# Observations on 2006 Halloween



## HalloweenRick (Nov 25, 2005)

Well, I got 172 kids at my yard haunt, by far the most ever. What amazes me is that I put all this work into my tombstones, making epitaphs, painting, and making a rocking tombstone, putting up lights and what STILL draws all the attention? THE FLYING CRANK GHOST! 
None of the kids in my neighboorhood wore original costumes. I must have had 12 Power Rangers (I thought that show was off the air) and several princess and countless Jack Sparrow pirates. I did acheive the "make kids cry and not go up the driveway" with 3 kids falling into that category. 
Next year-another FCG-and SMALLER tombstones! Do you have any idea how ferocious that wind was here on the East Coast!
Happy Halloween All!


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## Xpendable (Sep 19, 2006)

Haha, sounds like you had a great yard. I only had 13 kids total! Spent 2 months working on computerized lighting/music, etc. Got a lot of praise for my flying crank ghost, though.


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## slightlymad (May 25, 2006)

Our MIB got all the attention this year hell i was just happy the kids had costumes. We are really strick on the no costume no candy and last year was pretty bad


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## trishaanne (Aug 20, 2005)

We had about 225 people through the maze in the backyard....less than last year but better than nothing. Especially since it blew down AGAIN today and had to be reset....AGAIN. I hear ya on the East Coast wind this year. I just cut down all the rebar and wires and ropes, etc holding the maze up so that the rebar didn't go flying into the pool in case the wind picks back up. I also hear ya on the tombstones, noone really took the time to read them but I'll still do them because I like the way they make the yard look. I think the township was holding some sort of event for the kids tonight to keep them "safe" and all in one place, which cut down on our numbers, but still happy with the performance. So far I've found tons of candy that was dropped in the maze by kids that got scared...I know that makes me sound evil but that means my actors were doing their jobs! 

I hope everyone had a successful haunt. You should all go get some rest..we all deserve it.


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

We had 80 TOTs this year, which is just about double last year's haul! The treat bags were a smash and the Skeleton Comedy Club rocked everyone's socks. Hell, there were even a few kids that refused to go inside and a few that freaked out when the deer started laughing.

Best year ever. And now, most of my yard is already torn down. I gotta give big thanks to my help this year, my wife and her family are the greatest!


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## Dr Morbius (Sep 21, 2004)

I've had 500 TOTS!!!! And they are STILL coming as of this writing... Hangman getting most of the praise this year. I had to go to Dollar store and get more candy.I won't be able to tear down until 10:00 tonight, I think. Glad to hear your haunts were successful!


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

This is the first I've sat down since 8:30 this morning! Rained until 4:30 p.m. but I had set most everything up in the garage and under the covered patio. Almost gave up on the castle wall across the drive but my son, a friend and myself got it up and it looked great! The rain kept me from putting out some of my lighting and the breeze was a bit much to use the fogger, but by 5:00 p.m. it had started to dry out a bit and was still pretty warm. We had 520 TOTs! Steady from 6-8 p.m. A lot of little kids, and a nice mix of older kids/early teens and adults who accompanied them. By in large a very well behaved crowd and a lot of appreciative comments. Couldn't believe the folks taking pics of the scenes. Two TV crews took footage and I was interviewed by one, which aired on the 11 p.m. news.
I really thought it was going to be a horrible night due to the weather earlier
but it turned out to be almost perfect. One of the highlights was the moon right over our house at the peak of TOT hours! Doesn't get much better. Already looking forward to next year but have two days of packing up to do and then will take a break from Halloween stuff.
Hope you all had a good one!:jol:


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## slimy (Jul 12, 2006)

A news story about us ran at 6am, noon, and 5 pm. That brought in a bunch of tots. I don't know how many but at least 300. Like jdubbya, we had a VERY well behaved group. Lots of high comments. " I've never seen anything like this in my 52 years of being." ( that one was my favorite. ) I was supposed to have actors to run the big scare at the end, but they didn't get here until after 7, so I ran the big scare myself. It wasn't quite as good, but I made it work. 

