# The Black Woods - Official Updates!



## Eric Striffler

*Creating The Black Woods - Official 2007 Updates Thread!*

This is the official updates thread for our exhibit, The Black Woods.
It's a part of the Spooky Walk at Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck in Center Moriches on Long Island in New York!
Haha that's quite a sentence. ;]
We'll be putting up plenty of pictures and videos for your viewing pleasure!

My friend Kevin Spellman and I (Eric Striffler) are the creators. We build an exhibit two years ago and it was crappy as hell, but it had one good scare which we're using again this year. We built a much better exhibit last year and it came out somewhat how we pictured it, but not good enough. We started too late and didn't have enough time. We started a few weeks earlier this year so it should come out AMAZING compared to last year. 

Anyway to start things off, here's a link to the website for The Black Woods.
www.the-black-woods.com

Here is a picture of the sign we built for the entrance! It's lit from inside with heavy-duty rope-lights and the inside walls of it are painted red.


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## Eric Striffler

And here are the pictures from today, which was the very first day of building AT the camp! 
This is the frame for the entrance to the exhibit. You'll see how it's going to look once we work on it more. The doorway won't be that big. (My dad was there to help and he was trying to figure something out, don't mind him haha)









This is a coffin we brought over, which will be at the entrance and lit with a green or red light from inside.









This is our electric chair, it's laying on it's back. It almost looks like a recliner in the front thought, and that part will be coming off. It stand at I'd say about 6 feet-ish.









I'm going to go edit the video footage from today in a few minutes and I'll hopefully post it a little later, so check back if you'd like!
It's entertaining!


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## Eric Striffler

Scratch that, I'll try to have that video up tomorrow!
I'm going to bed now because I have to get up early to go to the Jets game!


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## edwood saucer

Hey Erick, 

I met Wayne Chrebet at Superbowl 34... had drinks at a table next to him, Wayne Gretzky and Tom Arnold. Earlier that day met Joe Namath. Great memories.

J•E•T•S

Jets
Jets
Jets


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## Dr Morbius

Tom Arnold? ooooooo.k.


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## Eric Striffler

Hahah well damn!


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## edwood saucer

Yeah - Tom was actually a pretty cool dude. He's sort of always "on".

Anyway - they all autographed the jersey I was wearing and Tom signed the front - then drew a nipple where there should be one. We all laughed. It was a pretty cool time. Met lots of NFL alumni (we snuck into their hotel for two night proceeding the game). And had a chance to chat with Mike Alstott (who the Rams beat the previous week) - he was amazingly gracious and a character dude - and signed my Rams jersey no less.

So - believe it or not Tom Arnold has at least one big fan.

Last football post - promise - don't mean to highjack the thread. Probably should have been a PM
Rock on Erick with no K.


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## Haunted Bayou

Looking forward to more pics of your progress. Sound like a lot of work but at least it is fun work. I hope it is as successful as you hope for.


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## Eric Striffler

Well it definitely will be alot better than last year.
We already did more work in one day than we did in a week and a half last year!
Last year we had to carry things from the warehouse at the camp over to the trail and it took FOREVER.
Now we have special priveledges (because Kevin worked at the camp over the summer) and we can use golf carts and pick-up trucks to bring things over.
It's VERY convenient. 

Anyways about that video.
I'm gonna go work on it now and it should be up TOMORROW.
I'm sorry but there was a hell of a lot of traffic on the way home so I got home later than I expected haha.
The video will DEFINITELY be up tomorrow.
I have a feeling you guys will like it because I'm going to film each weekend and do episodes, so this video will be episode 1, next week is episode 2, and so on.

I'm out for now though, check back here tomorrow!


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## Eric Striffler

Finally without further ado, I give you Episode 1 of "Creating The Black Woods"!
Click the picture!
[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICbfpdqsWfo[/nomedia]

Let me know what you guys think of it!


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## Eric Striffler

Actually Episode 2 should be up sooner than I thought.
It'll probably be us working on a dummy or something,
or going over plans. I don't know.
Regardless there will be one or two more episodes this weekend probably.


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## Hellrazor

Excellent Eric! Im looking forward to episode 2


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## Sickie Ickie

You did a really nice job with that Erik and Kevin! You made me feel like I was there! I'll be looking forward to the next installment.


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## Eric Striffler

Sweet, I'm glad you liked it!
I've never seen anyone do a really good behind-the-scenes video,
so I decided to start doing it.
I love making movies, and I love making our haunt.
It makes sense!


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## Eric Striffler

By the way, Kevin keeps saying he'll make an account but keeps FORGETTING.
I want him to make a damn account so that he can say stuff about the haunt when I'm not around or whatever.

He HAD an account, but he got rid of it I believe.
He should have one soon.


