# 2013 haunt cursed



## MR David Person (Sep 30, 2013)

Ok I admit I don't know where to post this so please forgive me if its the wrong place. Anyway this years haunt was cursed first are sound system stopped working then some punk kids decided to throw rocks at us because they were mad because we scared them, go figure and the connection to my fog chiller broke also. anyone else think 2013 is cursed ?

again sorry if this is the wrong place to post such things
I just had to rant about this to get it off my chest.


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## loner (Oct 30, 2012)

I think it was cursed too. first the controller on obe fog machine broke had to swap it to a remote switch which I am no a fan of. Then the crank ghost motor packed it in. After that the anxworthy(unsure it that is spelt Wright) ghost came off the pulley and got all tangled. The vortex tunnel broke twice first just a tube next the motor packed it in . And for the first time I was given grief for scaring someone's kid. And considering we had good weather are kid count was way down.


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## Georgeb68 (Mar 26, 2013)

Just the fact that the last 3 years have had crap weather!.....I also broke a prop when trying to secure it......but overall went well for 2 hours.....I did have the police come by because the fog was so thick.....thanks 10-31 store!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

The only curse we had was a little rain. Other than that, it was a great holiday for us.


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## niblique71 (Dec 2, 2009)

Yea this year was kinda cursed. My haunt was successful just from sheer determination and willpower. It seemed that everything I tried to do was an uphill battle all season. Stupid things would go wrong every day. EG, I painted a panel last week and no sooner did I finish and a gust of wind blew 200 leaves off the roof onto the wet paint. I also couldn't hit a garbage can to save my life and when I did to object would jump right out as if a demon was rejecting a basketball shot. And this morning I woke up to total destruction, Apparently a wind storm came through and blew my EZ-Up canopy's All over, ruining several foam panels that I was going to re-enforce after teardown. It also blew all of the rain protection off of my electronics which I just now got dried off enough to get working. Hopefully our party tomorrow night goes well. Sheesh.. and I thought the weather was going to be good this year.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

I don't know to was so much cursed, as poor time management on my part. We do a put up and tear down on the same day. I thought it would take me an hour, maybe two at the most to put out 221 pumpkins. It took me 30 minutes to do just one fence panel. I worked for two hours alone, then my husband got home from work, (thankfully, he got off at 11:00 yesterday) and we still put in another three hours. I was so tired and worked up at that point I had a really bad asthma attack. I really thought I would end up in the ER and miss Halloween this year. Thankfully we got it under control, and I was able to rest for a couple of hours before tot time. The night ended up great, but I was pretty scared there for awhile.


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

We got rained on, but kept going even with the rain. Had 4 of our 5 foggers crap out last night. 1 Chauvet, 2 Halloween store foggers, and one of the old large casing Wal-mart foggers. However, our little 400W we bought on 50% off last year held up to it like a champ.


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## autumnghost (Sep 12, 2009)

Cursed. Yep. That pretty much sums it up. The bush jumper werewolf wouldn't jump. The projection/animation for the side of the house had to go in the carport because of the weather. We blew one of the circuits on the main board that controls half the haunt. The wind scattered my tombstones all over the yard. And then the rain hit. UGH! Everything's in drying out mode right now. 

ToTs still loved it so that's a plus. And next year Halloween's on a FRIDAY. yay!


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## MR David Person (Sep 30, 2013)

autumnghost said:


> Cursed. Yep. That pretty much sums it up. The bush jumper werewolf wouldn't jump. The projection/animation for the side of the house had to go in the carport because of the weather. We blew one of the circuits on the main board that controls half the haunt. The wind scattered my tombstones all over the yard. And then the rain hit. UGH! Everything's in drying out mode right now.
> 
> ToTs still loved it so that's a plus. And next year Halloween's on a FRIDAY. yay!


Wow its on a Friday next year I did not realize that till I saw your post,
its going to be something next year.


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## MapThePlanet (Nov 12, 2010)

not sure I'd go as far as cursed, but we did have some bad luck. Mother Nature wreaked havoc on us. Water was on, over or in everything. Jacob's ladder wouldn't work correctly, blew through the connection leads (nothing like a sparking wires of death!!). Batteries seemed to go dead in half the time as usual. Forgot to buy ice for fog chillers, with all the moisture, the GFIC's kept popping off (which i suppose was a good thing), timers for foggers didn't want to act right....Hmmm, maybe is was cursed!!


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

2013 sucked hard. I really thought about selling and stuff. We had about 12, and I give away free toys and stuff with the candy. Rain + school night is not great odds. There ought to be some way to promote better but mine is just a static display with a game or two, so IDK what'd be appropriate.