All in all a GREAT night. I'm quite tired now, as I have been awake for almost 50 hours. I get to sleep until 7 tommorrow.( yippee) Then start the tearing down. 

Happy halloween to all.


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## shaunathan (Sep 18, 2005)

Per my friend ... Tina's idea, we put up a fountain on the mauseuleum. NEVERMIND the fact that perfectly chilled fog oozed near sliently from the crack in the entrance to the tomb, NEVERMIND the fog creeps at damn near EXACTLY 5 inches and below to the ground, NEVERMIND that the fog continued to creep HALF WAY accross my neighbors yard...

"HEY GUYS!! LOOK A FOUNTAIN!!! WITH REAL WATER!!! IT'S MISTING!!!"

....... -.- ........

Also Tina is dressed like Alice (from wonderland) and she's in the haunt, she's the nice person in the haunt who gives you the candy... people were SO SCARED by the time they got to her, she waves and gives a friendly "Hello!" to them and I hear shouts of "OH MY GOD IN HEAVEN!!!!!!!!" people are DEATHLY afraid of Alice. I think Mr. Carrol's works should be listed in horror if these are the responses that come from it.


This neighborhood is FAR too easily amused....


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## Dreadnight (Jul 9, 2006)

Had my first two "hit the pavement" victims tonight! Both fell over on the driveway, fortunately not on their heads. The second one went down when the mad dog came rushing out under the strobe light. What at scream!
The first - are you ready for this? - he fell over when a crash of thunder went off near him for the lightning system ????!!!!!


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## Long_Tom (Oct 7, 2006)

What a great night!

First, for once I got an absolutely perfect, calm twilight, so the fog stayed right where it was supposed to. (Around here, dusk and windy are usually synonymous, so nice break for me.)

Second, I got the full benefit of moving the graveyard to the back of the house, where it's nice and dark. (One mom actually thanked me for moving to the back it because her daughter is one of the ones who cried last year; that's the very reason I put the scary stuff in the back.) A lot of people said they were worried that I had moved, when they came to the front and the graveyard, ghosts, and flying bat were nowhere to be seen. But there was general agreement that the move was a big improvement. Everybody ooohed and aahhhed over the new lighting and fog on the graves. Lots of comments like "this is the coolest!" "this is the best house in the whole neighborhood!" "every year you set the bar higher" et cetera. Lots of appreciation for all the ghosts, especially the revamped Kmart Line ghost (which is brain-dead simple to fix up, but the effect is great).

Got a few screams with the wearable ghost puppet; one pair of teen girls actually took off running when it lunged at them. I love it when someone shrieks, then as they leave they say "Wait'll I get [Mom/Dad/my wife/etc.]!"

I didn't count ToT's, but I estimate somewhere between 100 and 200. Since I stayed in the back yard all night, I have no idea how many came to the 
"friendly front door" who were too young or too chicken to go the scary stuff in the back. I got somewhere around 100 in the back yard.

Happy Halloween, everyone!


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## jim6918 (Aug 18, 2006)

Just some observations about my display. UV LED mini spotlights sucked. Wasn't worth the expense or time. Other colors, especially the blue were great, particularly when they cast a beam across the fog. Blue and green floods looked much better this year than yellow, especially when directed to cast long shadows. New foam tombstones looked great, and I will be phasing out my old wooden ones other the next couple of years. My new 1000 watt fogger really uses the juice, even on a low setting. Had to refill it twice. The oscilliating fan I used to move the head on my witch and cauldron overheated in the first hour and had to be unplugged. I should have followed Woody's advice. First thing to be rebuilt next year. Next year I will make sure that props are secured better. I nearly lost my brand new "Spirit Ball" when a little girl pushed it off the stand onto the driveway. As I watched it drop to the cement, I am sure all of the neighbors heard my pained, "SSSSSHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!" Fortunately, the only damage is a burned out right eye, which actually makes it look a little more sinister. This is the first year I created backgroud sounds and played on two different laptops. One was for general background and included MS music and the requisite noises. I added an overtrack of wind and it came out great even if I say so myself. Second CD was for my witch and cauldron, and one track was a continous bubbling sound and the second was an assortment of witch cackles, "Double, Double," and "Here little pretty." Played both on repeat and I never had to mess with them all night. Next year I am going to try to record a more realistic bubbling pot. 
Thanks to everybody who answered all my questions, especially the stupid ones.


