The Halloween of Christmas?

Wut?

For Roman Catholics, today, January 6, is Three Kings Day, the last day of the 12 Days of Christmas, which commemorates the arrival of the three magi, or kings, to Jesus's manger in Bethlehem. It signifies the day god was revealed to him, which is why it's also known as The Epiphany.


Photo: Cryo Mariena via Flickr

While Three Kings Day is an important holiday in many Spanish cultures, bigger than even Christmas itself -- children place grass and water under their beds in a box for the magi and their camels and in return receive gifts -- it's also celebrated in many other countries around the world. Notably in Slovenia, which was once part of Yugoslavia, children go house-to-house like trick-or-treaters where villagers hand out almonds, dried figs, nuts, cookies, and other goodies.

While retailers have pushed Christmas sales far into the calendar so that every day seems like Christmas (and not in a good way), maybe those of us who enjoy Samhain can steal some of Saint Nick's thunder and make at least another day Halloween.

Whoa! Where the Hell Have You Been?

Have I been gone too long? Uh, yeah, when it's more than two years between posts it might be considered a long time.
Problem was, I had lost the enthusiasm for Halloween. While I set up my yard display every year, I built nothing new. Well, that's not quite true. I built a thrasher prop from plans from Pandemic Haunt Production in 2014, but I never completed it. So it's been sitting in storage.
Yet even setting up the yard became a challenge, and in 2015 I almost didn't put anything out. It was really only the constant prodding of the Dead with Dave show crew -- Dave Dankanyin, Sharon Lacaskey, Bob Connors, and Logan Roush -- with whom I chat on a daily basis, that convinced me to put something out. And just like that, I caught the fire again. I found that same old desire I previously had to build and create props rekindled.

I caught the, um, Spirit of Halloween again

I went dumpster diving at Spirit. I experimented with a new paper clay recipe. I even put put a new video up on my GhoulishCop YouTube channel showing it.
And then the video-making bug hit me again just as I decided that I was finally going to make good on my plans to have a walk-thru haunt this year. Because I was going to have to fill up my haunt with new props, meaning I was going to have to make most of them, I figured why not bring everyone along for the ride and chronicle my journey. So I started a daily vlog, Bleached Bones, that shows what I'm working on every day. They're not how-to videos...they're vlogs. A slice of my daily haunter's life. Mistakes and all.
At the suggestion of Jonni Good at Ultimate Paper Mache, I'm restarting this blog too. I'm not sure what my frequency of posts will be, whether they'll be daily, weekly, or when the mood strikes, but there definitely won't be 2+ years in between posts.
It's good to be back and I'm looking forward to what 2016 will bring.

"Halloween" Returned to NYC Schools

No, we're not going to say sanity returned to New York City educators, rather they were caught with their pants down and backtracked quickly as the idiocy of what they were doing became public.

As you'll recall, NY's education department banned certain inflammatory words from its standardized tests. You know, incendiary powder kegs like "Halloween," "birthday," "dinosaur," and "computer." They were banned because simply seeing these words on paper would reduce a child's fragile psyche to the equivalent of a quivering bowl of Jell-O.

Parents, though, had more common sense than those teaching their children (naturally) and raised a ruckus over the ban. Ridiculed and mocked for their stupidity -- and it was a stupid decision -- education department officials folded like the cliched house of cards and said, "On second thought, never mind."

“After reconsidering our message to test publishers and the reaction from parents, we will revise our guidance and eliminate the list of words to avoid on tests."

Although test publishers are advised to "be sensitive to student backgrounds," there will be no words banned. While this is a victory for common sense, the advocates of asininity are always hard at work devising new ares of outrage so we must always be vigilant to their machinations.

"Halloween" Banned From NYC Schools

We've raised a nation of sissies. Everyone's a victim. No one can have their sensibilities tweaked in the least otherwise it's a national crisis. The nanny state has run amok and the latest place it's reared its ugly head is on New York City standardized tests.

Fearing that some child's fragile ego may somehow be damaged if they hear the word, "Halloween" is forbidden to appear on the city's standardized tests. Why? Because it might upset some kid that thinks it supports paganism. Despite the fact that there's a whole global industry based on the holiday and they just might hear about it on the TV, let alone their friends and family getting into the spirit of the day, these unfortunate few will be reduced to quivering carcasses of jelly at merely having read the word.

