Greetings from Keswick

**halloweeny78** · 08-15-2011,02:37 PM

Hello one and all! Please forgive any awkwardness on my part as I am new to this whole "forum" idea. I was a late comer to the old Ontario Haunters Club, having discovered it shortly after it's demise (correction: transformation!). I am certainly pleased to see that there is a gathering of souls linked by the growing obsession that is Halloween. Some folks enjoy the season but don't quite get our ever present obsession with Halloween that worms through our brains and takes up residence somewhere in it's deep recesses. Like a living thing this worm grows ever larger as the season draws nearer, until it utterly dominates our consciousness, only to subside, but not quite hibernate, for the remainder of the year. Like many of us it works all year long on it's projects, gnawing more grey matter with the passing of time, feeding and growing, preparing for it's next onslaught in the upcoming Halloween season.

But I digress. As you can tell I've got the Halloween bug bad! While mine is a small yard haunt (with the typical graveyard scene, zombies, lights, fog, etc., and new last year a few animatronics) it is a work of passion. Oh how I crave a space, be it a basement, shed, garage (none of which I have) to work on various projects throughout the year. But that's half the battle, is it not? Finding not just time and money to see our visions to fruition but the space to both create and store the fruits of our labours. We all remember that house on Halloween that we just had to visit, if for no other reason than it's simple awesomeness! If we can put a smile on somebody's face, maybe even a fright in their bones, than we've done our job well. While I would like to make it an attraction style haunt, able to receive donations for the food bank (or something of that ilk), I'm not quite there yet. I'm still playing, I mean learning, the ins and outs of prop building and proper display. Building, and to some extent designing, these machinations seems to be half the fun for me!

Add all of the above with my current fascination with the history of Halloween (Lesley Pratt Bannatyne is a wonderful author) and the various Halloween-themed fiction novels and you get an idea as to the scope of my undoing! If I could figure out a way to turn this whole thing into a full-time employment position I'd do it in a frightened heart beat! What it really all comes down to is the love of the season as a kid, and the seed it planted all those years ago, growing, much like the pumpkins in my back yard (the vines might soon reach out to the road to nab unsuspecting cars!) into the greatest of all pumpkins!

I must thank you for your patience in reading my ramblings. All that's left to say is that I look forward to interacting with you all and sharing our ideas and passion for this hallowed day! Perhaps through our efforts we can take what is a rapidly growing movement to celebrate our favorite time and restore Halloween to it's former glory!

Thank you all & happy haunting!