Friday, June 28, 2013

Epitaph Etiquette?

Everyone's got an opinion about epitaphs.  Funny, creepy, clever, scary, poignant, witty.  I like creepy and spine-tingling like "Hell is Empty and All the Devils are Here."  The ones that make you think about your eternal doom and repose.  Will your soul travel to the sun or the dark?  Light or fire?  The ones that make you think about the options you don't want to think about.  That is the essence of Halloween to me.  

Tell us what you think?  Vote for one of the epitaphs below on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/TombstoneFactory - we'll produce the winner!

Creepy: They'll Kill You, And I'll be Left Here in the Woods, All Alone
Funny: Here lies Bob Thomas, Lost and Sea and Never Found

Friday, June 21, 2013

Harbinger of Halloween To Come

How does your neighborhood know that it's time for Halloween?  October 1st, our Witch goes up! 

We live on a pretty well-traveled corner in our small-town and right by the elementary school.  That means every kid in town either walks or drives by our house with relative frequency.  Our house sits below the street and the property line has a split-rail fence running its length.  Our Witch keeps guard of the neighborhood from her station on the corner.  At night, car headlights cast her sweeping shadow across the walls of the house as if she's flying past ready to cast unwanted spells on hapless children out after dark.  

Our Witch stands post throughout October making sure everyone is in the spirit.  The dog walkers always comment that they know we're getting ready when she goes up.  At this point, they're accustomed to seeing hanging corpses in the backyard in various states of decomposition throughout August and September.

What signals to your community that the season has arrived?

ft_oct05msl27.jpg
(c) Martha Stewart
http://martha.ms/15roqC4 for instructions on how to make her.  

Friday, June 14, 2013

Pinterest Boards?

I haven't become part of the Pinterest world yet.  I'll probably find too much stuff that I want to make.  But, I accidentally linked into a Pinterest board today looking at Halloween images online.  And, Wow!  

There are a lot of Halloween junkies out there with great ideas.  Things I haven't thought of in the hours and days I've spent mulling epitaphs and burnt bodies.  I found one Pinterest user - Dawn of the Dead - and she has over 100 Boards dedicated to Halloween.  Of course, I particularly enjoy the Graves/Cemeteries Board, but it is just fun to see what other people come up with.  Some really good ideas for haunt projects ready for your mind to take it to the next level.  

This link should take you to Dawn of the Dead's page: http://pinterest.com/zim2/

Does anyone follow another Halloween board on Pinterest the rest of us should know about?  Post a comment if you do.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Haunt Music

There are a lot of Halloween CD's out there.  From classic horror movie soundtracks to the standard family-friendly entertaining Monster Mash tracks.  Since what we do is a Yard Haunt, we need something a little different.  No singing, no clapping, no instrumentals.  We need MOOD!  Bone-chilling, over-the-shoulder-looking, make-you-think-twice-about-entering MOOD!  

Now I know that there are a lot of avid Haunters who'll disagree, but we have used with marked success for many years Martha Stewart's Spooky Scary Sounds for Halloween.  Yes, it is a single 40 minute track with several of the sounds looped, but our trick-or-treaters don't stay long enough to notice and/or are too scared to notice (I prefer too scared).  What we love about it is that the sounds seem distant, as if something is going on just out of sight on the other side of that impenetrable fog bank that you probably don't want to see or it to see you.  Owls, thunder, knives and cackling set the feeling of being lost in a graveyard and the fog just clouded the street lights so now you don't know which way the exit is.  Perfect for our haunt!  

Now, we'll admit that one of our goals every year is to make at least one child cry (and we are successful) but we don't want to scar them.  So, in between loops of Martha's melody, we have included some more frightening tidbits from the internet including a booming voice that announces, "Welcome To Hell" and then laughs while a poor soul is dragged deeper and deeper into the inferno, his terrified cries for help unanswered.  This one usually makes the little kids jump and the parents smile.  

So, love it or hate it, Martha's our go-to girl for our Haunt sounds but we're always looking to improve.  Who has something better?