Devil's Eve

Scary Times in NYC

2012-02-10T07:49:00.001-05:00

Tonight I'll be heading into New York City with several other haunters to check out a new year 'round haunted house I found out about, TimesScare NYC.

Although I'm not certain, I believe it just opened last year and along with a few fellow haunters -- BobC and Noah Fentz -- we'll be seeing whether it's a worthy addition to the haunt world. It's themed after the Halloween movie (hopefully John Carpenter's version, not Rob Zombie's) and takes you through Haddonfield Memorial Hospital then to Michael Myers home.

TimesScare also offers live shows featuring illusionists, comedians, and magic, as well as two bars, "The Kill Room" and "The Parlour of the Paranormal." They serve absinthe there so I'll be sure to sample some and see if it's all it's cracked up to be. For the longest time you could only buy absinthe overseas (possession was okay; manufacturing it here was illegal) because of its supposed hallucinogenic properties. It was known as the "green fairy" and Vincent Van Gogh was said to have painted some of his most famous, surreal paintings (think "Starry Nights") while imbibing absinthe.

I doubt that what's on sale is anywhere near the strength of the real thing. Wikipedia has a pretty exhaustive entry on absinthe and the section on the United States pretty much confirms what I feared. The compound thujone, which is said to be the active ingredient that gives absinthe its unique qualities, is pretty much absent in any iteration sold here. Of course, the entry also says absinthe was never hallucinogenic and was probably the result of other additives in the drink. Maybe I'll save myself the $10 or so (if I'm lucky it will be that cheap) the drink will likely cost.

Prior to hitting up TimesScare though, we'll also be strolling through Greenwich Village (more commonly known as "The Village") hitting up some Halloween stores. Two in particular, Abracadabra and Halloween Adventure, are on the list.

We had also intended to go to Obscura Antiques & Oddities. You may know it from the TV show "Oddities" on the Discovery Channel. Unfortunately, they're moving their store to a new location and so it is closed during the month of February. Bummer, as that was going to be the highlight of my night (well, that and TimesScare).

I'll be vlogging what I can and hopefully I'll be able to record some video of TimesScare and maybe get an interview or two with the principals of the show, which I'll post to my YouTube vlog. Regardless, it should be a fun night hanging out with a few fellow haunters.

One Man's Trash

2012-02-08T07:22:00.000-05:00

I guess you'd have to be a haunter to appreciate foam packing. I recently got a bookcase from Ikea and when I opened the box there was a sheet of foam inside about 18"x24" or so. As soon as I saw it I said, "Oh, cool! A tombstone!" Odd looks from the people in the room immediately ensued.

Now it is the cheap and flimsy white, beaded foam but this can be used to make a tombstone all by itself or, as I plan to do, glue it to a thicker piece of blue or pink foam to bulk up that one. In the past when I got a 7-foot piece of foam from a screen door box, I cut it into thirds and glued them together to make a single, thick(er) tombstone. This new piece will end up in a similar supporting roll. Unfortunately that was the only one inside.

A C-Note for Hauntcast?

2012-02-06T11:09:00.000-05:00

Once more into the breach. Seems there really is a movement afoot to resurrect Hauntcast, only it's not what I think was being discussed in my last post about the show possibly coming back (I believe that turned out to be a stripped out version of Fright Flicks & Horror Reviews, which would feature just Chris Baker and Johnny Thunder, pretty cool all by itself).

The new movement, though, if you want to call it that, would be to have a real subscription format, but rather than just the $1 per show Hauntcast devised last time, it would be $100 for the year with a goal of at least 250 subscribers.

Obviously that would gross Hauntcast a minimum of $25,000 which would allow him to justify the amount of time he and his team invest in the production of the show, and speaking of the team, would allow him to pay a stipend to the Scream Team who've agreed they'd come back if they could get paid for their participation. In these still difficult economic times, it makes sense for everyone to want to maximize their own return for their effort. The real question is, of course, does it maximize the return of potential subscribers?

Last year when Hauntcast went pay-per-download, I paid for my own subscription, plus 3 or 4 more subscriptions: two for a contest I held and one or two for friends. That would have brought my support of the show to as much $60, so would another $40 be a dealbreaker for me? Doubtful, but it has to be admitted there is a lot of competing attention for really scarce discretionary money.

I subscribe to both HauntWorld and Haunted Attraction magazines, which go for around $50 each annually (and there's a new magazine coming out next month, Top Haunts, that looks really good), but you get just four issues a year (TH would be biannual, that's two issues a year for the numerically challenged). Hauntcast would be monthly. I also attend a few Halloween and haunt-related shows each year, which adds another $50-$100 a year to my obsession investment, but those are just one- or two-day events. Then there's of course the time and money I commit to making and building props each year, all with the knowledge I'm doing this for a few dozen kids -- at most -- who come trick-or-treating to my house each Halloween (last year, because of the snowstorm and power outages, there were just two kids that showed up, and two neighbors who stopped by to tell me they appreciated my decorating efforts each year). So obviously the risk-reward ratio is all out of whack when it comes to me and Halloween.

In the past I've said how much joy I get out of Hauntcast. It helps me while away the hours on prop building and just listening in generally. I was really getting into the new Ed Gannon segment that was introduced before the show ended and from what I've seen he might be willing to come back as well. That alone should be a big (haunted) attraction for many. It is for me.

Yet at $100 a subscription, that's no small commitment for listeners. When it was $1 a show, most of the subscribers melted away, and -- though I don't know why I think this -- I believe there may have been at most a few thousand listeners (2,000 or less). Can the show attract say just 10% of this number for what amounts to a nearly 10-fold increase in the subscription price? I find it difficult to see them pulling it off.

Without question, Chris's show was top quality. Just from my sorry-ass attempts at editing my vlog I see the time commitment necessary to do all the editing required for the two-hour show that Hauntcast became. And while I appreciated all the extra content Chris gave, undoubtedly from a sense of believing he wanted to give more to people who were paying for his product, it was a monumental undertaking.

My suggestion would be that Chris reduce the admission fee to $50, but cut the content back to the one hour or so that it was before the switch to the pay-per-download format. That would put Hauntcast on the same footing as various Halloween and haunt-related magazine subscriptions and shows and wouldn't necessarily require such an arduous time commitment on him or the Scream Team.

I think also when you have a longer format, you're almost of necessity trying to find stuff to fill in the time with. By keeping it to one hour, the show is much more focused and just the best stuff makes it to the airwaves. No doubt it's still a bear of a commitment by Chris, but I think targeting a larger mass market by pricing it at half the cost of what's being planned -- being the mid-tier Macy's of shows rather than Nordstrom (and we all saw what happened when he tried to be Walmart) -- would broaden his audience considerably. He might get 500 people paying $50 whereas finding 250 at $100 could be more problematic.

Whichever way the show goes, I'm pretty sure I'll be there. I'd understand people balking at paying $100 for the show, particularly during these lean times, but I'd bet Chris, JT, Shelly, and Ed would find a wider more accepting audience at a lower annual cost.

EDIT: Chris Baker just posted a video to address the issue once and for all, and I think it's worth a look:

A True Mache Master

2012-02-05T09:23:00.000-05:00

I've seen a lot of papier mache art over the past few years of haunting, some great, some less so. But I've never seen the medium taken to the heights as it has been by Japanese artist Ryo Arai. The realism, texture, and level of detail make it seem incredible to believe this is art actually made out of paper.

I'd link to an artist's page or something, but anything I could find was written in Japanese and I couldn't tell if it was actually the artist's site or note (Google Translate didn't help at all).

For the Frog Queen

I found these images by doing a Google search, however, and it seems there was an exhibit at the ICN Gallery in London last year featuring Arai's work where, according to the exhibit's description, the works have been used "as book cover designs for a popular writer Kyogoku Natsuhiko's "Bakemonotsuzura" (Monster bag)."

It's worth the hunt to find more of these amazing sculptures.

Credit

Hauntcast Resurrection?

2012-02-03T08:59:00.002-05:00

Okay, I'm willing to give in to wild speculation. Is the premiere Halloween and haunt related podcast Hauntcast making a comeback? Is it being resurrected from it's ignominious death just three loooooong months ago?

As I said, I'm up for rumor-mongering, but the Hauntcast page on Facebook posted a cryptic status update saying "Somethings brewing in the podosphere." Immediately loyal minions (me included) jumped to the immediate conclusion Chris Baker is resurrecting the show. Who knows if it's true, but it's fun to muse over the possibility.

Truth is, the podcast domain has been a barren wasteland since Hauntcast left the airwaves. I think some vloggers on YouTube have tried to pick up the mantle, notably "Dead with Dave" from Pandemic Productions, but it's hard to argue that the 2-hour extravaganzas Baker produced with Hauntcast were just awesome Halloween ear candy.

Time will tell, I guess, but for now, we can imagine and savor the possibility of its return. Shelly? JT? Denny? Rev? Care to burst the bubble?

Fire at Will!

2012-01-30T20:25:00.001-05:00

One of the things I really love about prop building is the new skills I develop, which I'm then able to transfer to other areas. Before I made me first set of LED spotlights I would never have thought about soldering. Before I built a flying crank ghost I would never have considered the mechanics of how things worked, always thinking it was "too complicated."

I've always been handy, just never mechanically inclined. Now I find myself taking apart computer boxes to strip out wiring, power supplies, speakers, etc. I disassembled washer machines looking for water valves (haven't used them yet!). I'm breaking down fans and salvaging motors for uses in my haunt. I bought a welder last year after seeing a demonstration of how they worked and will soon be using it to build props.

Two weekends ago I did a Talking Boris hack and now have a really cool greeter for my yard. This past Saturday I built my first pneumatic prop, and I can already tell it won't be my last. I built an air cannon, which was a heckuva lot fun to do and even more fun to play with.

I learned today, however, the two compressors I own may not be big enough to handle the needs of the cannon. I can shoot it off after first pressurizing the tank to 80 psi, but after a few shots I need to completely drain the tank and re-pressurize it again to get it to work. Seems the cannons operate at an optimal pressure of 120+ psi. My torpedo compressor and my pancake compressor, though both say 125 psi max on the side, were struggling to hit 90 psi today.

Maybe it was the cold weather, but I was told if I go for an oil compressor with around a 30 gallon tank, I'll not have such issues for operating any of the pneumatic props I build. While it's a $350 investment or so (thank you Harbor Freight Tools for saving me at least $100!) I'll still be able to use my other compressors as reserve tanks. And I won't run into the issues I had with my paint sprayer and impact wrench which never seemed to have the juice to handle the task at hand.

So Halloween and prop building continue to open up new and interesting avenues for me I never would have explored previously.

Zombies, aaaah!

2012-01-29T09:26:00.000-05:00

No, not the (cheesy) movie, but rather a "documentary" on the living dead. Tonight on History Channel's H2 channel -- what used to be called History International (but I guess that didn't attract enough viewers, though I wonder how many realize when going through the program guide what "H2" is) -- they'll be running "Zombies: A Living History."

Going back to Medieval Europe's dance with death known as the Black Plague, the shows how the period exploded with zombie myths. It also explores Viking beliefs of decapitation as being the only means of truly killing a zombie, thus predating George Romero's head shot. It will also travel to China and Haiti examining their zombie traditions. World War Z's Max Brooks is featured as well as authors Jonathan Mayberry, Scott Scholzmann, and J.L. Bourne.

Seems like a fun historical look at what may at times appear to be just a modern phenomenon. I believe it first ran last October, though I missed it then. I'll make sure to tune in tonight.

A Different Kind of Dear John Letter

2012-01-25T19:50:00.000-05:00

Those of you who know me know I'm not a sentimental person in the sense I'm not given to outward display of emotional feelings. No touchy-feely stuff. No tears over loss. But it was with a sense of mourning and loss that I just read a post from John at Seasons of Shadow that moved me.

As you may be aware, John has been fighting a debilitating disease for sometime now and his blog post, "Last Post," tells how he is finally giving in to the fight. He is accepting that the disease has won and now he will soon die. It's pretty moving.

"As you may know, I have a strong belief in the survival of consciousness after death, and I also believe in the concept of natural selection. Nature’s given me the signal — it’s my time, and intuitively and instinctually I’m feeling nature’s correct. I’m not at all scared to explore this fourth (and what I feel is the best) option. In fact, I welcome it, as I’ve been at my wits end the last year trying to deal with this incredibly cruel illness."

John is an incredibly talented haunter. I've enjoyed the detail and passion he brought to the craft. He'll be sorely missed. Rest easy, John.

Silicone Implants

2012-01-23T19:58:00.000-05:00

Comedy, Tragedy

Since my meeting with Secaucus was cancelled the other day due to snow, I decided to work on some small Halloween projects (after shoveling, of course).

I had read on the Hauntforum discussion boards a post about making silicone molds to cast paper clay items in. The process was lifted from Instructables, a website that contains some interesting Halloween-related projects (and a lot of dreck too).

The mold ingredients

The idea is to take regular silicone caulk -- the cheapest stuff you can find (but its gotta be silicone) -- and mix it with corn starch. The reaction between the two creates a cheap, quick mold that can conform to any surface. On Hauntforum, Jaybo used it to make an impression of a small resin skull and then used paper clay to churn out a bunch of skulls (he got the molding technique from MacabreRob who found it on Instructables with the resulting mixture called "Oogoo").

The rubber masks

On YouTube, ramathltol did a similar thing but used the plaster plate mold process. While others have used the plaster process, most notably Allen H from StiltBeastStudios, ramathltol ended up making hundreds of the paper clay skulls in what must have been a truly mind numbing process.

In his original post, MacabreRob discusses how mixing the caulk with corn starch is a little difficult because of the stickiness of the caulk, but after awhile it yields up and depending on how much corn starch you use you'll have between a few minutes and hours to work with the mixture. At a 1:1 ratio of caulk to corn starch, it you just a few minutes; at 5:1, you have 2 hours.

Pressing mask into Oogoo

I recalled, though, Allen showing how to making a silicone mold for a mask he was making, and he had mixed the caulk with naphtha -- about 50-50 he said -- which broke down the caulk and made it possible to paint on with a brush. I figured I would combine the two processes and see how that turned out.

So I squeezed out about half a regular size tube of silicone into a plastic container and eyeballed about a quarter of the amount of naphtha. I put the lid on the container and shook it vigorous back and forth and it obtained a much more liquid consistency. I mixed it with a bit of corn starch (I figure it was about one quarter the amount of caulk) and using a popsicle stick mixed it all together until smooth and flattened the surface.

The resulting mold

What I wanted to mold was a rubbery set of zombie heads I had found at the dollar store. The container was big enough for two of the small heads so I pressed two of them into the Oogoo and let it set for about 15 minutes or so (maybe a little longer, I was futzing around and wasn't really keeping track). The skulls, though, readily pulled out of the mold without any residue whatsoever.

I had intended to use paper clay, but really didn't feel like mixing up a batch, so I used plaster instead. I mixed up a batch and poured it into the mold, which had only been setting for about a half hour total. I left them in there for an hour or so and pulled one out and found the plaster was still wet. Maybe because of the silicone it stays wet longer than otherwise. While it gave the face an interesting texture, I decided to let the other head cure overnight.

The mold pops out easily

I'm not sure if it was because of having it sit in the silicone so it absorbs some of the chemical or what, but several days later now and I still find the casts slightly damp to the touch. I also notice the faces have some very small bubbles that are very brittle and easily brush away. So I'm thinking there is some absorption going on here.

Since I didn't take photos of the process, I did it tonight and noticed the plastic packaging of the rubber skulls has their reverse image molded into the plastic. So I just poured another casting of the faces, but this time using the packaging. I want to see if they cure faster than the silicone mold ones did. I'll report back my findings.

Plaster casting

Regardless, it was a fun little project that should enable me to churn out hundreds of small finials for my graveyard fence I plan to make. I think I'll make those out of paper clay (not sure how well plaster will hold up to the elements over the long haul, even sealed and painted).

The other mini project I did was used Great Stuff expanding foam to make a brain. I saw Steve from Steve's Haunted Yard (Yardhaunter5 on YouTube) do this and it seemed like a quick and easy project. And it was! Using a plastic Jell-O brain mold, I filled it about half way up and let it set over night.

Unfortunately, the results were disastrous. Although the outer portion dried to a hard shell like Great Stuff does, the inner portion -- the part that would have the brain design on it -- didn't dry, even after 24 hrs. When I pried the "brain" out of the mold. it split in two revealing a still damp interior. Now here it is two days later and the part that I left in the brain mold is still damp in parts, though mostly cured. I'll have to go back and review Steve's project to see what I did wrong.

With a Make & Take group meeting yesterday (Talking Boris Skull hack) and another scheduled for next Saturday (Coffin Creep, but we'll be working on the lid mechanism) it's great to be back in the swing of things building props!

A Final Resting Place

2012-01-22T09:51:00.002-05:00

I'm weird. I've found I actually enjoy visiting cemeteries. Their peace and tranquility is certainly a part of the allure, but the tombstones, monuments, and mausoleums are what really attracts me. And the more overrun and unkempt the cemetery is, the better!

Obviously this passion arose from my haunting for Halloween, visiting cemeteries to get ideas for carving tombstones out of foam. But I've since found myself going to a cemetery to walk and take in the scenery for no other reason than it was quite relaxing. Not the "flat stone" cemeteries with markers that are really just plaques laying on the ground, but the burial places where there are monuments to those interred within.

Yet it also stems from my love of history. It's why I also love abandoned buildings, particularly those that have longbeen forgotten. I enjoy trying to imagine the history of the place, the people that populated it, and the stories the building could tell. There's something about finding an old, cracked plate or a rusted knife on a rotted countertop and thinking about the day it was placed there. What the person who lived there was thinking and how they came to leave the place but not take the knife or plate with them.

Or factories where the grass has grown tall in the parking lot. The windows have long since broken out by vandals and the walls covered in graffiti, but at one time people were walking through the gates of the grounds in the morning drinking a cup of coffee. That sort of history fascinates me.

There was a sumptuous book called "Ruin" which was a collection of black and white photos of old mills, bridges, grain elevators, storefronts, and more. It should be on my coffee table.

No doubt, though, this love of a dilapidated past was born of my trips to upstate New York to visit my grandmother's farm. Located in Afton, NY, we'd travel for hours and it was with a sense of relief when we hit the "beebee road," a gravel track that took us up to Tracy Rd., so named for the big, propertied family that lived there.

