In 2004 we bought a new two-story home in a beautiful new neighborhood. We couldn't wait to set up and expand on our yard haunt now that we had a permanent place to hang our hat. For the past two Halloweens we have made our mark on the neighborhood with the help of several family members who volunteer to come over and help us both delight and scare the pants off the local kids. I made a brand new costume for my other half in 2005, the Crypt Keeper, who was an instant success!
In addition to the requisite graveyard and eerie blue floodlights, we added a wrought iron archway over the steps leading to the top of the porch where the old witch awaited with the goodies. We also added several large mechanical moving lighted props, a spider and a raven. We added a second fog machine and this time went the extra step of making a cooling device which caused the fog to roll out in waves across the cemetery and hang low to the ground. The effect was perfect! I also found the perfect horror music (by Midnight Syndicate) to play continuously throughout the evening and add to the atmosphere. There were skeletons, jack-o-lanterns, spiderwebbing, body parts, and more. The children shrieked and screamed as they had to make their way past several very frightening characters to get to the top of the porch for their treats.
Unfortunately, the children began coming far earlier in the day than anticipated and we have been unable to get good pictures of the whole affair these past two seasons. Word of mouth has spread, and the cars start lining up all down the street at the first hint of evening. Perhaps this year we can manage a few good pictures before the haunting begins.
As time permits I plan to add some great links to places we found that offer wonderful yard haunt ideas and plans. One of my great "finds" in 2005 was the perfect pair of witch shoes. I found them at Spencers, and they cost about $35, but were well worth it. I have since found them on the Internet for about the same price.
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