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## MansionHaunter (Sep 20, 2006)

Sheesh, the wind!

It's rarely ever that windy in Portland, but last night was one of the windiest nights ever. I'm thankful it didn't rain... but sheesh, did it have to be SO windy? I never did figure out whether my fog worked, since it blew away as quickly as it came out of the tube.

Lost two tombstones, lost the shade covering the streetlight, and lost a box covering one of the floodlights in the yard.

Next year I'm going to have to plan for heavy wind and rain both, I'm sure.


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## Johnny Thunder (Feb 24, 2006)

We had a ton of kids (maybe 100 or more), most if not all were in really awesome costumes and had a lot of fun. Perfect night, weather wise, although my outfit was pretty warm and I was soaked through by the end of the night. The kids and some parents seemed to really like the costumes and decorations and we got a lot of thanks and compliments. The skull whistles (thanks Vlad and Black Cat) were a huge hit too. Besides a CD that kept skipping, it was a pretty cool night.


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## NecroBones (Feb 10, 2006)

HalloweenRick said:


> Well, I got 172 kids at my yard haunt, by far the most ever. What amazes me is that I put all this work into my tombstones, making epitaphs, painting, and making a rocking tombstone, putting up lights and what STILL draws all the attention? THE FLYING CRANK GHOST!


Yeah, the items that draw the most attention are sometimes the oldest or simplest or whatever. It can be surprising. Back when I was a teen and ran my little indoor tour haunt, the thing that kept getting the most interest was the falling spider (about 12" leg-span, would fall from the ceiling on cue to land on some hapless victim). Never mind all the work that went into the levitating objects, and controlling the lighting to make the strings invisible.


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## gypsichic (Jun 6, 2006)

one observation i made was my foggers hissing makes me crazy...........lol

hate that sound 

how can i fix that?


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## MansionHaunter (Sep 20, 2006)

Might consider some kind of cover for the fogger, something that can let air through just fine but muffles the sound. Perhaps a hacked rubbermaid tub lined with foam insulation inverted and placed over the whole thing.


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## gypsichic (Jun 6, 2006)

i thought about something like that.........course a chiller would probably take care of all that ...........lol


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## Long_Tom (Oct 7, 2006)

I know, build a toe-pincher coffin out of foam board, divide it in half put the fogger in one half and the ice in the other. Close it up and voila, muffled hissing. (be sure to cut a generous inlet on the fogger side somewhere inconspicuous, otherwise the fogger will draw a vacuum and your output will suffer.)

The sound I really hate is the fogger pump whining, which means it's out of fog juice ("What, again? Already!?")


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## TipoDeemin (Oct 8, 2005)

I probably got about 70 kids this year, many of which were brought back my direction by other kids who'd already been. Lots of them were repeat visitors, though, so my number is a loose guess.

Things that made all the work worthwhile:
*Being able to set up at a slow, relaxed pace, and not rush everything like last year.
*Being told multiple times by visiting parents, "This is what Halloween _should_ be."
*Friends and family driving from across town just to bring their kids to trick or treat my house, and see my display.
*Scaring that one group of kids twice, the second time so bad they all ran backwards and broke one of my tombstones (_sooooo_ worth having to fix it).
*My sister-in-law bringing her kids over to my house for Halloween costume pictures because "the pictures turn out way better over here."

Things I will have to work on for next year:
*Something to hide that big, ugly fog chiller.
*Higher output fog machine, on which my timer will actually work!
*Motorize that dang crank ghost... How did that get lost in the shuffle again?
*Stalkaround costume. 'Nuff said.


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## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

Kids don't say trick-or-treat anymore. I even asked a group, what do you say...and they said please. At least they have manners. 

This was my first year to sit on the porch in costume and try to scare the kids and give out candy. Loved it. Now I just want to do the scaring. I need to recruit someone else to do candy hand out.

