While pirates are famous for plundering, the East Van Pirate Ship does pretty much the opposite.
The epic display is set up at 1142 Lily St. each Halloween; it's been going for 12 years now. Inspired by the 1985 movie The Goonies, the ship is called The Inferno and is filled with skeletons and spiderwebs.
"There are zombie pirates, lots of fog, jumping spiders," says Paul Etheridge, who's behind the ship (and inside it on Halloween). "It's all noise activated or motion sensor activated."
"For young kids, it can be quite fun, once they start screaming things start dropping," he adds, noting that it all started when his own children were young.
The huge ship fills the front yard of the East Vancouver house. Visitors can enter through the hull, which looks like it was smashed open on rocks, and explore until they get to One-Eyed Willie.
Etheridge notes that once in a while people think it's a haunted house situation, and walk into his home.
"We've had strangers standing in our kitchen, it's quite funny actually," he says.
The ship is an ever-evolving sight for the month of October; at the start of the month, Etheridge and a couple of others took three hours to get the ship. As the owner of a home renovation business, he gets some help from employees with creating pieces for the display.
"Some of them really enjoy it and get into it," he says.
Throughout the month more and more is added to the decor; kids will come nightly to see what's changed he says.
On Halloween night it'll be fully finished, with Etheridge near the helm handing out candy. He expects more than 1,000 kids to visit.
"If we can get more donations for the food bank, that's our ultimate goal"
The second year the pirate ship sailed into East Vancouver, it brought with it a cause: collecting food for the Great Vancouver Food Bank.
Originally cans of food were collected, but that's evolved in recent years.
"During a tour of the food bank last year it really brought home how much further a dollar can go than a tin of chickpeas," he says. "It was pretty impressive seeing their meal plans and seeing how they plan out distributing products to clients who need it."
Since they started collecting money for the food bank, Etheridge estimates the East Van Pirate Ship has raised around $20,000. So far this year they've hit $5,000.
Those looking to donate can do so through the ship's foodbank webpage or, when visiting, using a QR code at the pirate ship.
