HAPPY NEW YEAR

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May the year 2011 bring you...

Good Health, Happiness, Success, Peace, Hope & togetherness with your family & friends.

Wishing everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

SeAsOn GrEeTiNgS

BARRIE GRAVEYARD

Here's my friend Chris Arnott's 2010 Home Haunt Video.

I think he did a killer job this year considering it snowed, rained and hailed during his setup.

He had about 350 Trick 'R' Treater's and probable would have had more in it wasn't so cold and the fact that Halloween fell on a Sunday this year.

MAUSOLEUM VIDEO

Just found this video on Youtube that one of my neighbors shot of my Mausoleum this Halloween.

STEVEN AMIDJINOV (Psycho)

Steven Amidjinov was without a doubt my star kid scare actor for the 2010 Halloween Season,

I think I've created a monster!!!

Steven was amazing, he took to scaring the hell out of adults and kids, like a Trick 'R' Treater takes to candy. He actually had people running away from him every time he got into his Psycho Killer Character. Steven was really good at analyzing people and working off of their fear.

Steven also has a huge heart, he helped with the set up and tear down of my haunt this year. He was around almost every evening during the week of Halloween and was always willing to lead a helping hand.

I believe a star has been born and this kid could go places in his future with the haunt industry or anything else he sets his mind too.

KIM PORTNIK (The Killer Clown)

Kim Portnik was one of my scare actors this Halloween and more...

Kim supported our haunt throughout the week leading up to Halloween almost every night by scaring people and helped with the construction of the entire haunt.

He's an amazing kid, he stayed to the bitter end to tear down the haunt in the dark and never complained once. I wish all the other kids in the neighborhood were like him.

Thanks again Kim.

TWHH 2010 HALLOWEEN VIDEO

My good friend Jeff Chatten from Horrors Unlimited shot and edited my 2010 Home Haunt Video. This guy just keeps getting better and better!

2010 HALLOWEEN NIGHT PHOTO'S

Here are some photo's from my 2010 Halloween night display.

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HALLOWEEN VIDEO

My friend Carl Chalupa from Room 57 shot this video of my 2010 Home Haunt.

IT'S NOW COSTING ME MONEY

"Well it's official" my home haunt is now costing me money.

I've complete run out of storage space in my house, I've raised the bar to high this year by building a walk through Mausoleum that has totally consumed my two car driveway and garage.

I now have to rent storage space to keep all my wall panels, canopy tent, tomb stones, and all my pillars.

I owe a big thank you to my friend Lorne Andrews from the Power House of Terror for allowing me to share one of the three tractor trailers he uses to store his haunt at the end of Halloween season.

I guess I'll just have to stop buying or making more props...Ya Right!!!

2010 HALLOWEEN

Sorry everyone for not getting some photo's up sooner or answering any of your emails, but I've been busy tearing down my haunt and looking after my boys while my wife is away.

Attendance was down this year vs. last year, we only had 2,784 Trick 'R' Treater's. How do we know, we count the donated candy we hand out. Halloween night was only 2 degrees, so it was a cold night for the kiddies; plus they had school the next day.

But the good news is my donations were up, I budgeted $4,000 and I collected $4,781.87 for SickKids Foundation, my biggest year yet. Heart felt thank you go's out to all my family, friends, and amazing nieghbors for helping me set up and tear down again this year.

Now the depression sets in until next Halloween

TWHH ON WEBKINZ

I was contacted by Webkinz last week and asked if they could film a Halloween episode for their weekly video update on their website.

Webkinz are toy stuffed animals similar to many other small plush toys, however, each Webkinz toy has an attached tag with a unique "Secret Code" printed on it that allows access to the "Webkinz World" website.

Cute video for the kiddies, but I'm sure Ned the main character will be having nightmares for the next month.

HALLOWEEN BANNER

Finished another project for the haunt today.

I had to build a wooden structure made out of 2" x 4" and half inch plywood to wrapped around the front porch area (21' x 10') for the custom banner I purchased last year from Illusionator at Transworld Show in St. Louis.

