Halloween 2017 Preparations

Halloween is only a little over 3 months away and we've already started working on this year's props and theme. Last year's Skeleton Circus Ticket Booth got a lot of nice compliments and attention. It was just the right size, in just the right location for our haunt. So this year we're going to build a "Mini Mausoleum" prop. It will take up the same footprint as the ticket booth prop did. The prop will be two tiered and will have a belfry tower and interior mood lighting. We've spent a lot of time researching numerous cemetery mausoleums and have come up with some great design ideas. Some of the trim parts have already been acquired. Our goal is to get it built and painted by end of summer.

Merry Krampusnacht!

Keeping in the spirit of "Creepmas", Krampusnacht is traditionally celebrated the evening of December 5th, the night before Saint Nicholas Day. Here's another fun article on Krampus: National Geographic: How Krampus, the Christmas ‘Devil,’ Became Cool

2016 Pumpkin Portraits

Weather was pleasant enough that we decided to take a few more pictures of this year's jack-o'-lanterns (minus their plastic clown noses and teeth) before they become compost.

Halloween 2016 Post Mortum

It's always a tad depressing right after Halloween. Our haunt materials are all put away and all that remains are the soon to be composted jack-o'-lanterns. We're very happy with how this year's haunt turned out.  We spend a lot of time each year envisioning how the haunt theme will look. Numerous days and weeks are spent acquiring the necessary items and building the props needed to pull it all together and it's always satisfying to see that vision come to life on Halloween night. So thoughts now focus on next year's haunt. It's hard for us to believe that this was our 6th Halloween in this house and technically our 19th haunt since 1998. 1998 was our 3rd Halloween in our first house and the first time we decorated beyond just putting out a jack-o'-lantern on the steps on Halloween night. We've never done a vampire or werewolf theme at this house, so next year we're planning on mixing the two themes. Going to take some time off from the blog for a while but we'll leave you with some pics from our "first haunt". The first pic is the "lamp post that started it all". A couple from up the street asked is they could take a picture of their toddler in costume in front of the lamp post because they loved how it looked. That really was the spark for the idea to take the decorating a bit further the following year. The rest is history.

2016 Yard Haunt Photos

We had a spooktacular Halloween with close to 115 trick-or-treaters (a new all-time record for us) despite the chilly evening. The temperature dropped below freezing by late night so we didn't get as much time with the photo shoot as we would have liked, but at least the day and evening were completely dry. Spent this morning sorting through all the yard haunt photos and got some posted on the website: http://www.hauntedeve.com/Haunted2016.htm

We're really happy with how the haunt turned out and feel like we captured the ambiance of a circus carnival.

Happy Halloween

Haunt is up and the candy is out. Mrs. Haunted Eve was out getting daytime pics. She'll get the night pics after trick-or-treating is over tonight. We'll hopefully have the haunt pics up in a few days.

Clown Jack-O'-Lantern

Here's one example of the 14 clown themed Jack-O'-Lanterns we carved tonight for the "Skeleton Circus" Halloween yard haunt tomorrow. Not all have make up, but they all have the red noses.