The De La Cruz family can’t be sure when the madness started. One thing they are certain of is that scaring neighborhood children started on Halloween.

Leandro De La Cruz Sr. said their “home haunt” began 20 years ago when his son, Leandro De La Cruz Jr. and his brother-in-law, Alfred Duque, hid under a bunch of dried corn stalks laying near their front door and grabbed the legs of trick or treaters who dared to ring their doorbell.

When Audelia De La Cruz reminded him that their very first ...