I am back from the most awesome experience a haunter or fan of horror could imagine. Horrorfind Weekend in Baltimore. Celebreties galore in spite of the air scare (which did keep a few of the biggest away: Rutger Hauer, Adrienne Barbeau, Dennise Crosby), Greg Nicoterro, George Romero, Hoder Kane, Erin Grey, Tony Tod, Dee Wallace Stone were the most easily recognized and that isn't even half of them.

In addition to celebrities, we pulled off the impossible! For the second year running we put up a haunt in 8 hours and ran it for the toughest crowd in the buisness and we made it work! Big Deal you say? well listen up to the specs.

1.All the planning for the haunt too k place via the internet.
2.One of us actually got to see the room before we started.
3.We came from Phoenix, Minneapolis, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York and parts other by plane , car and rental van with a total of about 4,000 lbs. of props/set
4. From 10 am to 5 pm on friday we set up the haunt, then ran it from 9pm-midnight friday and 1pm-5pm saturday, with about 700+ guests coming through.
5. we had 5 rooms plus twisting hallways in the haunt, 8 total scares through out the haunt
I know my words don't do it justice but as soon as I can I will post pics of it so you can really see what went into this haunt.

I already posted some of my ideas that I used for props inthe haunt but they too will get photos added as well as pics of the finnished hallway I designed and my awesome make up job.

My oldest daughter, 2 1/2, had her first bad dream last night and ended up in our bed. Then wife and I spent the next 20 minutes trying to convince her that there were no spiders around which wasn't easy.......so apparently spiders were part of the dream. I felt so bad because she was SO scared. Nervously looking around and pointing out potential spiders to me, and then giving me that , " I don't think so " look of hers when I showed her there were none.......poor little sweety.

With the Horrorfind Weekend fast approaching I have some serious work to do to create the props I need for my "Howl-way". One of the inspirations I had was a scene in Texas Chain Saw Massacre (the original). The scene in the house where the heroine walks into the room with all the chiken feathers and chickens in it. Hanging around the room are these sort of Mobiles made from twine and bones. I decided I wanted some for the hallway to sort of add a bit of a creep factor to the room.
As this is the first How To by me I thought I would lay otu a ground rule or two. I know that some of these projects are very easy, in spite of this I WILL take as many photos as I can to illustrate the process. One of the most frustrating things for me as a new haunt prop builder were incomplete photos done by seasoned vets that miss an important step because they assume that everyone is as skilled as they are or that a technique is so simple it dosen't need explaination.

so The materials needed are:
Bones-- I used "Bucky Bones" from Anatomic Chart Company, they come in 5 and 10 pound bags, with a good varitety of bones in them.

Stain-- I used a water based Minwax stain, "Dark Walnut", but any color will do. The darker stains give the bones a dirtier look.

Paintbrush-- I used a 1 inch brush for stain application

Rags--Both for general clean up and to use to blot the stain off the bones. I used old cotton t-shirts.

Something to drink-- hey this can be thirsty work! plus you can put water in an extra cup to clean your brush.

ok..so the procedure is a pretty easy one.
First get some stain on your brush and slop it all over your first bone. Do not be afraid that your bone is very dark brown, this will all come off in the blotting. This can be MESSY so be sure to do it in a place where a mess is ok. I did mine out on the deck over an old t-shirt.

Next use a rag to blot off the stain. You can achieve a number of different effects depending on how this is done. If you "wipe" you will wipe off a lot of the stain resulting in cleaner bones. If you "dab" you end up leaving more stain on the bones thus leaving them darker and dirtier.

Set your staned bone aside and let it dry, I let mine rest overnight. try not to touch them too much as you end up rubbing off the stain as you do until they are dry.

That is the basics of this process, very quick and easy but it really adds to plain old boney gray colored bones. Pictures will be posted when I get them taken, but this is really pretty easy. Another tip is that when you are first slopping on the stain you can let your bones get really dark by playing with the time between slop and blot...letting the heavy coat of stain stay on the bone longer will result in a darker bone when you are finished, if this is the effect you are looking for..then have at it. I imagine this would be good for extremely old bones instead of just dirty dug up bones.

