# Yard haunts



## hauntedyard (Oct 9, 2005)

For those that have large displays, when do you set them up?
How do you protect them from Theft?
What about motorized items and the weather?

I have a small haunt that I start around 6 or 7 am getting the stuff out and getting set up. I'll finish just before the TOT's show up and then at 8 pm I tear it down, pack it up and store it. this year I finished by midnight.
In past years I put out the homemade headstones and stuff that if they disappeared I wasn't really out of any money...just my time.
I'd love to leave some stuff out before Halloween just to add to the excitement of the night to come.
If it wasn't for me stumbling onto ScareFX.com I would still be trying to figure out to build my witch. Scary Terry for other information and useful info on using wiper motors.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated

Thanks
Tim


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

I put stuff out the weekend before, and the day of. typically I get out whatever I can on the weekend before and electrical / weather sensitive stuff out the day of. This year I used someone's suggestion and placed one of a flood light motion sensor I had rigged for a prop out in the corner of the yard facing the cemetary and it was hooked to a tape deck in my bedroom that was on "play" so if anyone walked into the yard it would play music. Thankfully I didn't need it this year.


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## Hauntiholik (May 17, 2006)

I have the same set up time. It all goes up and comes down on Halloween.



hauntedyard said:


> For those that have large displays, when do you set them up?


Setting up question:
http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=5802



hauntedyard said:


> How do you protect them from Theft?


Security:
http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=8156

I don't know about weather proofing the props because I run out and take them in if it starts to rain or snow on Halloween night.


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

I live in a very good neighborhood. I had one plastic skeleton get pilfered one year, but aside from that, my stuff has been left alone.

I set up the graveyard and do most of the decorations on my house at the beginning of October. Anything that is weather sensitive (electronics that aren't sealed water tight) or very expensive comes out as soon as I'm sure the weather will be nice with no rain leading up to Halloween. I always take the week around Halloween off from work so I can stay home and watch my stuff.


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## edwood saucer (Aug 21, 2006)

Same as Haunti.... Takes 6 hours to set up and 1.5 to take down. It's up for about 4-5 hours. All on Halloween. We live in a decent neighborhood - I just don't want to press my luck.


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## widowsbluff (May 24, 2006)

We put out stuff each weekend in October, but it all comes down about 10 p.m. Halloween night. We have only had two skulls walk off over the last four years.


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## dave the dead (Jan 31, 2007)

My display was up all month. I had no concern of theft or vandalism, and will continue this way until proven wrong. I am terribly sorry for anyone's loss, and certainly understand the time, effort, and monetary value involved with everything about this hobby. But I have chosen, at this point, to believe that there is still good in people and will not let fear of becoming a victim hold me hostage. I build props for my own sanity, and display them to share this with whoever wishes to take a moment out of their life to pretend, to remember their childhood, and to share a belief that there is value in the make-believe. My whole effort his year was for one purpose...to build excitement in the holiday and to attract more kids (and parents) up to my end of the street. To put my display under surveillance, or to wait until the last minute to set it up only to hoard it away under the belief that it will be stolen from me seems pointless. If I were to allow this fear to bother me, then I believe there is no point in setting up a display at all. 

Any motorized or pneumatic props that I set out are either designed to be weather resistant, or are placed in such a manner that weather is not an issue.


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## hauntedyard (Oct 9, 2005)

Thanks for your responses and the links to previous thread on my subject matter... quite interesting

Thanks

tim


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

You've got mail, dave.

I had a more involved post but decided to send it PM instead.

For this post, suffice it to say that we all live in different neighborhoods and they require different ways of doing things.


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## landyachtz (Nov 4, 2007)

Display goes out and away on Halloween. Just can't trust people. Too much hard work to risk some jerk wrecking or taking it. Left beat up wooden fence out one Halloween night and part of it got broken up.

We do always put some stuff out each night though the week before just for test drive and to tease the neighbours.


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## BudMan (Mar 6, 2007)

I put out the tombstones about 2 weeks before and started putting out the big stuff the weekend prior to Halloween and took the big stuff in each night. Damned if they didn't take two tombstones and an arm sticking out of the ground the first night after I (thank God) put the big stuff away. It was only about $10 worth of stuff and I had extra stones in the backyard, but that's not the point! Next year I will have the cemetery fence up and motion lights and hopefully a surveillance system running. Oh yeah, and a new tombstone for the jerk who stole my sh#$!!!!!!


