Haunt time is here!

It’s time to pull out whatever stops that haven’t yet been pulled out and to go completely insane trying to get everything done by whatever deadline we each have set ourselves.

All the planning and preparing, the months of hectic activity, will soon reach critical mass. For some, it already has. Their haunt is up and running, drawing a nightly crowd. That haunter has entered into the recursive maintenance phase. Like a dowager tending her meticulous garden, this person is caught in a perpetual loop. Primp and adjust. Primp and adjust. The activity will continue uninterrupted until November 1.

For the rest of us there are still tombstones to set, miles of orange lights yet to unravel, and monsters dripping not saliva, but sealant. Heck, you can’t navigate the shop today without some creature tapping you on the shoulder and asking, “you think you could touch up this seam?”

Excitement is flavored with worry. Or possibly it’s the other way around. When will the rain stop, and is it going to short out my extension cords … again? Why won’t this stupid timer come on when I want it to? Do I have any fishing line to hang the skeleton? How much will the vandals tear up this year? Is this stand going to keep the scarecrow from doing a face-plant in the wind? Will anyone show up for the party?

Anxiety builds up to the point that one may actually hear himself say, “I’m sick of Halloween.”

The sinister truth behind Halloween is that it only exists inside us. Whatever manifests in the real world as a result of the Halloween Spirit is just whipped orange icing on the cupcake. Otherwise, October is just another month.

Halloween is special, magical because that’s how we make it. We put ghosts in the wind. We make dancing witches out of bonfire shadows. We hear skeleton fingers tapping on the window panes. That’s no mere pumpkin on the front porch. It’s an avatar.

We carry Halloween around with us like a candle, and whatever might try to snuff the flame isn’t Halloween’s fault. When it’s not fun anymore, we (I) look for reminders to help chase away the dreads and doubts.

Sometimes it can be as simple as a picture of a Jack-o-lantern and a bear holding a welcome sign. Simple. Sincere. Welcome.

Category: Halloween   Tags: meaning of halloween

Here’s the direct link.

Josh and his crew have been planning and building since mid Summer, but they will actually assemble the haunt in just a few days. Opening night is Friday, October 17.

I’m amazed at the coordination effort that has gone into this. It went from grid paper to reality in just a few short months, and we’re not talking about a few plastic skeletons stapled to some plywood walls. “Nightmare” will feature professional light and sound as well as props. Most importantly, they have thought through the psychology of their scares and they plan to cultivate a high “creep factor” into the overall experience. Patrons will not be disappointed.

Incidentally, those are all Spooky Blue props in the commercial. The Chapel Hill Witch will appear at the haunt along with The Grumble.

Nightmare At TheFair
Clark County 4-H Fair Grounds
Admission: $8.00
Hours: 7:30 – 11:30
Dates: 10/17 10/18 10/24 10/25

Category: Halloween   Tags: commercial, nightmare at the fair

A cold wind moans through the misty hollow below Chapel Hill. Echoes of its dry lament drift among rotting logs and forgotten fence rows, a dirge to remind the dead of their current situation. And to the living it is a warning.

Throw salt on the stones,
‘Cross window and sill,
Or she’ll make of your bones,
A soup fit to swill.

Clutch ward and Book,
To shield from the troll,
And pray reaper’s hook,
Won’t snag on your soul!

We set up all of the tombstones, some zombies, and our new witch for a video shoot over the weekend. It will air locally to advertise the 4-H haunt Nightmare at the Fair.

Category: Halloween   Tags: Chapel Hill Witch

When it comes to haunted house soundtracks or sound-scapes, we’ve come a long way from Disney’s Chilling Thrilling Sounds of The Haunted House. For years and years, if you wanted background noise for your haunt, or just something to relax with on the hi-fi during dinner, this was your only choice.

Judging by the barrels of Halloween CDs at the local fireworks store-turned Halloween Supply House, many budding sound engineers must have found inspiration in those old recordings. I certainly did. We had an ancient tape recorder that I used to make “haunted house tapes”. It was usually just me ooooooo-ing like a ghost and rattling an old bike chain, but in my mind I explored all my favorite haunt-scapes.

A dripping underground catacomb echoes with rat squeaks, bat flaps, and clicking skeleton bones.

A cemetery high on a windy hill with a huge front gate covered with brush. Ghosts moan among the grave stones and banshees scream from mausoleum rooftops.

A gray room, completely covered in dust. There are two sounds; the wailing wind outside and the irregular “tok… tok tok… tok… tok tok” of the mantle clock.

A maniac chasing a pack of teenagers with a chainsaw. Wait, what?

Okay, I admit it. Every year for as long as I can remember I’ve put together some kind of Halloween CD to give to my friends, but this year I was sick of the same old sweeping swells and griping ghosts. So I went to a different well for one of the tracks. A place where you don’t want to be unless you’re the maniac with the chainsaw.

From Spooky Blue’s 2008 haunt-scape CD “Nightmare At The Fair”, here is Track 5: “Running With Chainsaws”.

[audio:spooky-blue-dot-com-running-with-chainsaws.mp3]
Running With Chainsaws

I realize that I’ve already written my own rebuttal to this, so I suppose that I’m either evolving or sinking down to their level. Whichever is the case, I still like that track.

To prove that we’re no one-trick pony around here, and that deep down inside we’re still somewhat offended by chainsaws, here is our CD title track…

[audio:spooky-blue-dot-com-nightmare-at-the-fair.mp3]
Nightmare At The Fair

God forgive me, and please pass the chain oil.

Category: Halloween   Tags: nightmare at the fair, running with chainsaws