We got this plaque this past December for only $26 on Amazon in anticipation of this year's Haunted Mansion inspired ghost themed yard haunt. We weren't sure if we were going to display it in the bookcase prop on our front porch for Halloween, but it really pops on our aedicula prop! It may have been the last one available because it's currently unavailable on Amazon. We have learned over the years that if you see something special or unique for Halloween snag it ASAP because a lot of Halloween decorations, props, masks, etc. are produced in limited run batches and you may never see such ..read more

With Halloween only 4 months away we thought it would be fun to share this really funny bit by Matt Mitchell ..read more

The 2020 pandemic created a bit of serendipity when we crafted a "social distancing/treat bag self serve" fabric covered wooden barricade frame for our front porch that Halloween. Our small front porch entry at this house had become problematic on Halloween night once we had a storm door that opened outward installed. Trick-or-treaters would create a bottleneck as they all clambered on our front porch to get their treats and would then have to all step backwards for us to open the storm door (we often have Halloween nights in the upper 30s to low 40s). The porch barricade put an end to the bot ..read more

They've already started putting out Halloween merchandise and printed fabrics at JoAnn fabrics. This year's Halloween decor at JoAnn Fabrics seems to be based on a moon/celestial theme. Some may have issue with such things being out so soon in stores, but for the home/yard haunter who is always thinking one, two, or three Halloweens in advance, it sparks the imagination and gets the wheels turning. We picked up a new skull plaque that has red LED uplights hidden in the top of the skull for our 2023 built aedicula prop ..read more

Decided to not bother with adding a skeletal hand holding a candle lantern on the ground breaker "Hat Ghost" prop. We're either going to place a candle lantern with a blue or green LED flame light on the ground next to it, or we'll use a small LED colored spot light like we did with the jack-o-lantern monster ground breaker last Halloween. Good enough ..read more

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Making some progress on the standing mannequins for our 2024 haunt. The Chiller and The Duchess props are new for this year's haunt. Thought the blue light candle lantern for The Chiller made for an interesting prop accessory. The blue apparitions' hands are also a new addition this year ..read more

For our 2024 Halloween yard haunt we're revisiting our 2019 ghost theme. We have to work out a better system for mounting the digital projection screen in our front window this year. In 2019 we used 3M removable double sided adhesive mounting dots to mount the screen fabric to our vinyl window frames, but the adhesive couldn't keep the screen fabric taught for the entire duration of the haunt. We started to get visible wrinkles and creases in the fabric due to the flexible/stretchy nature of the dots. This summer we're going to test out 3M Command Velcro strips on the window frames paired up w ..read more

This may be surprising to hear, but we're not huge fans of modern horror movies, e.g. most movies of the genre made after 1999. But this newly released 1970's set period piece horror movie looks rather intriguing and in the same vein of the old Tales From The Darkside, Tales From The Crypt, and darker themed Twilight Zone/Outer Limits type stories which we always found entertaining.  ..read more

One of our favorite places to visit is Lake Effect Ice Cream in Lockport, NY. We managed to squeeze in a visit last weekend and had their special St. Patrick's Day "Guinness Extra Stout" ice cream and picked up a "I Vant To Eat Lake Effect Ice Cream" pin. Every October they release their "Trick-Or-Treat" ice cream which is Mr. Haunted Eve's favorite flavor they make. Here's their description of the ice cream flavor: "If you've never had it, here's the idea: You come home from an awesome night of trick-or-treating and dump out your candy bag on the floor, and take a look at the big pile of ..read more