My grandmother's farm was along Tracy Rd. but to get there we had to pass the "first farm," a ramshackle hut that at some point had been turned into a hunter's shack. It was set back from the road amid high weeds, the wood grayed from years of exposure. My mother would tell us stories about growing up in that shack, where the cow poked its head through her bedroom window right over her bed and having to walk through the snow to go to the outhouse in winter.

It's not how I remember it

It's gone now, as is the second farm. The third farm still stands, but is on its way to a similar fate as the first farm. The house sat at the top of a hill and had been a grand white structure with a portico porch running across the face of building. It commanded the view of the 188-acre dairy farm they ran, with pastures streaming out in front and wheat fields behind. A windbreak of poplar trees still stands, as does the giant, single elm out in the middle of the trees.

The farm has since been divided up by developers and houses now dot the fields where I once ran in my youth, catching frogs in the hand-dug watering hole, walking with the cows down to pasture. I visited a couple of years ago and was slightly distressed to see a calf tied up on the home's front lawn just as someone would leash a dog. The house has indeed fallen on hard times, no longer looking as I or any of my family members remembered it. Gone are the columns and the cement porch, replaced by a small wooden structure, almost utilitarian in nature.

I got to all this reminiscing and thinking of ruined buildings and forgotten cemeteries -- and my adoration for all of them -- because I just finished watching a show on cemeteries on Netflix called "A Cemetery Special," a show that highlighted a number of cemeteries around the country, including Boston's Mount Auburn Cemetery, the Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh (I may try to take that in when I go to Hauntcon), and the Cypress Lawn cemetery in California.

It wasn't particularly in depth, and I thought it could stand to focus a little more on the unique architecture that dots their hillsides, but I ended up thinking how odd it was how much I enjoyed old cemeteries.

As I said, I'm weird.

Flaky Weather

2012-01-21T05:59:00.002-05:00

Mother Nature has a pretty warped sense of humor when it comes to her, me, and haunting. Last year she ripped apart my haunt with a brutal snowstorm days before Halloween and she returned this morning with more snow that served to cancel the meeting scheduled for today with Secaucus township officials for our pro haunt.

Not that we had anything more than a dusting, mind you, but the weatherman had drummed up so much fervor that we could possibly receive as much as 8" or more of snow leading up to today that the school officials said they weren't opening the school and would reschedule the meeting.

We were already to go with our presentation too. The picture to the left shows our bound proposal; Dave had the haunt plans and a cool teaser trailer ready for show-and-tell time; Johnny devised some really cool graphics that we'll use for both marketing and memorabilia sales; and Jay was ready with his experience running Grimlock Manor as a pro haunt, all in an effort to convince them to give us the green light.

Until Mother Nature cruelly set everything back. Damn you, be-yatch!

But what's up with our weak-willed constitutions these days. My local school district just called (at 5:50 a.m.!) to say that all Saturday programs were cancelled too because of the weather. Literally, there's just a dusting of snow outside! The roads and sidewalks are clear, it's just the grass that has a covering of white. My father used to regale me with stories of walking to and from school in waist-high snow. Uphill. In both directions! Now a few flakes and everyone panics. Guess I better head to the grocery store and stock up on provisions because there's likely to be a run on milk, water, and bread.

Anyway, the extra time will give us more time to prepare our presentation and make it even better. It's just annoying to have to wait.

Update!

Okay, we got a little more than a dusting, but the 3 or so inches we ended up with still didn't warrant canceling the meeting.

Meeting a Go-Go

2012-01-14T08:53:00.000-05:00

Well, not a stripper, or even Belinda Carlisle, for that matter, but our meeting with Secaucus Township officials has been confirmed for January 21, so we've got to get our presentation in order. We actually have much of this done already, but the four of us will be setting up a Skype conference call on Wednesday to discuss our roles and what we'll be presenting, then on Saturday we'll be meeting up once more at my house to make sure we're all on board.

Jay (FrightGuy, Grimlock Manor), as the lead contact for the effort, will be providing the officials with an overview of what we want to achieve while expanding on his prior pro haunt experience. I'll follow that up with the overview of our proposal and how we'll achieve what we've laid out. The actual written proposal will be printed and bound for distribution at the end of our presentation.

Dave (Dr. Death, Pandemic Cemetery), will follow this with a detailed explanation of the actual dark attraction we'll build. As our point man and resident expert on fire codes, we'll be relying on Dave to handle many of the questions the mayor and fire inspector are sure to be asking us. Hopefully we'll have anticipated many of the questions before they're even asked and will address them in the presentation.

Both Jay and Johnny will discuss the marketing aspects of the haunt and how we'll promote it to bring in the greatest number of patrons. Johnny will then provide a show-and-tell on the cool graphics we've (he) designed for the haunt.

Last, and the part we hope will seal the deal for us, is the quick little teaser trailer we've made for the haunt. The 1:30 video uses scenes and props that we've built and put in our respective haunts, along with a rousing music score, to give a sense of what they can expect from us and the haunted attraction we'll build for them. It's actually pretty cool!

Taken together we hope they'll be blown away by it all and will roll out the red carpet for us. Of course, reality is always different than dreams so stay tuned for more details.

Scaring Up Some Haunt Plans

2012-01-08T06:52:00.000-05:00

Since Jay, Dave, Johnny, and myself have agreed to keep things under wraps until our official reveal at Hauntcon (May 3-7, Monroeville, PA), it's difficult to tell much about our pro haunt planning session yesterday. I didn't even capture much video since vlogging it would have only served to reveal our plans.

However, I can say that from our end we're more than ready to make our presentation to school and township officials, which is tentatively schedule for January 21, or the 28th at the latest.

Yesterday's meeting covered the actual haunt design, logo and graphics work, and the presentation we're going to make.

What I can say is that we're going to have two haunts, a main walk-thru "maze," if you will, and a "lesser" secondary haunt afterwards. Since this is our first effort at this, we decided not to bite off more than we could chew by have three major haunts that filled up the skating rink. If this first effort is as successful as we plan it to be, we can add on modules as we go. Dave has really dug into the minutiae of the fire codes and has come up with some really exciting work that will make this a fun, scary haunt, but one that is completely safe and up to code.

Interestingly, in some of the research I've done on the town of Secaucus (where the haunt will be located), I've found it has a rather colorful history. If anyone's ever driven on the New Jersey Turnpike near its northern terminus, and you've taken the eastern spur towards the Lincoln Tunnel, you'll be familiar with a huge promontory of rock closely hugging the roadway. Known as Laurel Hill Park today (and more colloquially "Graffiti Rock" for reasons you can obviously guess), it was originally called Snake Hill because of the great number of snakes that slithered in the area and in the waterways, some as large as 15 feet! "Secaucus" itself is an old Indian phrase meaning "black snake."

This hill, however, was once home to a penitentiary, an insane asylum, a tuberculosis sanitarium, a poor house (called the Almshouse), and a massive potter's field where all the lost souls of these institutions were buried. It's estimated some 10,000 people are buried there and when they were constructing the new transfer station there a few years ago, they had to halt construction when they started digging up bodies. This area even made it to the pages of "Weird N.J.,"was the subject of an independent film, and was also said to have served as the inspiration for Prudential insurance company's logo (though they ultimately went with the Rock of Gibraltar).

Our haunt will initially be a Victorian mansion (I don't think I'm speaking out of school by revealing that nugget; it's a tired-and-true haunt convention). But in subsequent years, if permitted, we plan on adding on haunt scenes based on this unique town history. Each seems perfect for a haunt -- the jail, the asylum, and the hospital. That's why I said we plan on creating this haunt in modular format so that plugging these additional scares in year after year is entirely feasible.

We've also really advanced our logo work for the haunt, and plan to have some memorabilia on hand to sell at the haunt. Since this haunt is also a fundraiser for the 11th grade class of Secaucus high school, we like the idea of having our logo on the front and a "creeped out" school building on the back. Since we also plan on selling sponsorships to local businesses (small businesses and national corporate accounts), there will be room for company names and logos too. Johnny Cross did some great work on our own business logo (yes, we have a company for this too) and both he and Jay will be working on website graphics next so that once we're given the green light (hey, gotta keep that positive attitude!) we'll be ready to hit the ground running.

I look forward to sharing the actual details on what we're doing in the months ahead. As I said, we'll be meeting with the town in two weeks so we had to make sure we had all our I's crossed and our T's dotted (!) to give the town sufficient belief we actually know what we're doing. From our meeting yesterday, I have that same confidence in our abilities!

So look for us at Hauntcon this year (oh, we won't have a booth or anything, but you'll know we're there!). Afterwards, we plan on releasing the full details of our haunt.

Virtual Whiteboard

2012-01-07T11:18:00.001-05:00

To help focus my haunt building activities this year, I'm going to make a project list to keep track of how I'm progressing. I've seen Troy from Halloween Hellmouth use a whiteboard and more recently Steve from Steve's Haunted Yard (YardHaunter5) has employed one (on a side note, Steve has launched a new YouTube channel devoted exclusively to how-to's and haunt projects. This will be in addition to his regular vlog. Check it out! StevesHauntedYard).

But my office walls are cluttered enough that I don't have room for a whiteboard, so I'm going to use this blog as my "whiteboard." I had already started a page to list prop tutorials (called Devil's Advocate), but since this has been underutilized for that purpose, I'll combine the page to feature tutorials on projects I want to build this year.

I've started posting a few ideas I have for the year, such as rebuilding my cemetery pillars that got crushed by the snowstorm that hit just before Halloween, along with gates to fill them in and a new fence. Now I'll start scouring the Internet for ideas to steal, er, use as inspiration, and plug them in. That way, having a list to follow and a source of instruction to help me with the build, I actually might accomplish more this year than I did last year.

Happy Zombie New Year

2012-01-01T06:42:00.001-05:00

Although I now consider November 1 the official haunter's New Year, for those of you still going by the Gregorian calendar, Happy New Year. May it be filled with lots of the undead.

But since we're talking calendars here, you better make 2012's Halloween your best ever, because if you follow an even older calendar, the Mayan Long Count calendar, December 21, 2012 will be the end of the world. That means there are but 355 days to go.

While mystics and crazy people see upheaval, towers falling, and oceans rising, maybe the end of the world is really a zombie outbreak. We can always hope.

Happy New Year!

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

2011-12-31T18:33:00.000-05:00

When it came down to it, the pressure to make the Christmas Day deadline trumped my desire to blog (and vlog) the complete build of my nutcrackers. While a lot of things I was able to photograph, time constraints really prevented me from doing updates (you'll notice a dearth of posts in December).

But I did manage to complete the nutcrackers in time for Christmas. Well, almost. Christmas morning I was actually still putting a few details on the king and they were still bald. They only got their hair this past week and I still have to complete the king's scepter and the soldier's sword. Time enough for that yet.

Overall, though, I was pleased with how they turned out, though I don't think I want to build another set any time soon.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T10:08:00.001-05:00

Bah! Humbug!

Steam Punk Has Jumped the Shark

2011-12-16T23:46:00.001-05:00

Although I love much of the literature upon which the genre is based, I never quite got the whole steam punk-Halloween relationship. For a costume, perhaps, but I never understood what it had to do with haunting. Of course, I guess one could ask, what does a Medieval castle have to do with haunting too, yet I completely buy into that.

Fortunately, 12th century fortresses haven't had to contend with the pure evil that is Justin Bieber. Not so lucky is what was once the fastest growing subculture. The former mop-haired crooner recently released a Christmas video with a decided steam punk flair to it, effectively and quite suddenly making it very uncool to be associated with it. Add in a dollop of Macy's Christmas windows being done up in genre finery as well and you've got the makings of a very mainstream movement.

For all of you that may have missed the Bieber-ing of steam punk, I give you The Video.

I'm also not sure what all the break dancing has to do with steam punk (or Christmas for that matter) or why Bieber felt the need to grab his crotch in a holiday video. In fact, I find the whole video a fairly ludicrous take on a cherished Christmas song. I have no problems with updating a song for modern tastes. A lot of very good music has been as a result of redoing a song. But this video is just dumb. Sure, the production values are good, the choreography is good -- I don't know if I can say the singing, really, is all that good -- but it's just a dumb Christmas video.

Not only has Justin Bieber ruined a holiday song, but he's also infuriated an entire subculture who will now be forced to find a new trend to lead to the forefront.

Haunt TV

2011-12-11T20:00:00.001-05:00

That was the name I was going to use for a YouTube-based video show I was thinking of producing. It was actually the reason behind my wanting to build a 3-axis skull: I wanted a foil to interact with and a talking skull would be great. Fortunately, I don't have to worry about that anymore.

"Dead with Dave" is the name of a new Halloween and haunt-related video show that debuted today. I knew it was in the works and was awaiting it's premier, and now having seen it, can say with complete honesty it was worth the wait. Dave, from Pandemic Haunt Productions, has produced a slick, fun, and informative program that covers a variety of topics that are of interest to all of us. And at almost 14 minutes, it's easily digestible.

All too often YouTube videos are rather boring set pieces (I've made a few, so I know of whence I speak) but Dave brings good humor and current topics with quality production values. And the set is pretty cool too (I've actually seen it first hand).

The topics covered this time around include a review of a really neat home haunt (you'll have to watch to find out which one; a tribute to the Cauldron Creep prop with a look at a number of versions that have come out; and a discussion of the upcoming haunt shows.

So I thoroughly encourage everyone to head over to the first webisode and check out this effort, particularly since with the demise of Hauntcast us haunters are left in need of something to occupy our time.

Oh, and if Pandemic sounds familiar, that's because Dave is the same guy that will be joining with me and Jay (Frightguy, from Grimlock Manor) in leaping into the professional haunted attraction arena. But that doesn't color my judgment. If the show sucked, I'd probably just ignore it because I'll have to work with the guy for the next year. But it doesn't. Really, it's that good and I look forward to more webisodes in the future.

You Hockey Puck!

2011-12-06T21:15:00.001-05:00

As you may recall, myself, Frightguy from Grimlock Manor (Jay), and Dr. Death from Pandemic Cemetery (Dave) are joining together to put on a pro haunt to be held at Secaucus High School in 2012. Nominally a fundraiser for the school, we're not looking at it as "just a high school haunted house" but rather a venue where we can try our hand(s) at a pro-style haunt.

Today we met with the principal of Secaucus H.S., Dr. Bob, as well as some of the support staff that will be coordinating it on the school's end. While the first idea was to have half the gymnasium as the venue, it was then decided the new two-story foyer for their performing arts center -- yeah, my high school didn't have a performing arts center either -- would be a better location. While it did present some challenges (a 30-ft high wall of glass being one of them) it was definitely workable.

However, Dr. Bob offered a third alternative: the town's ice rink.

This isn't a small rink like you might find for roller hockey or something, this is a full-size -- NHL size -- rink! I just did a Google search and an NHL rink is 85 ft. wide by 200 ft. long, or 17,000 square feet total! The amazing aspect of this venue is that not only would would we have full use of the rink, but also the "midway" areas that surround the rink, the ticket booth foyer, the concession stands -- everything!

But wait, there's more! While that's almost too much space for us to fill, we would have immediate use of the space following the winter sports season. So we could start building early in the year and keep it stored right there under lock and key. And after the haunt was over, the high school has facilities to store all of the panels and props in trailers.

One last unique aspect of the rink is that it is adjacent to Route 3. Now anyone from out of state wouldn't realize what that means, but Jerseyans understand the incredible advertising opportunity this represents. The highway is a major, major highway heading into New York City and is one of the feeder highways to the New York Giants football stadium.

There's still a lot of work that needs to be done before we even get to that stage, but Dr. Bob seems like he is fully on board and supportive. So that means we need to come up with a professional presentation because it still needs to go through the Mayor's office (who is likely to be supportive) and the Township attorney's office (and we all know what sort of curmudgeons lawyers can be).

Halloween is apparently a big deal in Secaucus and the town comes out in full force. In past years when there was essentially little more than black plastic and kids yelling "Boo!" they had some pretty good turnouts. Hopefully, with a bit more professionalism and planning, we can far exceed those numbers -- and dollars raised.

After all, this is a fundraising event for the school. We're also approaching it as an educational opportunity for the students. They'll be able to learn construction and set design techniques as well as acting, makeup, costuming, lighting, sound, etc. All the things that go into creating a successful haunt.

Again, we're still in early stages but the situation has improved considerably and the stars certainly do seem aligned in our favor.

Keep an eye out here and on the vlogs of Grimlock Manor, Pandemic Cemetery, and my own Devil's Eve for more details and updates.

Nutcracker Update

2011-12-01T23:37:00.001-05:00

I've begun my Nutcracker build for Christmas and figured I'd update you on its progress. The reader's digest version says I've cut my Sonotube in half, cut out two wooden discs and screwed them in place in the bottom of each half of the tube, attached the toilet flanges, cut and stuck the PVC legs on, and cut and hot glued the corrugated plastic fins on the bottom of the tube to give the appearance the belt has cinched the coat.

Sounds like it should have taken me 10 minutes, but as any haunter (or hobbyist even) knows, nothing goes as quickly as we plan or like. Those few steps above took me two days. Admittedly I'm not moving at a blistering pace (and I'm battling a cold -- and losing!) but it is progressing and thus far looks as I pictured it. But there's plenty of time to screw that up. But below are some progress pictures.

Sonotube cut in half for torso

PVC pipe, to be cut into legs

Toilet flanges, to attach legs to torso

Cutting out the MDF discs to fit in tubes

Two discs cut

Drilling the tube to secure disc with screws

Hole and tube drilled

Disc attach, now placing flanges

Flanges attached

Nutcrackers doing a handstand

Shark fins

One fin attached

22 fins attached...ready for liftoff!

Graduating to the Next Level

2011-11-29T13:58:00.001-05:00

If you saw Grimlock Manor's latest vlog on YouTube, you know Jay (FrightGuy) announced some exciting developments for the upcoming haunt season.

I waited for Jay to make the official announcement before saying more, but him (he?), Dave from Pandemic Cemetery, and myself will be teaming up to "go pro" this year, taking over an established annual haunt conducted by the junior class of Secaucus (NJ) high school. In past years it has gone by the name "Haunted High School."

