Why we haunt.

Back in the good ol' days it was me, Dad, a thermos of coffee, and my bag of candy. Trick-O-Treating was our opportunity to see all of our neighbors and friends. As I walked the ToT, Dad stood at the gate with other fathers drinking coffee and telling us to " go.. go.. ".

Sadly, the days when your neighbors were your friends are starting to fade. How many of us can say we know our neighbors names? Mom and Dad both work long hours and commute. When the long day is done, and the family is finally together, nobody has time or the energy to be a truly good neighbor. 'Trick-O-Treating' has turned from a 'walk around the neighborhood visiting friends', to 'getting candy before bedtime'.

It's our time to step in. We haunters share our passion and love of the forgotten art, of being a good neighbor. Come to our house Halloween night. Meet your neighbors. Make new friends. Send your kids to the door for candy, and hang out with the adults sipping my coffee. Take your time, because in that brief moment of magic, you are the hero and the protector to your lil'un. As they timidly walk up to the spooky house and look back for your reassurance, you truly get to say, "it's okay, your safe.. go.. go..".

2/11/08

Requiem for a Rose.

Miss Rose has been prisoner in darkness. Years ago, she was lost to the mists on Halloween night while searching for her returning love.
Each year as the mists rise, we briefly witness the sorrow of Miss Rose. This last year we notice some changes in the cemetery. White lilies and light seem to be emanating from her captured warm soul. It's as if the darkness is feeding off her misery. Miss Rose seems faded and cooler this year. It is as if her life force has been bleed into her surroundings.

Unfortunately, this cannot last forever.

2/11/08

Finally a 2007 gallery.

I never did get a set of pictures that I thought represented the lighting of the haunt. Above is the only picture I really liked from 2007. The rest of the pictures seemed too contrast'y and not very true to the nice blues we were getting. I'd say that the Canon A60 2.0 megapixle Powershot from a few years back, is waaay better than the newer Canon A520 4.0 megapixle Powershot. Do yourself a favor and test your camera before the big night =).

11/1/07

Another fun year. Here is a preview.

The turnout was slow in the beginning. I was starting to get worried that mid week haunting in conjunction with the lack of a time change would have a pretty big impact on the haunt. However, at 7:30 the crowds started to show up. At one point it we were three deep along the cemetery fence. I was relieved at that point.

The image above shows this years look update. Unfortunately, I used a new camera and it seems to have washed out the colors. I'll post more as soon as I figure out how to fix the problem.

10/27/07

Wow, rain. We have not had rain in a long time, so part of me is thankful. However, I really hope it does not rain on the big evening. The scary thing, is that I might have jinxed myself when I said I thought it was going to rain this year back in August.

10/3/07

Ooops.

I accidentally deleted the public_html folder on my host. Unfortunately I was using a five pages gallery that I did not back up locally. Oh well, lesson learned. It's always faster the second time around...

___

Is is October already? Holy hanna... How did that happen.

The first sign is when the elm tree in the front yard starts dropping leaves. The flutter of falling leaves and chilly breezes always remind me of Halloween. As the air turns crisp, and the furnace starts up for the first time after summer, I start to look forward to late nights in the shop listening to a raspy radio playing classic rock. My neighbors are putting out tombstones, blowups and various decorations. This year seems to be the best neighbor decoration year sofar. Perhaps this will be the year the fog lies low and the wind stays still.

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Did you get a chance to visit the home haunt show on FearNet.com? We too were approached by the site. It looks like fun, but it also looks like a lot of work. I would assume they would need a full show to happen on a night that is not Halloween. Since we do not support more than a few hours ot ToT's, it would be a lot to ask for the folks that help us out. There is a part of me that would love to see the haunt in vivid color and voiceover (the haunt ego part), but there is a part of me that does not want to get any more visitors than we have now (the grizzled ol' haunter part).

After a few years, our yard haunt is getting perilously close to seeming like an obligation =P.

___

That guy at Pumpkinrot.com... He's a recluse, a shadow haunter. Rumor is that he is elusive and shy. That said, I don't think I have witnessed a classier, more mysterious haunter. As I easily picture myself forcing the materials of a prop into place with makeshift tools and covered in glue, I can picture him with a monocle and tweezers getting every wrinkle perfect on his next creation. If you have not seen his work, give his site a visit..

9/26/07

Well if you did not order that must have item for Halloween, I bet your a done'r..

