# Nickols Manor 2009



## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

Started the setup of our yardhaunt last night. Still lots to do, but this is where we are at the moment. Ignore the sticks you see above a few stones. We were still moving them around trying to determine where we wanted to place everything. I'll post more pictures as we move along.


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

And a few more pictures:


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## saint paul mn (Jun 6, 2009)

looks really good. I like the blend of blue and red. Great props too. Good luck this season!


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## nixie (Sep 17, 2008)

Very, very, creepy! Looks great!


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## SecondNightmare (Sep 8, 2009)

Awesome! Love the lighting and that cool pumpkin-headed scarecrow!


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## halloween71 (Aug 9, 2007)

Great looking ts-props and love the lightining.How many lights did you use?Leds?size?


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Hey, isn't there supposed to be a knife-wielding scary grasshopper prop in there somewhere?


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## DoctorShadow (Sep 18, 2008)

Very Nice! Love the lighting!


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## The Bloodshed Brothers (Jan 25, 2009)

love how its just blue and red


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Looks good and creepy. Nice work with the lights.


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

Ok, here is an update. I just couldn't stand the heads on two of the zombie creatures, and I don't have enough time to build two more large paper mache pumpkins, so I broke down and got two foam craft pumpkins on sale for 60% off at Micheal's. Carved the faces and put them up for tonight. I will take them down tomorrow to do a proper corpseing of the heads! 
(Side note: How can you get any work done when people stop to talk every 5 minutes? J/K! I love it when people stop to talk! I swear I meet more neighbors this way every year.)










This is Emmit...










...and this is Edward.



halloween71 said:


> Great looking ts-props and love the lightining.How many lights did you use?Leds?size?


Although the Grand Plan this year was a switch to LED lights, it just never seemed to happen. It's been regulated to next year's build list. I have used two 85 watt red floodlights on each side of the house, and six 85 watt blue spotlights on the cemetery. I do have a couple of hand built white LED pinspots I put on our cemetery and Nickols Manor sign, but that's it. We tried not to go over board on the light. We wanted a few dark spots to add to the mystery and enhance the creep factor.



RoxyBlue said:


> Hey, isn't there supposed to be a knife-wielding scary grasshopper prop in there somewhere?


Nothing gets by you Roxy! I'm flattered you remembered him! Dixie's Googlie Grasshopper is right here under our cemetery sign:










Plus, here is his bestest pal MangleHeart Bear:










Thanks for all of the positive comments everyone!


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

I named this little guy Sam, because he reminds me of Uncle Sam.

He wants YOU!


















The guy above will be Jack. Our 10ft tall Pumpkin Reaper. I have to rebuild him every year because he is too big and I don't have the storage space. Hopefully I will have most of him "fleshed" out tomorrow.










This is Dixie's Annabel Lee tombstone with my animated peeper poking his head above the top.










Can you tell which actor Dixie oohs and aahs over? I just don't get it.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

Looking really great Jaybo! Did you make that pumpkin head in the first set of pictures? Is he a paper mache?


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

scareme said:


> Looking really great Jaybo! Did you make that pumpkin head in the first set of pictures? Is he a paper mache?


No, that first set of pictures is just a mask I put on a wig head and threw out in the yard. I forgot to take pictures of the pumpkin heads we made and have been kicking myself ever since. That was months of work, and I have nothing but the image in my head. Oh what an image! 

I think there is a lesson in this somewhere, but heck if I know what it is.


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## madmomma (Jul 1, 2009)

Cool yard! Love the tombstones and skellies. Very creepy...


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## halloween71 (Aug 9, 2007)

I liked your zombies before-but wow the new head looks great!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I can believe people keep stopping to talk to you - the yard looks great!


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## JohnnyAppleseed (Apr 8, 2009)

Great job Jaybo, must have been hard for you to get all of this done with Dixie holding you back with trips and such! lol


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## Dixie (Feb 18, 2009)

PFFFFFFFFFFFFT JA, hahaha. The trips wouldn't be holding him back if he worked from January til September.... every night..... every weekend.... like he SHOULD.... HAHAHA.