Okay, "going pro" might be a bit of an overstatement, but my understanding is that the high school already has a pretty successful operation, featuring thousands of patrons passing into the nether realm each year, but they want to get even more out of their efforts this time around. That's where Jay, Dave, and I come in. We'll be the creative team behind the haunt and apparently will be able to bend the students to our will and use them for slave labor. Awesome!

The high school uses the haunt to raise money for the class each year and they want to step it up a notch in 2012 to do even more by bringing in someone to run it for them.

Naturally I have to thank Jay for the opportunity to be a part of the effort since he was the lead contact and graciously extended the offer to me to assist. I had to think all of about 10 seconds before agreeing to do it.

As Jay mentions in his vlog, we'll be meeting up this weekend for the first planning session, getting an idea of the layout and seeing how we want to tackle this. Definitely lots to do and with only 337 days to go before Halloween (actually less since it's open the weekend before) there's so little time!

Expect to see lots of vlog and blog posts about what we're doing, the building phase, and of course the final walk-thru. For now, check out Jay's vlog where he gives more details.

Nutcracker, Sweet!

2011-11-29T11:33:00.001-05:00

Now begins the detestable season, wherein for a month I have to indulge my wife's preference for that other holiday. Part of that is building Christmas decorations. In the past I built a sleigh for the front yard, and a few holiday PVC candles (okay, I used them at Halloween too!).

This year however, is something slightly more ambitious. I'll be make a 6-foot tall nutcracker soldier (two, actually). This will be a challenge no doubt. We've seen some pretty impressive life-size nutcrackers at stores retailing for several hundred dollars apiece. A motorized one whose one arm moved up and down went for over $600.

My goal is to do it for substantially less though I don't foresee putting movement into it at this point (heck I'll just be happy to get it built in time for Christmas!).

The idea is to build it out of a Sonotube (the tubes used to pour concrete footings) and PVC pipe. I picked up a 16" x 6' Sonotube and a 10-ft length of 4" PVC. The plan is to cut the Sonotube in half to make the two bodies for the soldiers and the PVC will be cut into four 30" sections to serve as the legs. Four toilet seat flanges will attach the PVC to the MDF wood discs that I'll be cutting and inserting into the bottom of the tube. The head will be made out of paper mache.

Again, this is just the game plan, the idea I've got in my head. How it all turns out remains to be seen. But the first order of business I guess is to start cutting my tubes and PVC down to size.

Skeletons in the Closet

2011-11-27T20:39:00.001-05:00

This year Walgreen created quite a stir when it offered a pretty realistic looking bucky skeleton for just $30. It wasn't the highest quality, but it was pretty darn good and it made itself available to all sorts of corpsing techniques, including the "plastic corpsing" method StiltBeastStudios popularized.

Walgreen got their skeletons from a company called Pitini Enterprises, which a lot of haunters found had a pretty scarce website. Skeletal, if you will. If you contacted them about getting more skeletons, no doubt you should have found an email in your inbox today saying they're taking orders for them. You have to pay up front in January and they'll ship your order in June. In addition to a new higher cost for the skeletons -- $35 (hey, supply and demand at work!) -- you'll also pay shipping costs, which they'll determine at the time (though you can get a ballpark figure by going to the FedEx site).

For me, I'll just take my chances at Walgreen again, assuming they get them in, and save on the shipping costs. I can't imagine they wouldn't order them again, considering the response they had last time. I wonder if they'll be charging $40 though to make a profit on them?

I had a chance at one point to buy six "Wuckies" all at once, but then thought, "Do I really want to spend $180 on skeletons?" My haunt wasn't up to where I wanted it at the time and six skeletons wasn't going to bring it there either. I did end up buying four over time but I barely utilized them as it was with all the other projects I had going on.

Right now I'm corpsing two of them, one using StiltBeastStudios' method and the other a more traditional technique. I'll be ready for them when they hit the stores again and while I'll have to pay a few dollars more, there's no real benefit to buying them early and in bulk from Pitini.

What are your thoughts on buying them early directly from the company?

UPDATE: Pitini Enterprises sent out a second email to clarify the first. It says the skeletons it's offering are NOT the same ones sold at Walgreen, but rather the better quality ones (screws and such at the joints) sold at stores like Spirit Halloween and costing upwards of $70 or more.

This sounds like a much better deal now and one I'm likely to take advantage of, either individually or as part of a group buy as suggested by wicKED.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T07:30:00.001-05:00

"Safety" Is an Evil Word

2011-11-20T09:17:00.001-05:00

"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred three score and six."

Revelations, 13:18

Pliant Corp. may have been proud of its record of safety, but one worker says the company was willing to damn him to an eternity in hell for his unwillingness to how his support like everyone else.

The food and personal care products packaging company had experienced 666 days without an accident at their facilities. It was company policy for employees to wear stickers proclaiming the number of accident-free days they enjoyed. Billy Hyatt, who describes himself as a devout Catholic, started sweating bullets as the days mounted towards that which symbolizes "the mark of the beast."

Rather than cut off his pinky finger, or some other injury that would ruin the streak, Hyatt asked if he could be exempt from wearing the 666 sticker and was originally told it would be okay. He alleges that when the day arrived, another manager told him his beliefs were ridiculous and to wear the patch or take a 3-day suspension. Even though he agreed to the suspension, he was subsequently fired.

While 666 is widely associated with Satan and appears in the bible, there are several other (some say better) translations of the early work which actually ascribe the beast's mark as 616.

But Hyatt might have been on to something, for a believer at any rate, because Revelations also indicates that if someone accepts the mark of the beast, he will feel God's wrath.

"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out undiluted into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name." (Revelations, 14:9-11)

Better to live with a three-day suspension -- or not work for the company at all -- than risk an eternity of fire and brimstone.

Turning a Mouldy Leaf

2011-11-14T12:19:00.001-05:00

Like most of the podcast's fans, I was surprised and saddened to learn of the demise of Hauntcast. After three years of monthly, highly entertaining shows g/host Chris Baker decided to close up shop and -- horrors! -- concentrate on getting his personal situation in order.

After hearing of the decision, I decided to delay listening to the last show so that I could enjoy the final helping without distraction. Normally I like to have the podcast playing in the background while I'm building props, working in my shop, or sitting around and doing nothing. That actually resulted in my not catching everything that was discussed, but made re-listening to a show just as enjoyable because I was always catching new tidbits.

I finally listened yesterday and I came away with a better understanding of why the decision was made, though I'm no more happy about it than I was when I first learned of it.

There were some interesting tidbits gleaned from the show, such as the revelation that when the podcast went to the $1-per-download model they expected to lose half their audience, but in fact lost 99% of it! Holy cow! That had to be a disheartening wake up call, that your audience didn't think enough of what you were doing to pay less than a cup of coffee for it.

While I thought maybe there was too much complaining about the lack of support, now I understand why it occurred. It wasn't so much complaining as lamenting that there wasn't broader interest. And while it's easy for us to sit back and say Chris Baker ought to be giving us this quality show for free, the man has to pay his bills too. Throwing stones from the sidelines and saying he should soldier on for our benefit (I thought this myself) is easy; having to put in 80 hours a month or so for no remuneration is a lot harder, particularly in the economy we're in.

So I wish Chris and the Scream Team good luck. While Johnny Thunder mostly has a different sensibility about movies than I do (c'mon, JT, chop socky movies? Really?!) I still found his reviews highly entertaining, even while disagreeing with him most of the time (or feeling like I needed to take a shower, like when after he got all mushy over his review of "Let the Right One In").

The Mistress of Mayhem, Shellhawk, brought a mature, feminine, and dare I say sexy perspective to the show (Shell, baby, you can talk to me anytime with that voice). Of course, Denny's prop segment was just awesome and a welcome addition to the show. He brought prop-making to life.

The new kid on the block, Grimlock, was just getting into his groove on offering a good vibe of what could be found on the web (and not just because I count him a friend). Another new segment that was quickly becoming one of my favorites was Ed Gannon's "Something Wicked" piece, which gave an inside look at the professional world of haunting.

And right up there was Chris Baker's own interviews with haunting gurus. Some of my favorite interviews include Bruce Stanton of Reign of Terror Haunted House (Ep. 18) and the two-part series with Gary Corb of Hallowed Haunting Grounds (Ep. 13 & 14).

Still, I think most people like myself most anxiously awaited Revenant's "Theater of the Mind" segment. That was just good stuff, relating some of the most tangential material to haunting and Halloween. Thoughtful -- cerebral, even -- but always entertaining.

I've since surveyed the landscape out there to see what might be able to take its place. While each of these podcasts has some good points about them, I don't see any being up to the quality, standards, and completeness that Hauntcast set for the home haunting community.

Rotting Flesh Radio: Essentially geared towards the professional haunt, there's a lot of dry recitation of facts and figures, and a repetitive nature to some of the commentary. It could use a good dose of editing, but it does have the benefit of coming out weekly.

Rue Morgue Radio: Music (lots of music), interviews with industry celebrities, and movie reviews seems to take some of the best parts of Hauntcast (though it probably pre-dates it). Also professionally produced, it offers some interesting listening.

Scare House: Another professional-oriented podcast, this one from the folks running the Pittsburgh-area haunted attraction of the same name. It's interesting and sounds professionally produced, though somewhat narrow in focus.

Haunted Radio (Channel 66.6 HM): Probably the closest thing to Hauntcast I've found, it's another weekly podcast dedicated to Halloween and haunt-related themes. Perhaps the one drawback I found was letting some segments go on for longer than need be. A little tighter editing would really improve this show, along with some more animated voice work. It can sound a bit monotone at times. Overall, perhaps the nearest thing home haunting diehards can tune in to.

Halloween Haunt: A short (about 5 minutes or so) podcast on Halloween related topics, poems, and stories.

Musique Macabre: All Halloween and Horror music, all the time.

Horrorphilia: An eclectic assortment of music, reviews, and discussions about horror related topics.

I'm sure there are others out there, but for me none has everything Hauntcast had, which was news, information, humor, professionalism, and yes, even smarts! Having listened to all of the above shows at least once I appreciate all the more what it was that Chris Baker put into Hauntcast. He, the Scream Team, and the show will be sorely missed.

Axis of Evil

2011-11-03T20:11:00.000-04:00

I'm considering dropping $310 Canadian (around $305 U.S. at current exchange rates) with Boneyard Bargains for a fully operational 3-axis skull. It comes completely assembled with moving eyes and a Pico Talk servo controller already installed. There's no need to do any work or customization to it. Almost plug-and-play.

My initial inclination was to make my own. I've seen so many people on the forums using the Lindberg Pirate Skull and various servos to make their own, but I've yet to find a sufficiently (for me) detailed how-to on doing it. The closest I think has been Dr. Morbius's tutorial on the Garage of Evil Network, but even then I'd probably like to see a few more steps included.

Then there's the modifications that need to be made -- filing parts here, shaving things there -- and making sure each part is just so. Of course, there's the servo controller that would have to be bought and hooked up to make it talk (I sling these terms like I actually know what I'm talking about).

I figure by the time I'm done I'm into parts at a cost of around $100 to $150. Then there's the time involved in doing the project. I'm guessing this isn't a weekend project.

Normally I'm all for being hands on and doing it myself, but in this instance I think the mark-up Boneyard is charging might be worth it. I'll lose some satisfaction in completing the task myself, but I'll gain a lot back and more by having a fully functional prop right out of the box.

What do you think? Is it worth dropping the coin for a plug-and-play solution or should I overcome my fear of working with electronics and reallysmallthings and tackle it myself? Let me know in the comments section.

And if you know of a highly detailed tutorial other than Dr. Morbius's admittedly very good one, let me know that too.

(Also, if anyone knows where you can pick up a similarly detailed skull for less you can share that too!)

Happy New Year!

2011-11-01T22:10:00.000-04:00

I just read SpookyBlue's blog where he called November 1 "The Haunter's New Year" and realized he's right! We start planning, working, and building beginning today so this is the start of our new build year.

While the whole planning part took a back seat for me today as I tore down my display, I am ready to begin anew. I've got some ideas of things I want next year's haunt to look like, the direction I'd like it to go, but storage is the order of business today.

Still, this is the first day of the new haunt year, so Happy New Year!

Happy Hallowe'en!

2011-10-31T23:09:00.000-04:00

A simple Happy Hallowe'en wish to all my fellow haunters. I hope your holiday was filled with scares, screams, smiles, and trick-or-treater laughter!

Snowpocalypse!

2011-10-30T23:56:00.000-04:00

Aww, doesn't it look pretty?

As I posted on my vlog today, the snowstorm that swept over the East Coast yesterday buried my haunt in about 6" of not so fluffy white stuff. The heavy, wet snow combined with trees that didn't have time to shed their leaves created a menacing situation.

At one point during the afternoon, you could literally stand outside and hear branches cracking and trees falling every few minutes. It was quite dangerous and my truck was even struck by a falling branch while I was driving to buy gas. Fortunately it was just a smallish one, about three-feet in length so no damage was done.

Not so pretty now, is it?

At least not to my truck. My haunt was another matter. The tree that stood at the curb in front of my yard and hung so lovingly over my cemetery entrance pillars split in half, with one half falling into the street and the other half falling onto my columns. Initially there was no damage, but the weight of the heavy snow was ultimately too much to bear and one of the pillars broke apart from the strain.

Other than the pillar, I also lost one tombstone and some plastic skull edging I had along the walkway. I should consider myself fortunate since all that was lost really was some foam insulation, which I plan to salvage and recycle, possibly making new tombstones out of them.

Splitting the uprights

The other problem was the loss of power throughout most of the town. So widespread was the damage from the storm -- I don't think one block escaped without at least one tree falling -- that power, cable, and Internet access was knocked out everywhere. I'm thinking Halloween has been in essence cancelled by the storm. If you'd like to see some video of the damage and extent of the storm, check out the vlog link above.

The one hope is that since school has been cancelled for at least Monday and possibly longer -- the local utility says residents can probably expect Wednesday to be the earliest they'll get the lights back on -- there may be more kids going out than otherwise. But since the power's out and the damage so widespread, maybe not.

Also, since I have no power I won't be having my haunt lit up this year. I will light up my two skull torches and should any trick-or-treaters venture out I'll be ready. A disappointing end to the haunt season, to be sure, but I'm all fired up for next year as a result.

Happy Halloween to all!

Halloween Nation Needs Some Nation-Building

2011-10-29T07:32:00.000-04:00

Yeah, baby!

No wonder haunters don't get no respect. We're not doing our part in terms of Halloween spending!

According to the market researchers at IBISWorld, spending on the best holiday of the year comprised just $6 billion, or 2.6% of total consumer holiday spending. Halloween spending was the smallest percentage of the total, which amounted to some $228 billion. What are we doing people?!

As expected, the evil elves of Christmas spent the most $135 billion, or 60% of the total.

And what did people spend their hard-earned cash on? Costumes represented 36% of the total (Lady Gaga-inspired costumes top the list -- wtf?!), followed by candy at 31%, decorations with 28%, and cards a distant fourth at 5%.

Ed bleeds green

Of course, I don't think the researchers polled any home haunters for their survey, but then again, many of us are cheap so-and-sos and reuse and recycle regularly to keep our spending to a minimum. If there's any "greener" group of people outside of professional tree huggers, I don't know them. When it comes to the environment I'm generally on the side of rape, pillage, and exploitation, but get me building a Halloween prop and I turn all Ed Begley Jr.

While candy sales comprise almost a third of total sales, confectioners actually make 8% of their annual revenues on Halloween, making it the biggest holiday of the year for them (take that, St. Valentine's Day!).

People also waste $300 million a year buying costumes for their pets. Personally I don't understand the whole "pet baby" mentality that considers a dog or cat as a member of the household -- yes, I grew up with dogs, but the were just that, dogs (sorry for not being all sentimental, PETA).

That's about 30% of what we spend on our kids, which came in at $1 billion, but just to make sure we don't let Junior look better than us, we spend $1.2 billion on ourselves. Who says Halloween is a kid's holiday anyway?

Apparently we also like to get our drink on around Halloween, too, as it's the fourth drunkest month of the year, according to the Census Bureau (aren't they supposed to just count how many people are in the country every 10 years? I don't remember any questions on my survey about which month I got most drunk in). The lushes of Christmas beat us out again, coming in a drunken third place behind July (yay, independence!) and November (burp! Thanksgiving).

So, FWIW, here's the ranking of holiday spending in order of percentage of the total:

Christmas - 59.2% (Bah! Humbug!)
Thanksgiving - 13.4% (Thanksgiving?!?)
Valentine's Day - 7.7% (you bunch of saps)
Mother's Day - 6.5% (love you, mom!)
Easter - 6.1% (otherwise known as Zombie Resurrection Day)
Father's Day - 4.5%
Halloween - 2.6%

We've got our work cut out for us, haunters. So get out there, prime the pump of the economy, and spend, spend, spend!

Dreaming of a White Halloween

2011-10-28T21:03:00.000-04:00

What the hell?! Snow on Halloween? According to the weatherman, the northeast is set to get walloped with as much as a foot of snow in some areas over the weekend.

I know some haunters contend with these early snowfalls every year, but according to reports for the New York area this would be the earliest recorded snowfall since the Civil War!

Fortunately, I'm in one of the areas scheduled to get "only" 1" to 6" of snow and that by Halloween the weather should turn downright balmy with lots of sunshine and temperatures in the 40's. So if we do get a small amount snow over the weekend, it may be melted come Monday and with the nice weather predicted we may still get a decent turnout of trick-or-treaters.

If there's snow on the ground, though, I know my wife will be pushing me to clear out the Halloween props faster than I already do and start putting up Christmas ones. This could be worse than seeing Christmas decorations in the store right after the back to school sales are finished.

Have You Chosen Your Costume Yet?

2011-10-26T18:35:00.001-04:00

Ladies, if you haven't decided yet on what you're going to be on Halloween, here's some inspiration for you.

Just performing a public service for all the guys out there. You're welcome.

Walking Dead Three-peat

2011-10-25T19:58:00.001-04:00

Good news, Walking Dead fans: AMC just announced the hit show has been picked up for a third season. Apparently the first two episodes of Season 2 were such blockbusters in terms of the all important 18-49 year old demographic that they wanted to keep it going.

The AMC announcement said that the October 16 premier set a new basic cable record for viewers, scoring a 4.8 household rating and 7.3 million total viewers (I was one of them).

