bamtunebam
The Great Pumpkin

Old one is just on Christmas Vacation. He'll be back after the holidays. This one sticks out like a sore thumb though, don't it? Not that I'm posting much at the moment.

How you doing? Are you all cataloged?

Hi bamtunebam. Thanks for the picture comments. We've had the animated witch you'd mentioned for three years without any problems. Her motion and recorded routines are good (unlike some of the other props we'd bought over the years). I'd recommend her if you're thinking of buying one. We bought her at Walmart.
And the Hal O'Ween tombstone is actually just backlit with a CFL, but the light bleeds through the foam and makes it semi glow - a pleasant surprise .

Fantastic! Thanks bamtunebam!
You may want to do a tutorial some day on this. It seems very novel plus really addresses issues on size, safety, and cost at the same time. Not to mention that it looks damned cool too

Thanks again!

Demon Dog

Hi bamtunebam. You had done a tutorial or prop description of your awesome laser vortex tunnel, but I can't find it even using the forum search tools. Would you mind pointing me to it again? Thanks!

Demon Dog

Still at it? Good for you (OK, maybe not good for your wife.)

Don't think there's any serious damage to the pipes in the back. Glad I noticed it when I did though. Gonna be 55ºF tomorrow so I'll open the taps wide and just make sure there drained (interior taps are off. I guess tomorrow'll be a good day to hang in the garage.

Yeah, I been there too, garage-wise. Good intentions turns into 5 months of scraping windshields.

Hope you get a chance to enjoy some turkey with the family though. Happy Thanksgiving!! (little early, but why wait. )

Well, it's good just having someone who knows what the hell they are doing around. If I lose a limb somewhere, I know who to email. And you're photos are really inspiring too, so that's a huge help to get me motivated to do more.

Weird enough, I actually have one of those light things - haven't used it in years. I've been a little - I dunno - scatterbrained lately? But the depressions just hit for a couple of days. And some of that was wimmen problems. Nothing serious though.

Wow, you're cataloging everything this time around? That's pretty ambitious. It's the kind of thing I alway claim I'm going to do and then bail about 10% of the way in. (One year I took photos of all the Spooky Town boxes as I pulled them out of the rubbermaid bins, so i could see how they went back in. Didn't do a good enough job of it though, and it still took forever to put things away.)

I think it's a great idea if you can pull it off. We've got the village all packed up but the garage is still a mess - can't get the car in - and basement is pretty much wall-to-wall Halloween. Seems to take up a lot more space just lying around that it does when it's set up. Hoping our Chinook holds up long enough so I don't freeze my tail off cleaning the garage up on the weekend. I'll have to take a look for that catalogue thread - maybe it'll inspire me.

Hey, never a need to apologize, Bam. You've been a big help already. I'm not all here these days myself.

We bought some finger lights too - I didn't compare the two though, we didn't end up really using the finger lights. We did notice the red clip-ons really died quickly compared to the others. Dropped down to half the intensity really quickly, but I guess that wouldn't be a problem if you've got them hard-wired?

Not sure what I'm going to do. I'm thinking maybe I could order from that place in the video and see how they are - probably in January. Maybe if you're interested I could order you a bunch in exchange for you shipping me the rest? We can talk after the other holidays are straightened out.

Wow, you've got a LOT of experience with haunting then - that explains a lot. You must have blown people away when you were young. Pretty cool that you guys just decided to do it on your own.

You know our display is still pretty simple compared to most, but it's my mom that got me started. She used to make a lot of our costumes. Decoration-wise, she'd never start things before Halloween day, but she'd alway find ways of grabbing stuff around the house and putting things together (a ghost from some old sheer curtains and a wig head she happened to have, putting the pumpkin on a standup ashtray with a shirt and a broom handle to make a scarecrow in the window - that kind of thing.) We've just been upgrading her ideas and then adding a little bit of our own each year. I'm sure she'd think we were crazy now, but she'd definitely get a kick out of it.

So you ready for Thanksgiving? Have you got a flying crank turkey in the works?

Thank you! I am glad you liked it! I always appreciate others feedback! I love the look of blue and green lighting in a graveyard, it gives an ethereal feel the is both natural and supernatural all the same. I was very pleased with it and will only make minor changes next year. The Urn was from Spirit, I thought it would be a great addition to the graveyard this year, so I build a stand for it and placed it at the entrance, in the trail path so patrons will come into direct contact with it.

I called your work "Pro" because you put a lot of work and detail in what your doing, in my book, that is pro. I always appreciate the work people do, no matter the budget or skill, to each, they should be proud of their work.

Yes, the display is guided by a path, but tour on their own. I use twine and wood stakes to section off the path. I do have a large size yard, which allows me to add or change and make a large haunt. I keep areas dark in between scenes as well. As for storage, I have 2 buildings, 1 12'X10' and 1 14'X10' that are both completely full.

I am thinking of using Iron Gates and grey brick stone for the design. As for storage, I will have to build them so they can be broken down. Thanks for stopping by! here is a video from this past years haunt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t-7bE6gzW8

Let me know what you think!