Alamo Heights Junior School tech and art teacher Coltan Gabelmann has a love for horror decor. Mr. Gabelmann has the most unique and widely decorated room in the entire junior school because of his distinctive and creative style.

Mr. Gabelmann’s obsession began with initially hating horror and being terrified of it. “I started out hating horror and not liking it, but then my teacher played a horror movie called The Shining, and I realized it was pretty cool,” he said. He also discovered that he was no longer afraid of horror. The Shining is considered a classic in the horror movie genre.

“I tried to skip going to any events that involved anything horror because I was too scared to see it,” Mr. Gabelmann shares enthusiastically. What started as a fear later turned into a passion.

Soon after watching The Shining for a class, his love for horror began to grow. “I started to love horror in year 11 when I was 16,” he explained. Though initially terrified, he ended up enjoying the movie.

Now that Mr. Gabelmann is older, he expresses his love for horror not just through his clothes but also by decorating his classroom with all kinds of horror themes. From murder horror and doll horror to creepy monster horror, his room is filled with it all. He gets his horror decor from various sources: “I get a lot of my horror decor from students in my art class, or I DIY it. But if I had to buy it, I’d go to Spirit Halloween,” Mr. Gabelmann shares.

Mr. Gabelmann often shops at Spirit Halloween because he has a discount. “It’s easier to get horror decor because my friend owns Spirit Halloween, so I get a pretty good discount,” he says.

Mr. Gabelmann believes every room should be decorated: “If a room has no decor, it would look like an insane asylum.”

For Mr. Gabelmann, decorating his room is a fun way to express himself. What started as a fear has transformed into a unique passion, showing that sometimes, a fear can turn into something much more.