But that's not all! Not only was Halloween banned, but so was "dinosaur" (some kids might not believe in evolution), "computer" (a kid might not have a computer at home and will feel bad seeing the word), "birthday" (because Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate them), and "slavery" (because it might make some people feel sad). Oh, and they can't mention terrorism. In New. York. City.

Moreover, they also can't allude to "rock 'n' roll," "dancing," or -- get this -- "pepperoni." WTF? No really, WTF?! The reason given was "persons of some religions or cultures may not indulge in" the food. If you want to ban something, ban freakin' tofu.

Yet as messed up as New York apparently is, they're incredibly not alone. Florida doesn't let kids see the words "hurricane" or "wildfire." California bans the word "weed."

Mind you, were' talking about a lot of historical facts here. It is so asinine as to be unbelievable. But it's what comes of an educational system that is so broken, so dysfunctional. I'm tongue-tied right now. I can't come up with enough pejoratives to call these idiots right now, I'm so flummoxed. And it's not just the Halloween part of it. This is just stupid, yet someone signed off on this somewhere. These are the people we are allowing to run our school systems.

This country is really doomed.

A Cauldron of Unholy Loves

I began working on my Cauldron Creep prop that we're constructing as part of the NJ Hookerman Make & Take group build. At the meeting we cut and put together the PVC frames and attached the vent motor that will control the head movement.

Tonight, though, I started working on the cauldron. I'm using a big plastic landscaping planter for my cauldron, but because it looks like a big flower pot, I wanted to make it look more like a witches cauldron. To that end I started adding cardboard ribs to it, much as I did on my Nutcrackers when I wanted to flare out their jackets, only this is the entire length of the pot.

I got this idea from the exceptionally talented SK Austin who, if you've ever seen any of his tombstones, you know he's meticulous in his work habits. He built a Cauldron Creep though and had used a rope-handled hamper he got from Walmart. Not exactly conjuring up images of witches on Halloween, he bulked it out with cardboard ribs, covered it with tape, and paper-mached the outside. That's what I plan to do too.

As you can see in the photo above, I've got my ribs on the pot and I'll be adding tape to the entire exterior over which I'll actually use paper clay, or as Halloweenville coined it, "Monster Clay." I'll put a pool noodle around the lip of it and I'll fashion some "iron" rings out of the clay as well. Underneath we'll end up using some of the inventive Great Foam techniques we've seen to create smoldering embers.

Overall it's a terrific prop that Devil's Chariot made and so many haunters have contributed to it that it just keeps getting better and better. This may become one of my favorite props.

Silicone Implants

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!

Haunt TV

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!

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.

Snowpocalypse!

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

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

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?

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.

Generating Activity

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.

Hung From the Chimney With Care

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.

Scared of Halloween

Haunters like to say that you're never too old or too young to enjoy Halloween. While there are always stories that crop up about some group or another trying to ruin our haunting good fun, it's really scary when it's the government that says you can't enjoy Halloween.

No, I'm not talking about the local fire marshall shutting down a haunt for some unsafe practices, or the police who close down a site because the traffic becomes uncontrollable (I'd love to have that many people coming to see my yard display!). What I'm talking about is the government saying you're too old for trick-or-treating!

Every town and city has its do-gooders who think they know best what's right you. San Francisco recently voted to ban McDonald's from giving away kids toys with their Happy Meals. DeKalb County, Georgia, is suing a man for growing too many vegetables.

But Belleville, Illinois, has gone to the top of the list (or is that the bottom?) by telling teens they're too old to go trick-or-treating. Actually they're not alone as a number of cities around the country have cut off the fun for teens, typically saying once you hit 12 years old, you can't go out anymore on Halloween. It reminds me of the movie Logan's Run when once you turned 30 the government killed you off.

Being a libertarian at heart, I have trouble coming up with many instance where I think the government has a right to intrude in our lives, but this is just an over-the-top interference that conjures up some scary skeletons.

Could there be a bright spot in all this? The story says that though one 12-year old is bummed that the government won't let him get in costume next year, but he's looking forward to scaring the kids that come to his door next year. Sounds like we have a haunter in the making.

