I've always loved Halloween!
I did my first haunted house when I was about 8 years old, for my friends and other neighborhood kids who were brave enough to go through. The highlight was a manual axworthy-type ghost on a wire.
I have had a haunted house & cemetery at my house for the last 20 years, again for the neighborhood kids and anyone else who shows up. We usually have as many adults as kids. This has grown to typically include about 65 tombstones, cemetery fence & gate, a mausoleum with FCG, a FCG in the top of my garage, Buckies everywhere, a pinchtoe coffin with vampire, an open grave, spiders, snakes, rats, a Halloween tree, zombies, the Grim Reaper, etc.
Last year my character was Zeke the caretaker/gravedigger with Billy Bob teeth, a long straggily wig, worn, dirty overalls, frayed fingerless gloves and a tuxedo coat borrowed from a corpse aquaintence. My coarse voice was puntuated by hacking and spitting as I toiled on a new grave by lantern light and measured each guest for their coffin.
I have done a haunted scene with my sons' cub scout pack at "Dark in the Park" at the local Nottingham Park, an abandoned cemetery with zombies rising from the graves. We got second place out of 20 scenes.
I worked at Milburn's Orchards "Haunted Maze" haunt, "Boo Barn" for the kids and "Halloween House". I did a lot of animatronic characters including the background wallpaper "Master" character which is a Pepper's FCG complete with voice and moving jaw. Note that you can see the lightning coming through the stained glass window right through him. I love making skeletons talk because you don't have to worry about making their lips match the words. Check out a picture of the "Halloween House" on the cover of the novel of the same name by Ed Okonowicz, better known for his books of ghost stories.
The "Haunted Maze" is where my name "VctrFrnknstn" comes from after playing the good doctor for five years. Imagine, almost the entire "Frankenstein" storyline played out in about 60 seconds, complete with lightning through stained glass windows, thunder, jacob's ladders, bubbling lab equipment, stone walls and a tilt up table to which was strapped my monster. When the monster couldn't make it, we also did "Bride of Frankenstein", where I brought my beloved bride, Elizabeth, back to life.
The "Boo Barn is mostly inhabited by the small animated characters for kids. I have added some level of interactivity to the haunt by adding push buttons at each scene, so the kids can, if they want to, add voices, sound effects, motions, etc. The scenes include ghosts, a scarecrow, skeletons, the Frankenstein monster, Dracula, the Mummy and a 79 1/2" high haunted dollhouse complete with thunder, lightning, sounds and lightup windows revealing various characters within.
I've done a little work for Frightland, over in Delaware, mostly in the Idalia Manor haunt. My partner Mike and I, (We call ourselves Hauntworks.), have changed the last room to match the first room, so it looks like you are starting the haunt over - THERE IS NO EXIT! For the dining room, I made a pop-up zombie which comes out of the table, set for dinner.
Mike's and my intent is to produce a haunt close to home, either with a local charity, for profit, or maybe a combination of the two. I have been gathering costumes, decorations, animatronic characters, sound and lighting components which have the top of my garage filled. I have a lot of ideas for the next generation of haunts.
If anyone in the area has the same interest and would like to partner on such a project, especially if you have a location for a haunt, please contact me.
Have a great nightmare!
