The Day After

We had perfect Halloween weather last night. Cool, but not cold, the fog hung low all night. I've been pretty worn out today, so much energy goes into our little yard haunt. I was a little better prepared and set up bit by bit during the week. Yesterday, I put out all the little finishing touches such as new ivy on the tombstones, the little LED candles sprinkled everywhere, some skulls, and four cow skulls our neighbor gave me last minute that I put on top of the new cemetery columns.

The night before the light show had a problem and one of my skeleton ghost's set of eyes was misfiring, so I also completely redid the electronic project box with fresh parts. The amount of anxiety I have each year as to whether the light show will work or not almost makes me want to ditch the project and run the old fashioned par 38 spotlights. When I was done I started a diagnostic on the lights which requires turning on one channel of lights, running outside to see if it works (all the while the dogs were freaking out and getting under and over-foot). I spent the last two days running in and out checking lights, getting frustrated, and powering on. In the long run, it paid off. The light show was up and running perfectly by dusk.

Ah, dusk. It is my prime time to try to capture video, with full darkness, the picture is too grainy, so that is the small window I have to try to get some decent footage for once. This is also the time when random family and friends start to arrive to see the show. After countless hours of fine tuning and frustration I usually am not feeling very social at that point. I know I'm a bad person, but I want to yell, "Leave me alone! Wait for dark, then I'll be happy to mingle". I got our new song, the title theme from Beetlejuice, and another of "Thriller", my favorite sequence. Mind you, I spent countless hours listening to the songs over and over at a slowed playback to hit each beat and vocal nuance on the mark.

Why do I do this to myself? The end result is something made of magic. It is utterly satisfying. The reactions of the people coming by floors and delights me. Every time a car drops a few kids to come get their candy, the inevitably turn the car off and get out, slack-jawed and in amazement of what they've found. I love the kids reactions, I live for the parents who are floored and giggle with delight when they process that the pumpkins and skeletons are singing to them. Me second favorite part of the night is walking through my very own cemetery, fog swirling around my feet, with my camera. The cool thing about the light show is that you can take the same shot from the same angle and get different results every time.

 I spent some time in the afternoon to take some daylight photos.

 The witches were out on the corner to draw people in to the front yard.

 The sentinels were in the back of the graveyard keeping things spooky.

 We did a wall of corn stalks for the first time this year, They worked well with the lighting at night.

 We used the old spotlights I made a few years ago this time, the the LED light strips were too harsh. I wish I could have gotten video better at night, the color looks super garish in the photos, to see it in person is something completely different. I loved the smiles I saw on peoples faces.

 Our 6 foot plus statures reveal how small the props are. When I view them from the sidewalk, they look completely life-sized. Work has been especially stressful this fall, I was wondering if I had it in me to do the haunt. We really got into it though and even dressed up. Kyle went on a last minute hunt for a hockey mask and the kids loved his standing still, then moving towards them. 

 This one was his idea, I love the result.

 We had 54 trick or treaters this year! More than double last year. There were so many parents and adults on their own that came by. It was the perfect flow of visitors. I had time to spend talking with everybody. I was so proud to learn that kids were demanding to drive by the house each day this week to see what new things were put up.

 Our new additions for this year were the Jones, Meyers, and Vernon grave markers. All characters from favorite scary movies of mine. We also added 6 columns for the cemetery fence. 

It was a perfect night. I hope everyone had a happy Halloween!