Friday, October 30, 2026
Ben Cohen has transformed his Sea Cliff home into a haunted house in the lead-up to Halloween for the second year in a row. The display, officially known as The Edge Haunted House, includes nine animatronics along with other decorations, and on occasion, scare actors.
The 10-year-old said his love for Halloween began when he was little, inspired by his aunt, Marissa.
“My aunt, she goes crazy for Halloween,” Ben said. “And she has crazy animatronics and everything, and I love them and I wanted to do it at our house. So now here we are.”
Suzanne Cohen, Ben’s mother, added that he began asking for Halloween animatronics for his birthday.
Among the decorations in Ben’s display are a graveyard and various animals and creatures like skeletons and spiders. The display is larger this year, encompassing the path leading up to the house and the garage. Cohen has also added a gory puppet theater element.
“This is inside the haunted house, so there’s more of a kid friendly zone outside,” Ben explained. “So, this is not outside.”
Cohen said her role mostly includes handling social media and advertisement of the haunted house. Ben’s father, Jared Cohen, does a lot of the building to put the display together.
There is no admission fee, but donations are encouraged. Roughly $600 were raised last year, with half of that money being donated to Cove Animal Rescue. The rest was used to purchase more elements for the display. This year, 25 percent of money raised will be donated to Cove Animal Rescue, with the rest being used to pay for animatronics and decorations. According to Ben, roughly $1,000 have already been raised.
“We’ve really amped it up, and we spent a lot of money and really invested,” Ben said. “So, we narrowed it down to 25 percent.”
He added that he likes to buy new pieces right after Halloween when prices drop, saying that this year he has his eye on a 12-foot skeleton. Ben said that last year went well and that scaring people with his haunted house makes him happy.
The haunted house at 2 Florence Ave. will be open Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Visit TheEdgeProductions.com for more details.