And Done!

Whew! I spent the better part of the day putting away the props and there's not a trace left that there were some very spooky goings on here. I'll be back in a day or so with a review of how things went this year, but the immediate assessment was it was very successful. Relatively nice weather, more ToTs than ever before (and I didn't run out of candy this time!), and basically the fruits of a very full year of preparation coming together nicely.

And to top it off, I got to sit back and enjoy the most awesome premiere of "The Walking Dead." I'll post more of my thoughts about that too soon, but it looks like it's going to be a great series. I mean, what other TV show could get away with a head shot of a child with brain splatter and all, all within the first few minutes of its start? It was a great way to end Halloween (as if that doesn't sound just a tad odd).

I can't relax too much, though. There's only 364 days till Halloween!

Turn a Weather Eye

As many haunters remember -- particularly in the northeast -- last year's Halloween was marked by some pretty disastrous weather, from gale force winds to torrential rains. I recall checking the Farmer's Almanac last year and it had fairly correctly predicted what the weather would be, so I put it on my list of things to do to check in again this year.

However, the Old Farmer's Almanac only gives a two-month window so I had to wait until now to check in and it looks like we're going to be in for it again. Although it says the New York/New Jersey region -- the "Atlantic Corridor" as it calls it -- will only experience 1.5 inches of rain for the month, some 2 inches below normal, it's pretty much scheduled to rain almost every week of October, and the 30th and 31st will be "rain, warm."

FWIW, the forecast for September 9-16 was listed as "T-storms, then sunny, warm" and the thunderstorms only just pulled out a little while ago. They were brief, but they did come through and that's what the Almanac predicted.

Of course, that rain forecast can mean a lot of different things. When the Almanac says "rain," it doesn't specify whether it will be a drizzle or will instead spawn Ark-like conditions (hey, they might be good, but can they really be that good, the current T-storm prediction not withstanding?).

And as many probably are aware, there's another "Farmer's Almanac" too, that's probably been around just as long (or maybe it's been around longer, I get the two confused) and its forecast is drearily similar (but it predicts some heavy wind gusts from the 8th to the 11th, so you may want to tie your props down especially tight those days). Its forecast for Halloween, which runs from the 28th to the 31st, is "fair, then showers." 

Sounds like us New Jersey-area haunters are going to have another wet Halloween. Sigh.

Under Pressure

I've worked on a few projects I have going on simultaneously, though nothing's really come to completion. My Wall Crawler got his "blackwash" yesterday and while it does mute the bright color of his "Nehru" jacket, there are areas of blotchiness I wasn't completely happy with. Overall, however, I think he looks much better. I also blackwashed the face and I'm happier with that too as a result.

My phallic symbols
I had picked up a pair of wooden columns that someone was preparing to throw away and figured they would look good as either part of another display prop or just on their own, lending an air of neglect and decay. They each sported a wooden hub at the top over which a capital could have been placed. I cut that off, and since they're hollow, cut out a circular plug that fit in the space. Glued and caulked in place, I painted it in two coats of Dry-Lok to both give it a stone appearance and protect it from further decay in the elements. I may (or may not) attempt "veining" the exterior to give it a marble appearance. It will depend on if I have enough time.

Christmas Dogs?
Earlier this year I picked up two motorized Christmas reindeer to convert into rabid dogs. Actually I just wanted one moving one; the other I planned to keep static as I figured I'd harvest the motor for another prop. However, while building my Flying Crank Ghost I ordered five "reindeer-type" motors so I don't need that one anymore. Now I'll have two dogs that I'd like to have growl and move their heads when trick-or-treaters approach.

Only I think I'll probably only get to one of the dogs this year. I paper mached the head assembly on one to see if it would tax the motor too much and there doesn't seem to be a problem as yet, though long-term I can't say. It certainly doesn't sound like it's bogging down and the head movement actually seems smoother with the added weight. I gave it three coats of mache and am debating whether to use paint or a faux fur I acquired. There should be plenty of fur for one dog and just draping the entire piece of fabric of the head of the prop while it was running didn't seem to interfere with the motor either. Again, I don't want to put too much strain on the gear motor. I am leaning in favor of the fur though, but next year may just paint the other dog. Since the rest of the body is static on the prop, I'm not too worried about weight and think that if it's heavier than normal it will actually be better as it will stabilize it and help it stand.

