes.

Sanchez’s creation emerged victorious, capturing 26% of the votes, defeating second-place entry ‘The Witches Watch Over Skeleton King’s Cemetery,’ which garnered 17%. “I can’t believe that we won,” said Sanchez, expressing surprise over his success. “There are so many amazing homes here, and we didn’t think we were going to win.”

The Sanchez family has decorated their home for Halloween for years, but they only entered the competition last year after encouragement from their neighbor. “People told us they loved the decor, so we thought, why not give it another shot this year?” recalled Sanchez.

Initially, the decorations started modestly with small gravestones. Over the years, however, the graveyard theme evolved dramatically as their collection of decorations expanded. “Halloween is one of our favorite holidays,” Sanchez noted, adding that the decorations often start going up as early as August.

As a reward for their hard work, the Sanchez family received a gift basket filled with local merchandise and $350 in gift cards for local businesses, including Roots Eatery and Ak-Chin Circle Entertainment Center, among others. Additionally, Sebastian Fortin, a local resident and participant in the competition, won a separate prize as a lucky voter.

Fortin’s excitement rang through when he learned of his win, despite originally hoping for his own house, ‘Graveyard of the Forgotten,’ to take home the prize. “This is my favorite holiday; I go all out every year,” he said. His rewards included $175 in gift cards and a complimentary pizza.

Honorable mentions for this year’s event included Charles Wergin’s ‘Return of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein’ and Shaun Martin’s ‘Cradle Bay Children’s Sanitarium,’ which impressed judges and attendees alike.

Sponsors for the event included Be Awesome Youth Coalition and 347Facts.com, which contributed to making this year’s Mysterious Mansion Mayhem a memorable success for the community.