Well another Halloween has passed us by and might I add it was a lot of fun.  Almost called it quits this year due to the help that “promised” they would be there to help and then flaking out last minute but the love of this must’ve been stronger then the disappointment.  The Grave Master (my brother) was a huge help as he is every year and without him this probably would’ve been the last year for THC!  It seems that he might be building some props this year, he is telling me he wants to make a new sign and a few new ghosts for the inside……….of course I said go for it!

Halloween eve and Halloween we had great weather and a great turnout on Halloween.  Believe it or not all our props worked out great with the exception of Bif (our grave digger), he died a few hours before we opened and there was no time to recheck him so unanimated he stayed!  All and all everything worked out great and everyone that went through seemed to really enjoy it.  Heard a few of the comments people said this year and they made me feel good about all the effort that went into it.  If memory serves over 150 man hours just in build and set up (not including R&D on props).  So to have people say the things they did (and scaring so many) made it worth it!  We have plans for next year already and ideas for new props are lingering in the back of my head, like an animated guillotine for one!

Anyway, this was a great time for all involved and everyone that was here and helped deserves to be mentioned. 

Our build crew:  Grave Master, HWJ, HWD, Gate Keeper, JR, Johnny, Sammy, Oscar and Steve. 

Actors:  Grave Master, HWJ, HWD, JR, Johnny, Sammy, Oscar and Hector. 

Prop builders:  Rick 

Tear down is yet to be determined. 

Thank you all for your help in making this years THC a big success!

Haunt Wizard!

Tags: Haunt Courtyard Grave Halloween 2008

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A fun filled weekend has ended and here it is Monday AGAIN!!!  We started building The Haunted Courtyard on Saturday, we figured if we started early enough this year we would be able to take our time decorating and adding new stuff.  Now that we've put about 12 hours (over 2 days) into the structure we are about 1/2 to 3/4 the way finished with the major construction part of it.  Of course the "help" only has so many days they can help as they live about 30-40 mins. (no traffic) away.  So hopefully my son and I can get some stuff done in between. 

It is grulling doing the build part of this because nothing ever seems to go as planned.  When you put it on paper everything works great then you start building it and it never seems to work like the plan.  ARGGGGG!!!  Oh well thats why they invented erasers; right!?  Well all in all it went well and we are, as they say in the construction industry, all A$$es and Elbows over here!!

Hoping that there will be free time to finish some of the other props I started........although I did complete Humphrey's new home and will post some pictures at a later time.  ONLY 39 more days!!!!!!!!!!  Start crackin'!

HW

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This is a very lengthy prop to build and it's not super cheap.  So I have resolved to asking if anybody would like to see a tutorial on this and ask if people are actually interested in building one of these first.  If there is enough interest I will be happy to make a tutorial on this one.  I originally got the idea from another website then proceeded to make it much different as far as the electronics are concerned.  If anyone would like help building one of these feel free to shoot me a message.  If within a week or so there are enough requests an update to this blog will take place.  Don't be shy, if you want more info just ask.......I'm always willing to help out fellow haunters!

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I am so sorry this is not totally haunt related but I have to brag a little...........

My daughter is now a part of Haunt Space because she has shown her mother and I that she can be responsible and diligent in her school work................Principals Honor Roll.  Earning the Gold Presidents award for her grades which is a 3.50 or above in not only her currect grades but maintaining a GPA of that.  Part of her reward is an account here in Haunt Space.........mainly because Pete has done such a great job of keeping it clean and problem free!  My wife and I are so proud of her that I just had to share.

Thank you to everyone that keeps it clean in here!

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I have had many questions about the freaky pics I recently posted for all your entertainment.  So here are some answers. First I need to regress a little.

Recently my daughter who is our oldest went to Washington D.C. for a school trip and of course to learn about our capitol.  When the idea came up my wife was dead set on saying no................so glad that I had the chance to go as a kid because that helped my argument for her going.  She spent a week there with a very full schedule and came home with over 400 pictures.........among them were those freaky ones.  Now when I went, ummmmm over 20 years ago, we never saw anything like that there. Naturally I had to ask her if the pictures were real and she told me she saw everything there first hand and they are all real.  Some natural history museum something or other.  Anyway she said that she just had to share this with me and her brother because she knew we would enjoy it (what a great little haunter isn't she?).

Well I wanted to clear the air and let you all know these are real and these are actual pictures taken with our camera by our daughter.  And no, she is not good with photoshop, LOL!!

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I have been reading blogs about how difficult it is to start a haunt with little or no money and have come to realize that is how we started The Haunted Courtyard.  It all started with someone giving my brother a few props.......some wood items and some skeletons.  He suggested we make a haunted house we both agreed.  Now where will it happen.....Mom's house.........and surprisingly she agreed as well.  The first year we spent maybe $ 300.00 between us on lights and some cheap fabric (filter fabric from Home Depot).  This was our start 7 years ago.  I think back now and if we had to start from scratch we may have spent another $300.00 in the props we recieved from my brothers friend. 

We only had us and our kids to help that year and the second year.  After that we had our kids friends begging to help.The third year was when we decided that we needed animation to help us out because most of our helpers did not want to stand in one place throughout the whole night.  So we started with the most obvious things first.  By the time our first animations had been completed we only had three we had spent more money then we had expected and most of it mine.  We made the decision to charge admission........the agreed amount $ 0.50 per person..........OUCH!!!  We actually brought in a couple hundred dollars...........and spent the money to make the haunted house bigger and better................after Halloween sales are great!!!!!

