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!

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.

scary things in coffee sacks

Just found another project I want to try inspired by Grimvisions.
Like I need yet another Halloween project to add to the ever growing list,
but I have an abundance of coffee sacks and this will be perfect to use them for!


















Check out his Etsy shop.

army of darkness

It was a productive day in the monster factory.
The witch got new limbs and an outfit made of coffee sacks.
People will be frightened but also strangely craving a cappuccino.

























































Got to work on some new groundbreakers. Last years were thrown together in the last two days before Halloween so they weren't quite how I pictured them, though they still looked great at night. I think I've found a method that is working great for me so far, involving paper rolls and paper towel mache strips. You can scrunch the paper towel roll so that it looks like two small parallel bones., which works great for arms.






































I installed one of my new props over the door to the monster factory and it fits perfectly!



















So much to do!

my Gorgon

Medusa is almost finished. Busy weekend so I didn't have much time to work on my props.
Gave her another coat of Monster Mud, and painted her with black spray paint for those hard to reach places, and two shades of gray latex. I want to do a coat of stone spray paint, for a bit more texture and seal her with something. More research to do, but thankfully there are such amazing haunters documenting their processes. I see so much rad stuff out there, and I want to make it all!

her blood has the power to raise the dead

My first experience with Monster Mud, and Medusa is looking quite awesome. I need another coat of Mud and paint treatment is still to come. The guys at the hardware store thought I was quite hilarious when I was explaining what I wanted the drywall joint compound for. The one guy was begging me to come back and tell him if it worked, bring photos. I may have inadvertently created a future haunter.
She has mirrors for eyes and it looks great even in daylight. You kind of catch movement reflected in her eyes and it is quite spooky. I am going to try to shove some glow sticks inside her head on Halloween, and it should light up the mirrored eyes a bit as there is a small gap between the mirrors and the eye socket.

Medusa

The thing I love most about getting ready for Halloween is the ingenuity it brings out. hmmm...what can I do with a mannequin torso, an old tripod and some chicken wire? Why, make a Medusa statue for the cemetery obviously.
Here she is in the first stages:



yep, there is an exposed breast. Medusa is quite saucy.

Two new tombstones

Just another Friday afternoon in August...
still need to be painted and mounted

Witch's Kitchen part 2

More witchy stuff
(inspired by aranamuerta)