Noticed our video got linked and mentioned in one of Pumpkin Rot's recent blog entries. Highly unlikely your reading this blog and don't know who Pumpkin Rot is or not spent hours mulling through the photos and videos of his amazing creations on his blog and website. His was the VERY first yard haunter's site I had ever visited. I had no idea until then the amount of time and creativity people put into Halloween. Admittedly Rot is in a category all his own. His dark, organic style creations have completely redefined my vision of what a scarecrow looks like. The popularity of his site and creations has to be in no small part due to the creative eye of his photographer and wife, Bean. If you haven't already done so, the photos of this year's "Scarecrow Catacombs" are amazing! Do any trick or treaters come to their door??
Of course it's always rewarding to get recognized by any of our fellow Haunter's or Halloween bloggers. Haunters by and large are a supportive community. This surprising recognition from Pumpkin Rot, with a kind comment from Bean was however, ... "memorable."
Thanks Rot!
Ramblings about our yard haunt development and appreciation of all things Halloween related
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Shingle Creek Manor 2013 Video
Might be able to get a submission together for the " Home Haunter's Video awards" if I include prop building photos.
Note to self, " find a friend that has a good video camera that knows how to take night shots for next year!"
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Halloween 2013 Review or "How NOT to enjoy Halloween in 2014"
First and foremost a belated "Happy Halloween" to everyone!
I'm not sure what happened for us. The week leading up to Halloween, the Florida weather was cool and breezy, we were on-time if not slightly ahead of schedule with prop building, we were enjoying ourselves with some things that have become October traditions and then... a full reversal! The weather turned hot and sticky humid, took longer for my family and I to get the props from storage out and setup so having everything running the day before Halloween didn't happen. New mausoleum facade gave me repeated headaches during setup including continual breaking of what will be forever known as the "Columns from Hell"!
On Halloween day we started early in the morning to try and finish and have some relaxation time before the Trick-or-Treaters came - didn't happen... getting things set up, errands to the store, a fog chiller not working well, and then the icing on the cake, NO SOUND. Yep, no music, no sound effects, nothing!
Ipod wouldn't sync to computer I had Halloween music on. Our only CD player breaks and won't play the lullaby music for the new Rocking Zombie Granny prop, and the only good sound effects CD we have decides that three Halloweens is the maximum number of times it wants to play.
With literally minutes before the first customer of the night, my family gets it all figured out using a laptop for Granny and an Ipad connected to an Ipod stereo player with some You tube storm sounds.
So without any rest we began Halloween Night 2013.
We had about 70 trick-or- treaters and probably double that to 140 total visitors including parents, some adults walking the neighborhood, and the return of a double decker tour bus that we saw a couple years prior. Not sure what happened that there were fewer children.
Rocking Zombie Granny prop on the porch kept some youngsters from braving it up the steps where we sat on the opposite side, but of course they got their treats. Belinda delivered some candy to the street to a few very little ones. I'm sure just looking at the yard was too scary for them much less walking down the sidewalk. Overall the children and their parents seemed to be having a great time, which is really what it's all about. We even talked to some folks that moved away but returned to the neighborhood for Halloween just to see our haunt. We felt that was probably the ultimate compliment. There were also a significant number of vehicles slowly driving by or stopping in front of the house this year which I don't remember previously.
The final problem of the night was the inadequate number of photos and the quality of what I did get. The ones posted here are probably the best of what I have so I'm not sure the annual Home Haunter's Video is going to be possible. I really enjoyed doing that last year too.
Despite not being our best Halloween, in the end the yard looked great, children loved it, adults were complimentary and we got to spend time and talk to lots of children, neighbors, friends and our family.
As I'm cleaning up and putting away this year's Halloween, I'm mentally compiling a list of the mistakes that made this Halloween so frustrating. Not advance checking every little item to make sure it still works seems to be the first one, especially the sound and music!
I'm not sure what happened for us. The week leading up to Halloween, the Florida weather was cool and breezy, we were on-time if not slightly ahead of schedule with prop building, we were enjoying ourselves with some things that have become October traditions and then... a full reversal! The weather turned hot and sticky humid, took longer for my family and I to get the props from storage out and setup so having everything running the day before Halloween didn't happen. New mausoleum facade gave me repeated headaches during setup including continual breaking of what will be forever known as the "Columns from Hell"!