We are now in our 7th year and we are charging $2.00 per person.  We have grown from about 800 sq.ft. to over 1800 sq.ft.  and many more props.........and huge plans for the future.  I'm guessing we have spent $6000.00 total for our haunt throughout the 7 years and probably will spend between $500.00 - $800.00 this year.  We made a pact that we will make stuff work if it is what we have and do not have the money for more.............remember it is for fun and you don't have to make it perfect.............you just have to make it! 

I hope this helps anyone who it trying or just starting a haunt.  If you need some advice just ask, we have been there and probably done that.  Our haunt is the largest in the area for what it is and many have said the best, but we didn't get there the first year!  Be patient and build on each years success.

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The props I am working on this year are very time consuming and much more expensive then the years back..............so of course this one is no different and it is not complete yet...............but I wanted to enter this phase of the project because it fits in with the theme and I had to give Ginner and Ashly some competition.  So here it goes my first entry in this group, The bulking of a "Hangman".

First you need something to bulk as stated earlier I am using my "Hangman".




Second you need a couple of Water weenies (as my wife calls them)



For the next step you will need some thought and patience.  You want it to look as natural as possible when finished so think of how someone will look when you put them in the senerio your working on.  I tried to model it after my phyical charactoristics but soon realized that I was too deformed to make it look real so I winged it.  LOL!! 




After the arms where to my liking I started on the legs.  For the second and third layers on the thighs you will have to do some special cutting as the photo below shows.



This will allow you to spread it out and fit into a larger area.  Spray each piece with Krylon all purpose adhesive and duct tape it on.  The tape in this step is just to hold it on while the glue drys but I just left it on permently (its a pain to remove).  Build it up to the size you need, in this case it only required 3 layers (thank God).



After you are finished with all the "weenie" work it helps to use duct tape to smooth it out a bit.



Add some clothing and there you go................a dummy or in my case a "Hangman"



Note:  It is a good idea to have the clothing you plan on using for your prop handy so you can dress/check and undress/carve it often.  This will help make it look more real when your finished.  Better to cut too little rather then too much!

Items you will need:

"water weenies"
small sharp knife
Krylon all purpose spray adhesive
duct tape

if you have a foam cutter it will help especially on the arms

The cost for this project is still undetermined at this point, but for just the bulkout part of it is as follows:

It cost me $0.00 because I had everything already if you started from having nothing:

"water weenies"...$3.00 each  (use the larger ones) 
duct tape.............$5.00 roll
adhesive..............$8.00 can
small knife...........$1.00 from thrift store
Foam cutter.........$40.00 but you don't have to have it

You will not use all the materials so you will have some for next time!

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If you ever needed to build a window that looks barred well this is a simple and cheap way to do it.

You are going to need the following:

4 - 1 x 3 x 13 1/4" pieces of wood
3 - 1/2" x 12 1/8" pieces of sch 40 PVC pipe
1 - can flat black spray paint
1 - can of Rust-Oleum hammered paint for plastic in grey
8 - 6 x 1 5/8" coated drywall screws
Screw driver
Saw
Drill bit 1/8"
3/4" Forstner or wood boring drill bit

I have built a few of these and found that painting everything first has made it much easier so paint your wood flat black and your pipes with the plastic paint and let them dry.  Make sure they look the way you want them to before proceeding.  Add coats if necessary.

Once everything is completly dry, take 2 of the pieces of wood and drill (using a forstner bit or wood boring bit) 3 - 3/4" holes at equal distance along both pieces half way through.  Make sure you only go half way through the wood when drilling! Note:  When drilling make sure you place the holes in the bottom and top pieces in the same location when they are across from each other or you will end up with crooked bares. 



Next take the other 2 pieces of wood and pre-drill with the 1/8" bit where you will be fastening the wood together with screws a little later.  This will help keep the wood from splitting when tighting everything down.



Assemble the 2 sides to the bottom using 4 - 6 x 1 5/8" screws.

Insert the pipes into the 3/4" holes on the bottom.



Line up the pipes into the top wood piece of wood and fasten top to sides using 4 - 6 x 1 5/8" screws.



And there you go..................a barred window!!!

Hope this helps!

Happy Haunting!

Haunt Wizard

Tags: Halloween Props Cage Jail Bars

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O.K.  this is my first attempt at something like this so I will try to make it as easy as possible for all.  I guess I should start by telling a little about myself so you all know who your dealing with.

Obviously I go by the name of Haunt Wizard and I am one of the owners of "The Haunted Courtyard" my brother being the other owner.  Both of our wives and kids help out with this thing as it has grown over the now 7 years to be almost more then we can handle!  Each year we add and change the haunt to better suit our needs and make our patrions want more.  If it is always the same then they get bored, at least that is our philosphy.  Of course this year is no different as we are adding almost 300 sq.ft. to the haunt that is already almost 1600 sq. ft. now.  These measurements do not include the entrance and exit areas.  We have been working on animations for the last three to four years and are slowly building up the amount of electronics we have.  I have to say getting things to move realisticly with electronics that are cheap is very difficult. 

More posts and pictures will be available at later dates as the projects develop.  For now though here is the list of projects that are currently being worked on for this years addition to "The Haunted Courtyard":

Animated hangman
Animated Werewolf
Peppers Ghost
Axeworthy Ghost

Above are the things currently in the works, would like to add more but time and money might be a problem if you know what I mean.................but you never know!

We are also making more tombstones and adding some more details to current props we already have such as a table for the guillotine (more to come).

Pictures will be posted and tutorials will be added as time permits.  There will definatly be more to this blog as the time goes on!

Happy Haunting!

Haunt Wizard

Update:  If you have been following my blogs then you already know about the "Hangman".  If not then you can go to another blog of mine called "bulking out a dummy cheap"  and you will see the progress that has been made on it.

Tags: Prop Halloween Haunt Scare Fun

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