Harry Potter fan turns Bay Area home into Hogwarts every Halloween

Halloween is a holiday designed for folks to go a little overboard. If there’s any group who knows a thing or seven about going overboard, it’s Harry Potter fans, who’ve powered the books to such popularity that they could be realistically compared with the Bible.

Daniel Berson of San Rafael is one such avid Potter fan and every Halloween he transforms his home into Marin’s Halloween Hogwarts Walkthrough, a Harry Potter-themed haunted house that is open to anyone and free of charge.

Each year, the house is designed around a different book in the series. “The Half-Blood Prince,” the sixth novel, is serving as inspiration this Halloween. Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, Luna Lovegood, Draco Malfoy, Professor Slughorn, the Pensieve and Horcruxes — commonplace terms and characters for Potterheads that may sound like gibberish to lay people — are set to be featured.

Berson, whose day job is as a project manager for a construction company, says the house attracts as many as 850 guests per year and the lines can stretch for blocks, with people waiting close to an hour for a 5-minute walk through. 

In the past, visitors have been haunted by all of the book’s main villains, including soul-sucking dementors, a resurrected Voldemort and a tea set owned by Dolores Umbridge (if you know, you know). 

Berson speaks with a disarming sincerity when discussing the Potter books. 

“[The story] represented that the real choice may not always be the easiest choice, but is the right thing to do. And throughout the books, they make that apparent over and over again,” said Berson.

“I’m the type of person that likes to put in whatever effort it takes to do something right, even if it’s not the easiest,” he continued. 

Berson has been a Potter fan since age 12, when the second book was released in 1998. He says the chance to share the story with a new generation has been the most rewarding part for him, especially when he sees return visitors.

“Before any tour, I asked the group how far they’ve read or watched or listened. And they all are very excited to tell me how most of them have seen one or two of the movies. What I love about it is, they come back the next year and I asked them that same question. And they will always tell me ‘After I went through this tour, I watched these next two movies or I read these books,’” he said.

While the Harry Potter series continues to be a beacon of positivity for Berson and the children he entertains, the same can’t necessarily be said for the books’ author. 

“While I feel that J.K. Rowling’s comments were reprehensible, the world of Harry Potter has gone beyond her and represents joy, discovery and wonder to so many people that its magic should still be celebrated,” said Berson.

Next year, Berson is scheduled to construct a house based on the seventh and final book in the series. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be done with the project. He wants to run it back and start over at book one. Understandably, he’s gotten a little pushback from his housemate.

“My wife has told me that I should hang it up and spend more time with my family,” said Berson.

Marin’s Halloween Hogwarts Walkthrough, located at 1030 Las Ovejas, San Rafael, is open for walkthroughs on Saturday, Oct. 28, and Tuesday, Oct. 31 (Halloween night), from 5:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.