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| Rose Family Mausoleum covering one of the garage doors. "Columns from Hell" finally not breaking and stayed in place nicely. |
On Halloween day we started early in the morning to try and finish and have some relaxation time before the Trick-or-Treaters came - didn't happen... getting things set up, errands to the store, a fog chiller not working well, and then the icing on the cake, NO SOUND. Yep, no music, no sound effects, nothing!
Ipod wouldn't sync to computer I had Halloween music on. Our only CD player breaks and won't play the lullaby music for the new Rocking Zombie Granny prop, and the only good sound effects CD we have decides that three Halloweens is the maximum number of times it wants to play.
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| New Rocking Zombie Granny from Distortions Unlimited |
So without any rest we began Halloween Night 2013.
We had about 70 trick-or- treaters and probably double that to 140 total visitors including parents, some adults walking the neighborhood, and the return of a double decker tour bus that we saw a couple years prior. Not sure what happened that there were fewer children.
Rocking Zombie Granny prop on the porch kept some youngsters from braving it up the steps where we sat on the opposite side, but of course they got their treats. Belinda delivered some candy to the street to a few very little ones. I'm sure just looking at the yard was too scary for them much less walking down the sidewalk. Overall the children and their parents seemed to be having a great time, which is really what it's all about. We even talked to some folks that moved away but returned to the neighborhood for Halloween just to see our haunt. We felt that was probably the ultimate compliment. There were also a significant number of vehicles slowly driving by or stopping in front of the house this year which I don't remember previously.
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| New "Sorrow" statue we built this year was probably the only thing that didn't give us set-up problems. |
Despite not being our best Halloween, in the end the yard looked great, children loved it, adults were complimentary and we got to spend time and talk to lots of children, neighbors, friends and our family.
As I'm cleaning up and putting away this year's Halloween, I'm mentally compiling a list of the mistakes that made this Halloween so frustrating. Not advance checking every little item to make sure it still works seems to be the first one, especially the sound and music!
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Getting the "Treats" Together
Much fun as it is to put the scariness of Halloween together, there have to be treats. Probably easier just to get individual large candy bars and keep count of our treaters that way, but I think the kids like those little boxes of Halloween tattoos we started giving out with the candy a couple years ago, so the bags are easier.
We did 100 bags last year and then started with candy from a bowl and figured between 120 and 130. This year we made up 120 bags. Even though we have always had an increasing number of Trick-Or-Treaters turnout each year, in the back of my head I always think, "what if no one comes?" Actually, the candy is the least expensive part of this holiday for us, but for some reason getting together the candy is when I think about it. Maybe it's because I worry we'll eat the candy that's left over and we'll both go into diabetic coma...
We did 100 bags last year and then started with candy from a bowl and figured between 120 and 130. This year we made up 120 bags. Even though we have always had an increasing number of Trick-Or-Treaters turnout each year, in the back of my head I always think, "what if no one comes?" Actually, the candy is the least expensive part of this holiday for us, but for some reason getting together the candy is when I think about it. Maybe it's because I worry we'll eat the candy that's left over and we'll both go into diabetic coma...
Saturday, October 19, 2013
"Behind the Screams"
We attended the RIP Tour at Universal Studios, "Halloween Horror Nights" again this year. This is a lights on day-time tour of the set designs for each of the scare houses at HHN without dead people and monsters and such jumping out at you. Last year was our first year doing the tour and it was such a good time looking at the designs and detail that goes into creating these sets that it required a return visit.
This year they had 8 eight houses and we got to see 6 of them in the morning and afternoon tours. "The Walking Dead" house was back with scenes from last season. The Walking Dead are also roaming throughout the park to attack you between the scare houses during regular HHN hours. We decided that Belinda is pretty much a zombie magnet during our night visit to the park... if a zombie epidemic breaks out I'm thinking shes on her own. Sorry babe!
Most of the houses were after shows or movies, "Walking Dead", "American Werewolf in London", "Cabin in the Woods", and "Evil Dead".
