Pumpkin farmer grows ghoulish gourds that resemble Frankenstein

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Thursday, September 25, 2014
A Ventura County pumpkin farmer is giving people an early scare with the ghoulish gourds he's growing.
A Ventura County pumpkin farmer is giving people an early scare with the ghoulish gourds he's growing.
KGO-KGO

FILLMORE, Calif. -- A Ventura County pumpkin farmer is giving people an early scare with the ghoulish gourds he's growing.

Tony Dighera is growing pumpkins that look just like Frankenstein.

They're 100 percent natural and organic.

Dighera is growing the frightening fruit in a mold shaped like Frankenstein.

It took him four years of trial and error and hundreds of thousands of dollars to perfect the method.

"If it's too large, you're condensing it. You're forcing it to be too small and it won't ripen correctly. Obviously, if it's too small, it won't fill the mold, so you've got to throw in all the variables," Dighera said.

Demand is high, especially before Halloween.

The 'pumpkinsteins' are going for $75 each, wholesale.

Some retailers are selling them for as much as $125 per pumpkin.