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## Eric Striffler

Alright we're going over to the camp today to finish one thing,
then we're going back tomorrow to work all day.
There should be a new episode of Creating The Black Woods on Monday hopefully,
with more pictures too, of course! ;D


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## Eric Striffler

Unfortunately I'm an idiot and I totally forgot my camera to take pics of what's up now (which is alot more stuff so I wish I had pics haha).
But I did film it and I'm working on episode 2 now, so check back later today to watch it.


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## Eric Striffler

Okay everyone, here's Episode 2 of "Creating The Black Woods"!
Enjoy!

Click this picture to go watch it on YouTube!
[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zVQH_-sBbM[/nomedia]

Don't forget to comment it and rate it on YouTube, as well as come back and discuss it here in this thread!


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## HrdHeaded1

It'll be intersting to see it all set up.. Keep us posted!


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## Eric Striffler

Thanks, will do! ;D


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## Haunted Bayou

Nice vids.


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## Eric Striffler

Thank you!


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## Eric Striffler

We'll be going Saturday, Sunday, and Monday to work this weekend.
We'll finish all the wood work FOR SURE haha.
So look forward to possibly TWO new episodes this weekend because we'll have alot of footage!


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## Eric Striffler

Okay here's Episode 3 of "Creating The Black Woods"!

Click this picture to go watch it on YouTube!
[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw_4eVxhkGc[/nomedia]

Unfortunately we got messed up and couldn't work on Sunday, which we planned to do. We didin't finish all the wood done but we got the hardest part done so we should be fine.
And something reeeeeeally cool happened when we got there, you'll see what it is! ;D

Here's some pictures of everything, including stuff I couldn't show in the video (or it would give away too much)! 

Here's our "home base" all covered up in black sheets!









Here's the "post-entrance" which will be covered with black sheets.









And here's what we couldn't show in the video that we built yesterday.
It was the hardest thing, so thankfully we're done haha.








It's going to be the "Torture Chamber" although it won't have a sign or anything. That's just what we're calling it and what it should be called, because the electric chair will be inside.

Anyway that's it for now. We'll finish the damn wood this week HOPEFULLY and then get started on finish black sheets and setting up effects (which won't take long haha).


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## Eric Striffler

Wow we finally finished!
We finished tonight at about 7 and I'm blown away by how great it came out.
Honestly it's basically my drawing of my ideas on looseleaf in real life.
It's like it jumped off the page! 
It's excellent, I really wish you could all see it.

After it's over on Oct. 27th, I'll be posting a full day/night walkthrough.
My new camera has night vision and you can see PERFECTLY! 
I'll also be posting a video of people going through and getting scared.
It should be HILARIOUS. ;]

For now, here are some pictures! 

Here's the sign and the entrance sheet, everyone will walk through the middle of the big sheet.









This is right after the entrance sheet.
It's a tunnel (it's a little longer than where I took the picture from) and someone will be reaching his hand through a hole in the side on the right.


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## Eric Striffler

Here are the crosses, pretty basic.
There will be fog and the strobes are right in your face.
It's SOOOOOOOOOOo disorienting! 









Here we are further up the trail. On the right (not pictured) is a strobe aiming at the chainsaw picture and when the switch inside is hit, the "porch light" (lmao) goes off and the strobe turns on as our Chainsaw Guy comes out wielding a chainles saw!
It looks awesomeeeeeeeeeeeee! (It's not done being painted in this picture.)


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## Eric Striffler

Here's the entrance to the "Torture Chamber" which is a little further past the Chainsaw Shack!
That coffin is there temporarily leaning against the wall.
We just need to cover that doorway with black sheets and it's all finished!









And here's the inside (down a small "hallway") of the "Torture Chamber".
There's a strobe aiming at the people and a strobe aiming at the chair that will be turned on and off by a switch on the chair.









And that's about it!
After that it moves on to the pirates and through to the rest of the buildings!
We walked through the other buildings and theyre AMAZING this year. 
And the pirates are just outstanding.
I'll put up pictures next time. They really do a fantastic job with the pirates.

But yeah, a new episode of "Creating The Black Woods" will be up on Monday or Tuesday andddddddd then some more videos after it's all over!


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## octoberist

Wow. It looks and sounds so great. You should be so proud. What a lot of work.


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## Eric Striffler

Thank you, we're both very proud of it!
We took the woman who runs the whole Spooky Walk through the exhibit at night and she was blown away. 
We're hoping next year we'll be able to get a building instead, but we need a specific one. They've offered us a building before but it was the wrong building and we couldn't do what we wanted to do in it.
We're crossing our fingers for next year! 

But yeah this year is coming out awesomelyyyy!


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## edwood saucer

Great job Eric - can't wait to see the video!


