Thread: What's your haunt inspiration for 2011?

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Our lives, and my haunt plans for this year, have been in flux because of some landscaping we had planned to do this year. Things are still torn up but the entry columns just went up last week. I bought these wonderful gargoyles from HomeGoods a few years ago anxiously waiting for a good haunt location for them and at the last minute I changed the column design so that they would now have a home. I think they will be my inspiration for planning my haunt this year and can't wait to see the look on the ToTers when they approach the house....Here's two early pictures:







My hubby who's non-halloween even smiled when he helped me place them on the columns. He suggested that I get good lighting to highlight them. Can't tell you how happy that made me feel. You should have seen the look on his face and my landscaper's face when I asked about lengthening the columns to fit a my halloween gargoyles. The finished results will be worth the look!


Curious what item/s you guys are drawing inspiration from for your haunt this year.

I ran it by my dad, and this year, instead of our classic haunted cemetery set up(which is always a big hit with the neighborhood), we're doing Camp Crystal Lake!

I'm going as Jason this year, so I asked if it would be cool if we got some cheap white sheets, made them up like classic tents(probably about three or four tents), with blood splatter and a bloody hand print on one or two, we're gonna use the tutorial I saw in the Tuts board for the burning coals with expanding spray foam for the campfire, and of course the classic ground hugging fog. We're also going to toss out some bloody body parts onto the campsite.

I'm going to mix up a soundtrack on my iPod nano. The classic Jason "ch-ch-ch...ah-ah-ah..." mixed in with some girl screaming bloody murder. Also with the classic campsite soundeffects like crickets, maybe a wolf howling in the distance. Some owls hooting.

And then I'll be there. In full on Part 3 Jason costume and machete. Scaring kids, scaring adults. Maybe chasing my 16 year old sister through the campsite with her in a white shirt covered in blood. Maybe "strangling" her boyfriend from behind as ToTs come up.

Mine hinges around the title "Four Funerals and a Wedding" and the following costume:



I had already planned the theme and then fell in love with this costume. When I married the two ideas, inspiration took hold. The bride is wearing black, so the ghost groom is wearing a white tux. The funerals are being held for her ex-husbands. The officiant will be the Grim Reaper, foreshadowing what happens to her spouses.

Nice gargoyles Spookie, how tall are they?

The inspiration for our haunt this year was a zombie baby hubby purchased after Halloween at Spirit. The thing gave me the heebie jeebies every time I looked at it. Decided to put the "thing" into a fun setting where maybe I wouldn't have the "willies".
We are doing Esmerelda's Poison Apple Daycare. "We care to scare" . Have a young witch, zombie baby, Frankenstien's child, etc. Still working out the details and getting things together.

Originally Posted by BlueFrog

Mine hinges around the title "Four Funerals and a Wedding" and the following costume:

That is a terrific costume - I love it!

I wasn't sure how literally you were going to depict your Black Widow, but based on that costume, I have another couple songs you might like , particularly the Michelle Shocked ... I'll put them up for you.

[Link retired]

They are: Michelle Shocked - Black Widow, and then just for fun, Jack Hammer's Black Widow Spider Woman and The Matadors' Black Widow.

Also, Spookie - the gargoyles are completely great - love the looks on their faces! And "We care to scare" is hysterical, ajbanz.

Originally Posted by Scatterbrains

Nice gargoyles Spookie, how tall are they?

30 inches. They are sitting right now on cinderblocks that are 16 x 20 inches at the base. I think a few other HF haunters bought these same ones back then. HomeGoods/TJMaxx came out with other versions of gargoyles in other colors in subsequent years, all pretty cool looking. I'd say one of my best Halloween purchases from HG/TJM, and my first Halloween item from them. Before then I never knew they had Halloween merchandise like this.


Ajbanz I love your theme and I agree some of those zombie babies and tots are pretty creepy!. BlueFrog, great costume and fun theme too. Thanks Talkingcatblues. Sounds like you have a well thought out theme there TrickRTreater, hope your sister enjoys Halloween too!

Love the gargoyles. Saw some in Halloween City and Spirit last year but was seriously unimpressed... there was one that had strange tattered fabric wings that looked like it would fall apart if you stared at it too hard. Been considering making my own but I'm not good at sculpting.

Xane, don't want to get off topic here with the gargoyles but I'm not a sculpture either. The HG/TJM ones have been some sort of resin/cement/fiberglass material I would guess and a good weight. I struggle a bit to move them by myself across the garage floor and can't lift them very high up by myself. Hubby and I were able to move and lift them by their wings and base. They are hollow but well made.

I think HG has had a version of them in their stores for the past 3 years. I have a shorter pair with a smile that I bought the year after I bought the ones above and will post a pic below when I can. For what they are and their construction I think well priced, maybe in the $50-60 range I'm guessing. If you are interested in picking up any this year from HG, I would suggest start looking for them in August and after. I'm sure someone will post a photo of this year's offering under the shopping thread and that's probably the best head's up.


Update: found the photos of the gargoyles. They are on an older Halloween album I have over at Flickr. Here's a link to my photostrem there. Gargoyles plus a lot of older halloween store merchandise: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28956492@N04/

I finally went down to a store here in SLC where I've seen a 5ft one with the big wings in the window. They want $1,700 for it. I was able to easily move it, so it was probably that same resin/fiberglass material