Local Yard Haunt Gets Bigger Each Year

This one house's yard haunt gets bigger and bigger each year. Look forward to seeing it each year.

Trade Off And Cap

We decided we were going to need a 3rd black light fixture mounted in the front upper portion of the mini mausoleum prop in order to get the full effect we're looking for. Our 2 other black light fixtures are roughly 17 years old and don't have the same punch they had when they were new. Plus we had to mount them front to back on each side of the roof due to the opening in the roof for where the belfry tower sits. The ideal location for a new black light fixture would be along the front of the roof. Considering how difficult it was to illuminate the "bat in the belfry" prop using rope lights back in 2017 (we literally had to string the lights across the opening of the roof), we knew the belfry tower wasn't going to be of much use this time around with the black lights. So we decided we would cap the belfry tower roof opening in the mausoleum and the trade off was that we sawed off the belfry tower support columns and retrofitted the top of the belfry into the roof cap. This way it still has some architectural interest and it will protect the lighting from rain and drizzle.

Canandaigua Pumpkin Walk 2019

We attended the annual Ontario Pathways Pumpkin Walk in Canandaigua again last night. Mrs. Haunted Eve managed to get a few pics with this October's "Hunter's Moon" in the frame. More pictures can be seen on our Flickr page here.

Headstone Lighting Modification

For this year's haunt we're going to place standing "apparition" props on each side of our front dining room window. We wanted to uplight the props but at the same time we wanted to hide the lights as much as possible and limit the amount of spill light. After much experimentation this was the design we went with.

Crunch Time, Only 3 Weeks Until Halloween

With Halloween only 3 weeks away, we're in the "Last Looks" phase where we're trying to iron out any "wrinkles" we discovered regarding some of our haunt ideas and implementing any changes while we still have time to test them out. One of the problems we discovered was that the digital projector and holiday FX video bundle we purchased from a big box retailer in 2016 turned out to be really subpar in quality. We never got around to testing it out because it wasn't something we had planned on using for the haunt themes we had planned for the next few years. So a couple weeks ago we unboxed it and tried it out. The projector output brightness was poor, the projected image was next to impossible to get a sharp focus on, and the included videos were not true HD resolution. This was to be the "main attraction" effect/prop for the haunt, we planned all the other props and lighting effects around this one concept. So we were going to skip it altogether, but because we didn't pay a whole lot for it at the time, we decided that conceptually the idea would work with a better quality projector and higher resolution FX source video. So the new projector still needs to be tested out. Another concern was that the one standing ghost prop we are going to put on the front porch may be too monochromatic looking under the blue LED porch lights we are going to use. So another last minute expenditure was spent on adding some red LED lights as eyes so that when covered in its otherworldly veil will have a little more visual interest to it. Constantly trying things out in a dark garage and basement making sure things look good. Also working on mounting one of our oldest props that we purchased way back around 1999 on sale after Halloween from Spencer Gifts on to a 8 foot tall post. We're calling the prop "The Ghost on the Post". And still have to make decisions for this year's outdoor Halloween sound track! Thinking Nox Arcana this year instead of Midnight Syndicate. Home and yard haunting is not just throwing a few decorations outside for Halloween, it's more like serious stage and movie set design.

Mini Mausoleum Keeper

After a two year hiatus, we assembled the Mini Mausoleum in the garage today and tested it out with our old wraith prop inside it with the black light tubes. It's going to need some more detailing inside with creepy cloth and perhaps some additional contrast lighting, but so far, so good.

Halloween Past #2

Mr. Haunted Eve carved this one totally freehanded way back in 2001. Time sure does fly!