# Hi from Corvallis Oregon



## beaver state rich (Jan 25, 2014)

Hey folks. I finally got around to making my presence known on your forum. I have been at a competing forum but this one seems to have more action so Hi!

I'm in Corvallis Oregon which is in the Willamette Valley about 1.5 hours south of Portland. We do a yard display the month of October with extra interactive items on the big day. We now are doing a full on show in the yard display. This has developed into a full blown hobby which is amazing since I am also a dedicated and hard core fisherman!

We have been doing a yard display for about 8 years starting with the store bought stones and have progressed to 100% of our own pieces or heavily modified/altered pieces to make it come up to standard. The last 3 years have been when we finally stepped up our game, 2013 really found us going nuts with a full on show and computer controlled display.

It started with one skull I got a 15 years ago when we first got married and made a sign for it saying "pirates ye be warned" on our front door. Skip ahead a year or two and I made a peppers ghost Madame Leota stand up booth using an old TV and dvd player that played the loop we all know and use. It was a huge hit and was the extent of our setup for a few years.

When we moved into our current house in 2007 my wife agreed to let me do a graveyard. Off to Kmart and a pile of Styrofoam stones later we had our first graveyard lit with 3 stake lights and 100w flood lights. Our 88 YO neighbor stated "we have had Christmas people on the block before, but never Halloween People".

The following year we made a FCG crypt of the standard design. Then it was the HM style Bat fence to keep people out of the yard. I carved 2 of my own stones and found some cement animals to start the pet cemetery. Slow progression and we had hit the point where my wife was getting worried this was going to get out of hand. Well then 3 years ago we get a knock on the door from our neighbor down the street. My wife answers and it is a little boy ~4 and his dad asking if we can turn the ghost on (FCG) which I forgot to do that evening. Turns out he was having his dad take him over every night to say goodnight to the ghost and since she was off he was worried she was sick. Well, that did it. My wife turned to me with tears in her eyes from the profound cuteness and said "I get it, go for it." 

Her rules were if you put something out, take your time to do it right so its not tacky. The other "rule" we came up with is no gore or super scary items that would go beyond what you would find in a Disney park. This has kept the neighbors very happy and supportive. (note, I enjoy a good gory scare as much as anyone but for us it was not appropriate for our street)

Next year, grave digger and his dog (took a week to get the fur off of my hands from that guy), Then came the casket with moving lid that held a video projector and random projections I could find. Then we did the magic mirror and man, that really was fun. First year a kid had to run back to his car, grab a stuffed bunny and then bring it back to the mirror to show him is new toy, kid spent a full 20 minutes talking to the digital puppet.

2013 found us taking the next leap to video/light control and creation of our show. We hit the storage limit for static props so it was time to amp up our lights/video and music. It is very basic compared to what is on this forum but got rave reviews and I think was a pretty good effort for the first attempt. Of course when I got into it we had to build a huge crypt with drop down door to hid a pirate canon, 2nd elevated stage/pier to hold 2nd pirate canon, scrim screen to hid the skele until that part of the show etc. We put about over 200 hours and ~$2k into the basic upgrade. It was a massive amount of time, money and effort but in the end has been worth it. Hopefully, now that we have the framework of computer, controllers, lights etc in place future additions will be less $$ and time.

Here is a crude video of our show and below are some pics as well.






005_zpsef473e97.jpg Photo by beaverstaterich | Photobucket

july2013126_zps0810f932.jpg Photo by beaverstaterich | Photobucket

july2013107_zps1a071e97.jpg Photo by beaverstaterich | Photobucket


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## beaver state rich (Jan 25, 2014)

Sigh, photobucket links didn't work. Here are the photos of our display again.

http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz354/beaverstaterich/005_zpsef473e97.jpg

http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz354/beaverstaterich/004_zps9094d13e.jpg

http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz354/beaverstaterich/july2013107_zps1a071e97.jpg

http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz354/beaverstaterich/july2013130_zps5308a4e9.jpg


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## Copchick (Apr 10, 2012)

"It started with one skull I got a 15 years ago..." It always starts with just one skull.  Welcome!


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

Love your use of light and color! The story of the little boy and the ghost is priceless!


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

Wow! Quite the display. Nice work!
Welcome to Haunt Forum!


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:Welcome to the forum BSR! I love your whole story about getting into haunting and the part about the little boy worried about your FCG! I am so glad you're here and I honestly can't wait to see what you and your wife will do in 2014! You will be overcome with genius ideas here. (Oh yes you WILL!) And you'll be infected even further with the NEED TO HAUNT! You're doing great things my friend, great things. (Oops! Did I say Wecome??)


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## Goblin (Jun 3, 2009)




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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

Nice job with your haunt. Welcome to the forum!


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## SPOOKY J (Nov 20, 2009)

Hello and Welcome!


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## Evil Queen (Mar 8, 2008)




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## stick (Jan 21, 2009)

Hello and welcome and great job on you haunt it looks great.


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## Haunt2530 (Jan 29, 2013)

Great job with the haunt. Welcome!


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## creeperguardian (Nov 6, 2012)

WELCOME may your stay be frightfully great.


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## MapThePlanet (Nov 12, 2010)

Welcome Aboard! Looks great!!


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## beaver state rich (Jan 25, 2014)

Thanks for the warm response. I have to give you guys credit on the cool welcome cards!

I know I'm not alone when I look at the calendar and worry that I only have 8 more months to get 2014 done before it goes live Oct 5th this year! I really need to start thinking about the year after the current one to do this right!


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## Troll Wizard (May 3, 2012)

_*Hey....another Beaver Fan!!!! I live in Salem, and grew up in Albany. Welcome to the forum! I really think you've chosen the best forum going on the web, and you will really like the people here. I've made a lot of really great friends here and I know over time you will too! One last thing........

GO BEAV'S!!!!!

*_
_*








*_


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## tjc67 (Jul 28, 2013)

Welcome from Central Oregon


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## BunchOfHocusPocus (May 23, 2012)




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## The Halloween Lady (Aug 18, 2010)




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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

Hi and welcome to the forum. Nice looking haunt there.


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## beaver state rich (Jan 25, 2014)

Thanks for the replies, neat to see some local action in the valley. Just curious if you guys in Oregon are going to the convention in PDX? We have not gone yet but are thinking of going this year.


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## CreeepyCathy (Mar 28, 2009)

hey & welcome. 
great looking haunt.


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