Gas

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Pinhole Spirits

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Green And Orange

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Pointy Eyes

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Witch Jars

Made a trip to Michael's today. Nothing new in the Halloween aisle, but an employee told us that the truck on Friday will have more seasonal decorations. Can't wait. I saw some great mason jars being sold pretty cheap on the shelves so I bought three and made witch jars for the tree branches on Halloween night. The handles are made from thin green craft wire. I painted the inside bottom of the jars black and squirt red and brown paint on the interior sides for a soiled effect.  

The Tree

For the pumpkins on the Tree were not mere pumpkins. Each had a face sliced into it. Each face was different. Every eye was a stranger eye. Every nose was a weirder nose. Every mouth smiled hideously in some new way. There must have been a thousand pumpkins on this tree, hung high and on every branch. A thousand smiles. A thousand grimaces. And twice-times-a-thousand glares and winks and blinks and leerings of freshcut eyes.
And as the boys watched, a new thing happened.
The pumpkins began to come alive.

Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree

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Calcata Halloween

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Pumpkin-Headed

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Scar Stuff And A Tube Of Blood

Remember Scar Stuff? I remember buying that stuff in grade school. A weird pink-ish wax that seemed to have cotton fibers mixed inside. You'd mold it into a long lump with a slice down the center. Then you'd fill the cut with some fake blood - a tiny tube with a thick bright red "blood" that seemed more like red Neosporin than blood. It never looked like a real scar, but when you saw that hanging in the aisle of the pharmacy, you KNEW Halloween was around the corner.

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I knew kids that swore they fooled their parents with giant gashes in their foreheads or arms, but I never really believed them. It looked too fake. But once I wrapped a rubber band around my thumb and colored the tip of my thumb with the lead of a soft pencil. It looked dark and black and blotchy. I remember acting like I felt ill and showed it to my mother - the most gullible woman on earth.

Halloween Conductivity

My good friend Jon posed an interesting question - what are the best cities and towns to live in if you love Halloween? I guess this can also be stretched to ask: what sort of community/neighborhood/environment is the most conducive to the ultimate Halloween experience as a yard haunter? 

I've lived at a few different locations in a couple of states over the years, but I've always returned to the place where I grew up - my parents' house - to set up my display. At residences elsewhere, I've always asked new neighbors what the Halloween turnout was like and they always replied "we only get a few kids." My parents live in a pretty suburban (almost urban) location. Blocks and blocks of row homes and apartment complexes. People on top of people. The community decorates like it's an orange Christmas which is really cool. Lights and decorations everywhere. And tons of kids. The downside is that we get quite a lot of older kids trying to impress their friends by being rude and disrespectful. I filter that stuff out to remain sane, and for the most part it's over quickly and it sort of becomes background noise. 

A while back I wrote about Halloween 2002, the year I didn't set up my haunt. I ended up walking around some areas to see how other people celebrate the holiday. In particular, a colonial borough. Single homes, manicured lawns, and tons of Halloween decorations. The street was blocked off and it was a quiet and magical Halloween block party. I'd be in heaven on a street like that. Not a lot of trick-or-treat traffic, but a whole lot of Halloween spirit. Here are some pics of that neighborhood in the days leading up to Halloween. They take the Holiday VERY seriously. Getting back to Jon's question, what cities or towns are the best for Halloween fanatics? I'm thinking small towns. And ones that have annual Halloween parades (the ones with children) are a good start.  

There should be an annual top-ten issued along with the lists of "Worst for Crime," "Best for Employment," "Best for Housing Prices." "Best for Halloween." Anybody have any suggestions for the best Halloween towns? Probably not a good town to live in if you're looking for a quiet little Halloween.

Flies On A Pumpkin

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Ye Olde Squashed Cemetery Pumpkin

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Haunt Theory: Point Of View

I've often said that even if I didn't get one child trick-or-treating on Halloween night, I'd still do my yard haunt. And I would.

But since I probably don't have to worry about that happening at the current suburban location of my haunt, I started to think about an aspect of my display that I've never really spoken about - it's designed for kids. Not in the dripping dried-up organs and armless zombies sort of way, but rather in the way I build the props and display them.

During the construction process of a prop, I'll find myself lowering my point of view to the height of a child to see what they'd see. I use that technique to determine the height of my props, or the tilt of a head, or the height of a reaching arm. The Hollowmen scarecrows were placed lower on their posts so a non-adult could see more details. I didn't want trick-or-treaters looking up and seeing scarecrow nostrils. The Ghost Dead were all made with height in mind. My Witches' faces are all about the height of a child, as they crouch around their fire. I think it's more intimidating and personal that way. The trick-or-treater is face-to-face with a Witch - not just looking up at one.

Nothing too severe, just a few inches to a foot on the height of a prop, or a more drastic head-tilt or positioning on a taller prop, as if it's looking down at a child rather than straight on at an adult.

So if I lived somewhere that never saw any kid-traffic on Halloween night, I'd do the same all-out haunt. It'd just be a few inches higher.

In The Corn

And don't open my pantry, Father.
I found one of them in there and locked him in.

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Night Vision

A great flickr set featuring the photographer's night shots, including these Halloween gems...

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There's A Witch At The Door

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A Face In The Dark

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Blog Tags

Added a section along the right of the blog for some blog tags: Yard Haunts, Pumpkins, Witches, Scarecrows, Artists, and Stores (store photos I've snapped).

For a quick dose of Halloween.

Old And Random

Straw Shadows

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Broken

Jaw breakers.
I remember eating these things as a kid and every adult within two miles making a contorted face and a comment about how they couldn't eat something like that. Well, now I fully understand. My teeth aren't what they used to be. I swear I felt the shockwave in my feet.


If you're at Michael's craft stores and see a pile of these babies and a few that have Halloween colors, don't fall for it.

I beat this one to death with a hammer. Many times.

Magic Fire

This would be a neat product to use around a fire pit. It'd be fun to toss it in while no one is looking.


Mystical Fire Powder

Buy it on Amazon.com

Novena Candles

For the past few years, I've used novena jar candles in my haunt. I bought two a while back, a red one and a green one. I used them next to my tombstones (you can see the green one here in the background next to the cross). Last year I stuck them next to my jack o'lanterns on the porch. The height and width of them were perfect for placement between the pumpkins. The price is even better - novena candles are dirt cheap. And they are designed to burn for a week. After looking around on the internet, it seems they also come in orange and black wax coloring.

Today we found two amber ones in a supermarket. $1.75 each.
A Halloween steal.


Here's a link to a place that sells a bunch of colors - look on the table in the corner. An orange and black Halloween display. Cool.

Orleans Candle Company

Porch Dummy

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Standing Room Only

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