Halloween Horrors

Home haunters, beware! We've heard the admonitions many times before, but you've got to be careful about your local code officials shutting you down. Fremont, CA just shut down a local haunt that was made mostly out of wood pallets because it was deemed a hazard.

The haunt specifically brought to mind the Perdition Home haunt where two kids Brandon and Trevor (well, "kids" from the perspective of my being old) are building a pretty incredible walk-thru out of pallets. There's a lot of work they're putting into their haunt and it would be a shame to see it shut down (check out their daily build vlogs!).

But others too, like Troy at Halloween Hellmouth, have some pretty substantial structures they've built on their property and it provides an easily identifiable target for code officials.

Apparently the Fremont haunt has been a popular site for awhile, which undoubtedly is what brought it to the city's attention. The neighbors don't mind and support the haunt, but the city is giving the family until the 26th or face daily fines.

It bears repeating that if you're going to have structures and such as part of your haunt, try to incorporate as many safety aspects as you can, such as fireproof materials, escape routes, or similar things that in the event a code official shows up unannounced, you can point to these things as a way of indicating your thoughtful about safety.

Of course, taking a proactive approach, and going to the city beforehand to see what if any objections they might have could nip in the bud any muscle-flexing the officials might want to display after the fact.