A quick note on email's. I always try to get back to everyone. If I did not, its because your message somhow blended in with spam, or it was too big, or I accidentally got sidetracked while trying to keep on top of responding.

FEARnet.com called. They have been contacting a few haunts in order to create 'webisodes'. I'm not sure what the whole project entails. We have met a few people with haunt projects that wonder if we would be interested. I'll admit I always wonder what the angle is for these projects. How the heck can they be profitable. I don't worry too much about what's in it for me, but I do wonder what's in it for them. The reality is that I am probably over estimating production costs ..

9/10/07

Every year I see people post that they did not get their Halloween shipments. People should order today if they need an item before the big day. Even ordering today would put a person at great risk for not getting the item before the big day.

A couple people showed me pictures of their own Pumpkin Creeper creations. Very well done. This year is one of the first years where I had a prop design that seemed to take off like that. It's cool to see him spread. The Creeper was a prop that I felt really came from a unique (as possible) place. I say 'as possible' because I know the roots of inspiration during his construction and I would not dare to claim ownership over those roots.

I still want to build a pirate.. I also want to build an Orc.. Hmmm, maybe an undead knight... The sad thing there are soo many ideas and cool things to build and so little time. If I had all the money in the world, I would keep everything in storage and build a wrecked ghost ship!

Daylight savings is different this year. Check out the Farmers Almanac to see what time you will have sunset.

8/19/07

I want to do a pirate.. We have no pirate theme, nor a spot for a pirate prop. I still want to do one. They just seem fun.

8/19/07

I always do my best to get back to people who take time to send me email. I know I missed a couple of you when I was away on vacation. My apologies.

7/30/07

Do you need professional quality voice over work? It's time to get your requests in before the season gets started. We use Mike Fox for all of the Miss Rose tracks. If you have a budget for voice work, I highly suggest contacting him. If you don't have a budget, try posting requests on some of the message boards. There are plenty of helpful people out there who will help you out.

5/31/07

Do you feel that? The season is starting. It is time to start thinking about those specialty order items for this year.

=)

4/5/07

Changes!

We've got two major changes underway.

The first is the new website. I'll miss the old one for it's ornate qualities, but I won't miss how hard it was to edit. This site should be a little more streamline. Make sure to check out the new gallery. There are some wonky bits about the gallery software, but it is a lot easier to add images and descriptions.

The second set of changes are haunt change.

This year made me tired. For the first time since haunting, I felt like I was 'working and haunting', instead of 'relaxing and haunting'.

Did you ever notice that the cool stuff in your haunt went up in a couple of minutes and all the support for the cool stuff took hours and hours? This always bugged me. Tombstones take moments to place, but speaker wires and extension cords take hours and hours..

I am going to invest considerable time adjusting our content this year. There are two problems with hosting our haunt. The first problem is the setup. I've run the numbers and it turns out we have about 120 labor hours invested to setup the haunt. My family and friends are key to the setup, it would be impossible to do it without them.. It's time to figure out a way to have the setup from being so much work. The new goal, is 8 hours. The haunt needs to be modular, light and self sufficient.

In 2006 I got smart about a system for our columns. The columns have built in power strips and now they hide permanently mounted spots and speakers. My new philosophy will be; if it cant mount permanently in a column, it's not coming out. This alone will save a lot of time.

Additionally, we are going to edit some of the more intense props. For the first time since we have been haunting I noticed a substantial amount of 'younger' kids waiting in cars. Our goal has always been to involve the 5-12 crowd. I think the addition of Gourdon (the pumpkin headed prop) pushed us just over the line. This year, I'm going to shoot for a more convincing topiary setup instead of a character driven setup. I think we will omit Gourdon, the FCG and we will lay down the grave diggers instead of standing them up.

Some steps have already been taken. The shack has been permanently retired. It was a wonderful prop, but it weighed 400 lbs, and took 4 hours to set up and 2 hours to take down. It will be replaced in the future with something much easier to manage.

7/12/06

I often get questions about how I posed my buckies. Here is a detail sketch.

I also get questions about how I built the shack.

There are better ways to build a shack... Pallets are too heavy and take too long to re-assemble. I should have framed panels with 1 x 2's and skinned them with door skin or a very thin plywood.

7/12/06

Fair warning, save the tutorials from this site if you want to see them in the future. I'm considering an overhaul that may break a lot of the tutorials.

