# Haunt on Windy Hill 2008



## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

Well - I must say this was the best year we've had, even though I didn't add a whole lot of new stuff to the haunt I was able to change it up enough to keep it interesting. 

We had been working on setting up the witch shop the week of the 20th and pretty much had that all setup by the week of Halloween. I had also setup the fence that weekend. The weekend prior to the 31st I setup the grave makers, tiki torches and giant spider web. Turing the week of I took several nights to setup lighting and test run some electrical layouts to make sure everything got plugged in. Halloween eve I carved my pumpkin and set out the partial toe pincher, not-so-deep, and thunder obelisk, which I also got all wired up and ready to go. I got up at 6am on the 31st and wired up the ambient sound receiver and continued to set stuff up throughout the day. By 4pm I was actually finished with the setup - everything had been positioned, tested and was ready to go. For the first time ever I had time to sit and eat my Halloween pizza (a tradition my mom started when we were kids) and also applied some skull makeup, another first. I did hit crunch time for about 20min as the sun was setting, I had to run around and plug everything in, light the tikis and start the animated props and foggers. 

Changes include not using the jug-o-lanterns. This was a big change since I've used them from the beginning, but I decided that I wanted to "darken" the theme and they were also a LOT of work to keep up, and I wanted to try to minimize stuff that needed tending to. I also repositioned the partial toe pincher and grave grabber. We only had one pumpkin this year and that also reduced the work load and 

We had one huge help this year, who was Kaley, a 15 year old friend of ours from church. She dressed up as a witch and stood behind the witch table to hand out candy all night, which gave me the freedom to maintain the haunt, socialize and get pictures. I'll say though, that I didn't feel as stressed to get good pictures and video as I usually do. I picked up the cameras a few times and shot a few things, but decided not to worry too much about it and spend more time enjoying the evening instead. That and the reduced maintenance needs really lowered the stress levels for the whole night and I had a really good time. 

New additions included a buried not-so-deep, a pair of pvc erected bluckies, several partial ground breaking coffins, new grave markers and some limited use of krough's '06 graveyard soundtrack. Changes include not using the jug-o-lanterns. This was a big change since I've used them from the beginning, but I decided that I wanted to "darken" the theme and they were also a LOT of work to keep up, and I wanted to try to minimize stuff that needed tending to. I also repositioned the partial toe pincher and grave grabber. We only had one pumpkin this year and that also reduced the work load prior to and during the haunt.

Malfunctions were limited to only two things during the evening... one was the continuous fogger for the 2nd year in a row. I had repaired it earlier this spring and it managed to make it to about 8:30 and by then the majority of our tots had come through. Also, the surround receiver I was using to play the ambient sound track wound randomly stop playing and read "protect" - which would require a full "reboot" which became too much of a hassle to bother with. 

The weather was perfect, in the low to mid 70s during he day and slowly tapering off to the upper 50s / low 60s when we called it a night. Traffic was actually more tame than usual, and there were many more trucks pulling hay-ride trailers than I'd ever seen. We had a total of 267 treat bags handed out. This was better than previous years but a bit short of the 300 mark I was hoping for. Kids and folks alike were all very impressed by the haunt and I received lots of compliments from many of them. We only had one truly terrified guest, though maybe a dozen or more rather timid ones. We even had several folks ask if they could bring friends out to see it Saturday evening, which worked out since we had planned to keep it going for some friends of ours who were coming by to check it out saturday as well. 

So... in summary - best haunt so far.. least stress, earliest setup completion, most tots, least failures and for the first time, a teenage helper who stayed the whole night to help.


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

to speed up viewing this thread, I've removed the embedded images.... for the rest of the pics, check out the photobucket: halloween08 pictures by vw_nick - Photobucket


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

tada


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## slightlymad (May 25, 2006)

Nice work. Glad you were able to enjoy it a thing which seems most elusive to we home haunters.


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

tada.


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

(pics removed)


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## skeletonowl (Aug 8, 2006)

Nice lighting and props! Looks like a great time


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## Joiseygal (Sep 3, 2008)

Looks good Nick! Nice make-up job!


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## Spookie (Aug 26, 2008)

NickG, already posted under another thread about how much I liked your yard but seeing more photos now I just have to reiterate it! Your bluckys look great in the photo BTW. What kind of crinkle black material did you use in your garage? It's got an interesting look to it. Looks like a fun, well thought out yard.


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## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

very nice nick-looks great


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

Looks great. I bet everybody was impressed.


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

Very nice Nick...looks like a great time..


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

Spookie said:


> What kind of crinkle black material did you use in your garage? It's got an interesting look to it. Looks like a fun, well thought out yard.


it is our pool cover from the first few years we had our pool - I couldn't stand to throw it away and it came in handy afterall!


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## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

Looks really (and I know this is an odd word to use) pretty in spots. I'm glad you had a less stressful time (I could use a volunteer to help me out too).

Hey, is that a carnivorous plant I see?


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## Ms. Wicked (Nov 14, 2006)

Excellent Nick! What a great use for a pool cover; I don't blame you for not wanting to throw it out - they're not cheap!

Fabulous job!


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## mikeq91 (Jul 19, 2005)

looks great! really like the smashed open coffin prop


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

mikeq91 said:


> looks great! really like the smashed open coffin prop


thanks - it based it on Spooky Sam's: http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=8753&highlight=not-so-deep I think a couple of other hauntforum memebers have made it as well. It's great bang for your buck.


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## OLYhaunt (Oct 12, 2008)

Really nice haunt. I really like the color in the windows, not just red


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## DeadSpider (Feb 3, 2006)

Awesome work, love the pictures.  You have a beautiful 'woodsy' backdrop.
Who is the little cutey in the graveyard?


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

DeadSpider said:


> Who is the little cutey in the graveyard?


that would be my elisabeth - 19 month old haunter in training.


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## turtle2778 (Jul 9, 2006)

Nice job Nick.


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## Lauriebeast (Feb 27, 2007)

That's one great lookin haunt, Nick. I'm so glad you were less stressed this time...sure makes a difference doesn't it?


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

Great haunt. The graveyard looks like a great idea. Spooky and gives it a frontier look, and I',m sure its way easier to make and setup.


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## HouseBloodthorn (Aug 16, 2007)

I really like the field of crosses look. Great job, Nick. :smilekin:


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## Lady Nyxie (Aug 30, 2006)

Lookin' good.


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Looks great!


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

great pics Nick
I like the ceiling cover in garage too
were you doing shows of It's a great pumpkin ?


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

Lilly said:


> were you doing shows of It's a great pumpkin ?


that was my neighbor about 4 houses down.. was a fantastic idea.


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## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

Awesome job!


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