Sunday Sept. 10th

The first day of prep starts today on the Maze of Terror. Haunt crew today is My Dad, nephew Jason, & Myself. Being that it's on a Sunday & my allergies, worked only 3 hrs. Had to clear the floor space of farm equipment first. Moved the huge grain truck, grain trailer, combine head, & several other pieces of equipment.

Decided to start construction from the back of the shed instead of the usual front to back build. Hoping to use the majority of the floor space & beat the 1,500 sq. ft. mark from last year. The first two walls up formed an "L" in the NW corner. Continued to build the exterior walls Eastward & South. Installed the coffin entrance in the NE corner at a steep angle. Actually have to step into it to enter the maze. Added a few interior walls in the middle before it was time to go.

It usually takes 40-50 hrs to build, setup, & decorate. Will keep updates as the progression follows. (text as well as photo links) This year's theme is: "Superstions & Phobias". Inspired by an exhbit scene in the movie "The Relic".
Worked on it for 3 hrs.

Let the Haunting season begin!

Saturday Sept. 16th

Haunting crew today is the same as last week.
Had a set back today with stuff in the way, in the shed. Grain truck was back, and metal flooring for a grain bin was stored on the left & right walls in two piles. The left side filled three pallets and then some. My nephew, Brother inlaw, & myself, transfered it all to a flatbed trailer. Boy were we tired after moving all that stuff! On the bright side, now have more floor space to build. Have about 3/4 of the outside walls up so far. Installed the coffin entrance at a steep angle. Patrons have to dug your head upon entering. Modified a top section of a 6x8 panel. Took off the plywood & replaced with semiclear coragated white fiberglass. With the right lighting from a down angle upward, will give a ghostly image to passers by on either side. Very cool! Put up more interior walls towards the front.
Put in 6 hrs today on the maze. Total of 9 hrs at this time.

Photos to follow....

Saturday Sept. 23rd-

Haunting crew- Jason, Brother inlaw Ronald, & Myself
Got up early & went to Menards for a roll of 10x25 clear plastic (for a future haunt prop- shadow wall) for $6. Bought 2ea 18 in. florescent light fixtures with rapid start, & bulb $3.88, & 2ea 18 in. florescent black light bulbs $6 ea. Heck of a deal!
Filled the back of my pickup full with recycled doors from Spring cleanup days. Another overcast windy day in the 60's. My Brother inlaw Ronald (seasoned haunt builder) joined my nephew Jason, & I with the build today.
In the 6 hrs we worked on it together-
. all the exterior walls are up
. 16 ft. tunnel cave installed
. revolving door reassembled & installed
. most of the interior walls are up
. bracing the walls overhead has begin
. many of the wide areas have been narrowed
. many zig zags, & dead ends are inplace.

Used almost all of the doors (brought down today) with today's build. I think that I may finally have enough doors for the maze. Have never even thought it might be possible or that I would ever say that. Don't even know how many I currently have, from the years of collecting them.

Still plenty to do, more passages narrowed, more zig/zags & deadends, decorations, lighting, effects, sound, etc.
Worked on it another 6 hrs, total 15 hrs.

Pics from 9/10/06
The first day of the build...
http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b203/Haunt_Master/Maze%2006/?sc=1& addtype=local

Saturday Sept. 30th
Haunt crew- Jason, Alex, & Myself
Doors, doors, doors....
It's Fall cleanup days! & the city will start picking up offically Oct. 2nd, from the lower east side to west side hilltop. Residents of the surrounding area come with their pickups, trailers, etc. to help recycle. (before the city gets it) It's a treasure hunt for some, who knows for others. I did some quick curbside surfing, netted 3 wooden doors, a bunch of scrap wood, roll of round tube flexible foam insulation (will make great creepy snakes hanging from the ceiling), roll of flexible flat plastic/foam with mini air bubbles in it, & filled my pickup in a short time. (creepy crackly flooring, maybe for bug room) Back at the farm, I Installed 90 watt flood lights overhead in the haunt shed, what a difference! Next we converted a fullsized 6x8 panel to a shadow wall. We took out the 4x8 sheet of osb, replaced it with 3 mil clear plastic doubled over, & attached to framework. Will look very creepy with the right low angle lighting! Then we spent the remainder of the time using recycled wooden doors to make passage ways smaller, add dead ends, & generally confuse guests.
Put in another 6 hrs, total 21 hrs

Photo link follows...

Photo link 9/30/06
http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b203/Haunt_Master/Maze%2006/

* Note As the maze gets built it gets harder to take photos in a cramped space, lighting conditions, etc. But, it does show progress.

