Halloween 2009: The Night HE Couldn’t Catch a Break

If there was anything remotely negative to say about this Halloween season it’s that the weather was bad on the big day. Wind gusts up to 40 mph and sporadic rain made it impossible to keep candles going in the jackos. One particular prop blew over twice, the second time landing in a cast iron fire bowl and being completely consumed. That was swell. Still, we soldiered on, though not without more than a few choice words from me.

Rather than spend the whole post bitching about what my haunt wasn’t, I thought I’d share some pictures of what it was.

Here’s a bunch of photos (what I managed to get before the rain kicked in).

My aim this year was to go for a darker, more atmosphere-focused haunt. I spent less time on monsters and more time on things like candles, lanterns and pumpkins. The larger props were crude wooden tripods with skulls and other good stuff hanging from them. Lighting was kept to a minimum. The hope was that most everything would be lit from the fire bowl and about 30 different lanterns and candles and stuff.

You can’t really tell from the photos, but the skulls are marked with runes and arcane symbols. I wanted to create the sense that these objects were warnings to anyone wandering past. The layout was such that the trick-or-treaters were led up the driveway to where the props got more dense as they approached the garage. The idea was to make the “warnings” more ominous the closer you got to the goods.

I’d offer you photos of the whole “stage” but, as I mentioned, the rain really revved up before I could switch to my wide angle lens and finish shooting. Oh, well. Next year I’ll have to come up with a better sacrifice for the weather gods, I guess.

Speaking of next year, I’m going in an entirely different direction. Wish me luck.

Overload? Yeah, you could say that.

What can I say about this Halloween? That it was more fun than I had any right wishing it would be? That I spent it in absolutely fantastic company? That I experienced what can best be described as a perpetual high for the entire month of October? Yes, I could say all of that. It still wouldn’t be enough.

HOW TO MAKE A KICKASS HALLOWEEN:
Start with a pumpkin carving party that had so much Halloween mojo (thanks mostly to my amazing wife and parents) that a little monsoon rain couldn’t stop some 40-odd (and I DO mean odd) people from coming up to set the back yard aglow with Jack O’Lanterns of every kind.

Add a special visit from my good friends Pumpkinrot and bean, who I finally got to meet after literally years of correspondence, blog posts, collaboration and general warm fuzziness. And you know what? They are the real deal. Kind, generous, wonderful and thoughtful folks. They didn’t even get freaked out when I got us all lost and it was starting to look like that scene from that horror movie. Either that means they knew they could take me or that they’re just that cool. I’m going with ‘just that cool’.

Then top it all off with a return to HAUNTED OVERLOAD in Lee, NH. But, this time, let’s really do it in style. Let’s pile Pumpkinrot, bean and BOY into a car driven by Yours Truly and send them on a road trip for a VIP tour of Haunted Overload, courtesy of owner Eric Lowther. Yeah. Let’s.

HAUNTED OVERLOAD 2009
Ladies and gentlemen, you know me. You know my tendency for hyperbole. You know I tend to get overly excited about things. Let me be clear: as excitable as I might be, I haven’t the ability to exaggerate the awesomeness that is Haunted Overload. No matter how much I tell you how good this place is, my description (and my photographs, for that matter) will fail to match what you will experience if you actually go and see it for yourself. Better still, if you’re fortunate enough to talk with Eric and the Haunted Overload cast and crew, you will begin understand the amount of love and effort that goes into this event.

There are many things I could tell you about the magnificent props, the acres of Jack O’Lanterns, the field of corn that is planted and grown specifically for Haunted Overload by Eric himself every year, and many other things that set Haunted Overload apart. What I really want to tell you, though, is how taken I was by the people who bring it all to life.

The cast, the crew, the nice ladies at the ticket booth and Eric himself: they all LOVE being a part of this thing. There are many impressive things about Haunted Overload but this is the most impressive thing to me. Every single conversation I had or overheard was infused with a very real passion. There is a sense of family, as hokey as that might sound. It’s a bunch of friendly, talented, motivated folks drawn together by a common love for Halloween to turn a patch of empty field into a creepy fantasy world. While it’s clear that Eric is the creative force behind this overgrown haunt–and that he apparently does not sleep from September to January–he has a lot of help from great folks who are fully invested in making Haunted Overload a success. The result is a really fucking killer show.

No lover of Halloween with access to a reliable form of transportation should miss this event. Period.

Thank you to Eric for the invitation and tour. You’ve really made something special. Thanks to the cast and crew of Haunted Overload. You’ve helped to make something special even more special. Bravo.

Thanks to you for reading. You can check out my photos of Haunted Overload here.