No doubt they got their money's worth out of the show. Was anyone else annoyed by all the commercials? I liked how the opening sequence went on for extra long, but AMC made up for it by seemingly cramming commercials in every 5 minutes.

Regardless, I enjoyed both episodes so far but hope they keep the advertising to normal lengths going forward. Sure they want to pay the bills, but the interruptions really spoil the flow. In anticipation of the show's return I had watched all six Season 1 episodes on Netflix and it was a pleasure not getting interrupted with commercials all the time.

But it's good to know that the series is making a big impact with viewers, enough that the studio wants to greenlight more of them.

AMC's Mini-Doc: The Haunted Mansion

2011-10-23T20:52:00.001-04:00

I just stumbled across a neat little behind-the-scenes look at a haunted attraction in Poughkeepsie, NY called Kevin McCurdy's Haunted Mansion. It's a walk-thru haunt that's been evolving over the past 35 years.
AMC's FearFest offers up a series of mini-documentaries (mini-docs) that take viewers on a tour of what goes in to operating such an immersive experience. There are 12 different episodes, covering everything from Designing the Scare to Casting the Haunter, Scare Tactics to looks at different parts of the haunt: the Doll Room, the Haunted Collector, the Frozen Family Room, and more!

This is an incredibly detailed haunt with many layers of scare, ambience, props, actors, and more. Below is the introduction video to the series.

It's a really terrific walk-thru of a walk-thru haunt. I recommend checking out all 12 videos. I'd love to visit the Haunted Mansion (though it won't be this year). Located in Bowdoin PArk in Poughkeepsie, it's about an hour and a half north of New York City.

Pot of Gold

2011-10-20T19:15:00.000-04:00

I thought to save myself some money and make my own homemade flaming cauldrons, you know, the ones the blow air out the top making a flame-shaped piece of silk "flicker" like flames.

I had two computer power supply fans gathering dust on the shelf, so I went out and gathered up everything I needed. For less than $8 I got two small cauldrons and a yard of silk fabric. I figured the challenge would be powering them up.

Actually it was, but Internet searches are awesome for finding answers to everything you want to know and soon enough I had them running. What's proving to be the real challenge is getting the fabric to flicker. My guess is the fans aren't strong enough so they can't make the silk stand up. Oh well. I'll have to wait till after Halloween to tackle this project in earnest, but at least I have two nice cauldrons.

I figure, though, if anyone is interested in learning how to power up a computer fan, I'd show you below how to do it. May as well make this two-day exercise worthwhile for something.

Start with a computer fan and a power supply

This fan is 12 volts DC and about 0.5 amps. Match up your power supply with those numbers so that you don't burn out one or the other. My power supply was a 12v 1 amp phone charger (I think). I have a few laying around and sifted through them till I found one that fairly matched. Having more amperage is fine since the fan will only draw what it needs.

Cut connector off plug and adapter off fan

The fan had what I think is called a Molex connector on it, one of those small white squares that you use to connect it to the computer. Cut that off and unravel the wires. Do the same for the power supply, cutting off the plug end, which often times is a silver, barrel-shaped plug that you insert into a hole to connect it.

Now there is another way to do it by inserting the "hot" wire from the fan into the hole in the end of the barrel connector and attaching the ground to the silver part. I think joining them the way I did it however is more permanent.

Bare the ends of all four wires and join black to black and red to red. Oh wait! Your wires are like mine and there's no red on anything! In fact, the fan has four wires -- black, green, blue, and yellow! Sweet. Now what?

I'm sure electricians know the answer right off the bat, but for me it took trial and error. Black was easy as it always connects to black, and as it turns out it was the yellow wire that made the circuit. The other two may be for data and stuff, or so said one video I saw on YouTube. Join them together and that's it! Really very simply.

Join spliced wires together, hot to hot, ground to ground

In the photo below, I wanted to see if I could run two fans off of one power supply. The second fan was also 12v, but was like 0.56 amps. I spliced them and connected the black and yellow to their corresponding wires and it had no problem starting up or running.

Two for one!

What the heck, I'll also show you how I aged the cauldrons, using an oatmeal-and-sand method I saw Dave the Dead use on the discussion boards.

I started off using two small black plastic cauldrons that I got from a local Halloween store for $2.25 each. I then mixed together a bit of Elmer's white glue and water and added some oatmeal to it. I think Dave used instant; mine was regular steel-cut (does anyone know why that's a feature on oatmeal? I mean, if it was cut with plastic, would we know the difference?).

I then mixed in a few handfuls of sand. I have no proportions on any of this as Dave didn't provide any in his tutorial, but I can tell you you don't need a whole heckuva lot of oatmeal. I made enough to feed a whole coven of witches. I imagine one of those instant oatmeal packages would have been more than sufficient to cover these two small cauldrons.

You then smear the oatmeal onto the sides of the cauldrons. It is the oatmeal and sand that will give you your rusted texture later on. As I mention often, I have no patience, so I used my heat gun to help dry the oatmeal mix. I think the heat made the oatmeal swell giving it almost a cauliflower look when dried, which I thought was great.

I then sprayed them with black spray paint. Dave says to spend the extra two bucks and get real spray paint since it has extra paint in it unlike the quick color stuff. I'm cheap though and I had the cheap stuff on hand so I used that.

I then used my rust painting technique I showed on my vlog when I rusted two lanterns for my cemetery entrance pillars. I started off using a dark tan wash and pressing the sponge brush under the lip of the cauldron, let the color run down and did this all the way around. Then using a piece of sponge, I dipped it in orange paint and went over the surface making sure I hit the oatmeal. Over that I went with a brownish red color (more red than brown) to tone down the orange. And then over that I hit it with a light olive green to give it a patina.

Below is a close up of the oatmeal mix, dried and painted over. It also shows the access hole I burned through the side of the pot with an old soldering iron through which I was going to pass the fan motor wires through. I also have a string of 50 orange lights that I was going to put in the bottom of the cauldron around the fan, but now they'll just be in there by themselves.

So as I said, I have a nicely detailed cauldron and we'll have to see if the orange lights glow bright enough when they're situated on top of the fluted columns I have on either side of the front stairs.

Ahhhh! Zombies!

2011-10-19T08:59:00.002-04:00

Earlier this year I wrote that zombies are everywhere these days, no more so than now with the return of The Walking Dead. First episode of season 2 was pretty gripping stuff (but could they have crammed in any more commercials?!).

As Halloween approaches, though, expect to see more zombies rise from the grave. Social media game make Majesco Entertainment is bringing out Pet Zombies for the Nintendo 3DS. Heh! I like their tag line: Sit. Stay. Be dead."

Now at first I thought this was literally about pet zombies, you know, dogs, cats, your goldfish, but it's more along the lines of the movie "Fido" where everyone had their own zombies to do their bidding.

According to the press release:

"Reanimate your very own customizable zombies that you can play with, care for, or torment in a variety of environments where they can shamble, shuffle and lurch. Form a bond with your zombie by providing it with food, toys, and entertainment. Pet Zombies offers lots of gory effects and games to keep players fully entertained and challenged. Customize your zombie to look as grotesque and scary as you desire. It's your pet, your rules, however twisted they may be."

I like the fact that you can "customize" your zombie, everything from facial deformations and decay to clothing and un-lockable items. And apparently if you neglect your zombie, he'll be more than willing to eat off a finger or your braaains! No word yet if that will turn you into a zombie as well.

Generating Activity

2011-10-15T06:15:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was a fairly productive day, at least after getting punished for looking for more Walgreen skeletons.

I had a few errands to run, including picking up a free leaf blower. You know the kind, they're the big, bulky ones landscapers use that are on wheels and you push them around. Since someone was kind enough on Freecycle not to need one anymore, I could use just that sort of thing to clear out my lower 40, I went and picked it up. On the way back I thought if I stop in at the local Walgreen and check in to see if they got anymore skeletons in, what would be the harm?

I should have know that after a certain period, when you already have props galore you could still build or finish at home, you aren't permitted to bring even more into the house and such was the case here, because after leaving the store (they're all out, and for good I imagine this late in the season) I got caught at a railroad crossing with a miles long freight train. Sigh.

When I did (finally) get home I got a bunch of things accomplished, most Halloween related. I painted and waterproofed my obelisk and five tombstones, added PVC backing, fixed a groundbreaker that got slightly damaged, rehung a skeleton that fell, put up creepy wood slat over the foyer windows, and repaired my flying crank ghost whose strings had broken.

However, during the evening as I was testing lights, the motor just stopped turning. Now I'm not sure if it was because I was turning the power on an off several times in a row or the motor burnt out or what, but the small wiper motor isn't spinning anymore. The computer power supply is still running, but the spindle on the motor isn't. Any suggestions from anyone before I swap it out for a new one, I'm willing to entertain.

The most time-consuming project wasn't Halloween related, and that was putting together my backup generator. Bless those crafty Chinese with their dextrous little fingers putting bolt holes in places no large American hands could ever hope to reach! And heaven forbid you actually put a complete set of instructions in the box. Seriously! They provide a big bag of screws, nuts, bolts, washers, etc. with zero instructions on what they're to be used for. I also had to guess how to put together the handle assembly by following the exploded view of the generator. The instructions told you how to attach the battery and the axle for the wheels. That's it! Nothing about all the extra bolts and washers.

But it runs now, so should the power go out, I'll be able to remain connected to the Internet and all things Halloween, I can run my sump pump and refrigerator, a few lights, and my wife will be able to watch TV (which is really all she's concerned about).

So today I have a few more items on my punch list and I think I'll be done with my set up for the year. Then it's on to planning for the party in two weeks (you're all invited!) and building props for the Alice in Wonderland Sweet 16 party I've mentioned in the past.

Halloween Horrors

2011-10-13T07:57:00.000-04:00

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.

Domestic Tranquility

2011-10-12T08:14:00.000-04:00

I wasn't able to do any Halloween related activities yesterday, because right after I finished writing, I had to go pick up some items from a Freecycler who was moving and cleaning out her basement. I did score six four-foot long shoplights, which I'll be putting to use in my workshop and garage; a fairly new circular saw; 5 bags of mulch, and a couple of hoses, one of which I'll actually be using in my garden (the soaker hose) and not putting to some future prop use.

Afterwards, we went to a local Harbor Freight Tool store to see if they had any generators in stock (my wife hates not having TV when the lights go out, and it seems if someone sneezes around here the power cuts off) and were surprised to find they did have one in stock, a 16 hp model that should allow me to power up the sump pump in the basement (my concern), my router and modem so I can stay connected to the Internet, and of course, my wife's TV. We'd also be able to hook up the refrigerator, too, and probably a few lights as well.

I've also been eying one of their welders too. Ever since I got to play with one at one of the local make-and-take meetings I've been dying to get one. Not that I actually have anything to weld just yet, but it was so much fun! I figure I'll be able to build some support frames and stuff for props some time in the future. HFT had an ad in Maxim magazine for an additional discount on the welder, so what originally cost $150 or more and was discounted to about $110, I got for $90, so I was happy.

As the video below I stole from Joiseygal's vlog shows, I monopolized much of the welding demonstration time.

The cashier also thought the generator had a discount which she couldn't find at the time, but told me to call her back today after she's had a chance to look and she'll give me the discount if she finds it.

So after dropping all of that off, my wife wanted to go furniture shopping. We'll be getting a new living room set plus furniture for the sun room soon, and somehow I promised (she says) I'd actually spend the day with her doing that (in the middle of October?!). Although we didn't find anything we actually wanted, I did find the decor and accessories of some of these places inspirational, allowing me to think about how I could put them to use in a haunt.

For example, the photo at the top could look great as a possible backdrop, maybe as one of those falling wall props. It's about 15-18 half wine casks stacked up on wood racks. Somehow I think they could be made out of foam, hung with Spanish moss, jute, and creepy cloth, and given an overall haunting appearance. At least I was able to occupy my thoughts while enduring the mind-numbing torture of furniture shopping, particularly since I wasn't allowed to visit any of the dozen or so Halloween stores we passed as we went from furniture outlet to furniture outlet.

Having honored at least part of my marital contract yesterday, today it's back to Halloween!

Summer Daze

2011-10-10T20:42:00.002-04:00

Considering the lousy weather I've endured the past two or so years in October, I guess I really shouldn't be talkin' smack about the string of gorgeous weather we've had here in New Jersey. I know I've seen Steve from Steve's Haunted Yard get pummeled by rain and Troy of Halloween Hellmouth has had bouts of stormy weather. Even the Bloodshed Brothers were bemoaning the spate of bad weather they've been through in California.

Here, though, we've had some unseasonably warm weather with today being another one in the mid-80's. What's even more remarkable is the calmness of it all. I'm sure I shouldn't be jinxing things, but we've probably enjoyed almost two weeks of perfect weather and I haven't had to chase one prop down the block yet that got picked up and carried away by the wind. There just hasn't been any, other than gentle breezes.

So I've been making the best of it by setting up my yard and finishing like mad a bunch of unfinished I left for the last minute. Yesterday I was at the upstart NJ Hookerman Make & Take group (don't ask, I'm not really sure about the name, though it certainly seems right up my alley!) and completed my grave grabber, painted some tombstones (five of them, count 'em five!), and brought my two obelisks to near completion.

I got to see niblique71's haunt up close, which is about three-quarters of the way set up. It was a real treat, and I really liked his Karl prop at night (at 15 feet tall, it's huge!), but there's just so much to see:

But I'm also able to go out at night and start fiddling with where I want my props and how I want them lit. Right now I still only have my two green spots out, but I ran the low voltage wire today and tomorrow I'll start setting out my mini-spots. Still, the nice evening weather gives me a chance to enjoy my set up and see how new props -- like my obelisk that needs to be painted still in the photo above -- looks in situ.

Never look a gift horse in the mouth and haunter's should never gainsay gorgeous weather in October.

Brighton Asylum

2011-10-08T21:52:00.000-04:00

I just got back from going through the Brighton Asylum in Passaic, NJ, and it was well worth the $20 admission. From the decor to the actors to the length of the haunt it was an all around good show.

First off, the haunt is in an industrial area of the town, apparently an abandoned factory. Driving through there at night was creepy enough and certainly set the mood. There was plenty of parking (it wasn't crowded at all -- probably its location) and there were helpful (and friendly!) attendants guiding you through. There was also a police presence too to ensure everyone's safety.

The haunt starts off with a small tour of their "museum," of props and artifacts that have appeared in various movies. You then go into the asylum, and right from the get-go, my wife was terrified. The doctors that greeted you were appropriately gory, and the one with the pencil sticking out of her head really scared my wife. Lots of twists and turns and different rooms with actors hidden around every corner.

There was lots of eye candy too for the home haunter to absorb. Some rooms were more bare than others, and I probably would have liked every corridor to be chock full of props, but there was definitely enough to entertain me. The actors were also excellent: their timing was good -- even got me once or twice -- and the make was fairly professional.

Now I'll have to make an admission here: a friend of mine from the NJ Make & Take group on HauntForum is an actor at Brighton Asylum, but that didn't color my judgment at all. If the haunt sucked, I would have said so, but it didn't.

Walking through the haunt, though, I heard an actor working on two women in front of us and I knew that voice. It was Sharon! She has her own haunt too, Bloodcrest Manor, and goes by the name Joiseygal, but tonight she was in full clown regalia. Great job, Sharon!

The haunt had a Claustrophobia run as well, and it must have been one of the big ones because my wife couldn't wait to get out of there. She was really getting claustrophobic and kept asking when is it going to end? Rooms with clowns, rooms with body bags, hanging creepiness, and more! There was a lot to take in. And as I said, it was a fairly long haunt which to me was a positive; to my wife, not so much. There were plenty of pop up scares, actor scares, and sensory scares (the sparking fuse box was cool).

All in all I really can recommend the Brighton Asylum. Now it does have a sister haunt, a Field of Screams Horror Hayride in Montvale, NJ. Two years ago I attended that one, which was something of a mix of the two and had enjoyed it at the time. Since my wife prefers hayrides (I don't) we'll probably end up going there as well before the end of the month.

Tickets to the Asylum are $20 and $15 for the Hayride. A Combo ticket runs just $27, and if I'm not mistaken you don't have to go to both on the same night. Any time they're open you can use them. So if you have an opportunity to choose a haunt to attend, I can recommend Brighton Asylum.

Zombiewear

2011-10-07T09:20:00.000-04:00

During the day I'm a mild mannered investment writer (you can see my articles by clicking the Motley Fool link there over on the right), but after noon I turn into a full-fledged home haunter. Okay, maybe half-fledged.

However, today while researching a company, I came across an Associated Press story discussing retail same store sales. Comps, as they're known in the business (for "comparables"), are an important metric for companies because it lets investors know what kind of growth they're getting from actually running their business and not buying up competitors or opening new stores.

They listed the September comps for The Gap (down 4%), The Buckle (up 13%), TJX (+4%), and a company I never heard of before -- Zombies Inc. (same store sales were up 10.1%).

I can't decide whether the writer was just being cheeky, it being October and all, or whether this is a real company. I have a number of resources available to me to research businesses, and none of them list Zombies Inc. as a business. I found a Triathlete Zombie Inc. (a bike shop), a band called Zombie Inc., and a video game developer, also going by Zombie Inc. (but also known as Zombie Studios), but no clothing retailer called that.

The funny thing is, a bunch of other media outlets picked up the AP story and ran it verbatim, Zombie Inc. reference and all (if you think the media aren't just sheep, think again).

Now I do think the reporter was just having some fun -- I can't imagine a business named that would go unnoticed for so long -- but in the event I've missed a new retail outlet, please let me know.

The Damn'd Thing, Tis Done

2011-10-06T22:20:00.000-04:00

Like many other haunters this month, I've been spending a lot of my spare time setting up my yard display. What's held me up though are the cemetery entrance pillars I began early this summer. Ennui and life intruded more often than not, so having completed one pillar I left the second one until the last minute.

I finally finished it last week, as I detailed on my vlog, and also antiqued two lanterns that I mounted on each of them. So while that part was completed, it still necessitated wiring them all together. In all that was probably the simplest process, but I'm never satisfied with simple (as I may have mentioned before).

