Wolves' Shadow Cemetery 2010.

[Deslock]

I would like to thank Yentis for all of his help this year for helping out with our Haunt.

We appreciate ya bud for your help, even if you bring over "Big Flats beer".

This Halloween is going to be great, and we love ya bro.

Thank you again for your help and support.

[Deslock]

*Whew*...

We're all exausted and wiped out. But overall a very good turnout for a school night. A few really good scares and screams, and one poor girl wouldn't even dare to walk up to the house- she made poor old Dad walk up and get her candy for her. Our new decorations worked out great, and my wife scored another great animitronic for 50 percent off !!!

Again, hat's off and many thanks for Yentis for all of his hard work and running, fetching, and helping us tear it all down afterwards.

Great job man !!! And kudo's for getting the first scare of the night. I swear she didn't stop runnin' until she was at the other knocked down house across the way. (Yentis snook up behind her and put the remote controlled spider on her back, and made it crawl up her shoulder)

My old fog machine crapped out on me, but the new one my wife bought worked out good. I learned that I need better lighting for the front side, and that dry ice melts really really fast in the witch's cauldron, but it looked fantastic. And Laura (one of our friends/actoress) really had fun using the remote controlled spider. Our new set up I think is the best we've had so far.

We recieved a lot of really good compliments today and folks taking pictures. But my fave had to be when one 'lil guy looked up to his mother and said:

"Mom, dontcha wish this was our house ?"

I was soooo :D

I'm always suprised that the 'lil ones are so brave and come marching right up, and even wave and say "Hi" to me, whilst some of the teens are literally scared as Hell by me. My Mom said it was because the wee ones haven't seen truly scary movies yet. This year I hid behind my Scarecrow entrance sign so they couldn't see me. That is until they went to leave down my driveway, where I stood in my intimidating new "Scarecrow" outfit with a machete; facing right towards them, and they had to "get by me" to leave. One kid was so scared he went to run down the driveway....he saw me...and literally stopped so fast he fell down on his butt. :D

We have several animitronics that the kids like, but know that they aren't real. So one Father played along and told his son and daughter to "check out this great machine". The boy goes:

"The mask is nice, but I don't know if the sword (my machete) is real...."

I then lunged at them at received two very good girl screams from them both. :D

And of course their dear "supportive" Mother goes :

"That's it, CHOP THEM INTO SUSHI"

(Honestly, I swear to God ya gotta love Mothers, they can be soooo evil !!!..)

So they take off screaming to the car with me right behind them all the way.

I'm quite sure that they now have a abnormal fear of Scarecrows..LOL !!!

Gosh, how I love this holiday....*Evil smile*

[APAT]

Very cool Des. Your house will probably be the talk of the elementary school today

[Reaper316]

Des,

Just wondering what you have planned and in store for your haunted house this year. I hope to see some pics of what you got set up when it's all done!

[Deslock]

Well, as I posted before that I HATED taking those piccy's with the damn flash, and why that one little girl last year would NOT enter my haunt. This what the kids see when they first walk up to the very front of my haunt. It's very dark and scary, and they have no idea what's waiting for them, especially my actors that are also lying in wait to get them !!! Muhahhhahaha !!! You'll see why many are aprehensive.

Click on the piccy !

please click there on the player bar to make it fullscreen !!!



This is the two latest Props I've bought, and I love them both. Mr. Bones and his skelly spider !!



I have a lot more helpers this year, about six more people. We're also going to be giving out popcorn with the new standup popcorn machine we just bought, and also a hot apple cider stand for the parents/guardians, because it can get very, very cold that night.

I'm also going to have one person video filming the whole haunt ! YaY !! :D

[Reaper316]

That's awesome man I can't wait to see and hear more about it. I love great haunted houses and yours seems like it's one of the best. I think its great you have popcorn and apple cider. I bet you have people lined up to get in.

[Deslock]

We've decided that we're going to give out hot apple cider, Hot cocoa, and popcorn for the adults/guardians.

And I'm very thrilled that Yentis has stepped up and is willing to film our haunt, and help edit it. I was going to have someone else do it. I can't wait to post it on Youtube, weather permitting, as that's always an issue on this holiday. If it rains or is snowing, it totally destroys everything.