I'd also like to add two yellow or red LED eyes to the prop when it's activated. Typcially I'm not big on red eyes as they're not natural. Of course, we're talking about a Halloween display, but I think red eyes have been overdone by Hollywood so I'm leaning towards yellow. We'll see what LEDs I have left though. Right now, looking at that picture, it looks like a coelacanth raised from the ocean depths. I trust that with perky ears, a slobbering jaw, and a longer tail it will actually look like a dog when completed.

Getting some more head
Watching a movie the other night one of the throw-away characters had her lips sewn shut with big ugly sutures. My wife though that would be a cool look for a prop so I fashioned another paper mache head, though again, finding the time to complete it will be a challenge.

An eye for an eye
One last prop I'll probably start (and complete!) will be a moving eyeball for my front window. I saw this last year on Dave Lowe's blog Dave Lowe Design. It's an optical illusion using the concave nature of a bowl to give the appearance that an eye is following you as you walk by. He has a video of the effect on his site:



Look like a quick and easy project to do and will satisfy my wife who wanted me to make one last year. With less than 50 days to go -- and a Halloween party to plan and decorate for -- I'm limited in the number of new projects I can take on. Pleasing my better half is always a wise choice, however!

Lazy Before Halloween?

Well, too lazy to post anything. There have been a few things I've wanted to post, but finding the time to sit down and actually write them up has been a losing battle this week (funny when you consider I spend a good eight hours or so a day -- virtually every day -- on the computer).

However, I have been keeping myself occupied building a Monster Mud wall crawler prop. The form's been made, the paper mache hands and head attached, and now I just need to cover him in Mud. I still want to build at least one or two ground breakers yet as well as another hanging corpse. I also have plans to build another Monster Mud creation, an evil fellow who will be sitting on a parapet overlooking the door where the ToTs will come, but that depends on my time management skills.

Home improvements (building a closet in an attic with a (obviously) sloping roof was a fun challenge, particularly considering the heat captured there), diverted a lot of my time, as well as moving my daughter into her college dorm.

However, I did manage to compile my latest list of great posts by my fellow Halloween bloggers which I've posted on the Fire & Brimstone page. Maybe a day late (okay, two days!), and the picture up there is one of the props being built. Looks like it's going to be a great haunt greeter!

Now that we're entering crunch time -- is there really just 62 days to go?! -- I'll need to focus my own efforts a lot more on what I want to accomplish. So much to do so little time. There's never really an end though when you want to improve and update your haunt on a regular basis.

Time Flies

Excuse me, but how did we get to the point where there are less than 100 days till Halloween? I guess only a haunter would be worried there's only a little more than three months to the holiday, but some of those best laid plans I mused over after last year's spooktacular -- Build a skull every other day! Make 3-5 groundbreakers! Build haunt walls! -- I'm faced with the reality that life does somehow have a way of intruding. I'm not even close to where I wanted to be.


But I shouldn't be too hard on myself. After all, while I didn't work as diligently as I had wanted to, I still managed to make two new papier mache corpses, a Stolloween-style dragon, a ScareFX rockin' granny, the mechanism for a flying crank ghost, 30 LED spotlights, a couple of tombstones, and this weekend I'll be completing a PIR motion sensor prop trigger. So I haven't been completely slothful. I've attended the NJ/PA Make-and-Take every month (though I missed the rafting trip) and I've gained some really useful skills that I never would've tried previously (soldering, anyone?).

And importantly, I do still have three more months to go before Halloween is here. Last year, in just one month's time, I was able to build two groundbreakers and a Monster Mud reaper, a bunch of PVC flicker candles, and a whole bunch of interior decor items (a menagerie of "witch jars," for example). I'm pretty sure I'll be able to make one or two MM props and a few more groundbreakers before I run out of time.

I think my grandiose plans may need to be scaled back a bit, but even if I don't get to everything, my yard haunt will have been taken up a notch again. Another block in the building process.

And there's always next year!