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Demolition day 11/10  
 
Haunt demo. crew- Ronald, & Myself
 
Temp. in S. MN- 49o partly cloudy & windy
 

Jason had called me earlier in the week to inform me that he had to
work on Sat. Ronald & I met after 1pm & worked till 6pm. Took
the official measurements of the maze 27x 72 or 1,944 sq. ft. We're had
people tell us year to year that we've out done ourselves. The
measurements don't lie, as well as the other things involved.

 The demolition went very fast with the two of us each using battery
powered drills to unscrew walls. We put props & effects in two
piles, (electric vs. non electric) & stacked walls & doors
against the side of the shed. It wasn't pretty but, got the job done
quickly. We'll sort through everything & put it into it's proper
place later. When that's done, I'll have a full back end of my pickup
to haul back & store.
 
 I love building the maze but,
truely hate taking it down for another season. It makes us all sad that
we have to tear down, what we worked so hard to create. On the plus
side it forces us to be more creative, to strive to better our
hauntingselves, & not be lazy to just retheme it.

Finally got all the new pics uploaded.
Majority of them are from my haunt, Maze of Terror. (during the last days, & day of the party) Also is pics from my friend's Halloween yard haunt.

Enjoy 

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b203/Haunt_Master/Maze%2007/

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b203/Haunt_Master/Halloween/

 

Back by popular demand....

Second Chance Scream

@ Maze of Terror

Saturday Nov. 3rd

Guests will arrive around 1pm & we'll run it for a while.

Update 10/27 Party day

Haunt builders- Jason, Stephanie, Ronald, & Myself
Scarers- Jason, Chad, Matt, Matt (new scarer)& Me as the doorman

Weather in S. MN- 50-55o

This is crunch time!

We all met at 11am & spend the day doing last minute things (that
couldn't be done before hand). The maze turned out fantastic & much
bigger than before. I put up a scene setters brick castle wall on the
outside of the shed & Jason hung a creepy 12 ft. hanging ghoul in
the entrance way. All the lighting, effects, & sound, checked out
& worked. Well, except for a trouble some stereo, that we have to
quite using. I hung up the glass mason jar lanterns w/ tealights from
the trees along the long winding drive way. Then with some help, placed
smaller pint mason jars w/ tealights, along the shoulder. These were
placed a little ways before the turn. Our maze sign was also placed to
help guests find us. It gets pretty dark quickly & there are no
street lights, a mile out of town. Next year I'll have to use quart
size jars instead of the pints, along the road. Found out at the end of
the night that semi trucks blew them out after going by a few times.
Preparations for the party house were going well & we're just
waiting for guests to arrive. It was starting to get dark at 5:15pm, so
I went around & lit all the tealights.

Guests arrived
by the car & truck loads, all filled with anticapation. Excitement
was building as the clock struck 7pm. Last call for the haunters &
scarers to eat & start the scaring. People came & went as the
night progressed. We had a steady line for the haunt from 7pm-10:30pm.
At 9pm the ghouls needed a short 10 min. break. The buffet was huge
like usual & always plenty of food left over. Was great to see
fresh blood at the maze. A number of my co-workers who have never been
were there to help support me. The sad thing is that we could have had
many more people come through that didn't. The maze hours are from 7pm-
Midnight. Usually by 11:30pm guests have been through it 5 times each.
Maze donations were mentioned in this year's invite. People finally
made the connection & showed some support financially. Some guests
handed me donations. While others placed them in the donations pet
casket collection container at the end of the buffet. I knew we were
doing pretty good when at break, was handed a bundle of cash (from
donations) to hold.

We do this non-profit for the
enjoyment of friends, family, & co-workers. Any & all donations
go towards next year's maze. We shut everything down & called it a
night, after guests had left. I counted the donations with
anticipation. We raised $127! That's up $124 dollars from last year's
sad donations.

Guests commented that we had really outdone
ourselves with the maze. Especially having them be apart of the haunt.
With the que line inside a themed holding cell awaiting their fate.
Instead of waiting just outside it. They were grateful to be inside the
cell, (was a bit warmer) with the line extending through a cave &
well outside. The screams were plentyful not only from the ladies but,
from the guys as well.
Music to our ears...hehehe

This morning I was on my way to work like I do 5 days a week. Sun was shining, the fall colorful leaves were all around on the ground. Cool crisp autumn air of 30o. Little did I know that this morning would be different from any other.