Three of the houses are creations from Universal Studios, including "Havoc", "La Llorona" and this years 3D house, "Afterlife: Death's Vegeance". We didn't get to see "Havoc" or "Afterlife", but "La Lorona", which is based on a Mexican Urban Legend, was visually spectacular!
The final house was based on the "Resident Evil" game. I've never played the game but the house appeared to be very detailed with specific scenes from the game. This was the exterior of the house in the game's venue called Racoon City.
If you go to Halloween Horror Nights Orlando, try to make it a point to take the "Behind the Screams" Tour. We enjoyed ourselves again, and although it was a very long day, I'm pretty certain we'll be back again next year!
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| AMC's Walking Dead House D Block! |
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| Belinda visiting the jail cell |
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| Our guide gives us a rough demo of how the scareactor works with this zombie victim prop. He was entertaining and had good knowledge of all the behind the scenes stuff. |
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| Everything is glued down in every scene in the houses...including body parts of course. |
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| Belinda and I got to pose with a couple of the "American Werewolf in London" puppets. |
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| "The Slaughtered Lamb" pub from AWIL |
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| Facade in front of the tent for the "La Llorona" house. Amazing detail! |
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| "Resident Evil" house in one of the sound stages |
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| Resident Evil was a huge set of building facades, streets, and alleyways. |
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| Hated the "Cabin in the Woods" movie but this scare house could have been the actual movie set. Very well done. |
If you go to Halloween Horror Nights Orlando, try to make it a point to take the "Behind the Screams" Tour. We enjoyed ourselves again, and although it was a very long day, I'm pretty certain we'll be back again next year!
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Dollar Rats
Not sure very much can be done to upgrade the rats we can get every year at the Dollar Store. For a dollar you get two rat positions, one in scurry mode on all four legs or one sitting up on it's hind legs. Not that the rubber rats aren't an excellent deal for a dollar each.
Belinda wanted to add some of them to the Shingle Creek Mausoleum facade under construction but we were afraid the all black rodents would get lost in the shadows. Around the same time we were debating this dilemma, prop master, fellow haunter, and proprietor of the Haunt Calendar, Hector Turner, posted a photo on Face Book of some of the rubber rats that he had dry brushed with some brown that really made them stand out in the photo. And so we borrowed Hector's idea and added some color to our rats - What a difference!
Belinda wanted to add some of them to the Shingle Creek Mausoleum facade under construction but we were afraid the all black rodents would get lost in the shadows. Around the same time we were debating this dilemma, prop master, fellow haunter, and proprietor of the Haunt Calendar, Hector Turner, posted a photo on Face Book of some of the rubber rats that he had dry brushed with some brown that really made them stand out in the photo. And so we borrowed Hector's idea and added some color to our rats - What a difference!
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| A little white dry brushing to make the details pop |
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| Heat gun to straighten the tail on this one |
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| Found them a place on the mausoleum roof. Should cast a nice shadow against the light color of our house. |
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Ghosting
Started out the season "Ghosting" my son and his family!
We've enjoyed this tradition for the past few years, anonymously leaving baskets of Halloween treats and novelties at the door of neighbors, friends, and family, ringing the door bell, and running like hell. Admittedly, in some cases it has involved hiding around the corner of the house or behind a tree because I'm getting too old to be running like a mad man up and down the street.
We've enjoyed this tradition for the past few years, anonymously leaving baskets of Halloween treats and novelties at the door of neighbors, friends, and family, ringing the door bell, and running like hell. Admittedly, in some cases it has involved hiding around the corner of the house or behind a tree because I'm getting too old to be running like a mad man up and down the street.
You can Google the particulars of the tradition including the various "Ghosting" poems that explain to the unsuspecting victim what has happened and that it is their Halloween duty to repeat the process to their neighbors, friends and or family. You also get a picture of a ghost, or some variation thereof, to place in your window indicating you've been ghosted.
We did two baskets this year, one for the my son and his girlfriend and one for their four year old. Four year olds at Halloween make it all worth while. They sent us a short video clip of his excitement carrying his basket inside and sorting through it's contents, Good feelings for Halloween!
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| Blinking LED's and candy in a bowl always look good on a dark porch to a child |
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| Treats differ for adults, bottle of witch's brew (Sangria) and some cheddar cheese instead of candy! |
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