Secondly, as I noted on the contest page, we are forgoing an attempt to host a competition. It would be too hard to put ourselves in a spot that tries to judge other haunters.

If you want to join a scarecrow competition, try the one being hosted at hauntforum.com.

6/22/06

It's getting on time to revamp the site again.. Hmm, seems like I just did it. I really hate how this site does not expand to the borders of the web browser. I think Its also time for a more ambiguous format.

6/22/06

I can tell the season is nearing. My Halloween inbox just spiked.

I'm at the crossroads for projects this year. Last year I bit off a little more than I could chew and some of they key ideas could not be implemented. Hopefully we can finish those projects as well as add a couple of new bits. Its funny, I started hobbying for Halloween by carving tombstones and making corpes. Sadly, It seems the days of carving tombstones are far and few as more time is needed by support systems like lighting, sound and electrical. Last year our biggest project was invisible, and the most expensive. It was the wiring harness for the haunt. Its amazing how much wire can be needed for 7 speakers and 20 or so lights.

5/7/06

The results for the HCA awards are in!

***

The Haunters Choice Awards are pleased to announce the category winners for the 2005 season!!!

Yard Haunt
1st Place: Bates Haunt - Dave Bates
Runner Up: Scary Terry - Terry Simmons (2nd Year!)

Home Haunt
1st Place: Bronson Boneyard - Dustin & Deanna Morton
Runner Up: Pirates Attack Port Royale -Neil Gillbanks

Party Haunt
1st Place: Woodscrest Manor - Brett Woods (2nd year!)
Runner Up: Schlossbergstrass Spukhaus - Vicki Lewis Thrumm

Rookie Haunt
1st Place: Nick's Yard - Nick Browser
Runner Up: Scareway Freights - Ross Pedersen

Charity/Pro Haunt
1st Place: Rocky Point Haunted House - Cydney Neil
Runner Up: DC Cemetery - Brent Ross

***

I think the contest had it's moments. It was funny, I personally did not vote for any of the winners. Scary Terry's haunt is more sophisticated and labor intense than the Bates Haunt. Granted, Dave knocked everyone out with a cool use of a projector, but I have to vote for the guy who put in the time.

I voted for Brent Ross in Pro haunt. Here is where I contradict myself... RPHH is a massive production. They pull in hundreds of thousands of dollars.. But, DC is there in the forums, on the web, teaching others how to build, and inspiring the community with awesome tutorials and one of the best haunt sites ever. I had to vote for DC.

Unfortunately for us, the rules put SnB in the home haunt category instead of the yard haunt category. With a literal interpretation of the rules, every haunt with an actor cannot be a yard haunt. I did see many haunts with actors or guides that decided to use a liberal interpretation of the rules, and ended up in the Yard Haunt category. Here are the rules:

"Home Haunt = (Home (Indoor) Haunt OR Extensive Yard Haunt with actors)"

"Yard Haunt = (Outdoor Yard Display - no actors) "

Since we are just a front yard, I found it strange to compete with haunts with indoor areas and mazes. We did okay, third or fourth. I did not expect much, Bronsons Boneyard and Pirates attack Port Royale are amazing haunts.

All in all, we put a lot of time and work into thought about the different awards ceremonies, videos and DVD. It was great to be a part of the DVD and the award shows. It was especially nice to win a runner up at Haunt - X. We'll see how much we can get done for next year, but we'll likely put our competitiveness on the back burner this year.

2/20/06

Here are the results from the Haunt X awards.

*********2005 HAUNT X HAUNTER'S VIDEO AWARD*********

****BEST NOVICE HAUNT****

FINALIST (sponsored by Scott Ribbens):
SCAREWAY FREIGHT - ROSS PEDERSEN

1ST PLACE WINNER (sponsored by Scott Ribbens):
A GHOUL'S NIGHT - KEITH HARRELL

Keith's video is amazing. We will take a longer peek when our DVD's arrive but it was clear Keith has access to talented camera work and editing. I have to say Keith has the notoriety of having the first jump cut and rack focus in any haunt video. I'd love to know his budget for the year. He has devoted a lot to getting his first foot into the haunt door. I can't wait to see what he has in mind for next year!