So please just wish us all luck this year !!!!

[Deslock]

This year should be the best, if the weather holds out.

Yentis and myself spent almost all night testing out our video cams. We kept getting "ghosting"; as the cams would record the Haunt perfectly, but people walking around would blur out. But the sound was perfect and dead on. Hopefully we can get that problem worked out by the big day, And be able to share it with everyone here. :D

[BOSS]

Des, since you guys are recording this year you should definitely post a video here. Would be awesome to see the way people react lol.

[Deslock]

Well, wish us luck, the big day is finally here !!!! :D

[Deslock]

*Whew*

Damn I'm tired, but we once again had a great turnout. Not as much as prior years, but due to bitter cold, two "Trunk or Treats" nearby (GOD, how I HATE those !!! , and it was a school night. But still, a great turn out of guests, some of them repeat guests that loved the new haunt even more !

Yentis and Andrew got some piccys and Yentis filmed videos (Mine turned out too damned dark again ! ) Hopefully we can use the film that Yentis filmed, and do some editing work on it soon. Our concession stand was a hit, and everyone attacked the popcorn. Which really kind of suprised me as I thought surely everyone would want the hot drinks on such a cold night.

Yentis rigged up a large spider to drop down from the ceiling unexpectedly on the guests, which really got some good scares and screams !!

The daughter of one of my wife's co-workers came over to help, and she really did a fantastic job of working in the graveyard with me, and Yentis was a Godsend by helping us oh sooo much, by helping us set up, buying props, filming; and directing all the traffic with his great mask on. We cannot thank him enough ! :D WE BOTH LOVE YA DUDE !!! .

One time I came up and stood directly as close as I could behind a young boy getting some popcorn, and his lil' friends just gave him a "scooby do" poke and pointed up, letting him know that there was some "thing" there . He stopped cold and asked his buddies; "There's some "thing" behind me isn't there..?" as he could sense it. He slowly looked up and saw me...and let out a girl scream I'm quite sure the Mars rover picked up.

What made that great that one of his lil' friends yelled out after his friend ran away screaming and said "DUDE !!! , that was AWESOME !!! :D

One of my friends took about 70 pictures that we'll be making into a youtube montage, with both the video footage that Yentis and myself took to share with everyone here and on the Halloween forum.

A few "teaser" piccys..:

Our Zombie mother w/baby (You can see kinda just how large our haunt is behind her, and the large spider that Yentis rigged up for screams on the right):




And the concession stand with our poor freezing helpers:



The video should be done soon, so like the DSA toy theater, please hang in there !

Just click on this last one:

[RegentOne]

A lot of work put into this haunt. Good job Des!

[Deslock]

[Reaper316]

Wow Des, you really go ALL out for Halloween! I love it, this has to be my favorite holiday. I cant wait to see pics from Halloween night.

[Deslock]

I just absolutely hate how these piccy's look with having to use the damn flash.

These piccy's are good, but they don't do the haunt true justice. In reality it's really dark, but with three of us there with cameras, none of them would take good night pictures.

With all the foot traffic we get, we've had to actually buy two popcorn machines to keep up with the demand. And we think we've come up with a better way to keep up with the hot cider and hot cocoa. Last year they had to keep running back into the house to keep the carafes full. We've bought a few more of them also.

I really, really, REALLY want to get some damn actual usable video this year damn it. with our actors in the graveyard, and all the sound effects and the music going, with all the animatronics moving.

And how we scare the living Hell out of our guests (But we take it easy on the wee little ones). The little ones get a free pass, but tweens or above, yep, they're fair game for screams. With good video, you could see the fog machines going, and get the full effect of the atmosphere of fear we create.

We put all of this up, and tear it all down the same day. We thank God for Yentis, and all our other volunteers. Without them, we couldn't do all of this.
And we really thank God for them.

P.S. This year should have a fantastic turnout, as all the local "Trunk or Treats" decided to have them before the actual day of Halloween. :D. The weather is supposed to be cold, but clear. We're keeping our fingers crossed.