And yes, thank you Roxy for remembering my poor little grasshopper (that demonic piece of bug-ness) I tried to hide him in the back behind a tombstone, but Jaybo wouldnt have it. Its right next to my papier mache dog-cat-Chihuahua-gargoyle. (hahaha)


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## Anitafacelift (Jul 22, 2009)

Very nice,.the lighting looks terrific. I've never used blue and red,..I like the look. Very dark and creepy,.nice props,.too!!


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Looks great! Ya'll have done a wonderful job so far.

Are those Joker inspired led tea light -n- pool noodle candles I see?


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## Dixie (Feb 18, 2009)

joker said:


> Are those Joker inspired led tea light -n- pool noodle candles I see?


Joker, I TOLD you he was going to JUMP on that idea, and boy did he EVER! We did have to stake them down onto the graves though, they were blowing over in the wind.... so we just took wooden skewers and poked them through, and they havent moved a bit since. If I decide to put the candles on different graves next year, I can just putty over the tiny hole, if I even need to do that...

I ADORE the pool noodle look... seeing the flame through the candle instead of just poking out the top - you ROCK my friend! 

PS Jaybo........ if you don't like me making tombstones with Orlando Bloom-ish names, you can always suggest names you want......... I know, I know.... Catherine Zeta-Jones. Hahahaha.


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## scourge999 (May 4, 2008)

Wow. Just amazing! Tombstones, sign, scarecrows, zombies, grasshoppers and bears, awesome. The placement of everything looks perfect. I too love the colors. Outstanding job, I am in awe.


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## IMU (Apr 8, 2009)

HEY ... setup is looking GREAT!


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Dixie said:


> Joker, I TOLD you he was going to JUMP on that idea, and boy did he EVER! We did have to stake them down onto the graves though, they were blowing over in the wind.... so we just took wooden skewers and poked them through, and they havent moved a bit since. If I decide to put the candles on different graves next year, I can just putty over the tiny hole, if I even need to do that...
> 
> I ADORE the pool noodle look... seeing the flame through the candle instead of just poking out the top - you ROCK my friend!
> 
> PS Jaybo........ if you don't like me making tombstones with Orlando Bloom-ish names, you can always suggest names you want......... I know, I know.... Catherine Zeta-Jones. Hahahaha.


Cemetery looks great!! Glad I could contribute

So you skewered them to the stones? Couldn't you have used the same skewer and just poked them into the ground or did you completely hollow out the noodle?


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

joker said:


> Cemetery looks great!! Glad I could contribute
> 
> So you skewered them to the stones? Couldn't you have used the same skewer and just poked them into the ground or did you completely hollow out the noodle?


We wanted the candles sitting on the base of the stone, so we skewered through the foam insulation. We didn't even paint the pool noodles, so they don't look very realistic during the daylight, but at night they trump the PVC candles whole heartily! I need to get out there and run some beads of caulk down the side for the melted wax look. I'm afraid hot glue might melt the pool noodle too much. I'll play around with both and see what happens.


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

Sometimes I reallllllllllly hate rain. I started working on Jack, our 10ft tall Pumpkin Reaper, last night. He is so large I have to build him in the yard. So, I got the frame setup like I wanted, got all of the chicken wire on the frame, then placed the sheets of burlap on the frame and wired them in place. I was going to start the Monster Mud process last night, but the light on my halogen spotlight burned out and I couldn't work in the dark. Thank goodness I didn't mud!

Woke up this morning to a torrential downpour. It has not let up all day. Now I have a half complete prop sitting in the rain waiting for it's mud bath. I'm running out of time! LOL! After he gets mudded, I will need several days for him to fully dry. Then I will have to paint and seal him. I hope this rain moves on soon.


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## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

The set up is looking great. It is nice to see all the individual items we've seen come together. 

I here you about the rain...enough already.


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## Lovedove (Oct 20, 2009)

Your lighting is great ,something I havent quite got down yet.


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## Shaka (Jul 29, 2009)

Cool lighting. I like the house in red and the cemetary in blue.....very creepy.


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

Looks fantastic. I love all of the markers.

I am going with blue this year too.


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## steveshauntedyard (Nov 16, 2008)

Jaybo/Dixie I love all of it. Looking great. The placement of everything looks fantastic. Your lighting is freaking awesome. The rain is killing me here in Austin as well. My paper meche rocks are toast.....soggy toast. Going to redo them with fiberglass for next year.


