3rd Annual Dead With Dave Home Haunter Awards

Once again David Dankanyin of "Dead with Dave" and the DWD Crew posted their annual "Dead with Dave Home Haunter Awards" show. This was the third year for the show which is described as "an awards show for home haunters by home haunters". 

This was our second year entering and although we didn't win in any of the categories against some of the very talented competition, we were humbled to receive a couple nominations for "Best Haunt Video" and " Best Static Prop". These haunter competitions are really a lot of fun off season and we're very appreciative of all the work, time and money people like Dave spend to put them together. 

Thanks to David Dankanyin and the Dead with Dave Crew, and congratulations to all the winners this year!

Neighborhood Talk

"Missing Finger Productions" work mobile

Well, if the neighbors didn't already talk about the strangeness of our hobby, As of last week, I'm pretty sure they talk now..  We had some visitors from  "Missing Finger Productions" stop by the house for some non-Halloween related activities. Well, okay, actually, there was some  Halloween talk with owner, Kevin Koch, while the ladies did some "Paper Dove Gifts" jewelry transactions.

Rear of vehicle seats one comfortably

The talk in our somewhat reserved neighborhood would be the Missing Finger Production's  vehicle parked in front of the house, a classic Cadillac Hearse. Oh,  and it was complete with casket... empty as far as I know.

The hearse was certainly a show stopper. While I have no desire to personally own a hearse, like most guys I appreciate all classic cars and this one was in beautiful original condition. I believe he said it was a 1972 Cadillac. Sometimes I do have to remind myself the 1970's were over forty years ago...

"Missing Finger Production" is a part time prop making business for Kevin Koch. His full time job is a school teacher. I am pretty certain when I went to school none of my teachers had a hearse parked in the teachers lot.

A Monster Mallet

We haven't done very much for character development at Shingle Creek Manor  except for the evolving "Niethra" Voodoo witch which will get some costuming upgrades this year.

I've been chastised by "Niethra" and some haunt friends that I would much rather watch the trick or treaters and keep the foggers, lights and sound system in check as get costumed up. I can only congratulate my critics on their perceptivity...

Unfortunately, the evolution of Shingle Creek Manor and the lack of nearby friends with our same particular Halloween obsession is going to require me to work on my monstery-ness this season and suit up.

As luck would have it we obtained the potential weapon for said new monster during our recent trip to Transworld . At the "Haunter's Hangout" raffle we won a massive mallet hammer from Asylum Props! While it wouldn't have been my first thought for a weapon I do have to admit it is really cool.

Even cooler, Richard Teachout, owner of Asylum Props said it was cast from an actual old carnival mallet used by the carnival workers big enough to wield the thing. It was used to drive the three foot stakes holding the carnival tents. I'm all about a design with a history... dark carnival actors and clowns would love this thing.

The texture detail and paint of the mallet is amazing! Think I have to age the newer looking handle though...

Special thanks to Richard Teachout and "Asylum Props" for his donation to the "Haunter's Hangout" group. Make sure to "Like" the Asylum Props Facebook page and tell Richard hello.

Receiving our Asylum Props Sledge from Jwal Twisted Seed at Haunter's Hangout, Transworld!

Transworld and The Black Plague

Seems like we've been planning on attending Transworld's Halloween and Attractions trade show pretty much since we started building Shingle Creek Manor. Each year something usually kept us from it, but this year we were able to make the drive to St. Louis  and had a few great days seeing all the cool new Halloween toys manufacturers had to offer. It was everything I was led to believe it would be and then some!

Lots of creatures roaming the showroom floor. Belinda had a few laughs with this guy.

Couple of my favorite vendors, although it would be impossible to pick any one as my favorite, everybody had something good to offer:

Of course we also got to meet up with some friends from Haunter's Hangout, and even met a few that up until Transworld we had only socialized with on the internet. The Haunter's Hangout folks had a nice rest up  area and meeting place on the showroom floor. We tried to say hi to as many as possible but there was just so much to see on the showroom, we did miss quite a few.

Distortion's Unlimited Frankenstein helping me locate vendors on the map.

All in all a fun week until the last day when I managed to catch the Black Plague, or at least what I expect the Black Plaque would feel like. Luckily the worst of the fever was after the two day return drive home but it did cut our trip short by a day. This one has taken me quite a while to get over and as of today I still get exhausted just walking across the room. I wasn't the only one that got this crud though from the Facebook posts I've read. I guess it could have been worse had I gotten sick the first couple days at the convention.

Face Off's Nix Herrera showing off some of his amazing airbrush makeup

I'm not sure we will ever spend the money to attend Transworld again but it was a fun experience and a massive congregation of monster and horror imagination that has to be seen at least once by anyone who loves Halloween and or horror.