This year's pet peave: The driving parent...in the car with the window rolled down driving beside their child as they walk from house to house. Give me a break, it's not even cold here, you can't get out and walk with your child????

Overall great Halloween here.


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## Fright Yard (Jul 12, 2006)

my observations, well gluing pvc to the back of the tombstones and sliding it over rebar.............GREAT IDEA!!!!! it saved my stones from snapping in the horrible wind we had here on the 28th. The best darn idea for them.
Also blue flodd lights in the front with green or red in the back workd great, it makes the fog shine really cool. I had less kids this year, a little over a hundred this time. I got a lot of compliments. Over all another great year.


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## hidehoman (Sep 18, 2006)

No one would come to the door! Kids were screeming Trick or treat from the sidewalk. I think it was the jumping coffen corpse at the front steps. 
I live in grad student housing at USC and all of the students around me are from China and Korea. I had lots of students dropping by to take pics with the animatronic grave digger. One guy was just freaking out "You are genius auther of halloween" he was shaking when we my wife took his pic with me. I am going to be HUGE in China!


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## slightlymad (May 25, 2006)

All the attention was on the MIB (thankyou Zombie-f). Most people didnt even see it until the the lid slamed shut. We really didnt count the kids but used 23 bags of but size candy. The fog chiller worked great but does anyone know of a fogger timer combo that actually seems to work. Our scarecrow was severly damaged by the wind then vandals but thats okay cause its on video and i want revenge. Next year we need new tomb stones 2 fcg second fog chiller with atleast 1000 watt fogger. more castle wall out of wood the paper has had it. Definitly need to make better sound track and larger strobes.


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## Wyatt Furr (Jun 5, 2006)

Lots of "your house is the best","we come back every year".It especially nice to hear the compliments from the teenagers,who I believe these days its quite harder to impress.Lots of "thank you's" from parents as well.I ended up having the day off from work,it was nice not to have to rush around at the last minute.Do not know if I can pull that off next year.....


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## CRHaunting (Jul 15, 2006)

One of my neighbors who I was not previously acquanted made me a card saying "thank you for making the best haunted house in Temecula". It's going to hang on my wall all year to inspire me for next.


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## Death's Door (Mar 22, 2006)

My observations:


There were more girls dressed as pirates than boys (yes, pirates - no wenches)
Kids were very polite to me and the reaper (hubby) saying "trick or treat" and "thank you"
Would come up and ask us about some of our props
Received a cool Halloween Yankee candle from one of our neighbors thanking us for going all out with our house
Last year I went to Salem, Mass. on Halloween. Left hubby home to take care of TOTers. I only had a few decorations up last year. This year, to my surprise, some of them said to me, "Were glad you didn't go to Salem this year. We missed you." I couldn't believe they actually remembered.
90% of the TOTers that graced our door were dressed in costumes. A lot of homemade costumes this year.


[/LIST]


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## incubus0 (Oct 13, 2006)

hidehoman said:


> ...One guy was just freaking out "You are genius author of halloween"...


That is beautiful!

My set up was very very small compared to most here, but nobody in the area really does anything big like you folks, so I have a virgin audience and plenty of room to grow.

The biggest response was from the UV ghost in the window. Not a FCG, just a half skeleton wrapped in tulle and RIT soaked cheese cloth suspended from wires with a fan blowing on it, but it did look cool. There were people standing out on the driveway just staring up at it in awe.

Maybe 10% of the kids actually said Trick or Treat, 90% said thank you, so that made up for it. Some of them just stared at me like a deer in headlights, but I attribute that to the costume I was in.

The oddest part was one of the neighbor kids. He was over before Halloween to help make the ghost, carve pumpkins, I showed them my costume, and told them all the stuff I was going to set up. He was all into it, even came up with some ideas to help out, but on Halloween night, he was too scared to come to the door. I'll have to ask him what was up when they come over to help smash the pumpkins in the back woods this weekend.


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## incubus0 (Oct 13, 2006)

Adding some pics of the ghost...


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