October Antics

Meet Jack, our friendly neighbourhood skeleton! Getting all the neighbourhood kids into the Halloween spirit while managing a myriad of domestic chores.

"What am I wearing...?!"

Wednesday wash day

Late night jams

Getting ready for the big day

Life of the party!

Manic Monday

Hoist the freak flag

The creak of the coffin door...I have been sleeping for so long but now I crave the light of the moon and the smell of the sodden leaves, rich earth and rain.
This time of year never fails to awake a part of me that is filled with wonder and excitement. Time to create...
I have finally posted the trailer for the documentary I made in 2010/11, Skeletons In The Closet. It feels really good to have it out there finally, it was a lot of work and I think the stories and people have so much passion in them. I miss all those crazy Canadian haunters!
Check it out here: 

https://vimeo.com/234183605

Since I sadly didn't manage to do much else with the film, having been thrown into the true madness of parenthood, I will likely release the full documentary online soon. I'd love feedback from the haunting community and if anyone has somewhere to screen feel free to get in touch.

Now it's time to make some spicy cider and brew up plans for this years festivities! Let the fog roll in...



"My latest documentary, Skeletons In The Closet, is a strange and exciting exploration into a world of Halloween fanatics, creative masterminds, and masked marauders.
Welcome to the oddball world of the Halloween freak, fearlessly straddling the dichotomy of neighbourhood weirdo and local champion of youth. Meet the people behind the tombstones and share their passion for the most devilish of holidays. See how they are keeping the generous spirit of Halloween alive for future generations."

Pumpkins

Thanks to Mike, Lindsay and Lesa for helping to carve all 8 pumpkins in about half an hour!

Haunt photos - the Haunted House

If the kiddies made it through the yard and still had some heart to carry on, we sent them into the Haunted House.
The door was ominously barred with the metal spiderweb my friend Graeme made for me, much to my delight! (and in August too!)
Once the door was opened you could hear the overwhelming sounds of a tinkling nursery rhyme, heartbeats and babies crying. Red strobes revealed...
The Nursery
With it's bloodied walls and gortraits, they would see a woman with long dark hair holding a baby, but what a baby!







































From the Nursery the went into a dark hallway and felt their way through to the..
Dot Room
Mike did a great job of staying hidden until they came right to the end, and then the walls started to move towards them. He was so hidden that there was even one unsuspecting couple that took advantage of being "alone" and started making out. They were quite surprised when the dots started walking towards them!


























He scared them back the way they came, or so it seemed, but then they walked right into...
The Spider Room
With it's spider strings creepily brushing up against them, they walked towards the spider victim, all webbed up. Touch sensitive spiders would drop and then suddenly someone was right there, screaming at them to "GET IT OFF ME!". A woman with a giant spider over her face, trying to rip it off and screaming.
Tonia rocked this room for the first little while, and I took over when she left. Though I couldn't bring the same level of classy spideryness to it, I did get pretty into my role and screamed until my throat was raw. It was the most startling I think from the amount of screams we got from the ToTs. Very satisfying.




















































From the spider room they shot out the door to the outside. I worked the entrance for a bit, and loved seeing the excitement and glee of people coming out. There were a lot of Whoas and Wows, and it really made it all worth it. We ran the haunt well into the night, and even much later for late arriving friends.

By far the most challenging to have built, the haunted house portion was a maze that snaked through my basement. Building it required 100 feet of black Poly and lots of black gaffers tape.
I had to build it to avoid all the furnace ducts and low portions of the basement, and I dearly hoped those walls would hold. I had visions of walls toppling and ducts getting knocked off, but even though people were wary and excited, they were also really respectful.
There was only one group of teenagers that were so scared in the dot room that they ran right through a wall! But after 5 minutes we were repaired and running again! (Thanks Mike!)

Everyone loved it and there were lots of gasps and screams.
I ended up working in the Spider Room for most of the night, and the strobes almost killed me.
I'm surprised I have a voice left from all the shrieking I did at unsuspecting groups of people.
Great to see the wide eyed thrills we gave people though.