In the process of wiring the pillars, I thought they'd make a perfect spot to mount, well, spotlights to light up my cemetery. Last year things were rather dark using just the mini LED spots I made and I wanted to wash it in more light this year. I picked up a two-light socket at Walmart and mounted it to the back of one of the columns and it does bathe two-thirds of my cemetery in an eerie green light (I'll need to mount another one at the other end of my yard for full coverage).

So I wired that in as well, but while doing that I thought it might look cool to have red spot lights inside the pillars shining upwards. There's a large tree in front of my walkway that arches over the sidewalk (and pillars) and I thought lighting the canopy in red light my look good too. Once again it was off to the store though this time I got a simple socket that I mounted to a piece of wood that spanned the interior of the pillar, wired that up, and finally plugged it all in.

Perhaps not perfect, but I think it provides a lot of color and effect to the scene so I'm pretty happy with it. But most importantly, it's completed, which means I can moved on to other things.

Bicycle Girl

2011-09-30T17:57:00.000-04:00

Like many people, I became an instant fan of the TV series The Walking Dead after it premiered on AMC last October. It's been a long wait for the second season, but it's set to air on October 16. Count me amongst those eagerly anticipating its return.

However, there's an interesting side project being developed, a six-episode series surrounding Bicycle Girl, the half zombie dragging herself across the ground that Rick Grimes meets when he first gets out of the hospital.

The webisodes, to be shown on AMC's website, will follow Bicycle Girl's life prior to her zombification up until the point she is dispatched by Grimes. Best yet, it will start this coming Monday, October 3. I'll be tuning in for certain!

Below is a time-lapse session of the actress getting into her Bicycle Girl makeup.

Theater of the Mind

2011-09-26T16:11:00.001-04:00

I attended a wedding over the weekend at the Loew's Jersey City Theater, a landmark movie theater that opened its doors almost 82 years ago to the day, September 28, 1929. The grandeur and splendor of this movie palace cannot be overstated, and it's said that a young Frank Sinatra, on a date at the theater to watch Bing Crosby, decided that he too could be a singer.

The ornate details, marble columns, gold leaf, wrought iron artwork, and soaring ceilings -- an amazing 80 feet high in the theater -- are stunning.

It was built for $2 million, back when $2 million was real money and not just a rounding error for our politicians, and was deemed "the most lavish temple of entertainment in New Jersey."

Now at some point it seems some owner had attempted to carve up the theater into at least two, because there are still repairs visible in the theater itself that show where a wall was apparently erected. Thankfully it has been taken down and plaster repairs made.

Today, as grand as the theater looks, it is in need of major repair and subsists on donations and volunteers, who, through the Friends of Loew's, meet each weekend at the theater and work on restoring it to its former glory. Rental of the theater -- like for the wedding -- starts at $3,000. It's certainly a fascinating and stunning edifice to a long lost era.

Below are some of the photos I took of the theater, but a good time to go see it yourself, particularly next month as on October 27-29 they'll be showing three different movies, including the 1920 silent classic "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," complete with theater organ accompaniment.

Oh, and yes, they do leave the "ghost light" burning.

This is for you, Revenant, at Hauntcast

Don't Fear the Reaper

2011-09-22T05:40:00.000-04:00

I was able to finish my Secret Reaper gift yesterday so it was boxed up and shipped off to my Halloween Forum "victim." Because I was waylaid by my illness last week I was unable to add some finishing details that I wanted to include, such as gothic windows and a detailed verdigris-charged door.

Still, on the whole I was pleased with how it turned out, though I would have liked a little more time to work on the painting of it. Yet as I was over the Saturday-deadline for shipping I had to let it go as is. I hope my victim likes it.

I was also pleased to discover a big black box on my front porch yesterday with a lot of eyes looking out at me. Obviously it was my own secret reaper gift, but because I was running out the door to ship my gift before the post office closed, I had to wait to till later in the day before I could open it.

I'll be posting pictures over on Halloween Forum, but it was a nice assortment of spider-themed gifts include a large posable spider, one which my wife had actually wanted to get last year, tow homemade spider sacks, a bag of "bloody" spider wedding, and a handmade jack-o-lantern. All in all a very nice assortment. Thanks very much AmFatallyYours for the thoughtful gifts. They will be a terrific addition to my decor this year.

I also checked with my local Walgreen again, and they finally had one 5-foot skeleton in stock. They were actually pretty good about checking the boxes they had literally just wheeled onto the floor to begin unpacking and I have to say these skeletons have some nice detail to them compared to your typically blucky. I can see some good corpsing potential with it. It's funny how people react to you when you're walking around with a skeleton in your hands.

Unfortunately today I'm traveling to Virginia for a two-day conference so I'll be unavailable to make the go rounds up here, but I'll check in with my rebel brothers and see if they've begun stocking them there yet.

Below are some of the final pictures of my completed mausoleum mailbox, though because I was hurrying I was unable to take more pictures of the construction and finishing process.

No Skeletons In The Closet

2011-09-19T20:09:00.000-04:00

Or at Walgreen. Like any good haunter would, I stopped at the local Walgreen on my way home from the hospital yesterday to check if they had any skeletons in stock. Okay, I had to put my prescription in at the pharmacy too, but I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone.

The manager gave me some hope when he offered to go in the back and look, but alas and alack! no skeletons were found. He did helpfully add that his next shipment was coming in on Tuesday and he thought they'd be on that truck.

I hit two other pharmacies in the area, also with no luck. Both said they had come in yet, which was hopeful, because it means they haven't run out of stock yet. So I still might be able to round up some yet.

The offerings were actually pretty meager at two of the three stores. The third one, a larger Walgreen in Paterson (the site of all that awesome flooding after Hurricane Irene, and "awesome" being used in the correct sense of inciting awe in someone) actually had quite a lot of props on their shelves. I picked up the two resin skulls for $6 each, which I thought was a good price for the detail and durability they showed. My wife also wanted a scene-setter so we got one of those too (and she picked up two small witch dolls today while out; boy, she sure does like her Halloween "cute").

I'll also say I was in a Wal-Mart today and I thought its Halloween section was pretty dismal. It had a bunch of costumes, row upon row of candy, a few foam tombstones, but not much more. Sure it had a couple of foggers out (and one nice skull fogger that I was tempted to pick up) but not much more. Truly slim pickin's. Maybe more will be coming in soon, like at Walgreen, but I recall there being a lot more last year.

Anyway, tomorrow I'll be heading back out to the local stores and seeing if the new shipment's arrived.

That's Tubular, Man -- Not!

2011-09-17T20:08:00.000-04:00

Notice something a little odd about that picture to the right? I mean, besides the obvious that I'm taking pictures of toilet paper rolls in the bathroom? There's no tube! That's right, the cardboard tube that has proven so useful to haunters in making candles, paper mache body extensions, etc. is fast becoming a thing of the past.

I've seen some TV commercials touting the tube-less TP roll, but this is the first one I've actually seen in nature, so to speak. It's a bit distressing really, since I rely on these tubes for so many projects. But it brings to mind several other haunter's helpers that we're likely to see disappear sooner or later, including the incandescent bulb and newspapers.

Of course it's the dim bulbs in Congress have brought about the demise of the ubiquitous and utilitarian light bulb, moving the technology on to LED light (compact fluorescent lighting [CFLs], are really a transitional technology). Yet a study was just released showing that prolonged exposure to white LED lights is not healthy because it doesn't help the body produce melatonin. So it looks like politicians have forced us to replace one option due to "environmental" concerns but gave us one that will produce health problems. The Law of Unintended Consequences when Congress is in session strikes again!

But it's the advent of the Digital Age that will bring about the newspaper's eventual end. While I don't actually expect to see newspapers cease publishing in the next few years, or maybe in my lifetime (though, with the way I'm going these days, that may be one and the same), it's easy to see with the Internet providing a primary source for news and with mobile communication devices becoming more prevalent and useful in delivering news now, today -- and not a day after it's occurred, let alone a week later -- the clock is ticking on newsprint.

Which makes me wonder where us prop builders will get our materials from in the future to make paper mache? Oh, there will be other papers to use -- a full roll of TP (without the cardboard tube) -- will be helpful. Magazines will be around, though the glossy paper is less than optimal, and kraft paper too will be there. But the unique properties of newsprint will be sorely missed I think.

Haunters being the resourceful bunch we (you) are, I'm sure satisfactory alternatives will be found. But as when any tried and true method, product, or way of life is supplanted with something new and modern, perhaps we should bow our heads a moment in contemplation of their passing.

Serious As a Heart Attack

2011-09-16T21:07:00.001-04:00

I was just reading the blog Something wicKED This Way Comes..., and saw Ked scored three bluckies from drugstore chain Walgreen. In case you haven't heard, Walgreen is offering relatively realistic looking skeletons for just $30 a piece.

I've been keeping an eye out on my local stores, regularly making the rounds but to no avail. They only started putting the candy out. I had intended to go ask store personnel on my next go-round if they had them in the back and that I'd be willing to buy them all up, but I got sidetracked.

While working on the finishing touches of my Secret Reaper gift, my head started buzzing really loud and a short time later I became feverish. My chest then felt constricted and I was all dizzy. Being a typical guy I ignored it and continued working, but did monitor my blood pressure which was pretty elevated. All day long these feelings came in waves and though I thought the possibility of a heart attack was there, I continued to ignore the advice of others to get checked out. But when my blood pressure hit 213/157 I decided I better go to the hospital.

The paramedics gave me a shot of nitroglycerin under the tongue, which does wonders for slowing down your heart rate, but also gives you a blistering headache. The ER staff at the local hospital was wonderful (and they have Internet access for patients at each bed!) and after a battery of tests it appeared I wasn't having a heart attack after all. However, my temp was 103 degrees and they wouldn't release me till they found the cause. After much bitchin' and moanin' on my part, I agreed since the doctor said it was just overnight for observations.

Don't believe 'em! The next day rolled around and with a low grade fever still present, they said they needed to know why I was sick. Of course I grumbled some more, but apparently it was good they kept me here. I had a case cellulitis in my left leg and it was quickly swelling and spreading up my thigh. It was apparently what was causing my fever and high blood pressure. They said it could have come from a bug bite or some open scratch, but apparently all sorts of terrible things can happen if it's not treated.

Unfortunately that means I won't be able to leave the hospital till Sunday the earliest, or Monday. It also means I won't be able to scour the local Walgreens for the bluckies, which is probably the most distressing development. No doubt I'll lose out on this great deal (I hear the bluckies sell out immediately after being put out) but I'll still have my health, right? And that's better, right? Right?! I'm having a hard time convincing myself that's the case.

Simple Is As Simple Does

2011-09-12T19:30:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, simple tends not to be my strong smoot. Why do it simple when you can vastly complicate your life by making things more complex?

Such is the case with the mausoleum mailbox I'm making for my Secret Reaper victim. It could have been a simple box with a mail slot, but instead I chose to put the slot on the long side underneath a columned portico. That "simple" portico ended up costing me two days worth of time as I tried to figure out the correct angles to cut (and no, I never did find the answer).

Again, I could have left it at that, but then I chose to detail the structure with a stone facade and a sarcophagus within. Each of those details has taken time. While I'm liking the result very much (would it be rude not to send the mailbox at the end?) I know I'm going to be working right up until the shipping deadline this Saturday. I've started some of the finishing, but the large majority will actually be done tomorrow and even then I'm not sure it will be complete.

Because as I go along, I'm thinking of some extra details to add. I think a gothic-style window on either end would look real nice as would an ornate carved door entrance to the mausoleum. And naturally you'd need stone steps to reach the door.

As I said, why do things simply when complex is standing there staring you in the face?

The dreadful portico

The sarcophagus

The stonework

Dry-fitting the columns

Dead Letter File

2011-09-03T21:08:00.000-04:00

Well, it's not like I haven't been doing anything since my last post. It's just that I haven't been doing Halloween stuff, or at least not completely.

I've been making decorations for the Alice in Wonderland-themed Sweet 16 party I mentioned previously (I've got two mushrooms made and I'm working on Absalom the caterpillar) while at the same time I'm building my Secret Reaper gift.

Since we're all friends here and I know you can keep a secret, I'm building my "victim" a mailbox. Some of you may remember that for the NJ Make & Take group last year I built my victim Karen (Black Cat on the Haunt Forum discussion boards) a mailbox based on the sarcophagus made by the Davis Graveyard.

I had considered doing that again, but quickly discarded the idea in favor of making a mausoleum mailbox. It will have gabled ends and a columned portico in front through which you place and retrieve the mail. At least that's the game plan. Figuring out the angles is a bear!

I've done some framing in my time, building garages, sheds, and various storage buildings, but I swear I must have roofing Alzheimer's because every time it comes to framing a roof I have to break out my reference books to figure out the angles. With this project, the angles are even more difficult because it's a compound cut I have to make on the portico. The addition I'll be adding is called a "California Valley," which explains a lot, but it's also known as a "blind valley." If anyone has done roofing and doesn't need to refer to books constantly to figure out the angles (or even if you do) and you can give me the quick and easy way to determine the angle, I'll love you forever.

Anyway, here are some progress pics. It's made out of MDF so it's pretty heavy and is joined together with biscuit joints. Shipping this thing ought to cost a small fortune as I'm thinking it's not going to fit into one of those flat-rate Postal Service boxes.

I'll actually be posting a vlog or two on the beginning of this project, but I decided time is too short and I have too many projects to do to fiddle around with a video camera right now. So I'll try to keep a regular camera on hand to snap some progress pics, but video will have to wait till I have more time.

Laying out the gables (no rise and run for me!)

Carcass pieces cut to size

Carcass glued together - nice mess!
(But see the lead picture of this blog post
for it all sanded smooth and clean)

Drying after a coat of spar varnish

Gluing up the mail slot door

Yes, it will have a sarcophagus too, inside the mailbox!

The Face of Procrastination

2011-08-26T09:43:00.003-04:00

"You may delay, but time will not."
--Benjamin Franklin

Here it is 68 days before Halloween and I'm staring at a bunch of uncompleted projects.

I've only "finished" one of my two cemetery entrance columns (and air quotes are around finished because I haven't attached the lantern yet to the one that's otherwise done); I need to tweak my grave grabber prop to make it operate as smoothly as I'd like...and attach its head; my gravedigger Madog stands as uncompleted as where I last left him, which means just a pair of boots; and right across from where I'm sitting are five tombstones that need to be painted.

"I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours."
--Jerome K. Jerome

As if that wasn't enough, I've also been commissioned to build props for an Alice in Wonderland-themed Sweet 16 party. That means I need to build a bunch of centerpieces for the tables -- two mushrooms, the White Rabbit, Absalom the caterpillar, the Cheshire cat, and some oversized teacups -- a set of giant Hearts cards as guards, and the Red Queen's throne. Not to mention the invitations and a few Mad Hatter hats to boot. And there are some extras I'd like to throw in too, if I have the time. Haha!

Oh, and let's not forget my Secret Reaper gift I need to build too for my Halloween Forum victim. While I could always go with store bought stuff, I prefer hand-made. While I do have some ideas I've got less than three weeks to get 'em done!

Ah, and yes, two family members asked if I could build them a groundbreaker each this year.

"Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried."
--Unknown

Is that enough? That will teach me to put off building props. I had a hard time generating any enthusiasm this summer to build anything. Fortunately I've been bitten by the bug again. I started work on the mushroom centerpieces yesterday and there's something about working with paper mache that gets me excited.

As much as I'd love my patron from the haunted house last year to stop by again and commission some new props for me, I seriously don't know where I'd find the time to do it all.

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task."
--William James

Wizard's World

2011-08-24T13:59:00.000-04:00

I guess there often comes a time when a pupil surpasses the teacher in depth of knowledge and talent. DaVinci studied under Verrochio and history barely even remembers the teacher's name. Mozart went on to excel far beyond his father's middling talents, even though he was a composer in his own right. And Potter developed more renown in wizardry than did Dumbledore ever did.

Wizardry is a tricky thing, though, and the use of a good wand is paramount. That's why I pleased to be able to highlight some wonderfully handcrafted wands from the workshop of Lignari Woodcraft.

Oh, and did I mention the proprietor is my daughter Vanessa?

I've always had some half-assed artistic talent that I've explored at times. It's part of the reason for my love of Halloween and haunting as it gives me an outlet for my creative side. And while I always knew Vanessa had an artistic streak all her own, the explosion of talent she's showing with these detailed, hand-made wands makes me realize that we've reached the point where pupil passes teacher, child exceeds parent.

Obviously I'm immensely proud she's taken this step on her own, though a bit wistful that I actually concede her skills outstrip my own.

Each wand is painstakingly carved, painted, and sealed by hand to ensure durability. Stock wands based upon (though not copied from) those found in the Harry Potter movies are only $24.95. Custom designs of your choosing are also available with a price to be determined based upon complexity and detail desired.

Feel free to drop Vanessa a note at Lignari Woodcraft via her Facebook page if you'd like to see more samples of her work or would like to inquire about obtaining a wand of your own. She will also soon produce other handcrafted items, such as NASCAR model that's in the works. A website are in the works as well.

Marking His Spot

2011-08-18T07:11:00.003-04:00

At first I thought the Bloodshed Brothers were trying to add a bit of realism to their new pro haunt, but then I realized it was probably just a haunter who was simply collecting samples to emulate for his own graveyard display.

Some of us visit graveyards and take pictures of tombstones that we'd like to go back and build out of rigid foam. Others, apparently even meth heads, prefer not having to rely upon a small photo to guide their hand in the process and want the real thing in front of them.

Police find stolen tombstones at California home

Deputies searching a suspected California meth house found some two dozen granite tombstones stolen from local cemeteries in the backyard, a San Bernardino County Sheriff's spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The grave markers found at the home in the Inland Empire community of Loma Linda on Tuesday all had custom inscriptions and had apparently been ripped from the ground, spokeswoman Jodi Miller said.

I realized it probably wasn't Zach or Jeremy when it was revealed the house was located in Loma Linda, some 60 miles from Temecula.

The Devil Walks Among Us

2011-08-18T06:52:00.002-04:00

We all know that debt is a nasty thing, and too much of it can ruin you. Your credit rating, the FICO score which oddly ranges from 300 to 850 (kind of like your SAT scores, where you got 200 points just for writing your name on the paper) can make or break whether you can buy that car, house, or add that "infinity pool" to your deck -- you can afford one of those, right?