What happened in the next few seconds has changed my entire day. A lady also on her way to work makes for the same route as I did. (a two lane one way road known as Sherman Street) Except that she doesn't signal her turn & cuts the lane to the far right lane. Suddenly half way down the block she decides that she needs to be in the left lane. She doesn't look first or even signal, just makes her turn into my lane..... CRASH!!!! Before I could even hit my horn to warn her that I'm in the lane, she runs into my pickup. I had tried to swerve to avoid the impact & hit my brakes. Left a skid mark of at least 3 ft. We were both shaken as we got out of vehicles. I called 911 & a police officer & tow truck were there shortly. Took multiple pictures of both vehicles & the damage. The damage to her car was the front driver's wheel bent into the shocks, & the front quarter panel. My damage is to the front passenger quarter panel, lights, bumper, & fan shroud shifted into the fan. The tow truck pulled the bumper out so, the rubber part wouldn't rub against the wheel. A teary eyed lady road off with the tow truck w/ her car behind. I carefully moved my truck to a next door church parking lot. Called work to say I would be late & also to get a ride. Was pretty shaken for most of the day. As I had to relive the events on the phone with the insurance company, the collision repair, etc.

Can this all be blamed on the full moon tonight?? And did my gargoyle necklace protect me from getting seriously hurt?

This all happened just two days before my Halloween party.

Update 10/23

Haunt builders: Jason, Stephanie, & Myself

Weather in S. MN- 65o party cloudy

Jason & Steph went down earlier in the afternoon & worked on adding decorations, & extended a already confusing passage way, for awhile.

 Later that evening... Jason & I worked (3 hrs) on more tweeking of lighting, sound, & decorations.
 
 All that is left to do is:

make dungeon guilty signs to sentence guests

pickup ice & booze

decorate the outside of the shed with a scenesetters brickwall pattern
 & hanging ghoul

decorate the party house

setup the potluck buffet

hang glass mason jars w/tealights (& light) from trees on both sides of the long winding driveway

put out the sign to direct guests (end of the driveway)

Not go crazy after all this planning, designing, etc.

Weather forecast for Sat. Oct. 27th (party night) 50 - 55o clear. Perfect fall weather for MN

 Update 10/20

Haunt helpers- Jason, Stephanie, Ronald, & Myself

Weather in S. MN- 60o & partly clouldy 

Working on the maze went well & get got a lot done in the time allowed. More lighting, effects, & decorations were added.

Got cleaned up & make the trek to the cities. After some discussion, we (Jason, Stephanie, & Myself)  decided to get at a chinese buffet. I had just had chinese the night before but, what the heck. Drove up to the haunt & noticed a very long line. The weather here in MN has been very rainy & this was the first nice evening (not too hot or cold for fall). Parked 2 blks away & walked to the end of the line. Staff told us that if we didn't have tickets already, that it was sold out for the night. What?! This was like 8pm, they had just opened at 7pm. Stopped at 2 gas stations for directions to "The Haunting Experience" in the nearby suburb. No one had heard of it at all. As we continued back to Burnesville, we talked about "Dark in the Park at Mall of America. Checked the times & it would have been closed by the time we got there. Valley Scare was the next closest haunt but, they wanted $25 per person after 5pm & $10 for parking! As we continued South to home, we talked about "Trail of Terror". Thought we could make that to salvage the night. Was strange that the signs were directing patrons to the "MN Renn Fest." entrance. We went with the flow & at first the people directing traffic were helpful. But, the time it got closer to park that all changed. The guy said to us as he had his hands in his pockets, "park where ever there is space". He should have been directing cars to exactly were to park. There was a huge line to ride a bus to the ticket box office. If the line was bad for the bus, it would be worse for tickets. So, we wrote the night off & headed home. This was the only night we had off to attend a haunt.

Haunty

Today Oct. 20th is the big push to finish my haunt, "Maze of Terror".

Lighting, sound, effects, & decorations will be put up. Sat. Oct. 27th is the night of the party. We're trying to get as much done as possible by 5pm. Then we'll be making a trek to the Twin Cities for Supper & goto a Haunted Attraction- "Edgecomb Haunted Estates in Mendota Heights. www.scarethefoodoutofyou.com

 It's based on actual events that happened in the past.  Consists of a walk thru haunted woods that murdered bodies were found. Then to the house where the home owner was thought to have done the terrible murders. He was killed in his bed, while he slept.

 I thank all those that have watched & cheered me along with each weekly progress blog.

Thanks for your support!

Haunt_Master

Update- 9/29

Haunt builders: Jason, Stephanie, Alex, Ronald, & Myself

Weather in Southern MN- 80o w/ 60 mph winds, 30% chance of rain during the day.

As a recap- last weekend we spent almost 8 hrs building the maze. The que area is half framed & the outside walls on the right, from front to back are up. The first tunnel/cave is installed & some middle areas are framed. That was with the help of 3 builders.

 Today I loaded & unload my last pickup full of scrap wood, 2 full sheets of plywood, & recycled doors (all collected from Spring cleanup days, for free). It was a bit tougher to do in rain the we got on & off today. The high winds didn't help matters also. All the left outside walls from front to back, center back walls, & more center areas were completed. Also, a revolving door & revolving wall were placed, as other workable doors too. We worked from 1:30pm - 9pm, with a short Supper break.

 Photolink to follow....

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