Monday, December 18, 2023

Haunt Retrospective

The Retrospective Gallery post.

Had fun posting these to Instagram and wanted to have them all in one place on the blog.  Prior to the first display photo below from 1986, we did random things like stuffed dummies or rubber masks hanging in the tree.  1986 was an important year as it established that the lawn would always be some kind of cemetery.  And it featured a prop centerpiece (a focal point), which would become a general theme in the coming decades.  The Ghost standing in the cemetery had a flashing strobe light in its head, and even now after all these years I love the vibe in that photo.  It really captures what I love about Halloween.  The macabre absurdity of it all.  Creating some strange little world on a small lawn of a brick house in a strip of rowhomes in suburbia.  Trying to make the ordinary (and life) spooky... and making it a little mysterious too.  



















































10 comments:

Scarecrow Atelier said...

Everything at a glance, I really like that. You can see the development up until today so wonderfully. My God what a legacy. I always browse through your galleries of annual exhibitions. Stay with individual photos, enlarge them to capture all the details or to understand why this or that was placed there. It just never gets boring. You could start a survey at some point. What is your favorite haunt and what is your favorite creature. You'll get my answer right away. My favorite creature is definitely the Strawman. And my favorite haunt is from 2017. The Twig Witches. So much atmosphere, so beautifully organic and so wonderfully vintage. So, I'll go and study some more photos, haha.

Rot said...

Thanks! I really appreciate you sharing that.
So glad the Strawman is your fave. I saw him this morning when I was down in the basement. haha

Jenna said...

Love seeing these all in one place. Shows your clear vision and voice from the start of your haunting days <3

Rot said...

Thanks🖤
This was really fun looking back and thinking about the journey. Looking forward to future Haunts for sure!

Revenant Manor said...

It was enjoyable following along, and it's equally enjoyable seeing it all compiled here like this...I got a kick out of seeing which single photo was selected to represent each year, and thought it was a total blast to see the evolution on rewind.

On another level, it was just plain fun to kind of go back in time.

Personally, I have practically nothing in the way of photos from before the digital era, and just generally love seeing imagery from that period in home haunting. To me, the era-specific look of the photography is pretty nostalgic all by itself, never mind the super cool subject matter. :)

Rot said...

Thanks, RM!
My dad mentioned that he found some more old photos from Halloweens past, so I will hopefully have some more to post. Funny how I went from hating those old things to really appreciating them.

MR. Macabre said...

Apparently, some things do get better with age.

Rot said...

Haha thanks!

K.O. said...

This is just the BEST. It's so cool to see the evolution over the years. So much creative innovation throughout the years! Brilliant idea to do a retrospective.

Rot said...

Aw, thanks, K.O.!!