Well, now we understand just how truly evil it is. According to the folks at Credit Karma, the average U.S. credit rating is 666. Yes, the Mark of the Beast! According to the Book of Revelations (Rev. 13:16-18):

"He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666." (emphasis added)

We've all been marked now, and the Antichrist is apparently here. Now go out and run up those credit card bills.

The Snack Bar is Killer Too

2011-08-13T23:44:00.000-04:00

Next time you and your friends want to go knock down some pins, you might want to consider doing it like these guys in Germany did, bowling with severed heads.

Well, not really, but they spray painted some awesome graphics on bowling bowls to resemble severed heads and they look really cool. Done for Germany's No. 1 horror TV channel, 13th Street, spraygun artist Oliver Paass took three weeks to create some really unique, full 360-degree bowling ball designs. In some cases you hold the ball by an eye socket, in others by a nostril or the mouth. Zombie bowling balls are definitely cool. I want one!

13th STREET – Bowlingheads (Case Video) from RUOK on Vimeo.

Kind of reminds me of that old joke, how can you tell lepers are playing hockey? There's a face off on the ice. For more design images, check them out here.

Better Drive a Stake Through His Heart

2011-08-12T00:13:00.000-04:00

Vampires walk among us. Or fly. And they're looking for your blood. A 19-year old Mexican migrant worker became the first person ever to die in the U.S. from being bitten by a vampire bat.

While you may have thought vampires loved to sink their teeth into the carotid artery in your neck, popular culture has it all wrong. Apparently your heel is the sweet spot for these blood suckers. Seems the worker was walking in his home land of Michoacan when the attack happened. Ten days later he came to the U.S. to work on a sugar cane plantation in Louisiana and within 15 days of being bit took ill.

He subsequently died of the bite. No word if they severed his head when he was buried, or stuck a rock in his mouth, both common ways of dealing with possible vampires.

For the record, he contracted bat rabies and developed encephalitis, a swelling of the area around the brain. Having never received a rabies vaccine before, he quickly succumbed to the virus.

A Truly Carnevil Scene

2011-07-08T16:20:00.000-04:00

We've all learned, of course, that Hurricane Katrina was a massive storm that was the costliest and also one of the 5 most deadliest natural disasters in the U.S. What couldn't have been known at the time was that plans made at the time by many individuals and businesses would be left unfulfilled.

One of those was Six Flags New Orleans that closed down in anticipation of Katrina's landfall. Here we are six years later, and the amusement park has been all but abandoned. Knowing that some of my favorite haunters are having a carnival-themed haunt this year, I hope they find these photos of the eerily silent park a source of inspiration.

More photos can be seen here and here.

Bloggers' Demise?

2011-07-06T07:54:00.000-04:00

Not really a Halloween-related post, but it should be of interest to all of us who use Blogger to blog about Halloween blogging stuff.

Now that Google has launched its Facebook-like Google+, it's rumored it's going to close down its Picasa picture site and Blogger too, rebranding them under the Google+ rubric. The search king hasn't responded to requests for information about the purported switch, which is expected to happen perhaps as soon as the end of the month, but the changes coming look significant.

Earlier this year, Mashable ran a story about an overhaul Google was preparing for Blogger, and even gave some screen shots about what was to come. Yesterday, Mashable ran another story about the changes underway and while Blogger won't be eliminated, it's probably not going to be how you remember it and it will be a lot more "social." For one thing, "private" profiles on Google are going to be eliminated on July 31 (which is why it's believed the Picasa/Blogger changes will happen by then too).

Google feels threatened by Facebook and its Google+ service is its response to that. By tying all of its offerings together under one roof, it feels it can better compete and make inroads into the turf currently dominated by Facebook.

So if you have a private profile and use Blogger as your blogging tool, get ready for a whole new openness, whether you want it or not.

Hitting My Stride

2011-06-27T22:34:00.000-04:00

That basement remodeling project I recently talked about has really sucked the life out of prop building lately. While I've been working here and there on the cemetery pillars and my gravedigger prop, time that I would've spent building has been going towards, well, building. But not Halloween related stuff.

Today, for example, I had to go to the waste transfer station and dump all the debris that I've accumulated: plaster, cement, lath, and all around construction waste. When I pulled into the depot, it was empty except for one garbage truck, but the truck driver was nowhere to be seen and I had to wait for him to unload before I could go. After about 15 minutes he returned and started unloading, but that's when all the other dump trucks, garbage trucks, township vehicles, etc., started pulling in.

My mini-pickup with my itsy bitsy load of debris was probably seen as more of a hinderance than anything, so I was left cooling my heels while they had all these monster trucks pulling in and out unloading their debris first. Finally, after a half hour of waiting I was able to unload and go on my way, but what should have been a 15 minute run turned into an hour and cut into my day, time that I had planned on using for prop building.

Because when I got home my wife was there and had my honeydew list ready. So after all was said and done, I was able to squeeze a little time in for Halloween, the result of which you see here: the first layer of Monster Mud on the legs of the gravedigger.

By the end of the night I was actually able to get two coats on and am ready for the second layer of fabric to go over it. I'll describe my process in greater detail at a later time, but suffice to say I haven't made as much progress as I'd like and while there are still several months to go, I see that once again I'll be reining in my list of expectations.

Hung From the Chimney With Care

2011-06-25T21:05:00.001-04:00

I can tell you demolition went a lot faster before I started looking at everything as a Halloween prop.

I bought my house almost 5 years ago and have pretty remodeled it from the first floor to the third, knocking down walls, moving walls, gutting rooms, etc. When I decided to tackle a room it was a pretty quick process. Sledge hammer in hand, I'd set about beating the crap out of a wall until it submitted to my will. Fun, quick, and messy as all hell.

Then I got into Halloween and making props and now the demo work has become a laborious process. I break up the plaster walls carefully to protect the lath underneath so that I can use equal care to pry off the lath with a crowbar or cat's paw. After all, lath makes a helluva creepy wall effect.

This only came into play as I began the last stage of renovation: the basement. But before I could finish that, I had to demo the back stairwell. And what would normally have taken me about an hour or so to complete, ended up becoming a multi-day project to protect and remove the lath. Fortunately that's completed now -- well I still need to get a new back door -- and the lath has been bundled up and stored away for future use. Now I can get this project completed so I can move on to more important projects like building Halloween props.

Having the Time of Their Life

2011-06-24T07:15:00.000-04:00

If you were ever subjected to the horror of the movie "Dirty Dancing," then you're familiar with Grossingers, the one-time luxury hotel getaway in the Catskills whose heydey was through the 1940's, 1950's, and even the 1960's. It served as the inspiration for the Kellerman's Mountain Resort where Baby got an education in love and life from Patrick Swayze. Ugh.

But the story of Grossinger's is pretty interesting all on its own and according to the Catskill Archive, "By the time of her death in 1972, (owner) Jennie had built Grossinger's into a sprawling complex of 35 buildings on 1200 acres that served 150,000 guests a year. It had it's own airstrip and post office."

No one has checked into Grossinger's since 1986 and the "sprawling complex" now stands abandoned. While much of everything has been stripped from the interiors (and exteriors) in the intervening 25 years, there are some eerie settings that would make a great backdrop for a haunted house attraction. Below are some photos showing the buildings, grounds, and interiors that make you want start selling tickets to a dark ride.

There are lots more photos in Steven Bley's flicker stream.

Cobwebs and Crypts

2011-06-20T17:49:00.000-04:00

Having finished half of my twin cemetery pillars, I decided to free up some space in my garage and stow the one finished prop beneath the porch where I keep all my other props. However, since my porch is enclosed in privacy lattice, I really don't take notice of them throughout the year.

Thus it was fun opening up the entrance and peering in to the dusty area and seeing my reaper, roof climber, Acolyte, gargoyle and assorted other props sitting, waiting patiently for Halloween to come around again. The cemetery pillar joined the other props and the lattice was secured back in place.for another 132 days...well, 101 days really, when I begin setting up again beginning October 1.

Dust to Dust

2011-06-19T22:20:00.001-04:00

When I've sculpted hands or heads, such as the one for my Madog gravedigger prop, I've used a home-made paper clay from cellulose insulation. I like the ability to achieve a certain level of detail very inexpensively. The one drawback I found, however, is the paper pulp itself is somewhat lumpy so that a smooth texture is difficult to achieve.

What I tried to do to compensate for that, on Madog anyway, was to cover it with several thin coats of Monster Mud. That gave me a very nice base to paint on, but I'd like to avoid having to use that extra step if I could.

My thinking, therefore, was to grind if possible the cellulose into a fine powder using a food chopper, you know, like the Braun handhelds that have attachments with high-speed spinning blades and containers. I used three different models (don't ask why I have three food grinders), but while a fine dust was made, the bulk of the cellulose didn't break down all that much. It became a little finer I guess, but perhaps because it was so light that it spun at almost the same speed as the blades and didn't get cut up nearly as much as I wanted. So I'll have to try another means of getting a fine powder without the expense of going out and buy a specific product.

If anyone has suggestions on how I might grind the cellulose I'd be happy to hear.

These Boots Are Made for Walking

2011-06-18T18:18:00.000-04:00

...or digging graves. I did some more work on my Gravedigger prop recently, paper maching the boots and today filling them with Great Stuff and a PVC pipe.

Er, what's that you say? You have no idea what I'm talking about? Okay, back up. I chronicled the building of my gravedigger's head and it basically sat there untouched since. I decided that I needed to get moving on him so at this month's NJ Make & Take meeting, I began anew, this time working from the ground up, so to speak.

Using a technique I gleaned (read, "stole") from IMU on the HauntForum boards, I started the boots by scrounging up an old pair of sneakers and put a cardboard calf section to give it some height.

I then paper mached the entire shoe. When it was dry, I cut out a strip of cardboard a few inches wide and wrapped it around the top, cutting a V-notch into the front so that it looked like it had been folded over. This was then mached and the top was covered as well.

On the toe area of the boot, I wanted to make it look like an old floppy style fabric boot, so I balled up some newspaper, taped it in place, and mached over it.

Today I drilled out a hole in the bottom of the boot through the sneaker as well as through the top. This is where a length of PVC pipe was inserted to provide a means of connecting it to the legs that will be built next, as well as a way of anchoring it to the ground with rebar so that it can be free standing in the yard.

As the picture at the top of the post shows, the Great Stuff expanded greatly on one of them. Tomorrow I'll trim off the excess, give it a coat of spar urethane to protect the mache, and then paint it black. I'll then be ready to move on to the next step, which will be doing the legs.

Yeah, Sweet Calendar Girl

2011-06-17T06:29:00.000-04:00

I love, I love, I love my calendar girl
Yeah, sweet calendar girl
I love, I love, I love my calendar girl
Each and every day of the year
-- Neil Sedaka, "Calendar Girl"

Until bills assumed a larger part of my life, I used to love getting the mail. I even loved junk mail. I'd sign up for stuff just to get more mail and getting on mailing lists to get even more crap in my mailbox. These days, not so much.

But yesterday, my mailbox lid was down and thinking the mailman had been too lazy to put it back up, I was cursing him as I returned it to its place. But as it snapped shut I realized there was something stuck in the slot and I saw a Priority Mail envelop sticking out. Woohoo! Stuff!

Of course, when I saw the return address I knew right away what it was. A couple of weeks ago Chris Davis of The Davis Graveyard had a contest on her Frog on the Pumpkin blog for one of their calendars. Yeah, that's right, I was the big winner! A full year's worth of inspiration to hang in my workshop.

As an added bonus, though, she also included a set of five prints of the haunt. Sweet! Now I have to find a set of frames creepy enough to show them off!

Thanks, Chris. I wish you guys had chosen to live on the correct coast and lived in the northeast so I could visit your display (I don't seem to make it out to Oregon much). Your new abbey facade is going to be epic!

"Twilight" Material She's Not

2011-06-14T22:09:00.000-04:00

There's something about a good vampire that draws you to them. Nosferatu, Dracula, even 'Salem's Lot (well, the book anyway) knew how to get you close enough to dig their fangs into you. "Twilight?" Not so much.

However, apparently you really shouldn't drink the water south of the border. This Mexican woman took the vampire culture to heart and decided to transform herself into a deathless creature, including having titanium implants inserted for horns. Then again, she is a lawyer and we all know what kind of bloodsuckers they can be.

As the gentleman at the end says, tattoos are a lifestyle choice and I've got more than my fair share of them, but methinks this woman has taken it a tad far.

I Have a Dream

2011-05-31T07:52:00.001-04:00

"Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty we are free at last!"
-- Chris Baker, er -- Martin Luther King

As you probably already know if you follow any number of blogs or vlogs, since so many have mentioned it, the premier Halloween and haunt related podcast Hauntcast is going free again. After a dalliance with a pay-per-download model (the exorbitant sum of $1 per show, or $12 annually) -- which apparently vastly enriched its creator Chris Baker to such an extent that he can now retire and produce the show at no cost to listeners -- he'll be opening up the podcast again for free.

Or...he was able to prove to advertisers that there was a demand for the product. Seems companies were willing to advertise on the show, but it was either it had to be free or Chris decided he couldn't charge people to listen to ads. Either way there was enough of an economic incentive there for him to revert to the original free download model Hauntcast started with.

From what I've read, there were some 12,000 or so downloads of past shows which advertisers found attractive. So what the g/host is doing is reworking the archived shows with new advertising. That's pretty smart on his part! Plus he gets new advertising too. I imagine that's something that can be reworked every so often, though it's probably a bear of an effort to re-edit all those shows.

As regular readers here know I've been a big supporter of Hauntcast, regardless of the iteration. I had a contest for two subscriptions earlier this year and bought one for a friend at a recent haunt convention, along with my own sub. As I've also said, I was more than willing to pay to support the show and I didn't think the cost was outrageous. And I have no problems now that it's gone back to free. It was an investment in extremely enjoyable entertainment for me.

But now, if you were hesitant about shelling out the $12 bucks to listen to what all the buzz was about -- there was buzz, right? -- now you can just head on over and tune in. For me, I'm happy knowing the best haunt and Halloween related podcast will remain on the air. Free at last!

Hell Freezes Over

2011-05-28T10:17:00.000-04:00

Despite my saying I would never, ever, ever vlog -- that is, post a video blog -- I went ahead and recorded one anyway, and posted it on my YouTube channel, which is GhoulishCop. That's the screen name I use on the haunt and Halloween forums.

Now Cecile B. DeMille has nothing to worry about with my freshman directorial debut (exactly how do you not constantly record your chin?) but it was fun. I tried to keep it under 10 minutes, because I think that's about the limit of anyone's attention span, so a lot ended up on the cutting room floor...which I'm sure you'll be thankful for.

Future episodes will be somewhat improved. I've already viewed my first vlog with a very critical eye, and though I posted it knowing there were a bunch of flaws, I figured if I didn't actually do it this time I'd probably never get around to it. So by forcing myself to post a video that I know has (many) areas for improvement, I'm actually pressuring myself into posting a second, better one so that the original isn't my entire legacy.

Having done this vlog, however, I have a lot more respect for those haunters who do this every day. I can assure you I won't torture you with daily updates of my exploits (pigs truly don't fly), if for no other reason than I'm just not that interesting. I'm sure my ramblings on this blog can make you think I'm something of a dullard at times (self-edit, self-edit!) so having to watch some stream of consciousness verbal diarrhea from me would undoubtedly be excruciating.

But what I would like my vlogs to cover would be my Halloween-related activities. I mean, that's the only reason someone might be remotely interested in watching them anyway so I'll limit them to covering that topic. The benefit to me is I think it might help me work on more projects. This blog helps me in some respect that way, keeping me interested in building things, and vlogging my progress might too. I know reading about your own haunt activities and viewing your videos gets me excited, so maybe in some small way I can do that for someone else.

Anyway, you've been forewarned: drivel ahead!

Postcards From the Edge

2011-05-27T08:04:00.000-04:00

I took a couple of days off from working on my cemetery pillars but have been enjoying BlogTV, a combination of video chats and instant messaging. While anyone can host a session, obviously I'm interested in communing with my fellow haunters.

Some of the people who've hosted recently that I've tuned in to, and you might be familiar with, include Halloween Hellmouth, FrightGuy, and Steve's Haunted Yard. These are freewheeling, fun discussions, usually about Halloween and haunt related topics, but with a decidedly adult bent. In reality, anything's free game but because we all share a common interest, the dominant topic is Halloween and our activities surrounding the holiday.

Last night, for example, FrightGuy from Grimlock Manor, discussed techniques he's used to age paper and pictures, including coffee, cinnamon, and cumin. While I've used coffee before, I never heard of the latter two so that's something I'll have to try.

Also Steve, who also posts daily vlogs on YouTube, recently hosted BlogTV and corpsed a blucky. He also held a contest where the first five people who texted him (you know, having a literature degree I still haven't gotten comfortable with "texted" being a word let alone a verb) received a unique postcard that he picked up from the Museum of the Weird in Austin, TX (he also vlogged his time at the Museum). I was one of the five (I think there were only five of us on at the time) and, true to his word, I got my postcard in the mail yesterday. You can't go wrong with Lon Chaney as "The Phantom of the Opera!"

Perhaps even more important was Steve's own artwork added to the reverse side of the card. I'm sure that it will be worth something in a few years so I'm hanging on to this!

Thanks, Steve! And for everyone reading, check out BlogTV. Look up the folks above searching under "People" and subscribe to them. That way you'll receive notification when they're planning on hosting a new chat session. It's great hanging out with names you've probably seen on the various forums and discussing in real-time Halloween and haunt related topics.

Pillar Update

2011-05-24T23:04:00.000-04:00

Did a little more work on my cemetery pillars the past couple of days. I finished carving the stonework into the foam on all four sides and then painted it with a coat of Drylok. I opted not to use any Monster Mud because I didn't want to cover up any of the detail, and in the end it really wasn't necessary.

(What's interesting is how the blue ink from the foam mixed with the Drylok, yet in that one spot where there's an "S" it didn't. Nor was that visible before I started painting. Ooooooh! Spooky!)

After that coat dried I painted it all over with a coat of black paint. The goal will be to build up the paint layers in successively lighter colors with the end result that it looks like stone. We'll see.