Because we are a corner house and we get a lot of wind howling through our porch area, the banner became a sail last year and started to rip. So this year I'm not taking any chances and built a wooden structure for more support.

The banner has two eye's cut out of the skull head where I've placed two 19" computer monitors that light up at night with fire burning eye's, on the second half of the banner I have a large window frame where I will be playing Halloween theme movies continuously throughout the evenings.

The inside of the porch area is very dull so far, I've covered up all the wood with burlap and camouflage netting to hide how ugly it looks. Now I have to come up with some kind of a theme haunted hallway.

Any suggestions?

PREPARING

Pulled out all my Zombie Characters tonight, I'm starting my Cemetery set up this weekend.

PUMPKIN HAND SOAP

I stopped in at local Pier One to see what Halloween supplies they had to offer this year and found this great looking Pumpkin Hand Soap, when your finished washing your hands, they smell like pumpkins.

HALLOWEEN TREATS

While I was in Detroit, Michigan last weekend I stopped in at Target to see what Halloween supplies they had this year. I decided to relive my childhood and picked up some Count Chocula & Boo Berry cereal, I also picked up some Choc-O-Lantern Pop Tarts.

Their mine...all mine...Don't even look at them!!!

TOMB STONES

Along with a couple of new characters to this years haunt, I've also added some additional Tomb Stones.

I can't take the credit for making these beauties, but I will give credit were it's deserved.

My friend Brian Lashchuck from Beyond The Grave Productions made all these Tomb Stones from scratch.

The "Usher" obelisk is cast in durable, rigid urethane foam. This tall piece stands 7 feet and 1inch tall (85"). The obelisk separates into 2 inter-locking sections, the base and pedestal.

The "Harker" Obelisk is cast in durable, rigid urethane foam. This tall piece stands 8 feet 3 inches tall (99"). The obelisk separates into 3 inter-locking sections, the base, pedestal, and urn.

These Tomb Stone's are casted in durable, rigid urethane foam and reinforced with half-inch PVC. Each stone is made in a casted mold, sanded, painted with several layers of different coloured paints, and these stones are made to last for years.

I can't wait to put them out in the Cemetery this year.

NEW CHARACTERS

Meet the two newest characters to my 2010 Halloween display.

This is the new Thornhill Woods Haunted House Cemetery Grounds Keeper "Carl", I name him after a friend of my Carl Chalupa from Room 57 because they look alike.

This good looking fellow standing next to Carl is "Decayed", he's not in a good mood because Carl just freshly dug him up.

Both characters were made by my friend Brian Lashchuk from Beyond The Gave Productions.

IT'S ALMOST TIME KIDS

Stop it, please stop it, the song is still running, please for God's sake stop it, there's no more time, for the love of God please stop it, stop it! Stop it now! Stop it! STOP IT NOW!! STOP ITTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!

HALLOWEEN HISTORY

Great history of how Halloween started.

FALL

In celebration of the first day of Fall on Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at 11:09 PM (EST).

I decided to dress up the gardens in front of the house with Mum Flowers and Pumpkins.

My Pumpkin urns inspired me to go back to Michaels and pick up material to build an Autumn Wreath for my front door. All their flowers are still 50% off, so I picked up what I needed, and creative my Wreath with twist ties and a glue gun.

PUMPKIN PATCH

It's that time of year again! Pumpkin season. When the leaves are falling, the air is crisp, and Halloween is right around the corner.

We enjoyed an outing today at a local Pumpkin patch "FORSYTHE FARM". The kid's were able to pick their own Pumpkins, go on a wagon ride, run through the corn maze, pet farm animals, and eat ginger bread cookies.

These guys also make the best home made pies, I bought a Cherry and Apple pie.

Do I have to share?

STARBUCKS HAS GONE PUMPKIN CRAZY

It's no longer a rumor, Starbucks has returned their fall traditional pumpkin favorites.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte

Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino, Light Blended Beverage

Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin

Pumpkin Loaf

Pumpkin Scone

Pumpkin Bread

MAUSOLEUM WALL PANELS

I've started construction on my Mausoleum for Halloween 2010, here's some teaser photos
of the 4' x 8' vacuum form wall panels I purchased from Night Scream Studios.