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## Eric Striffler

Okay for anyone who same my thread that we opened, you'll alreayd know the details.
BUT LAST NIGHT WE FINALLY OPENED! 
Unfortunately due to rain not many people showed up.
Only maybe 300 or 400ish came because there was a downpour during the day.
Of course right when we opened it stopped raining, AFTER everyone decided not to come!
Oh well, it was basically a practice for tonight.
Tonight is going to be insane. They already called in extra cops and ambulances to be there to keep it all under control.

So our exhibit, The Black Woods, went great!
We just had one strobe and one fog crap out on us from the rain.
We're going to buy new ones on the way there and just replace them.

The weather is looking great for tongiht which means I'll get plenty of pictures and NIGHT VISION VIDEOS. ;]
The night vision videos are going to be hilarious and I can't wait!


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## shaunathan

*wow!*

Awesome Job Eric, can't wait to check this out when you get it posted...

Good luck tonight!!

also, is it possible to get a run though posted maybe after halloween of the whole walk? I'm on the west coast and there's no way I can make it out to long island.


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## Eric Striffler

Yeah, I'll try to do that too!


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## BudMan

How did it go last nite Eric? No rain, but a little windy by you? How was the turn out?


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## Haunted Bayou

Good luck. Can't wait to see the entire walk-through.


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## Spartan005

Hey are you guys open next Sunday? Because thats probably the only day I'll be able to come over... assuming that we don't run our haunt that day.

but anyway great job, can't wait to see it (in person or video)


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## Eric Striffler

Sorry but our last day is Saturday the 27th! :O
And yeah we had a great night on Saturday!


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## Eric Striffler

*The Black Woods 2007 Videos!*

Okay "Episode 6: Cleaning Up" and a video of all the scaring reactions from the entire Spooky Walk will be up later today,
but two new ones were uploaded yesterday and the day before!
Here they all are in order, the new ones are the last two.

Creating The Black Woods
[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICbfpdqsWfo[/nomedia]
[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zVQH_-sBbM[/nomedia]


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## Eric Striffler

*The Black Woods 2007 Videos!*

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8cj85dTmqU[/nomedia] is the video you'll all want to watch because it's the first night of the haunt being open.
If you're looking for more scaring and hilarious reactions, that video will be up later.

"Episode 6: Cleaning Up" and the video of all the scaring reactions from the entire Spooky Walk will be up later today,
but two new ones were uploaded yesterday and the day before!
Here they all are in order, the new ones are the last two.

*Creating The Black Woods*
[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICbfpdqsWfo[/nomedia]
[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zVQH_-sBbM[/nomedia]
[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw_4eVxhkGc[/nomedia]
**NEW** [nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uwRNJiTrMo[/nomedia]
**NEW** [nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8cj85dTmqU[/nomedia]

Enjoy all of the episodes!
And check back later when I pos the links to the last two videos later today in this thread!


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## Eric Striffler

That's weird...this got posted twice apparently but this post is unfinished.

???


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## BudMan

Dude, off the hook! Excellent job! Love the bloopers!


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## turtle2778

You did a great job.


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## Eric Striffler

Thank you! 

Here's the next episode!
[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OnAp_O4328[/nomedia]

The video of all the scaring and reactions will be up tonight or more likely tomorrow.
Check back here for it!


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## Spartan005

Hey Eric, first of all AWESOME video... you guys to a freakin great job and good luck in the future years. wish I could have come down but I was stuck doing my haunt every weekend = ( Lol love the torture chamber by the way, that scared the crap out of everyone

just a quick question though (that has absolutely nothing to do with the haunt sorry) I'm trying to get music to go with the rest of my videos too and I use windows movie maker... but the songs have to be a wav file (or like 3 others that I've never heard of) so where do you get the songs from? I have itunes so I'm pretty sure they're all mp3 files and all of the converter that I've found Suck. so how did you get the music up there? 

but anyway great job!


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## Fright Zone

Good job!! Fun documentation. Glad it was a success


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## Eric Striffler

Thanks, it was alot of fun! 
I'll do it again next year, but better of course ;]


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## Fright Zone

I like the simplicity of it. You guys get down to the essence of the scare without overdoing it. It helps that your crowd looked like they weren't used to going thru haunted houses or amusement parks things like that so the were ripe for the scare. I like the hands out of the wall. As long as no one grabs your arm.

The wooded setting is fun especially in the Fall with leaves crunching. Kings Islands Halloween Haunt had one in the woods. Here's a so-so 



 someone took at Media Day that gives you the idea. They used a girl screaming in terror soundtrack playing on speakers way back inside the woods off the trail that was effective. Like what they did in the Blair Witch Project. I'm not so sure you can hear it in that video. They had two chainsaws, a 10ft carpeted tunnel you had to crawl thru. An area or two with doll heads or fake rubber heads hanging from the trees on ropes you had to walk thru.