Painting melted foam isn't as easy as you might think. Getting the brush into all the nooks and crannies that are formed is a time-sapping, laborious process. My neighbor was leaning out her window watching me and offering commentary on my work (Yes! That's what I need!) when she asked, "Wouldn't it be faster to spray paint it?" I explained about the melting properties of spray paint on foam so that I'd still have to provide some sort of primer coat on it. Plus, spray paint can get expensive, though the basic flat black cans at Home Depot and Lowe's are cheap at just $0.99.

As I sat there jabbing my brush into the crevices, I suddenly wanted to smack myself upside the head. I have a compressor with a sprayer attachment! So I went hooked everything up, and in 5 minutes time had the entire pillar painted. What had taken me three times as long to do just half of one face of the pillar took me a third of the time to complete the rest of it.

Don't know why I drew a blank on the spray unit before, but I guess my neighbor's colloquy really was what I needed after all.

Brick by Brick

2011-05-21T08:00:00.000-04:00

Between building my cemetery pillars and remodeling my basement, space has become a premium in my garage. I got 14 sheets of 5/8" sheetrock for free from a Yahoo! group called Freecycle and they're stacked to one side of the single-car space while my columns take up the middle. While I'm slowly making my way through the sheetrock, I figured if I'm really ever going to open up any room in the garage I'm going to have to get these columns done and put into storage.

So after lots of procrastination I began work on them again. The one column had the rigid foam insulation already applied while the other is still just the frame. Since I don't have space just yet to go get and store more insulation to skin the second one, I figured I'd do the design work on the first and at least get it out of the way.

Of course, working without any clear idea in mind as to the exact effect I want is difficult, but I decided that rather than brick it would have something of a stacked stone look. After laying out how big I wanted the courses to be, I measured and scored them, then began the laborious process of using a wood burning tool to make the mortar lines.

While that was actually quick enough, I didn't want neat, sharp lines since these are supposed to be aged pillars. So after making the outlines of the stones I wanted using a straight edge (the stones would have been straight and orderly when initially set), I went back and began "aged" them by rounding off corners and generally "unsmoothing" the neatness. That was the time consuming process.

Once that was done, I used a technique I had seen on a vlog by Steve's Haunted Yard where you spray water onto the foam and then hit it using a heat gun. It gives the foam a stone look almost instantly. Very cool! (I looked for but couldn't find the link to the exact video. Sorry.)

I only finished two sides of the column and will complete the other two today (hopefully). The second side took a little bit longer than the first because it was the side I have my access panel on and I wanted to disguise its presence so there are a number of smaller and misshapen stones there. While I think it hides it fairly well for the most part, it took a lot more time to do all those extra stones. But it also underscores why I built my foam-cutting tools: the score-with-a-razor technique left a lot to be desired. I'm confident my second column will come out much better using my hot wire cutters.

And while I probably don't have to coat them in Monster Mud before painting, I probably will anyway to cover up as many imperfections as possible. Then adding a bit of Drylok on top of that will give an additional layer of protection and stone-like appearance.

On a side note, it was actually odd using Drylok on a non-haunt-related project. While I don't have a problem of water leaks in my basement, since I'm putting up new walls on the exterior concrete block, I figured it was a bit of preventive maintenance to cover them in Drylok to inhibit any moisture that might want to work its way in after I put them up. Now that that's done, I'll be able to finish another corner of the laundry room. But that means it's almost time then to renovate the back stairwell which entails tearing down my old stairs and building new ones.

How the heck can I make Halloween props when my wife insists on me finishing the basement? That's the difference between doing the work yourself and hiring a contractor to come in. They'll be in and out quickly while I have the luxury of squeezing it in around skinning my cemetery pillars. I'm thinking though I may have to focus on getting the stairwell done quickly though. I might want clean clothes occasionally and I don't want to have to tell my wife, "Careful going to the basement, honey. That first step's a doozy!"

Hook Me Up

2011-05-20T09:27:00.000-04:00

I'm not much of a TV person and it wasn't until I met my wife that I became anything close to a moviephile, but a good TV series (say, The Walking Dead) or a good movie (28 Days Later) can reel me in (Heh! Get it? "Reel me in." Movie reel. Okay, onward).

But finding good shows or movies to watch can be hard because there's just so much crap out there. Too often, the trailers for the movies or shows contain all the good stuff and the rest is just filler, and bad filler at that. Worse, a director can do really good things with a movie, but gets stuck in how to get out of the box he's created and so comes up with a lame ending. A lot of times I'm left feeling there's a lot of film that's been left on the cutting room floor.

However, lately I've become addicted to a resource that's at least leading me in the right direction to really good cinema: Hook's Haunted Hollow.

I'm not sure how I found his blog, but I started tuning in lately and I've found it's just a wealth of movie and TV show trailers and links for stuff that's coming out that looks like it's going to be awesome. For example, there's an indie movie that just came out called The Tunnel, about an Australian news crew doing a story on an abandoned subway system in Sydney. Thinking it was more a story about homeless people going missing, they find there's a lot more going on beneath their feet than anyone could imagine.

I had seen a trailer for the movie and thought it looked really cool, but then Hook's blog posted the filmmakers were offering a free, legal download of the movie -- in high-def even. I immediately downloaded and watched it yesterday and it was every bit as good as I thought it was going to be. I wouldn't have known about the free download had it not been for Hook's post.

Then there's the regular updates about the coming movie Super 8, several new TV shows coming out this year that look very cool -- The River, Awake, and Person of Interest -- and more. The man's got way too much time on his hands to be finding and posting all these links, trailers, and updates, but I'm glad he does. I'm pretty much a couch potato as it is (though my laptop is usually in hand rather than the TV remote), but I may never have a reason to get up with all the cool stuff he's finding.

If you're the least bit interested at all in horror, thriller, and even sci-fi-ish stuff (he's got Green Lantern updates, X-Men, and Transformers too) you must check out and follow Hook's Haunted Hollow. Really, it's simply a convenient way to stay on top of the best these genres have coming out. It's definitely on my daily, must-read list.

Logging a Lot of Miles

2011-05-19T07:16:00.000-04:00

Not me, but my fellow haunters. I've recently got hooked on watching haunt and Halloween related video blogs -- or vlogs, for those of you who might not have found them yet -- and one common thread that runs through all of them (aside from being haunt and Halloween related) is these vloggers love to drive and vlog at the same time.

Whether it's going to the local Goodwill store, running to the post office, driving to or from work, or heading out to some convention, these vloggers are behind the wheel videotaping themselves. While I appreciate the spontaneity of recording thoughts as they happen, maybe it's because I'm a retired police officer but all this "distracted driving" drives me nuts! And they say talking on a cellphone leads to accidents.

I haven't witnessed any wrecks just yet, but paying attention to what you're saying to a camera instead of driving that 2,000-lb. machine and what's around you -- though I do notice a lot of checking the mirrors; maybe they're looking for cops? -- is going to lead to bad things eventually.

For the sake of the vloggers who I've come to really enjoy watching and learning from, please put the camera away while you're behind the wheel. We can wait till you get wherever it is you're going to hear what you have to say.

While I've only just started subscribing to various YouTube channels, I already have a number of favorites that I make sure I watch every day (probably because they post every day!). Typically the best ones (for me) deal specifically with props and prop building, though catching up on some of their everyday lives is fun too.

I would like to see a little more self-editing in some of these, though, so that they stick with the main thrust of the video and don't run more than 10 minutes maximum. I wish I had time to sit and watch endless hours of stream-of-consciousness ramblings, even if it is about Halloween, but I need to get in and get on to other things so I often find myself fast forwarding through a lot of what's being said. Keeping it on point would be a big help.

Despite that minor criticism, I'm enjoying the vlogs and seeing things occurring "real time," or close enough anyway. Here's a list of some of my favorite vloggers:

Steve's Haunted Yard
HalloweenHellmouth
My Little Piece of Hell
The Bloodshed Brothers

At the top of the list, however, is HauntVentures by Haunt It Yourself, two vloggers who give really great tips and inspiration for haunters everywhere. Jason Dasti and Melissa Mcknight are professional haunters (or something). They have a huge workshop up in Canada and build some amazing props, and were also behind many of the videos posted for Hauntcon, where they took you on tours of many of the haunted houses, vendors, and workshops that took place there. I really want to go see the Dent Schoolhouse as a result of their videos.

I had seen the Dent Schoolhouse website previously and it looked really cool, but HauntVentures' tour through the haunted house really made up my mind. What I liked best was you get to see these haunted attractions as they appear to regular guests, but also with a "lights on" tour. Then you get to see the level of detail these attractions put into their work.

Hauntcon apparently offered a number of attraction tours, and Jason and Melissa I think captured them all on video. Well worth the time invested in watching them all (perhaps 80 videos or so!).

In short, if you haven't started watching the vlogs, I think you should give it a shot. Many are very informative. I don't think I'll be vlogging anytime soon myself, but I have at least considered putting up some videos of projects I'm doing. If I do decide to do that, however, I'll make sure none of them involve being behind the wheel of a car!

Handheld Foam Cutter Tutorial

2011-05-18T15:44:00.000-04:00

The latest addition to my hot wire foam cutting tools is a handheld device for when I want to do close-up work and don't need the table. Detailing the edges of tombstones, for example, or carving out pieces of foam that might be too awkward for the table to handle are the instances where a handheld foam cutter would be handy.

While initially basing my handheld cutter on a device hpropman made, this one is much smaller than his as I envisioned using it for the times I mentioned above. His cutter was about a foot or more in width; mine is about 6 to 8 inches.

To make the cutter, I used scrap 1/2" Schedule 40 PVC though I imagine other sizes would work, as would thinner Schedule 20 PVC. The parts list for my device are as follows:

Handle - (1) @ 8"
Cross bars - (2) @ 2"
Arms - (2) @ 4"
T - (1)
90 degree Elbow - (2)
End Caps (3)
Nickel wound wire 18 gauge
Screws (2) @ 1"
Nuts (6)
Washers (4)
Wire Connectors*
Wire

* I'm not sure exactly what they're called. They're circular and allow you to insert a wire into the end which you're then able to fit over a screw.

After cutting all the pieces to length, I dry fit them together. Actually, I didn't glue up any of the parts because I figured there may come a time when I want to swap out the parts for wide or longer pieces, depending upon what I'm working on, and rather than building a whole new cutter, I could just remove whatever's in there currently and replace it with the new parts. The caps definitely shouldn't be glued because you may need to gain access to the nut holding the screw in place.

This is a really quick project, the hardest part being fitting my fingers in the end caps to tighten down the bolt. Here is a picture of the end cap assembly showing the screw, two nuts, wire connector, and washer. As you can see, I drilled a 3/8" hole in the top and side of each end cap. The top hole is obviously for the screw; the side hole allows the wire to travel down inside the PVC.

I wrapped the 18 gauge nickel guitar wire below the top nut and tightened the nuts down. I stretched the wire across to the other side and did the same thing. Since I couldn't show a picture of the completed end cap assembly underneath that would have any meaning, below is a drawing of how the assembly looks.

One adjustment I may look at making is coming up with a way to fine tune the tension on the wire because when it heats up it does stretch a little. But in the meantime it works just fine. I also noticed I didn't need nearly as much power with this device as I did with the table. Or rather, I noticed the wire actually turned orange on the handheld at the same setting it was on for the table. Perhaps it has to do with the shorter distance between the wire, or maybe it's that I'm using 14/2 Romex wire compared to the 16 gauge wire I used for the table that I had left over from my LED spotlight project. Either way, I dialed it back before I snapped the guitar string.

With the hot wire handheld cutter and foam cutting table, I think I should be able to tackle any of the foam cutting projects I have in mind. I do have a tendency to build jigs and tools to help build projects without building any project itself! At least now I don't have an excuse for not working on props.

Foam Cutter Power Supply Tutorial

2011-05-15T20:15:00.000-04:00

After completing my foam cutting table yesterday, but failing at hooking up the power supply to it, I wanted to get it done to cut some foam.

The Garage of Evil tutorial calls for using a Pony PET-120-12-60 power supply, but no store around here had one in stock. I was going to buy one online, but did a little online searching and found, first, that these are called transformers (I didn't know that ahead of time, and when I tried to explain it to people they had no idea what I was talking about).

Once I knew what I was looking for, I went to Radio Shack and was able to find what I needed: I got a 12.6 VAC, 3 amp power transformer (it was Radio Shack part number 273-1511B).

I also bought a basic dimmer switch from Lowe's:

While the GoE plans also calls for a switch-outlet combination, I didn't figure that was going to be necessary. While I'll get a project box for the parts, the double gang box I originally bought won't fit the RS transformer. I guess that's one of the benefits of the Pony model, it's more compact than this one. But I wanted to cut foam now, so I went with what I had available.

I also bought alligator clips which I connected to 16 gauge wire I had available from my LED light projects.

It was then time to hook up the transformer and dimmer to the plug wire I salvaged from the train transformer. The GoE directions were essential since there are a heckuva lot of wires and no real rhyme or reason to them. Following the schematic, I hooked up all the wires, though I had two yellow wires coming out of the transformer instead of blue.

Also there were no white wires on any of my components, everything was black or yellow so it was a bit of a guess as to which went where. Maybe it doesn't matter so much. Either that or I guess right. Obviously I bypassed the switch/outlet part.

I connected the transformer to the alligator clips, which in turn were connected to the guitar wire.

Here is a look under the table showing the other connection at the PVC arch:

I plugged in the setup and with fingers crossed I turned on the dimmer. There were no sparks and the circuit wasn't blown so it seemed to be working. A quick touch of the wire showed it was hot, so I shoved some foam into it and success!

I definitely didn't bring anything new to the discussion here, and I suggest anyone looking to build this power supply themselves to follow the Garage of Evil tutorial. It was a big help.

One note of caution: I wanted to see how high I could crank the power on the dimmer and put it all the way up. It didn't take long for the wire to turn red hot and then pop! About half the way provided sufficient power and I sacrificed the wire just to see what would happen.

Foam Cutting Table Tutorial

2011-05-14T21:22:00.000-04:00

I spent this morning making a foam cutting table, basically following the design of my fellow NJ/PA Make & Take haunter, hpropman. Joe's design is in turn based on the welded table version made by the Garage of Evil.

I figured I'd offer a step-by-step tutorial with photos for everything I did. The project cost me less than $10, and the most expensive part was the metal bracket, which was about $7 alone. I was fortunate in that I had a piece of MDF already on hand, so if you were to make one too it might cost you a little more for the wood.

This was the quick plans I sketched out on a scrap piece of note paper which I taped up outside my garage where I was working to refer to if necessary. Some of the measurements subsequently changed, but I note them below.

The table started by cutting my MDF to size. I made mine 24" wide by 36" long. While a really big table would be fun, storage is always a consideration and this should handle most projects. Some of the other versions out there use a laminate top because it is super slick and smooth for moving the foam across the table, but MDF is a very smooth surface as well.

I next made two stretchers from 2x3 board I had on hand. The stretchers run the along each long side, though not completely to the ends. I made my 24" long and centered it on the table length, that way if I chose to use a fence to help make straight cuts I'll have a place to clamp it.

I laid out three screw holes centered on the width of the boards (3/4") at 7", 18", and 29". I pre-drilled the holes and countersunk them to keep the screw heads below the table top. When using MDF it is important to pre-drill your screw holes otherwise you're likely (read: guaranteed) to split the wood.

I also glued the strechers to the table top for added strength.

I then clamped the stretcher to the top and pre-drilled it to make sure the screws went in securely (this could have been done all as one step).

I then screwed the top to the stretcher with 2-1/2" drywall screws.

Here's an end view showing the two stretchers attached.

The next step was to make the arm that holds the cutting wire. I ripped a 2x3 in half, but using a 2x2 would be a good choice, but I was trying to use up spare wood I had on hand. The riser is 22" high while the arm itself is 18" long.

They attach at a right angle with the arm on top of the rise. Once again I pre-drilled and countersunk holes to attach them with two screws. Like drilling into MDF, when drilling into end grain of wood as you are here, pre-drilling is important to prevent splitting.

The next step is to attach a shelf bracket to the arm assembly to ensure it remains rigid and there's no flex that would allow the string to go slack. I used 1" screws here.

To attach the arm assembly to the table, the riser will be screwed to one of the stretchers. An alternative method, particularly for ease of storage, would be to attach the arm assembly using two bolts run through the riser and the stretcher and held in place with either a knob or wing nuts. As I had forgotten to pick up wing nuts, I opted to screw it to the stretcher, though this can be changed at a later time.

As always, the screw holes were pre-drilled and countersunk.

Once that was done, I drilled a 1/8" hole for the wire. It is located 1/2" back from the end of the arm and centered on it. A second hole was drilled another 1/2" back, but this one did not go all the way through the arm as it will be used for an hanger bolt that can be used to keep the appropriate amount of tension on the wire.

An alternative would be to use a guitar tuning key, but my local Guitar Center told me they were sold in sets, not individually, and since I had the hanger bolts aplenty from my LED spotlights project I used them instead.

Once the arm assembly was screwed to the stretcher, it was necessary to locate the hole in the table top so the wire can pass up through the table from underneath. It should be fairly perpendicular to the table so that your cuts are straight.

Initially I was going to use a plumb bob hung from the end of the arm and then measure back 1/2" inch to align the holes. But my daughter came up with a novel, better idea: using the laser pointer on my stud finder. I turned the laser on, shined it down through the hole in the arm, and the laser dot appeared on the table top precisely in line with the hole in the arm. I marked its location and drilled through the table with the 1/8" drill bit.

I had taken a picture of the laser dot marking the spot, but unfortunately it didn't show up in the picture.

The next stage of the project was to make the PVC arch the holds the wire in place under the table. I had 2" PVC pipe on hand, but I imagine 1-1/2" pipe would work too. I cut off a ring about 1-1/2" wide and then cut it slightly more than in half to create tension when it's holding the wire. A 1/8" hole was drilled in the center of the arch.

The wire that I used was 18 gauge nickel wound guitar string. It comes with a ball at the end which is perfect for holding it in place. I got two wires for less than $2 at Guitar Center.

The wire's passed up through the arch, through the table, and through the hole in the arm. I then wrapped it around the hanger bolt to secure it. When the bolt is turned it applies tension to the wire.

At this point, the table assembly is complete.

