BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — Joyce Wriston is well-known in Beckley for raising chimps in the past and for her association with anthropologist Jane Goodall.

For the past several years, Wriston has drawn visitors to Conway Street with her elaborate Halloween decorations.

On Tuesday, October 17, 2023, Wriston said she also decorates inside of her own home, for family and friends, with multiple displays of ghosts, ghouls and some high-end, carved statues.
She said she started decorating the street for drivers after her husband died eight years earlier.

“And people kept coming from the nursing home, handicapped children {asking}, ‘Can I bring someone? Can I bring someone?’ And I thought, ‘This is what I’m going to do,’” said Wriston. “So I bought these houses, made them look decent, so this is what I do.”

She said she owns seven properties on Conway Street and that she singlehandedly decorates each one on holidays.

Once Halloween is finished, she said, she will begin decorating for Christmas.