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

If the rain doesn't let up, we will be changing our theme to 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea! Guest starring the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Cthulhu. Luckily, there is a break in the rain tonight. I will be rolling around in Monster Mud and real mud tonight!


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## Lady Nyxie (Aug 30, 2006)

Very nice. Great job on the lighting.


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## madmomma (Jul 1, 2009)

Had to revisit and check out your tombstones again...great ideas for next year as some of mine are taking a beating with the wind and rain! Yours look much more stable...cool epitaphs!


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

madmomma said:


> Had to revisit and check out your tombstones again...great ideas for next year as some of mine are taking a beating with the wind and rain! Yours look much more stable...cool epitaphs!


Well, if your interested here is a link to my photobucket album:

Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket

It has better quality images and will be updated soon with more pictures.


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## Wildcat (Nov 3, 2007)

Looks awesome. I love the scarecrow in pics 4&5.


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

Click the thumbnail below to see a slide show of our yard haunt for 2009:

Halloween 2009 Setup :: Halloween 2009 slideshow by jaybo2099 - Photobucket

Here are a few select shots of our big night:


































Perfect weather! Perfect TOTs! Perfect fog! Perfect night!


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)




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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

We had fog covering the entire neighborhood. All from one 700watt fogger, a chiller, and 30ft of irrigation pipe to distribute the fog.


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## MooreEnt24 (Jan 17, 2009)

Looks awesome!


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## Joiseygal (Sep 3, 2008)

Wow your display is so cool. You took some really great pictures. I love your ground breaker and pumpkin. Your lighting is really good also.


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## Dixie (Feb 18, 2009)

Hahaha, I think its kind of ironic that I come to HauntForum the morning after to see the pictures of my own haunt from the night before, LOL.

After a month of rain, I can honestly say that last night was perfect weather-wise.... not cold or hot, little wind, and not even a chance of rain. I am very appreciative!


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

If was beautiful weather for a haunt last night. Yours looked great. Loved the lighting and the layout.


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## Tyler (Jul 17, 2008)

Awesome!! I love your lighting!


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## Johnny Thunder (Feb 24, 2006)

Fangtastic


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## IMU (Apr 8, 2009)

Everything looks great, what a wonderful display!


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

A few more pictures from the big night. Just now starting to recover from the weekend!


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Love em. Great pics. Ya'll do an outstanding job. And somehow manage to keep that blog going as well. Glad I got to see Scarebear and Hopper in there.


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## Ghoul Friday (Oct 6, 2007)

RoxyBlue said:


> Hey, isn't there supposed to be a knife-wielding scary grasshopper prop in there somewhere?


He made it in there Rox! I've seen the pics 

As others have said, the choices for lighting worked SO well.


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## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

Looks great you guys! Awesome work.


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## mixman (Oct 1, 2008)

Wow!! Everything looks great. Your tombstones look fantastic. A lot of commenters have used the word "creepy" in describing your haunt. I fully concur. Great photography too.


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## smileyface4u23 (Apr 1, 2008)

Jaybo said:


> We had fog covering the entire neighborhood. All from one 700watt fogger, a chiller, and 30ft of irrigation pipe to distribute the fog.


I love this picture. I love your haunt - you've got awesome props/lighting, etc. All of your photos are really fantastic, but this one is just beautiful.


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

Fantastic. Everything looks great.


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## STOLLOWEEN (Apr 13, 2008)

Fantastic lighting and photos...it was a thrill to see you create all the props this past season....keep building!


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

Thanks everyone! We really appreciate all the nice comments! 

Scott, we can't stop building now....it's a sickness! I don't think we will ever get the garage back to normal.


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

Great job all around, love the scarecrow guy.


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

I really like this, especially the lighting.


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

Jaybo and Dixie, thats a f'n sweet haunt! I love the grasshopper and the scare bear and the tombstones are spot on perfect and the corpse coming out he grave looks so wet n sticky sick!!! I live the pumpkin fiends running around and the zombie. Very, very cool!!! and that skeleton face dude with the big hands, a real creep!


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## dynoflyer (Oct 8, 2006)

Love the lighting and that pumpkin scarecrow is awesome!


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