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## dave the dead (Jan 31, 2007)

Revenant said:


> You've got mail, dave.
> 
> I had a more involved post but decided to send it PM instead.
> 
> For this post, suffice it to say that we all live in different neighborhoods and they require different ways of doing things.


Thank you Revenant. Great response in that PM. 
You are most certainly right that we all live in different neighborhoods that require different ways of doing things. 
I am sorry if the tone of my previous post offended anyone. That was not my intent.


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## mikeq91 (Jul 19, 2005)

actually this is basically the reason I didn't do a display this year. Since I didn't do it at my own house last year, I couldn't keep stuff out of the rain, so a lot of it got soaked. Plus I would constantly be worying about people messing with my stuff. I don't get many ToT's, so I just didn't think it was worth all the risk. Plus I still get to go see Zombie's haunt every year!


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

I was a victim of a theft of a large prop one year so I set up the day of and take it down that night. I don't think people would bother taking the home made tombstones but they would take Bucky's and stuff like that.


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## slightlymad (May 25, 2006)

Untill this year everything went out the day of and came in before the end of the night. However, this year with a new job and no ability to take time off things were set up slowly over the whole month with the critical stuff going out last. Unfortunately this made our display smaller than usual. But we ware glad to say that nothing was damaged, stolen or even bothered. This held true for the whole month and until the weekend after.


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

I wonder if making things heavier would help? Just in terms of making them more inconvenient. I kicked around the idea of casting tombstones in actual concrete instead of foam... it would certainly keep them from blowing away (if you've got winds capable of carrying off a real tombstone I think the display is the least of your worries). Be a nice surprise for the punk who tries to kick one over too. The next day just look for the kid walking down the street with the cast on his foot! :devil: Have the zombies stuffed with sandbags instead of rags, etc... I mean if destruction and theft is what they really want, you cant stop them (with anything short of electric fence and landmines... Lord lead me not into temptation), but it could discourage the casual smash and/or-grab.

I wonder if the cemetery fence helps keep people out or if that's the first thing to go?


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## dave the dead (Jan 31, 2007)

Man o Man! I really hate hearing so many discouraging experiences. I am sure if I had this happen to me I would change my mind quickly.  

On Halloween night, I had a group of people come up and ask a bunch of questions about my yard. They asked how long it took for me to set it up, which made me know they were not from my immediate neighborhood. When I told them I had been working on it all month, they were very surprised that nothing had been stolen. I replied that I have some great neighbors, and thinking back and reading this thread I begin to realize how fortunate I have been. 

A few years ago I had two cars vandalized by a group of teens hitting stones in the street with a baseball bat( with my yard as the outfield). My cars were a mess, and since I was not able to prove what had happened and who had done it there was nothing I could do but turn it in to the insurance. It was thoughtless of them to do this, and it took me a long time to get over it and start trusting the neighborhood again. I am glad to say that I have re-gained the trust, and this year fortified that trust. I hope that I am able to maintain that trust and continue to wow the neighbors with my obsession each year without worrying about what might be happening to my props while I am away or asleep.


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## hauntedyard (Oct 9, 2005)

That's great that you have trust worthy neighbors, I do too but also have the scum of the earth that wander thru the neighborhood as well. Recently the clowns were slashing peoples inflatables late at night. So I love doing what I do I just wish I could trust more people other than sitting up all night with a shotgun ... I have stray attack cats on the property, but they only defend against other stray's 

Tim


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## CreepyCanmore (Mar 27, 2007)

Due to new house/child/job this year I only got stuff out last minute, but I plan to put up at least the graveyard two weeks early next year with a faux fence to deter people (however mildly) from walking into it. I will put out my home made props but will likely put out the buckies and such on the day of. However, I live in a good neighborhood and town so I don't expect any issues.


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## Kaeleb (Oct 9, 2006)

I take the day off work and start setting up early in the morning. It takes about 6-7 hours as there is a lot of lighting and such. Then I tear down about 9PM. Just toss everything into the garage. Then I spend the next few days organizing and storing for the next year.

~K


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