By Guy Chapman – Navarro County Gazette
Around this time of year, Dustin Clay’s yard is usually filled with ghosts and goblins. For this Halloween, however, his spooky stuff has been moved to Schulman’s Movie Bowl Grille to be part of their yearly haunted house.
That’s not to say that Clay has done without for a little bit of the macabre in his own home.
Clay is a huge movie fan. A fitting interest for one of Schulman’s management team. But horror movies are his favorite genre, and he’s built quite the collection in a room full of vintage and autographed posters, authentic movie props, and enough collectibles to make visitors want to check out every single shelf in his mini museum.
A giant “Sam” figurine from Trick r Treat greets guests upon entering. Lining the shelves are pieces from such horror films as Friday the 13th, Jaws, Halloween, and IT. An Annabelle doll sits in a glass case in one corner by a series of Puppet Master figures from the 1990s. A vintage King Kong movie poster sits next to a display filled with the masks of Jason Voorhees from every one of his Crystal Lake (and beyond) adventures.
Clay started seriously collecting movie items around 2013, starting with some small Sideshow Collectible pieces in 2000 before moving onto larger props and collectibles. His present collection features everything from custom latex monster heads that are scary in appearance, to more whimsical and funny pieces that shows the range of how eccentric collecting can be.
When asked what his favorite piece in his collection was, Clay pointed to an autographed photo of a familiar Texas monster framed on his wall.
“If I had to say a piece I would never give up in this room right now, autograph-wise, would be Gunnar Hansen right there,” Clay said.
Hansen played “Leatherface” in 1974’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and passed away in 2015. Clay is always searching for more memorabilia from the film, and wants to eventually visit the town of Bastrop, one of the Texas-based filming locations.
Another “grail” piece Clay would like to find is the autograph of Betsy Palmer, the actress who played Jason’s mother Pamela Voorhees in the Friday the 13th films.
Clay is also an avid collector of sports memorabilia. His collection of jerseys, helmets, and autographed pieces could be its own feature in the future.
Want to be featured for Week 4 of Corsicana’s monthly Halloween feature? Send photos to news@navarrocountygazette.com – If you really go out for Halloween inside and out, we’re willing to film a video feature of your spooky shenanigans.