Inflatable Yard Ghost Sets County Record at 40 Feet; ‘Visible From Space,’ Claims Owner

HARVESTON — A 40-foot inflatable yard ghost has set a new county record for “largest seasonal inflatable,” with owner Dale Krebbs claiming the ghost is “visible from space, probably,” a claim NASA has neither confirmed nor — Krebbs noted — denied.

The ghost — named “Bignormous” by Krebbs’s children — stands four stories tall, requires three (3) industrial blowers running continuously, and, per Krebbs’s electric bill, “uses more power than the house.”

“The house is dark,” Krebbs admitted, standing in the ghost’s shadow, which covers his entire front yard and part of the neighbor’s. “We eat by the glow of Bignormous. It’s a lifestyle. The kids do homework in the ghost-light. It’s very — what’s the word — ambient.”

The previous record — a 32-foot inflatable dragon, 2024 — was held by the Hendersons, who have already announced plans to “reclaim the title” with a 45-foot inflatable planned for next year, “pending structural review and marriage counseling.”

“It’s an arms race,” said county fair inflatables judge Patricia Wexford, who certified the measurement. “Every year, bigger. We used to measure in feet. Now we measure in stories. Next year we’ll measure in — I don’t know — weather systems.”

Neighbors are divided. “It’s magnificent,” said Carol Benson, who can see Bignormous from her kitchen. “I wave at it every morning. I feel like it waves back. I know it doesn’t. But I feel it.”

Others are less charmed. “It blocks the sun,” said neighbor Gary Platt. “My tomatoes are confused. They think it’s nighttime. It’s 2 p.m. My tomatoes have given up.”

The county has no size limit on inflatables, a loophole Krebbs called “the American dream” and the county’s zoning office called “under review.”

“Forty feet is the record,” Krebbs said, patting Bignormous’s enormous foot. “For now. The Hendersons are building. We’re watching. Bignormous is watching. Everybody’s watching.”