Thursday, October 1, 2026
A nine-year-old Sea Cliff resident has transformed a path in front of his house on Florence Avenue into a destination of scares and fright for all ages.
Ben Cohen loved Halloween since he was toddler, attributing his passion for the holiday to being surrounded by the decorations of his aunt Marissa Cohen growing up. “I got inspired by her,” he said.
Cohen fostered his initial love into investment by asking for money from his family and friends to buy Halloween animatronics every birthday and holiday. “They just looked really cool, and they looked spooky,” he said. “I liked creepy stuff.”
He described creating spooky environments designed to give people a scare as his passion. The aim of the path, he said, is to give people a “spook,” adding that he likes “people to get a little scare in their life.”
The path debuted on Oct. 16 and is open on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays from 7-8 p.m. It features fog to create a spooky atmosphere, remote-controlled animatronics that can scream or remove one of its body parts. It also features red outdoor string lights, yellow caution tape, sound effects as well as ghouls, ghosts, and monsters.
His favorite Halloween movie is Five Nights at Freddy’s. The 2023 film is about a security guard, Mike, who takes a job at an abandoned pizza restaurant where the ghosts of murdered children possess the animatronic mascots.
Cohen explained that the path is a part of a larger desire to entertain people. “I like to get people in the spirit of Halloween,” he said. “I just really want people to see what Halloween is like.”
There is no admission fee, but visitors are encouraged to donate to the Venmo of Ben’s mother, Suzanne Cohen.
Sea Cliff residents Adam Novellano and Bryson Weisberg enjoyed the decorations outside of Cohen’s house. The two nine-year-olds expressed an admiration for Halloween and for the scares the path provides.
“I like the decorations,” said Novellano, who plans on dressing as "Fishstick" from the online video game Fortnite. The popular character outfit is a bipedal, fish-headed character that can be purchased in the in-game shop and has numerous styles and variants, including a Gummy Fishstick and a Pirate version
“It's pretty scary,” said Weisberg, who plans to dress up as Joker–the popular villain from the Batman series. Both praised the effort Cohen put into creating a spooky atmosphere.
So far Cohen has raised $604 in donations, half of the money raised he plans to donate to Cove Animal Rescue and the other half will be spent on more animatronics and other features for next year's path. Cove Animal Rescue is a non-profit, no-kill, no-cage animal shelter in Glen Cove, dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, and rehoming homeless dogs and cats.
“I really like dogs,” Ben said. “And I felt like I'll make more money if something's going to a charity.”
The organization provides comprehensive care, including medical treatment, and aims to increase the adoptability of animals through socialization and training. Suzanne added that they plan to send the money to Cove Animal Rescue shortly after Halloween.
“People really like Halloween," Suzanne said. "I think people are excited (about the path).”
While Ben’s parents admitted they were not the biggest Halloween fans, the joy their child finds in his haunted path is worth embracing at the spookiest time of the year. “I'm happy to do it for Benny,” Suzanne said. “It's really nice seeing his friends get excited.”
Jared Cohen, Ben’s father, shared his wife’s enjoyment in their son's haunted path. “I'm just so excited that Ben loves doing it,” he said. “We get to go and do this together. Build the stuff together, set it up together.”
Cohen said he wants to continue to do the path every Halloween and is already planning for next year. He plans to get two more animatronics the day after Halloween to add to next year's path and also added that in the future, he would like his career to be going to other people’s houses and decorating them to get into the Halloween spirit.
“People just put up, like, maybe a skeleton,” he said. “I want to, like, show them what we could actually do.”
