The General Layout

The Google aerial view of the house back in 2012
 

The Grim Rd Cemetery is built on the front island, with some minor scenes often set up in the periphery garden areas.  The cemetery will be added to yearly. 

 

 

 



 

The hordes of ToTs (candy-mooching kids and their parents) enter both sides of the circular drive in numbers ranging from 800 to 1,500+... only diminishing by 9pm when the candy has already run out.  The access alley going diagonally in the picture runs the length of the block, but is unused on Halloween other than as my inlet/outlet to the detached garage haunt.

 

 

This alley is unlit aside from whatever temporary lighting I add and a postlamp in the backyard behind the fence line covered in vines.

 

In year 2013, the walkthrough haunt began at the front gate of the sideyard, down the sideyard into the small backyard, and through the workshed and attached garage.  Victims left through the dark alley back into the front yard.

 

In year 2014, the course ran in reverse, with the alley serving as the cue line and victims leaving through the front gate of the side yard.  This worked better for crowd management.  However, the sideyard garden has grown such as to no longer be viable as a walkthrough area.

 

For year 2015, there will be no garage walkthrough.  Rather than having a themed walkthrough in the rear of the property, the bulk of the TKH props will be set up in the front yard for all to see.  There will be 3 major scenes (Zombie Cage, Clown Car, and Grim Rd Cemetery), with a possibility of some minor scenes at the front of the side yards.

 

Year 2016 should show the return of the garage haunt.  Victims will cue in the alley.  The haunt will consist of the garage, workshed, and end at the backyard gate.  The sideyard will serve only as a huge highly animated display visible to people walking through the alley to cue or to leave. 

 

This is the sideyard in spring 2014.  It has since become too overgrown with gardens to be used by the plant-stomping guests.

 

 





The Kerbey House 2014 Haunt Theme: Told with my FB promo pics

 

There is a house in El Paso, Texas that has a rose garden, fruit trees, butterfly gardens, and vines covering several walls.  This is despite El Paso being in scrubland desert.  The owner boasts that he does his own gardening and never uses synthetic chemicals.  Due to his employment involving shiftwork, he can often be seen working in his garden and garage at odd hours of the night.

 

 

"Life comes from life," he is often heard saying.  "Happy worms equals happy soil!  And the soil is forever hungry." 

 

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There have been rumors as to how he manages to keep everything so green in this heat.  The most he will say is that good nutritious compost can work wonders.  He makes his own in his garage.

 

 

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That garage seems to be his second favorite place to hang out, aside from working in his gardens.

 

 

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And although he rarely invites neighbors over to see his techniques, he occasionally can be seen showing strangers around his backyard.  They seem to stay late into the night discussing things.

 

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That owner is always talking about his "happy soil."

 

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The spiders and bugs there are interesting.  There are so many... seemingly crawling over everything.  And yet they never seem to bite him.  He joking calls them his kids or his "thousands of little mouths to feed."  They seem to appreciate whatever it is that he is doing.

 

 

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His only complaint about making his own fertilizer and compost is the need to constant vigil regarding keeping unwanted ingredients out.  He says that they can often attract unwanted pests.

 

 

 

However, he claims to be able to keep most of the rare problem contained in his back yard.

 

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All neighborhoods have their gossip.  And this gardener knows that people talk, even though they claim to love passing by his gardens.  They nervously joke with him about there being bodies buried in the rose garden.  For a laugh, the gardener puts up a big cemetery Halloween display for all to admire when the families come by for Trick or Treat.

 

 

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And on that night, he even gives tours through his garage and yard.  He sets up realistic decorations and has actors that are very committed.  Some people get scared, but he assures them that the sights and smells... and sounds... are just for show. 

 

 

  

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That guy sure loves Halloween and his gardens.

"Happy worms make happy soil." 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

A Tight Squeeze: The compression door

Just hanging around...

 

The 2014 garage portion of the walkthrough included a compression scare in the form of a resistant foam doorway that victims had to push through.  The idea came from larger compression halls I have visited at pro haunts that use large airbags that guests need to push through... unaware of what waits for them on the other side.  It also adds the element of touch and forces a delay on the victims. 

 

For mine, I used a thick sheet of bendable black foam, divided in half, and firmly braced by 2x4 walls.  This allowed a crack of light to be seen in the center, with the next room being dimly lit by a 4ft black light.  A 7ft tall ghoul prop waited for the victim around the next corner.

 

Several of the quitters that left the haunt screaming did so when they were faced with going through this door.  It seems that darkness + physical resistance = NOPE for a few people.

 

 

What the victim saw (but with fake candles backlighting the area instead of the overhead as pictured.)

 

 

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This is how crude the setup actually was... with landscaping fabric stapled over the rough wood for protection from scrapes and to add to the gritty look of the room.

 

 

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This is a close-up showing the thickness of the door that victims needed to either open by hand or push through. 

 

 There were no hinges, so the strength of the foam provided noticeable resistance as one tries to slid through.  But it was wide enough so that no one had real trouble getting in.

 

Although the garage walkthrough will not be used in the 2015 haunt, this doorway has been left intact and will be used again in the full 2016 haunt.

 

 

 

 

A few of the faces from 2014

 

"Their faces were hung in the garage with great care...

In hopes that soon the gardener would be there..."

 

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"I am not good with deadlines"... The Belated Update

The 2014 haunt season was a huge success! 

 

Sure, there were problems with props, I ran out of setup time, some actors flaked, and lighting was still not ideal... but a success nonetheless!  It just seems to get better every year.

#1 Learning lesson from 2014:   Stop the line and do a personal walkthrough to see what needs to be reset or changed. 

There was a section of yard that had many props, but no actors.  Because of this, many props were knocked down or had been moved to a direction where they were likely not scary at all.  It is impressive how destructive strangers in a yard walkthrough can be.  So the guests during the last hour likely missed out on a section that no doubt cause the first groups to wig out and run into everything.  No one complained... it just could have been better if a 10 minute reset break had been worked in. 

#2 Learning lesson from 2014:  Put someone else in charge of storing the mini-lights / spotlights before showtime... because I misplace them every damn year.

Again, the front yard "Grim Rd Cemetery" needed better lighting due to highlight the details since I misplaced the mini-lights, only to find them the day after in a bag in an obvious safe spot.  :-/

#3 Learning lesson from 2014:  The cemetery needs better headstones. 

The ones I used weren't so much "bad" as they were "meh."  The cemetery will be the main focus for propbuilding before Halloween 2015.

Not dead... only sleeping with my eyes open

It has been too long since I updated this haunt blog.  That will get corrected soon.  There are still so many pictures and commentary to be uploaded regarding the very successful 2014 haunt. 

Quick rough stats:  1,500+ ToTs
                               280 +/- guests through the walkthrough yardhaunt
                               8 guests who ckickened out at the yardhaunt door or just barely inside