The one redeeming thing is that a family of mummies returned this year and told me they skipped a Halloween party in order to come. They didn't want to miss the Witch Hunter's Barn. Were it not for that I'd be a bit more drunk right now and probably selling everything. Post-Halloween funk is bad enough, but when nobody comes? Ugh.


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## mikeythemars (May 10, 2008)

Not to frighten anyone in the northeast, but for what it's worth the Farmers Almanac is projecting the weather to be very iffy on Halloween this year in our corner of the country. The word they are using is "stormy."

That's depressing, given what we've been through in the last three years:

I'm north of NYC; last year, it started abruptly sprinkling 2/3 of the way through our normal haunt hours, quickly turning into steady rain which drove all the TOTs away and forced us to do a very rushed early closing. And a lot of subsequent prop repair.

And 2013 followed two prior complete washouts: heavy, wet snow fell in my area on 10/30/12, bringing tree limbs down, knocking out power and hence completely killing Halloween that year (some local haunters actually stated they were going to try and open using generators, but the authorities made announcements that road conditions were too hazardous to allow TOT).

And in 2011, the back end of Hurricane Sandy came through my area (on the same date as the 2013 snow) and knocked out all the power across the entire county. Given those emergency conditions, no one even had to ask if Halloween was DOA.

Curses are supposed to come in groups of three, so hopefully the Farmer's Almanac is wrong. And I _mean_ hope. Their batting average is actually a _lot_ better then just random guessing; analysis at several universities has shown their general forecasts are actually correct about 80% of the time.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

Wow! Looking back over this it looks like 2013 really was cursed. Anyone know any good luck charms or dances for this year? It's never too early to start trying to come up with some good mojo. I worry if the east coast has another year like the last couple we are going to have haunters digging up their cemeteries for good. Hang on folks!


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

scareme said:


> Wow! Looking back over this it looks like 2013 really was cursed. Anyone know any good luck charms or dances for this year? It's never too early to start trying to come up with some good mojo. I worry if the east coast has another year last the last couple we are going to have haunters digging up their cemeteries for good. Hang on folks!


Funny you mention this. I wondered the same thing. Thinking how bad it would have to be for how many years before I decided to pack it in and not do anything anymore. The last two years were wet, cold and windy, but we still had a good turnout and a lot of fun. The hard part was putting so much work into the haunt set-up and then having it be crappy weather. In the back of my mind, I know that the year I didn't do a display, it would be picture perfect, so I hang in there hoping for the best, or at least a break for just two hours on that one night of the year. If anything, the last two years have made me re-think some things and come up with alternate plans should the weather be bad. I guess just think positive, hope for the best and plan for the worst.:jol:


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## scarycher (Aug 4, 2014)

Had great weather here, and my neighbors said there were 300+ TOTs. I wouldn't know because I was told on 10-25-13 that I had to work!! for the first time ever I lived in a city neighborhood were there were more than 10 kids and I had to work..boohoo, now I'm depressed all over again! need tissue now, good luck this year every one. Bye


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## mikeythemars (May 10, 2008)

Latest long range (read: speculative based on historic averages) forecast for 10/31 my area in the northeast (north of NYC) on Accuweather is actually looking decent: during the day sunny in the mid 60s, overnight clear with low in mid 40s. That forecast hasn't really changed in the last week, hopefully it will hold. :jol:


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

Ha! We had a great opening night party, the light show in full swing, it was great. There was no sign of rain for days so I left my light show controller outside. Somehow my husband accidentally set the sprinkler system to turn on early that morning. Needless to say, electronics were cooked. Fried. I have a great friend who lent me another Arduino. Halloween night went fairly well until the condensation started a "mild" short in our electronics. We limped along until 10PM when I pulled the plug on Halloween. This year I've ordered a ton more wire and am bringing the project box in the house, out of the elements. Cursed? No. Ignorant, yes.


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## mikeythemars (May 10, 2008)

*The wet weather has to stop*

Last year it did start sprinkling about 8:15, which is right around when the crowds at my haunt start normally to wind down. That meant it was t*he fourth year in a row* we have had precipitation on Halloween. 

I am hoping we finaly get a break this year.


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## mikeythemars (May 10, 2008)

MR David Person said:


> Wow its on a Friday next year I did not realize that till I saw your post,
> its going to be something next year.


It wasn't in mine, 2014 was relativey slow and I anticipated that and expect the same thing this year.

Why? Well, your area may be different, but in my town the slowest Halloweens are those that fall on Fridays or Saturdays. Lots of families decide to have parties if the holiday falls on a weekend and that really puts a dent in TOT traffic. I get the biggest crowds when Halloween falls between Monday and Thursday. While Sundays aren't quite as bad as Fridays or Saturdays, they are still slower than the weeknights I mentioned. The only benefit I get out of this weekend "slowdown" is more time to setup when the holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday.


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