****BEST PARTY HAUNT****

FINALIST (sponsored by Lesley Bannatyne):
PIRATES COVE - JACK TENDO

1ST PLACE WINNER (sponsored by Scott Ribbens):
WOODS CREST MANOR - BRETT WOODS

Yarr!! Pirates. Pirates are a great theme and everyone can get into dressing like one. I really wish I had a party like these to go to. I was tired and got a terrible nights sleep, but I think my favorite haunt of the evening was one of these vids.

****BEST YARD HAUNT****

FINALIST (sponsored by Scott Ribbens):
ROB BROWN - SKULL AND BONE

1ST PLACE WINNER (sponsored by Spooky FX.Com):
BATES HAUNT - DAVE BATES

SPECIAL MENTION!
DEVIOUS CONCOCTIONS CEMETERY - BRENT ROSS
SCARY TERRY - TERRY SIMMONS

Hey, its us! We made finalist =). Everyone loved the video. I noticed some artifacting, and the sound was out of sync. I hope it is not that way on the DVD. The winner Dave Bates has a very fresh take on haunting, his use of an LCD projector is amazingly creative. He used his house like a giant screen to project some very creepy imagery and matching songs and audio. The singing pumpkins are brilliance.

I wished I could have seen Brent Ross's video. I am a giant fan of DC's work. Honestly, before the show, I thought he was going to sweep the awards.

****BEST INDOOR HAUNT****

FINALIST (sponsored by Hellbent Studios):
NIGHTMARE MANOR - JOSH WELLS

1ST PLACE WINNER (sponsored by Hellbent Studios):
WOODS CREST MANOR - BRETT WOODS

SPECIAL MENTION!
BRONSON BONEYARD - DUSTIN & DEANNE MORTON

My god, those indoor haunts.. There was so much work...I had a hard time absorbing it all. You guys rock. Man, I wish there were no first places, the hairs split to pick winners are soo fine that its hard to see how one haunt can win over another.. I am glad I am not a judge!

****HOME HAUNTER OF THE YEAR - HALL OF PAIN****
(Sponsored by Scott Ribbens and Vortex Pro Fog Chillers)

********BATES HAUNT - DAVE BATES********

Again, I am glad I am not a judge. Without seeing any of the videos and only seeing websites, I predicted DC to sweep 2005. Its clear my ability to foretell the future needs some work.

----------------------------------------------------------

*********2005 HAUNT X HAUNTED ATTRACTION AWARDS*********
(Sponsored By Haunt X)

****BEST HAUNT ACTOR****

FINALIST:
MICHAEL BISSETT - KNOTTS SCARYFARM, BEUNA PARK, CA.

1ST PLACE WINNER:
HECKLES AND TWITCH - MAGIC MOUNTAIN, VALENCIA, CA.

WTF.. Heckles and Twitch are amazing. They are simply the most amazing actors I have seen. They can scare the pants of people just by smiling. Seeing the video of these guys at work is truly amazing.

****BEST NEW HAUNT****

FINALIST:
OLD TOWN HAUNT - PASADENA, CA.

1ST PLACE WINNER:
13 AXE MURDER MANOR - KNOTT'S SCARYFARM, BUENA PARK, CA.

****BEST PRO HAUNT****

FINALIST:
NETHERWORLD - ATLANTA GA.

1ST PLACE WINNER:
ROCKY POINT HAUNTED HOUSE - SALT LAKE CITY UT.

Rumor is that Rocky Point does not have a long run ahead of it. It would be nice to make it to the haunt before it closes. Having my own haunt makes it hard to see others during the season. I am going to have to add missing the RPHH to my list of haunt regrets..

*not made of gold

Hehe, I can verify that the awards are not made of gold.

To wrap it up:

As some know, there are two big awards given a year, The Haunt X and the Haunters Choice Award. The X is awarded by judges, and the HCA is awarded by community vote.

Now that we have the X results, It will be interesting to see how the HCA award vary.

I predict that both the award shows are going to get bigger and better, and the competition is going to get harder and harder.

2/20/06

We just got back from the Haunt-X awards!

The http://haunts.batesbunch.com/ won best yard haunt at the Haunt-X awards with an extremely creative use of video projection.

After logging in a tiring 800 mile round trip to Haunt-X yesterday, we were extremely honored to receive runner-up in the Haunt-X awards for best yard haunt in 2005. The Rockstar has me still jittery, so I will not try to recall the other winners of the evening. The awards ceremony was cool, the venue was quite an upgrade to the Santa Maria location. Wil was cracking me up as master of ceremony. I had never seen an event with so much Long Island Ice Tea involved! The whole award show had a great party atmosphere.