Here's my [nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PHFyeVfMe8&feature=PlayList&p=B0EE9FB13B94151C&index=7[/nomedia] of another way to use a chainsaw for scares. Cedar Point's is a prop that uses a battery pack and a button that looks like those on arcade games. But their set-up is a different type of walk-thru with lots of room where you get any number of people at one time not a conga line.

The other thing I'd suggest for next year is simple noisemakers they use in haunted houses and amusement parks. All it is is a small paint can painted black, you drill three holes and screw the lid tight because inside of it you put screws and washers. When you shake it, it really scares girls & kids. You can hear them in this [nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juUdHWCvlKA&feature=PlayList&p=8D4BD224A4CC33C4&index=7[/nomedia] and this [nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S4xx0KNpsM&feature=PlayList&p=8D4BD224A4CC33C4&index=15[/nomedia]. One of those Screamsters used a horn but I didn't care for that. Either way simple but effective and FUN scares.

Oh yeah and if it's in the budget you need a [nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY2O8Hg5xoQ[/nomedia]


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## Eric Striffler

I actually plan on having noisemakers in this year's exhibit.
Like I said in the last episode, time management is something we suck at.
But this year I'm going to really try to do better.
When I'm bored through the winter, spring, and summer I'm going to make things for the haunt and just put them to the side until it comes time to set them up, including little noisemakers.
I love those!
I had one for myself two years ago and it was fantastic!


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## Eric Striffler

Here's the video of all the scaring that I filmed.
I only filmed for about an hour and a half-ish so this is just the scares I got during that time, but it's hilarious to watch of course. ;]

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEJ-FHMVMH0[/nomedia]

Enjoy! ;D


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## Lauriebeast

Erick, that was too funny...thanks for posting the video. I loved the part where the kid says "Is it legal to videotape us?...my Dad's a lawyer" LMAO


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## Eric Striffler

Lmao me too!
And when he looks at the camera lmao


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## mikeq91

that stuffs awsome man, great work. I love the vids, thanks for putting them up... its great to see this kind of stuff from the youth of haunting!


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## Fright Zone

That was funny. More people were scared by "break dot com". Too bad the props stopped working. Hopefully it was at the end of the night. I wondered if anyone would get lost or just stop going thru things since it's outdoors. Did you have to go out there and get those girls to walk thru? Fun stuff


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## Eric Striffler

By props I assume you mean either the chainsaw or the iPod playing the electric chair effects.
The chainsaw stopped working with about a half hour left until it was all over, so we just had someone run out of it screaming and it was fine.
The iPod literally stopped working on the last 3 groups that are seen in the video, so that was also fine. Too bad for them haha.

And you have to go through the woods to get to the houses. If you watch Episode 5 you can see us going through the other houses (it's only brief shots of houses that last about 5 to 10 minutes each).


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## Fright Zone

I always hold my breath that anything that has batteries or gets plugged in to make noise or move, or candles to be lit and stay lit. Because I had to rush my '06 haunt and the iPax iPod speakers didn't work (they do when plugged in but not with batteries) and the Kmart flying ghost had dead batteries and I ran out of outlets for floodlights. So this year I successfully used powered 6 watt Altec Lansing computer speakers hooked to an iPod Shuffle inside a DLO Action Jacket for protection. I put it in a small Sterlite containter spraypainted black with Krylon Fusion Ultra Flat Camo black and put creepy cloth over it. Put it on top of my fog chiller. Those little speakers pack a punch even outdoors. Thankfully the iPod was fully juiced and worked for 2 hours no problem. It was easier to make sure everything worked since we had far less props to deal with this year. Otherwise something always seems to crap out. Glad to hear yours did at the end. It's almost like we need a backup plan but getting it that far is hard and time consuming enough.


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## Eric Striffler

Altec Lansing computer speakers are VERY good.
They get extremely loud, like you said.
Good choice in speakers!


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## Hellrazor

Great posts Eric. I always end up watching your vids on U Tube for hours after though. Hope you keep up the creativity.


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## Lilly

Finally got around to cchecking this out.
great Job Erick...good luck next yr should be even better


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## skeletonowl

awesome! can you provide a link to your youtube channel because the embedded ones stopped working


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## Eric Striffler

Yeah unfortunately thry all got deleted.
It's a long story -_-
My YouTube can be found at http://www.youtube.com/ericstrifflervids!


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## DoubleX

Finally got time to watch them all they were great! Will you be doing another set of videos for this seasons haunt?


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## Eric Striffler

Yes, of course! 
I'm actually going over to the camp this week to meet with the woman who runs it because I need to tell her my ideas for this year now to make sure she can do them.
It's the 20th Anniversary so I plan on making it HUGE >


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## DoubleX

awesome, cant wait till haunt season!


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## mymania

Coooool


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