Saturday Oct. 7th
Haunt crew- Ronald, Sharon, (my co-worker & her minons) Tori, Danni, & Myself
Loaded the truck up with props, effects, etc. Took a lot longer to do than I planned. It was 80 degrees today with a heavy wind from the North. Was so windy that I had to stop & put extra cover over the load (with a new tarp) under the bunge & other straps.
With the extra hands we unloaded the truck quickly. The new helpers toured the maze before starting. Ronald had been down 2 hrs earlier and got started on a room of his design. Grabbed the oversized rope spider web & looked for the perfect area. The Spiders & bugs room was the first completed phobia. Next I installed black weed guard at the end of the first tunnel cave, & another area towards the end. Placed a static phantom skeleton in the entrance area. Shoared up the tunnel cave with supports. Installed the first black light in the bug room, and placed a blue strobe in a critical pathway overhead.
5 1/2 hrs in today, total 26 hrs 30 min.

photo link to follow

Wednesday Oct. 11th
Haunt crew- Jason, & myself

Brrr! It was 34 degrees this morning & it didn't change much, 40 degrees for a high. Called Jason at work about going out for a few hours to work on the maze. By the time we headed down to the farm the wind picked up & started lightly snowing!! Couldn't believe that just last Saturday it was 80 degrees while working on the maze.

First things first, we needed to tarp the maze for a roof. It helps keep it warmer in the maze, control darkness, & helps keep the fog from escaping. Since it's so large- length & width, we need several tarps to cover it completely. It took 3 large tarps to cover it, two of the tarps are 20x30, and one smaller tarp. With the two of us it took over an hour to completely unpack the three tarps, open them up & pull them into place overhead. Then we ran a hd 25 ft. extention cord from the control panel to a 4 ft blacklight & strobe light controlled by a motion sensor. Next ran a hd 50 ft extention cord to the back of the maze. It will power two strobe lights (one w/ motion sensor), & the knight. Did a light test in complete darkness, then called it a night. Brrr! 26 degrees!

3 hrs tonight, total of 29 hrs. 30 min.

Saturday Oct. 21st
Haunt crew- Jason, Ronald, & Myself
36 degrees & we're all wearing multiple layers today. Brother inlaw Pat continues to work on the harvest. He's running the very loud grain dryer directly next to the shed we're working in.
There was plenty to get done today. Jason & I had lunch together early & then headed out right after. Normally we meet up down at the farm by 3pm. We put up the remaining two 8 ft tunnel/caves, installed blacklights, & many flicker flame fixtures. More motion controlled devices were installed, & the lighting fx controller was added & extended to multiple light sources. We tried out Bigscream's Thunderstorm cd to it, Wow! All three of us were doing our own things with decorating. We did a series of light tests to try everything out, then added more! The front que area is decorated & lit with creepy lighting.

Still have to cleanup the area, add a few finishing touches, decorate the party house, & install tea candle lighting along the driveway next weekend.

Took many photos in different light settings.
Photo link to follow...
9 1/2 hrs today, total 39 hrs

Photos from 10/22/06

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b203/Haunt_Master/Maze%2006/October%20 22/?sc=1&addtype=local

Saturday Oct. 28th
Haunters: Jason, Ronald, Chad, Matt, Roger (my Dad), & myself

It was a cool star filled night around 30 degrees.

Had a great turnout for the party!
Quite a few people invited showed, as well as didn't. Many thanks to Sarge's family for traveling 2hrs both ways to come join in on the fun! The majority of the guests were teenagers of my relatives.

In the house we had sooo much food & drink. I bought $30 worth of wine coolers, beer, & ice. Had a donation box out & threw in a few dollars to show people were to put the money. Was non-stop from 7-9 pm. Then the second wave came after the football game. From 9-11:30 pm it continued non-stop. We had some great screamers!! Didn't hear of anyone loosing body control, doh! Although we did have two girls that refused to got through.

Even though I volunteered to active the "chicken clause" (turn on the house lights & walk them through) no scare guarantee. At Midnight we shut down, & counted the donations. For countless hours of research & design, 40 hrs of building it (from mid Sept.-Oct. 22), we collected $3.50! Shocked That's down $31.50 from last year. Did mention to a few that went through multi times, if you enjoyed it there is a donation box. Please show us how much. Was reminded at the end of the night that teenagers don't carry much cash with them. Yes the party was a great success! But it was a failure for donations. Grin Shocked Cry

Thanks to all for the continued interest in the Maze of Terror!

HM Shocked

P.S. Have plenty of left over booze for Halloween!!