Lesa and Mike were invaluable, and they helped make the whole experience a great one.
Thanks you two! I know it was really hard to stay in those dark and flickering rooms for so long.
Dan managed to get great photos even in that crazy place.
Sure made it hard to get to the laundry room for awhile though!

Haunt photos - The Cemetery

I went with my standard Cemetery setup for the yard, except with areas for the Gravedigger and Witch to work their magic. (literally, haha)
Because I was opening the backyard up to the public for the first time, I decided that a hay path would protect the grass and let the ToTs know where to go. It worked really well, and made it so the yard zombies and actors knew exactly when to expect people.














I had my 3 groundbreakers from last year, that I made with help from Mike and Nick, using SpookyBlue's method. This year I made two more, (see previous post) and adopted 2 more, one that crawled and moaned, for a total of 7.


























Walking down the path, people would first be met by Kirsty the crawling Zombie.
She liked to lurk in the fog.


























Next they would come to the Witches Hut.
She was crooked and cackling, stirring her cauldron and mixing her potions.
She had put a spell on her sister that made her unable to move. (see Witch Prop)


























Right after the Witch they ran into the Gravedigger, with his unearthed coffin and his love of bodyparts. He was fantastic, telling them they had beautiful eyes and showing them his bag of bloody eyeballs. He would measure you for a coffin fitting or light fire in his palms. Then he would give the kids a candy body part to take along with them.







































Heading back they would hear and then see a Zombie eerily playing a Saw.
Haunting and beautiful. Another lovely surprise from my volunteers. Thanks Brad!







































Finally they reach the Candy (and Sodapop!) at the end of the straw path....
and if they are brave enough they head on.....
to the Haunted House!

aftermath

It's done. Over.
The Haunt was a huge success, kids and adults alike were awed and frightened.
My volunteers were spectacular, and I could not have pulled off the night without them.
Having live spooks really makes a difference from just having a creative setup.
They really shape the experience, and I think they were having more fun than the trick or treaters.
The rain held off, and it was even kind of warm for October.
The only good thing about Halloween being over is that I get to checkout all the photos of other haunts and see what they got up to.
I just checked over at Pumkinrot and his Hollowman are fantastic.
I am saving the others for after I finish this post or I'll never get my photos up.
My only regret was that once again I was too busy to take photos myself. Crazy, considering that I'm a photographer by trade, but Halloween is the only time I never manage to take photos.
Luckily, I know this from past experiences and got my talented friend Dan to get some shots for me. My lovely and hideous witch Bryn also took some good shots that I'll be posting so you can see what was going on.

Luring the children

I put my signpost up in the front yard yesterday. It turned out really well and I think it will help get the neighborhood kids (and adults!) excited for Halloween.
Today my Mom dropped off some vines and I made a scarecrow to put up by the signpost too.
Only 3 more days of work and then I can throw myself into Halloween preparations fulltime.
I keep having to talk myself out of finishing up the basement maze until the final week. We still have to be able to do laundry! It is hard enough to move down there right now as it is, every time you turn around you bump into a corpse!

Bride's Head Revisited

(I couldn't resist that title)
Last night I updated my flying corpse bride's head. She had been one of the originals and had a horrible styrofoam wig head that had been mutilated and then hastily fixed up over the years.
She looks great flying from the clothes line with her corpsed son's body clutched in her skeletal hands.
Old head


















New head:

Gargoyle pedestal

I made a entrance piece this weekend, a gargoyle pedestal stand.
It will go at the front entrance gate, under the Cemetery sign.
Constructed out of Styrofoam and a cement form.

Corpsey

Digging out all the Halloween creations and I came across Corpsey, my first mache creature.
He is starting to fall apart, but I know I'll stuff him a body anyways.
He's been scaring ToTs with me for a long time now.

head on a stake

Saw this setup at the Halloween Train a couple years ago.
Fantastic way to give depth to your Halloween scene.
If I can source some animal skulls I might try this in my cemetery this year.