The art of Zombienose.
Zombienose.com
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
The Light Of Day
Still working on the 2008 page.
Going to take my time with the pics, so I'm thinking it'll be up by the end of the week.
The Rules
Every Halloween, I haunt the house where my parents live. I never had enough trick or treaters wherever I lived, so it made sense to make a homecoming each year and continue the haunt that I had started in the years when I actually DID live there. This way the neighborhood kids could enjoy the haunt that they grew to expect each year - something to look forward to each Halloween season. I never knew I'd eventually see children that were too scared to come up to get candy grow up and marry and have kids of their own that were too scared to come up for candy. (Though I've come to realize that the number of kids no longer matters to me.)
Anyway, I have two basic rules that I kindly explain to my mother, father, and sister (who visits each year with her sons).
THE RULES:
1. Please keep the front door closed so the light from inside the house doesn't break the mood and atmosphere of the darkened porch.
2. Please wait to go in or out of the house until trick or treaters have passed.
Both seem like easy rules to follow. And even if they seemed irrational or silly, surely you could humor me and abide by them. Right? On that one night a year I live for, right?
So I've created a tradition of becoming Michael Myers in order to hand out candy on Halloween night. I just sit there motionless until a child comes up for candy. Then I slowly drop some candy into their bag. No jumping or startling scares. Not my style. 
So this year, a small child dressed as Michael Myers comes up for candy. A golden moment. He and I realize the significance of what's happening as we both do the famed Myers head-tilt at each other. I reach inside the bowl of candy slowly and grab five pieces of candy for this mini Michael Myers. "OH LOOK!!!! IT'S MICHAEL MYERS!!!!!!! OH LOOK AT THAT!!!!! LOOK-AT-IT!!!! LOOK-AT-IT!!!!!!!" shrieks my mother from behind me, the front door wide open, light streaming onto the porch. The kid looking up at her in an unspoken "Let's both kill her" sort of way. The moment was gone. Spoiled. Dried up and lost forever. Magic no more. And that's my point. It happened a few more times over the night. Then things got a little better, rules were followed to some degree, probably by accident.
Then my sister stepped into the candy bowl when trying to squeeze past me, and fell face first onto the walkway, landing on spilled candy that her foot didn't already squish. My only hope was that approaching trick or treaters assumed Myers had killed another victim and that it was all part of the show.
I'm glad she didn't land on any of my pumpkins.
Through The Patch
Some great propwork and photography here. Ghosts, pumpkins, and a terrific and previously-featured scarecrow.
This one's my current wallpaper at work.
This has such an old-school nostalgic feel to it.
Through The Patch blog.
Flickr set.
Sprites
Ghosts & Spirits at the 2008 Haunted Eve Halloween display. Fantastic! Stunning color and amazing photography.
I was giddy when I checked out their site and saw that 2008 photos had been added.
Such a wonderful haunt.
I was giddy when I checked out their site and saw that 2008 photos had been added.
Such a wonderful haunt.
Knifepainting
The art of Jerry James.
"Halloween House"
"A Place in the Fall"
"Late Fall, Park"
His blog and gallery.
Grim Display
Been anxious to post the 2008 gallery of the Grim Hollow Haunt. Such impressive work. The scale of the haunt is particularly stunning. So many props. So much to take in..jpg)
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Necromancing
Another beautiful year for a favorite haunt of mine...Necrobones.
"Shrouded in death, spooks and spirits arose once again."
Necrobones.com
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Carcass
We took Carcass out to a field today since we didn't really get many cool shots of him on Halloween night. His face was always in a shadow.
Identification
My nephews asked me about what each scarecrow meant. I was happy to tell them since no one had really asked me that question and since I always make up names and back stories to go along with each prop. It went something like this...
The Hollowman, he's been there the longest, though they've all been there for as long as anyone can remember. "Is it because his head is hollow?" they asked me. I thought that was pretty cool so I said "Why yes it is."
Pumpkin Face is a horrible one. His head is a real pumpkin containing a real flame. The body is the dried out mutilated remains of some tortured person. Legs cut off and a pumpkin jammed onto the shoulders after the real head was cut off - a mocking gesture of disrespect. "Was he a bad person?" they asked. I replied "Nope."
The Woodsman (left), he's another old one. No one's really sure how or why he was made. Trespass (in the background with a sack over his face and blackened intestines visible) - I think he was hung as a warning to stay away. And Plague (right), he's just disgusting. If you touch him or his filthy bandages you'll get a disease and die. I heard them later telling another kid not to go near it.
Dead Bird, named because of the way he looked sporting the real skull of a deer.
Charred - a skeletal head made with a large dried gourd containing a lantern with a real flame, swinging by a piece of [faux] barbed wire. I told them he was my favorite and a mystery in the field, with his blackened eyes, nose, and mouth.
Carved (left) - a real pumpkin with a real flame. The traditional scarecrow in the bunch.
And Pod (right), whose head would ripen and soften at the neck causing the head to drop into the soil and sprout something awful. (Later in the night they asked me when it was going to fall off.)
Johnny Appleseed - straw for hair, evil for brains.
Cloak is the ghostly figure among the Hollowmen (based on a scarecrow seen at the beginning of the film PUMPKINHEAD).
Carcass looks like the dead body of an evil animal, tied to a post.
My twin nephews are six years old. I'm probably the world's worst uncle.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
2008 Teaser
Going to bed. Had to do a quick scan of the photos to see how they turned out and I'm happy to report they look great. I'll be posting some pics this weekend on the blog and then I'll build the 2008 haunt page on my site this week.
It was a great night with a good turnout of kids. Many refused to come up for candy and a few kids even cried.
Success.
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