Throughout the 2005 build season, the plan was to reproduce last year's front yard display.
Around mid-October, plans were altered to include a neighbor's Halloween party. As the new layout unfolded, the haunt grew.
Unfortunately, the last minute changes meant some extra work and the annual haunt photographs suffered as a result.
Regardless, Have a look and read along if you please.
Click on any photo for a larger version.
In this photo you'll see a large section of shade cloth spread out across the back yard.
If you look a little closer, you can see several 3/4" diameter white ropes stretched across
the yard from tree-to-tree. The plan was to hang "walls" to build a maze in a hurry!
Lee and his friend Zachary took on the task of relocating the WayLighter prop.
They did a fine job, but boy was it funny watching them duck under ropes, around corners,
and direct one another through the partially completed maze.
A view from the side road. The haunt entrance is to the right, the exit is to the left.
The total walking distance of the maze wound up being roughly 400 feet!
The entrance and first hallway included the WayLighter static prop, our old simple pop-up as a static prop,
and a few hanging skeletons as decoration. The second hallway was fogged and strobe lights were placed along the path.
The effect was disorienting and slowed people down. Volunteer actors worked their magic along the way providing effective scares throughout.
The first prop scene in the 2005 haunt was SoulSpill.
He was placed in a dark corner and lit sparingly. After a hallway full of strobe lights, it took some time for
visitor's eyes to adjust ... just in time for the prop to jump!
Around the 180 degree corner, the graveyard is visible. All of the pneumatic props are located
in and around the graveyard to keep wires and airlines centralized. In the night photo, you can see the red light effect
in the left-hand side of the photo. The light is a simple distraction used later down the path. The light is aimed "at" visitors,
and is positioned behind a bush. The combination of light rays behind the plant's leaves and fog from the graveyard
produced a nice screen, again slowing walkers down.
The first graveyard prop is the Emerge machine with an Ambush prop body.
When activated, a bright red light illuminates the prop from below, strongly contrasting the subtle blue and green
lights flooding the graveyard.
The second graveyard prop is actvated just after the first.
The Animated Obelisk prop uses it's own fog and strobe effects, plus an amber constant light from below.
The final graveyard animation is the new pop up prop.
He's a simple corpsed Bart skeleton from A.C.C. that lifts 27" vertically.
Green graveyard lights on the bright white cheesecloth helped produce an eerie effect in the fog.
Moving beyond the graveyard, you walk past the pointer, another A.C.C. skeleton/corpse.
He's illuminated with the red light mentioned above, visible from the last maze corner.
This prop points the way out of the haunt, and is part of the distraction for the final startle prop.
On the other side of the walkway, hidden by the effect light shining through the bush lies the LowBoy prop.
Like the Emerge prop, this one is only illuminated when activated. The fast motion, high reach, and bright light
provided the most effective prop scare of the lot ... this year ...
Family, friends, and neighbors, at least most of those involved in this year's scare fest.
Mom, Lee, Brian, and I didn't make it into the photo - maybe next time?
Again, I apologize for the number and quality of photographs this year.
As usual, I had very good intentions of capturing the event and documenting it properly here.
As usual, the pictures don't do it justice.
This was a very last minute decision. The entire haunt was built in one day.
None of this would have been possible without the help of everyone involved.
We all worked harder this year than any I can remember ... still recovering in fact.
Much fun, a grand learning experience, another successful year under the ol' belt.
See you in 2006!