I'll post a little more after I get a nap.

2/14/06

Gregor at Ghoul Skool let us know that we have reached "The head of the class" with Ghoul Skool A+ award. We are always happy to know people enjoy the site. Thanks for the recognition!

1/31/06

Wow.. We are extremely honored to have been included in the list of nominees for 'Best Yard Haunt' for the Haunt X awards. To be mentioned in the same conversation as Brent Ross, Scary Terry and the many other masters of haunt, is truly humbling.

The thought of being included is so foreign, I am completely at a loss for any wisdom on the subject..

1/12/06

For anyone interested, I compiled the winners of the two main haunt contests for the 2004 season.

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Haunters choice awards:

-Rookie Haunt Category 2004-1st Place: Haile's Haunted Haas - Bob Haas Runner Up: R04DKI11'S Haunt - Rob (Roadkill)

-Party Haunt Category 2004 1st Place: Woodscrest Manor - Brett Woods Runner Up: Pirates of Port Royale - Denise Baker

-Yard Haunt Category 2004- 1st Place: Hallowed Haunting Grounds - Tim Doggett Runner Up:Scary Terry's Halloween - Terry Simmons

-Home Haunt Category 2004-1st Place: Spiders Preyground - Vern & Kym Graner Runner Up: Bronson Boneyard - Dustin & Deanna Morton

-Charity/Pro Haunt Category 2004-1st Place: DC Cemetery - Brent Ross Runner Up: Fox Haunt - Mike Fox

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Golden bucky awards:

-1st Time Haunt -2004- 1st Place: Daniel Neuman - Runner Up Owen Gilbride

-Party Haunt -2004- 1st Place: Inez Wilburn (Nez) . -Runner Up Brett Woods

-Yard Haunt -2004- 1st Place: Tim Doggett (Hallowed Haunting Grounds) - Runner Up Brent Ross (DC Designs)

-Indoor Haunt -2004- 1st Place: Randy Skalos (Haunt On Williams St) - Runner Up Jeff Willaert (Frighteners Entertainment)

-Pro Haunt -2004 -1st Place: Mike Fox (Fox Haunt) - Runner Up Randy Powell (Mira Mesa Manor)

- Home Enthusiast of the year 2004: Tim Doggett

---------------------------------------------------------

12/27/05

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a great Holiday, and an even better New Year.

Here is a quick peek at our house on Christmas Eve. I always wonder what other Halloween houses do on Christmas.

12/12/05

2005 Halloween Post Mortem

This year went off very nicely. We finally have the DVD edit done and all of the props stowed away. The site is back up (in varying degrees) and our new look is kinda fun. I think the best compliment we had this year was that our haunt was 'classy'. The worst thing said was, "this is it?..". Funny how you can't please everyone, even when you spend a few hundred hours and a big wad of cash so they can have it for free. Some folks just have to be that way in order to feel alive I guess.

We had about 300 tots. Word of mouth and the newspaper got the tots here. I think we are done with advertising now. Any more tots and the haunt will start to lose that charming feeling. There was a golden moment when I looked up and we had 30 or so listening contently to the story. I knew at that point we had hit our goal for the evening.

I can't thank the actors enough. They were the hit of the haunt. I have the very good fortune to be able to hang out with these awesomely talented people on Halloween night.

Later that night, I dodged, but didn't dodge a bullet. It had not been 20 minutes after I put away the last of the 'expensive' props, when I got hit with a bad flu.. The flu knocked me for a loop and had me in bed drinking and eating nothing for 3 days. Thank goodness it did not ruin the haunt. The smell of fog fluid still reminds me of the flu....

11/3/05

Whew!.. Is it over for another year?

First things first, I need to thank a wonderful crew. The folks that helped out this year were truly amazing. People are still trying to figure out what was real and what was not =).

We had a great night. We met lots of great folks from the neighborhood. The display went off without a hitch. Expect 2005 pictures soon, but for now I need a little rest.

10/28/05

Thank you Atascadero News!! Heather Young did a very nice article in today's paper that includes some wonderful photography. As always we are very grateful and happy when someone helps us to extend a safe and memorable halloween to 'trick or treaters'.