A bit of video from the center of the murder clown room (to show the effect of the multiple DJ lights)

See a post from earlier today for a quick tour of this and most of the other scenes/rooms.

Some pics from inside the last section: the Spider Room...the Murder Clown Room. 

 

Spider video, with leaping spider prop nearby...

 



 

... and then you turn the corner 



 

   

 

 

 

And the lesson all haunters learn AFTER they tear everything down is to make sure to photo everything twice.  Unfortunately, I forgot to photo half of it once to share here. 

  

The Morning After

Here are some day-after pics of the walkthrough to better show the detail.  Everything looked more foreboding and less fake at night, but that didn't't photo well.  These pics are more for other haunters to share ideas.  These three are of the middle part, the "Dead Do Not Rest" mini graveyard.  The curtain area is the ghost projection screen and also acts as a hidden doorway into the workshed and garage behind it.  Although the curtain is yellow, it blended with the grey at night time and reflected the ghost images well.  Many hesitated walking through it into the rest of the haunt, not knowing that there was still a building left to go though.

VIDEO WALKTHROUGH TIME !!!!!

Halloween has passed, I have wasted the day recovering, and we have more candy left over than any couple should.  The problem with our usual 1,000+ TOTs (trick-or-treaters) turnout was that the city is taking forever to install a roundabout nearby and had closed the streets to thru traffic.  Some ignored that, but not enough.  I think we may have had 300+.  That number is impressive for most haunters, but we had bought candy and small toys/junk for 1,200.  So our waistlines and dental health will take a beating this winter.  The walkthrough haunt was a success.  No injuries, no complaints, many thrilled people, and around 120 went through.  I didn't count.  My actors no-showed for the first hour or so, making it a stressful beginning.  And my usually dependable landscape lighting failed in parts.  And there was wind bashing tarps about.  But still... a success.  Many haunt fans were created, and I suspect they will tell others and return next year.  Only one failure dad... being an idiot who liked to terrorize his young kid throughout the haunt, likely creating a kid who never wants to go through one again.  And the dad thought it was funny.  Again, only one out of 120 people, so it was expected.  On another positive, my elderly neighbor went through, loved it, came back a second time with his equally elderly wife who had to take a break midway through (was worried I was about to have my first ambulance call), but still finished up through the rougher parts and also loved it.

BAD NEWS:   I TOOK NO VIDEO OF THE HAUNT DURING HALLOWEEN.  And for that I must apologize. :(  But I was practically solo and had know opportunity to play cameraman while herding people through.  Do not underestimate the ability for people to get lost in your backyard at night. 

GOOD NEWS:  I did take Nov 1 walkthrough vids, posted below.  My phone doesn't do well in very low light, so I had to opt for afternoon shade to be able to show any detail. Pardon the shaky-cam.


Part 1: the sideyard entrance going through a small staging area, the witch's room, the ghoul alley with alter and gore (that no one really noticed!), and ending at the backyard graveyard.  Again, everything looked much better in the moonlight.

 

 

 

 

Part 2: the backyard graveyard has its main feature as a ghost projection (not seen in this vid) that acted as a hidden doorway into the detached garage.  The tree canopy and surrounding vines and bushes did much to disorient guests.  And as I commented in the video, quite a few became confused and stared right into the projector rather than notice the large, cool ghost being projected on the screen.  So I had to be nearby to help verbally guide them through the curtain.  The bonus for that situation is that those guests were somewhat blinded going into the workshed portion; a strobe room.

 

 

Where is the strobe room vid?  Well... it didn't make the cut for these videos.  I may attempt one later, but I was unimpressed with the way it looked onscreen.  It was, however, a big hit for the guests.  I used the AtmosFEARfx Critters 2 DVD, looping roaches, spiders, rats, and snakes... all on a 42" LCD, with fog, webs, and fake critters all around, and one of those large lunging spider animatronics being activated by a step pad by them.

Moving On!  This final segment is my descent into madness... evil clowns... dj lights... hanging flesh on hooks... and TVs loudly playing messed up videos.  Simple blue tarps were used as walls to allow for a more fluid setup.  The video ends going into the last room, where 2 more dummy props were standing and a table was set up for an actor to be attacked by another actor.  It was the chainsaw end, so to speak.  No chainsaw, but guests lost their minds and ran out of the garage down the 80 feet of service alley back to the front yard.

 

 

I will try to take some video of the ghost curtain and strobe room later tonight to do them better justice.  They were definite highlights of the haunt and will be used again in next year's setup.

 

 

I also have taken some photos that I will post for those that don't want to get motionsick from watching the videos above.