I can't say that I have ever seen anything that I could unequivocably call a ghost or spirit. I have felt a cold spot before near Colonial Cemetery in Savannah, Ga. I am not discounting the existence of ghost, just waiting for good solid proof. That being said, I do not believe that "orbs" found in photos are ghost energy, I have not seen a good photo of ectoplasm yet that can't be explained as something like hair or cigarette smoke in front of the lense etc....basically I think most "real ghost photos" are a crock. Show me proof otherwise and I may change my stance...until then......bleh.

I also don't put much stock in EMP meters and such as you see on the many television shows dedicated to Ghost hunting. Way too many old houses and buildings have bad wiring running throughout them which can cause a strange EMP to be picked up by a meter...again, not solid proff in my mind. Since I have felt a cold spot I suppose a digital thermometer might have some merit, but it is hard to show that the change in temperature is not caused by a draft or cold wind. So basically, when presented with something that could be a ghost, I believe that you have to rule out all sorts of science as the cause of the "ghost" then, if your left with somethign that can not in some way be explained you might actually have something supernatural.



Show me.....

As for the story of my cold spot.... I was on a walking ghost tour of Savannah in early november of 2003. I had been in town long enough to know things like the huge TB and Yellow Fever epidemics caused many people to be buried in mass graves in the past and what not. I also got lucky going on the tour I did, which was run by 6th Sense Savannah and Shannon Scott was our guide. He is the founder of the tour and one of the principle people behind Savannah being named the most haunted city in the US.

Anyway we were on our walk, coming down an alley towards the southern wall of the cemetery. I and my two companions are Minnesota natives, so we don't get cold easy. In fact up to this point we had our light jackets unzipped and nearly of our shoulders while others with more "Southern" blood were bundled up. But as our group enterd the alley of the last block before the graveyard,my friends and I all zipped up our jackets and smiled at each other guilty like for our being affected by the chill. At this Shannon still had said nothing to us. when we got to the wall he turned and said :Raise your hand if you felt colder in the alley here than you have the rest of the night...nearly the whole group did. There was no breeze to speak of to explain the cold. He smiled and told us that many people feel the same way and the most plausible reason is that all the original cemetery was once much larger than it is today and the houses on the blocks surrounding the cemetery are actually built over graves. Many of the residents will find remains and such when having renovaions to their basements or foundations. The other reason is that the cemetery hase some 500- 1000 markers but nearly 10 times that many people have been buried there, due to the yellow fever out breaks and mass graves being dug.

I can say with out any doubt that I have felt a real cold spot and so far that has been my only experience with the supernatural...but I am always looking.

Ok. Here it is...the first entry in a new journal! In abotu 30 days I will be attneding a convention in the Baltimore area called "The Horrorfind Weekend" of HFW to those of us from the site. It will have a ton of celebrities and a ton of other cool stuff.

In addition, we are planning a haunted house for the con as well. what makes this unique is that all the planning is being done via the internet. None of us are sitting down with each other until the first day of the con when we meet to get started on the build. We are taking over a ballroom and creating the theme of a gothic castle/classic monsters set. We have ghosts, vampires, zombies, mummies, Frankenstein mosnters, creepy Lords of the Manor, and an Executioner.....I am the wolfman (duh). I have a 16' hallway to myslef which is all I really wanted. It will be lit by "candles" actually battery powered tea lights slipped in to pvc sleeves to look like candles. As soon as I finish on I will post up some photos for you all. In addition to the lights, Strands of hemp twine and sisel will be hanging down from the cieling to brush against the guests in , what I hope will be, a very creepy manner. Interspersed among the hanging strands will be some aged bones tied up into the twine and what not to add to the creep factor. then on top of all that, just as the guest get to the end of the hall, I am there to jump out and give them a scare. I am really excited ,from not only creating and working in my first "haunted house" but by meeting a bunch of very cool people I have met on the net.

I will post how to's for the lights, the aged bones and how I plan to hang them. my wolf man costume and make up and when I get back...photos of the actual haunt.