Raleigh man carves departed celebrities on Jack-o-lanterns

You won't believe your eyes when you see the realistic portraits Kenny Krause carves into pumpkins each Halloween.

But for Krause, who claims he has no artistic background whatsoever, these jaw-dropping Jack-o-lanterns are just a fun, albeit challenging, hobby.

It all started in 2003 when Johnny Cash died. Krause, who worked in sales, decided to carve a pumpkin of one of his favorite artists in Cash's honor. He found a pattern of Cash someone created on the internet and started carving and picking away.

"I carved and hacked away and thought, well, there's two to three hours of my life I've wasted," Krause said. "But then I put a light in it and, lo and behold, it looked like Johnny Cash."

His neighbors began to look forward to it every year. In 2007, Krause started making his own patterns.

"I take a picture off the internet and reduce it to three colors -- because you can only have pumpkin, no pumpkin or the shaved part," Krause explained. "Then I take a negative of that, put it on the pumpkin, carve away and hope [it looks good]."

Over the years, Krause has learned some tricks, like filling the hollowed out pumpkin with a bleach-water mixture before he carves it to make the inside brighter. Still, he is always worried people will be underwhelmed.

"We have different Halloween decorations for distractions, just in case," he laughed.

Making the pattern takes awhile, and the actual carving takes between three to five hours, which Krause always does Halloween morning.

His carving tools aren't anything special -- just picks and scrapers anyone might use to carve a Jack-o-lantern, right down to the classic pick with the orange plastic handle you can buy at any store.

Krause has carved Barbara Walters, Betty White, Cubs player Ernie Banks, Aretha Franklin, Robin Williams, Prince, Gary Coleman, Florence Henderson and other celebrities.

He tries to stay away from politics for obvious reasons, but there are some exceptions.

When Ruth Bader Ginsburg died a month before Halloween in 2020, Krause said his daughters, now 22 and 24, insisted he carve the beloved Supreme Court Justice even though he had already made a pattern for a Kenny Rogers pumpkin.

That year, both RBG and Kenny Rogers were on the front porch, but other years he only carves one.

"My wife Leigh has said there will only be one pumpkin per Halloween because it does get a little stressful," Krause smiled.

Including all his "practice pumpkins," Krause estimates he has carved close to 100 celebrity Jack-o-lanterns since he started in 2003.

One of Krause's favorite carvings was Queen Elizabeth II, who died in 2022.

"You can't have a billion people show up at your funeral and not appear on a pumpkin," he said.

Some years, it is obvious who will be on the pumpkin. Other years it is more difficult to choose, but since Krause plays corresponding music each Halloween night, it helps if you're a musician.

"If you're in the music industry, you have a better chance of being on the pumpkin," Krause said. "If you don't play country-western music -- because the music plays over and over again -- my wife will vote for you and you have a better chance of being on a pumpkin," he joked.

Krause wants the pumpkins to be tributes to notable figures who have died.

"It's kind of taken a life of its own," he said. "I get texts when someone of prominent dies. It's amazing how many texts I receive asking, 'Is he or she pumpkin worthy?'"

On Halloween night, neighbors will always see a deceased celebrity who died that year, but Krause has also carved pumpkins for his daughters featuring their favorite basketball players -- Joe Barry Carroll and LeBron James.

Krause also carves pumpkins in honor of people he knows. Earlier this month, he carved a pumpkin for his family friends' daughter, who was recently married, to congratulate the happy couple.

"It's really just smoke and mirrors. One year, the neighbors are going to show up and it's going to be rotten or it's not going to look right," Krause said. "Fingers crossed, we hope Tuesday works out well. If nothing else, it will be fun to be with our neighbors."