Halloween 2001 was a big success, although it was stressful at times. I barely had a chance to try and come up with anything new or creative, so much of what was displayed was recycled from the year before. Work, school, and life in general took up nearly all of my time this year, but it all came together in the end. Even though Trick or Treat attendance was down a bit this time, a good amount of people still came by to see the display.

I took the opportunity this year to get some pretty decent shots of the ghost display in our attic over the garage. The ghost itself is just a styrofoam head with a mask covered in thin fabric. I hung the figure from the ceiling with strong fishing line, and added some glowing red LED lights for eyes. I also painted and hung a floating candelabra for added spookiness. Additionally, scraps of ghostly torn fabric were hung as well to give the attic a haunting appearance. A black light illuminated the scene, and a small fan provided some movement. There's room for much improvement/creativity in this area, and, in the future I plan on adding some sort of animatronic for this display.

Barlow and Chaney, newly rebuilt and designed, were displayed as usual. Many people stood and posed for pictures with Mr. Barlow this year. The Mr. Rot prop was also displayed in his coffin with a newly attached black light. The Grim Reaper prop was redesigned by using one of my foam skulls with last year's hooded Monster Mud prop. He looked pretty cool standing in the yard amongst the graves! A thunder and lightning effect was acheived by using a large floodlight connected to a manual remote control device set to some background thunderstorm sound effects. I attempted building my own thunder/lightning machine from some components I bought at your friendly local neighborhood electronic hobby store, but, alas, I appear to suck at many aspects of circuit board ingenuity. Oh well, better luck next time. I had planned on repainting and redesigning most of the gravestones this year, but I ran out of time. I guess the lesson to be learned here is...PLAN EARLY!!!

What I did have time to finish was the crypt for the flying crank ghost. I wanted people to be able to get a close up view of the animatronic, so I built this crypt for it in the entry way to the house. I used the old evil door prop from last year, and mounted it to a framework of 2 by 4s. The crank motor was attached at the top of the crypt, and the ghost puppet hung inside. The inside was sealed and waterproofed in the event of bad weather. The outside was decorated with a brick design fiberboard, which came in 4 by 8 sheets. I'm a little disappointed in myself because I could have just as easily painted on my own design or texture, but I did get a surprisingly good deal on the fiberboard, and since I was pressed for time, I just took a shortcut and used it instead. I mounted several black lights on the interior walls of the crypt, and placed the fog machine inside. With the evil door shut, I would fill the crypt with fog, then open the creaky door as the kids came up to the house, sending a thick cloud of fog into the graveyard! Additionally, last year's iron gates were rebuilt a little smaller so they were easier to display, more skulls were scattered around, and various creepy decorations were added.

All in all, we had a great Halloween. To be honest, I almost gave up on participating this year due to the events in NY last September. But then I realized that that's exactly what those terrorist cowards would have wanted - to bring America down. So the show went on just like the years before, and just like it will go on for years to come. As usual, the same motley crew of participators that show up every year were here to celebrate with us. I haven't given too much thought about what to plan on for next year, but I'm sure I'll start thinking about it as soon as the holidays are over. Hope everyone's Halloween was great!