The next step was to make the power supply, but since that didn't work out so well, I'll save that for another tutorial. My problem was I had attempted to use an old train transformer to generate the heat, but it apparently wasn't strong enough and didn't heat the wire sufficiently enough to cut through the foam. So I will build the power supply described in the Garage of Evil tutorial, but I have to order the low voltage transformer and will show the steps I used when it arrives.

Right now the table looks great and I'm disappointed the train transformers didn't work because I'm itching to give it a go.

Hopefully the steps described and the pictures provided will help you build your own foam cutting table.

A Critical Eye

2011-05-13T20:06:00.001-04:00

I received an email the other day from the producer of an indie film called "All God's Creatures," which apparently is an official selection of the 2011 Hoboken International Film Festival. The movie's world premiere is being held in Teaneck on June 4, and they've invited me to a screening of the show. Seeing as it's in my hometown, I can't pass up the chance.

From the email, the movie is "a dark love story about a young serial killer, Jon Smith, and a young prostitute, Delia Maitlin, who unintentionally and unexpectedly find love; a very dangerous love." Interesting premise.

It was shot on a budget of $25,000 but the trailers seem to have some good production values to them. In the site's main trailer (sorry, they don't have an embed code) the first clip is accompanied by one of the movie's signature soundtracks, "Ted Bundy Was a Lady's Man" by Des Roar, and it's actually pretty catchy.

While I've accepted the invitation, I haven't as yet heard back from them so maybe they've decided against it. We'll see, but I'd be interested in seeing the movie. So long as they don't expect rave reviews simply for inviting me. I can't be bought (yeah right!). If I hear back from them I'll do a complete review.

Right On Schedule

2011-05-09T18:31:00.000-04:00

After the National Haunters Convention I'm all excited about getting to prop building. This coming weekend I'm working on my cemetery pillars and since the NJ/PA Make & Take group is having a bunch of scheduling conflicts, there may be a few haunting buddies stopping by to work on their own props. It will be another mini-M&T.

But I find that my prop building routine is rather scattershot. I'll work on a paper mache skull here, make some paper clay finger bones there, and occasionally screw on some insulation to my pillars whenever I'm walking by them in the garage. It's not the most productive allocation of my time.

The other day, though, I was watching a vlog from one of my new favorite haunters, Halloween Hellmouth, and I noticed on his bedroom wall a whiteboard with various to-do projects on them: the prop car he's building, house, and some intriguing item called "Hellmouth 4 Resurrection." Maybe that was that particular video since it was Hellmouth 4 (if you're interested, it's at about the 5:05 mark in the video). And there are all some bullet points underneath each.

That got me to thinking that maybe I needed to organize my prop building efforts a little better. Create a list of props I want to build, divide it up into the major sections that need work, and write it all down. For example, I've decided I want my gravedigger prop to be pneumatic. Nothing special, mind you, just that he's going to be in a hunched over position as if he's digging a grave but then as the ToTs walk by he'll be triggered to snap his head up to look at them.

So in addition to making his body, I'll need to construct the cylinders that will make him move. That may necessitate ordering the cylinders or making them from PVC (yeah, yeah, I've heard all the pros and cons about it). So my project list for Madog might be "Make PVC body," "Order cylinders from Monster Guts" (there, ya happy?), "Attach cylinder mechanism to prop," etc.

Another prop I'm contemplating will be The Cellarer. In monastic life, the cellarer was the one who provisioned the abbey with food and drink. My thoughts on him are for a life-size monk to be carrying a large crate, but in reality it would be a Monster-in-a-Box. As the ToTs approached, a motion sensor would trigger the MIB. So there would be a whole bunch of steps needed to bring that to fruition.

Point is, by organizing my thoughts I'll make better use of my time and I'll see how well I'm progressing on my prop building. I'll know when I'm done when I check off the last item on the list (yeah right! There's never an end to a haunter's list).

I've started the process so far by creating an initial list of props I want to build. Some of it's rather ambitious like the two above, plus a mausoleum to house my FCG. I also want to finish my cemetery pillars (c'mon Saturday!). But others are relatively easier or less time consuming, like making another groundbreaker or two and a few props for inside my house, like a severed hand standing on its finger tips on top of a stack of books, and a PVC candle in a skull. There are some that seem to be somewhere in between, like a moving shelf of books (saw a great example on the HauntForum boards by halstaff, which he adapted from a Halloween Forum member maureenpr).

(at 1:44 in the video, but yes, let's all join in on the hate for halstaff having completed so much stuff already)

So I have given myself a full plate, but idle hands are the devil's tools, or some such saying. Trouble manages to find me when I'm lazing about doing nothing, so what better way to occupy my time than building Halloween props? I don't know either.

Scaring Up Some Good Fun

2011-05-08T07:02:00.000-04:00

Now having attended my first Halloween-haunt convention (I don't think last week's Chiller Theater really fit the bill), I can say these are a really good time. The National Haunters Convention in King of Prussia, PA, was indeed worth the time and expense as not only did I get to see a bunch of haunt vendors and pick their brains for ideas, but I once again got to hang out with fellow haunters and meet a few of the industry's "rock stars."

Going in to NHC I didn't know what to expect, and I'll admit on entering the show I was a bit let down. Having seen videos of Transworld I was expecting something along those lines, so this was apparently more scaled down than that mega show. However, I later found that this year's NHC was bigger than in the past and as I walked the floor I did come away with a better appreciation for the event. For the $25 show floor ticket, which was apparently good for all three days of the event, that's a pretty good deal.

They had a lot of vendors there covering a broad swath of the industry: props, animatronics, pneumatics, controllers, foggers, makeup, scene setters, and music. The NHC even had entertainment, including a trio of zombie singers and a trivia game show that was pretty funny.

My personal highlight was meeting (finally!) Johnny Thunder and Denny (Denhaunt) from the Hauntcast show. I also got to see Denny's "Pumpkin Thief" prop up close. Awesome job. They raffled it off and I could have sworn all the major league butt kissing I was doing would give me the inside track to winning the prop, but alas! No, someone else scored it.

The Hauncast booth served a second purpose, though, and that was as a central meeting place for all the haunters who were going to attend. It was great being able to put a face to a (screen) name.

I'm sure all of these people don't see themselves as anything special, but seeing them on the boards (and the excellent work they produce), watching their YouTube channels, reading their blogs, and listening to their podcasts, provides incredible inspiration to regular, relatively new haunters like me. They might not view themselves as leading lights of the industry, but as I noted they're like rock stars for me (Pumpkinrot, where the hell were ya?!).

Unfortunately for me, my camera acted up (later on I found it needed to be reset) so the pictures I had taken on it were lost, but at least there weren't that many. I ended up using my cellphone to photograph the props I liked that might provide some inspiration later on. It was definitely a good time and I'm glad FrightGuy from Grimlock Manor convinced me to go at last. I've got lots of work to do now!

The crew that met up at NHC (l-r): HalloweenZombie, GrimGhost, the Bloodshed Brothers, Johnny Thunder, JoiseyGal, me, Spooky1, RoxyBlue, IMU, Devil. (Kneeling, front): Denhaunt, FrightGuy. Devils Chariot ended up showing up later on.

A few other pictures I took of vendor props at the show:

Definitely the creepiest costume

Yet Another Haunting Confab

2011-05-05T19:55:00.001-04:00

After the fun trip to the Chiller Theater expo last week with Grimlock Manor's FrightGuy, he was able to convince me to go to the National Haunter's Convention in King of Prussia, PA this Saturday. Since another of my favorite local haunters is going too -- JoiseyGal -- I figured, how could I not go?! So from not going to any conventions, I seem to have filled up my date book with a whole bunch of them. I expect I'll get one or two more ideas for my haunt going to NHC than I did at Chiller, and the roster of haunting luminaries who've said they're going to be in attendance is pretty impressive.

As much as I love building props and decorating for Halloween, I find haunters to be some of the most interesting people and could chat with them about their experiences for hours. Looking forward to seeing the sights and meeting the minds of what looks to be a pretty cool haunting convention.

Chills & Thrills

2011-05-02T07:00:00.000-04:00

It was a Chiller Theater expo weekend for me, attending the trade show they held at the Parsippany Hilton Friday through Sunday. While I did go on Saturday, I actually didn't pay to go in that day. While $25 was fine to see everything they had, I knew I'd be going on Sunday too and it didn't seem they had that much that I'd actually be willing to pay $50 to view.

So on Saturday I walked around the lobby where they had a few vendors set up as well as a number of celebrities available for photo ops. Some had the most tenuous relationships to horror, such as Hal Linden from "Barney Miller." Maybe he was in some movie I'm not familiar with, but obviously the old '70s cop show was his true claim to fame and the banner behind him only proclaimed that.

It actually seems sad, in a way, to see these old movie and TV stars, hanging out and trying to grub $20 to $30 a pop on signatures and photos. Didn't they save any money during their careers where they didn't have to be reduced to this?

There was quite an assortment of "interesting" people attending the show. You gotta love all the women who feel it's required to wear bustiers and miniskirts to these shows. Of course, not everyone who wears these outfits should wear them, which in itself was entertaining. I've also heard these shows are best described as "black t-shirt conventions" and I can see why (and I was guilty too): almost everyone had on some variation of black. Leather was also in vogue. As NoahFentz commented to me, it's like spending a day at Wal-Mart.

Anyway, I hung around for awhile looking for Johnny Thunder, hoping he'd be wearing his Hauntcast t-shirt (as I was) or laughing at something with his distinctive laugh so I could track him down. Then I began feeling like a stalker so after creepily hanging by the entrance for awhile I left. I had a much better time failing miserably at lawn mower engine repair when I got home and working some more on my basement finishing project.

On Sunday I met up with FrightGuy from Grimlock Manor -- well, once he figured out where the back of the hotel was! I also made a point of wearing a light colored shirt this day (FrightGuy had his Hauntcast tee on this day!).

We did a once-over of the show floor and he got to meet and have his photo taken with Charlotte Lewis, who was apparently in Golden Child and Embrace of the Vampire (I pulled the photo from the Grimlock Manor blog). As she was signing her photo for him, she asked FrightGuy whether I was his friend or his dad. Ouch! Damn, did you get the number of that bus that old hag was driving as she ran over me?

As we were walking through the lobby, I noted that some woman that walked past us looked just like Loni Anderson. As it turns out, it was Loni Anderson! She's a lot more petite in person than she appears on TV though all of her other, um, assets remained the same. She also had a phalanx of hardcore protectors who would stick a hand in front of your camera and harangue you if you tried to take her picture without ponying up $20 or $30! All the other stars allowed you to take candid photos of them sitting at their tables without having fingers show up in the frame.

A few other notables that were there included Michael Gross (Tremors), Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster of The Munsters -- "live and in person!"... what else would he be?), Ernest Borgnine (Willard, now him I was surprised he was "live"), and Viveca Fox (Kill Bill, oofa!).

We toured some of the vendor booths and while there were a lot of DVD, toy, and movie poster vendors, there were a few that actually made some decent pieces of art. Dellamorte & Co., for example, made some nice relief pieces that I thought about using as molds to make appliques for tombstones and such.

Another favorite vendor was Terry Cruikshank Creations who made some terrific resin figures of horror characters and celebrities from the horror world. FrightGuy liked his Michael Jackson Wolfman character, while I liked his zombies, one of which was the half body woman corpse from the first episode of The Walking Dead (that's me giving her a kiss).

The show itself was pretty good and I was able to get some ideas for my haunt. For example, I liked the pose of a particular zombie figurine and will try to incorporate that into a prop I'll build. Rather than just standing erect with arms outstretched, the upper torso was twisted a bit ad seemed more "natural" for a zombie pose. Of course, since I'm shooting for a 12th century monastery theme how exactly I'll incorporate a zombie like that into it remains to be seen.

Definitely the best part was hanging out with FrightGuy, talking haunting and Halloween, and of course, drinking some beer. You can see another review of the show over on the Grimlock Manor blog.

It's Chiller Time!

2011-04-30T06:47:00.000-04:00

I'll be heading to the Hilton Parsippany today for the Chiller Theater Expo, a toy, model, and film convention for horror. Looks like there are going to be a number of celebrities from the industry there, including Ernest Borgnine. I had mentioned to my buddy FrightGuy of Grimlock Manor that I really thought he was already dead!

Yet the expo is turning into a two-day affair for me. Originally I intended only going to the convention today to hang out with FrightGuy and meet up with my Hauntcast heartthrob Johnny Thunder, who is also going to be there. A scheduling conflict though only allows FrightGuy to go tomorrow, and since I wanted to go all stalker on JT --who also writes the very readable Johnny Thunder's Midnite Spook Frolic blog (yeah, put that on a t-shirt!) -- I figured I'd hit the expo both days.

If nothing else, I should be able to get a lot of pictures as a result.

I wonder if this expo is related to the old TV series of the same name? That six-fingered hand that used to come up and pick up the "chiller" letters always scared me. I'll post some pictures later on today.

A Thin Gruel

2011-04-27T06:38:00.000-04:00

The First Skull

Having popped out my first latex mold I was excited to start spitting out skulls right away. A quick trip to Home Depot for a 25-lb. bag of DAP Plaster of Paris had me ready to pour (Note: Home Depot sells the bag for $11.48; Lowe's sells the exact same bag for over $22! The only difference is the Lowe's bag comes in a box too. I don't get it).

Back in the workshop I taped up the seam of the mold and mixed up a batch of plaster. The first pour went well and after an hour and a half a came back to do the second. This is where things started to fall apart. I mixed up the plaster but was completely unable to get the right consistency. Moreover, the plaster was on some sort of speed setting because it began to set up almost immediately. I tried to add more water but it just kept getting harder and harder until I finally had to abandon that batch altogether.

A third batch also seemed too thick with a 2:1 ratio of plaster to water so I added a little more -- almost 1:1 -- and it looked an appropriate thickness, though perhaps slightly on the thin side. When I poured the mix into the skull, one area from the first pour, about a dime size in diameter, flaked off though the rest remained intact. I completed the pour though and set it aside, quite frustrated actually. I would let it cure through the night.

Cracks in the foundation

This morning I went and check on it and it had set up nicely and I was able to demold the plaster skull. There were some obvious things that stood out though. First, the skull is exceptionally thin. As you can see in the picture it is a delicate piece of fine china. And because of that it cracked along the jaw in one area when I demolded it. It otherwise looked like it was supposed to.

In checking NoahFentz's tutorial again (as must be painfully obvious by now, I do first and read afterwards), I realized he said use two cups of plaster mix to one cup of water. Oooooooh! Well that partially explains the thinness of the pour. I did one cup of plaster with the two pours (I also realize now why you're just going to be getting just 14 skulls out of one bag).

Thin as a rail

The good thing about this project is you can jump right back into it and try again. This time I mixed up the plaster according to the directions and though feeling it was a little thick I proceeded to make the pour. Well it was too thick and made moving the mix around inside the skull a challenge, but it was infinitely better coverage inside the mold so on the next batch I whip up I'll try to make it just slightly thinner so that the batter (yes, I know, Noah says it should be a pancake batter-like consistency) can flow a little more easily.

I was worried initially that because the latex mold itself was somewhat on the thin side that it would flex and crack the pour as it was setting. That may in fact be what caused that piece to flake off. But had I used the proper amounts of mix to start with it ought not to be a concern in the future.

Regardless, this was a fun project and I can see that I will indeed end up with dozens and dozens of skulls as a result.

Good Mold, Like Bleu Cheese

2011-04-25T14:02:00.001-04:00

Shhhh! Don't anyone tell NoahFentz, but I finished my latex skull mold. Well, just a final coat of latex later on today and it will be complete but for all intents and purposes, it's done. We can't tell him though because I promised to take my time doing this and it should have taken a few more days to complete. As it is, I did it in just two-plus days!

For those of you who haven't made a latex skull mold (or any latex mold for that matter), it's a process of layering latex and gauze over the item you want to replicate. In my case, a skull. Once it's demolded -- that is the latex is removed from the base -- I'll be able to make and remake out of plaster of Paris endless copies of the skull.

But it's important to let each layer of latex and gauze dry thoroughly before applying the next layer and NoahFentz made me promise to essentially apply just one layer a day, meaning it should have taken me a good four or five days to complete, not two. But impatient as I am I hurried up the process by having it dry in front of a small fan so that within several hours time each layer was dry and I could apply the next.

I've seen some attempts on YouTube where things were rushed and the results were not pretty. But it seemed that the problem with those failures was related to not apply enough layers as opposed to not letting it dry properly.

As explained in NoahFentz's tutorial, you first apply two thin layers of liquid latex to your prop and allow to dry thoroughly. You then apply another layer of latex, but add cotton gauze over it and then allow to dry. The next step is important though: apply a single layer of latex and let dry before continuing with a second layer of latex-and-gauze. You then apply another single layer of latex and then continue.

By doing it in such a way, you end up with approximately 10-12 layers of latex after the final single layer of latex is applied. Basically there are four layers of gauze in between all the latex layers. But you end up with a nice thick, durable mold that should last years and years and allow you to churn out endless replicas of whatever it is you're copying.

A 25-lb. bag of plaster of Paris should be able to produce 14 life-size skulls, so long as you mix it to a proper consistency and apply two coatings (I thought it was an odd number, but NoahFentz says that's what he's found a bag can produce). Since a bag goes for just over $11 at Home Depot, you can make reproduction skulls for about $1.30 a piece. That's pretty cheap.

I've got in mind covering my entire front steps with skulls, along with making catacomb walls. Of course it will take a little time to produce that many skulls (and I want to make a few candle-in-the-skulls too) so I don't want to get too ahead of myself. But it will be worth the time and effort.

And I'm just curious, but does anyone know how people began eating bleu cheese? I mean, that is mold after all. Can you imagine the conversation? "Mmmm! Cheese that's turned moldy. I want some of that!"

Update

Demolded mold

I demolded the skulled and was surprised it was a little thinner than I anticipated. It looks completely serviceable and should turn out skulls without problem, but I know NoahFentz's molds were much thicker. Undoubtedly I misunderstood his instructions since his tutorial does say 8 layers, but I would have sworn he verbally said four layers of gauze.

Looking inside mold

What I plan to do next is to make another mold, but this time without the lower jaw. That way I'll be able to get a variety of skull shapes. On that version, I'll go with additional layers of gauze and see if that makes for a thicker mold (which seems obvious).