Let's go to the tape...

A couple of short videos from Halloween...

Here's the scene shortly after we started- the foggers are still warming up:

Now the foggers are doing their work:

And a quick clip of my "victims":

Bring down the curtain, take a bow...Halloween 2014

And just like that, it's over.

A year of planning, building, re-building. Advances and reversals. Changes of plan on the fly. It all comes down to one magical night...

The weather refused to cooperate- heavy rains all day gradually tapered off to drizzle and- around 5 pm- some clear skies. Unfortunately, by 6 pm we were back to heavy rains. They ended quickly and the rest of the night was dry, but a lot of folks either stayed in or went elsewhere.

Still, the ones who did come out were impressed. Our crypt was a HUGE hit, and was certainly the "must-see" of the evening. Drac managed to scare a few of the teens and tweens by materializing out of the fog, providing a gentle reminder as who the Master of the Manor truly was...mwah hah hah!

Here are some pics and vids of the evening...hope you enjoy them as much as we did making them!

The front of the house and the cemetery.

The Entrance to the crypt, from street-level.

View of the crypt from the exit.

Front of the crypt- it loses something with the flash.

Approaching the crypt, the evil dead await!

Inside the crypt- dare you linger?

Wherever you go, He follows...

Another angle showing the lines.

Moonlight strikes the Undead...will He rise?

Basically...Run!

   

Good Day/Bad Day

Call this one a draw, or a slight loss...
First, shopping at Michaels craft store for their Halloween clearance. Yeah. Clearance. Not even Halloween yet, and they're already selling it all off and putting up Christmas...

The upside is we can get great discounts on decorations and still have time to incorporate them into our display!

Today we picked up a bunch of Spookytown buildings and accessories to add into our display. Check out the video below!

This afternoon was supposed to see the crypt interior walls go up, with the crypt being completed tomorrow. Instead, one wall ended up in four pieces, and my shoulder ended up completely non-functional. I'll need a full day just to rebuild the wall, before I can even think about doing the crypt...majorly disappointing!

Oh well- check out Spookytown:

Finishing Touches

Another beautiful day, which we made full use of. Put up the partial wall on the crypt, the rear barrier to keep folks out of the garage, and glued the 3rd crypt wall together. Added some finishing touches to the crypt facing and the roof, plus little bits here and there.

The pics below show the crypt during the day and at night. You can see the addition of two gargoyles on the roof, door knockers on the front walls, and a bat hanging inside the crypt.


The gargoyles and false wall show up better in this shot. We added the wall on the front corner, as the existing structure wasn't convincing- this at least looks like it's a corner:

Close-up of the false wall. It adds some depth and carries off the broken-wall look we're after:

The view from the street:

The front of the house, day and night. We still have more lighting to add:

Crypt Exterior

A full afternoon in 76 degree weather- rare for this time of year- allowed us to get the crypt exterior put up. Tomorrow we'll finish decorating the yard- adding the rest of the lights, hanging the ghouls, and other little touches- then start working on the crypt interior.

Already, we've seen an increase in foot and vehicle traffic as people come by to check out the place. It's really the best feeling when the work is up and you can sit back and watch people enjoy the efforts...

The graveyard at Nevermore Manor

The crypt entrance

The white streak is the moon over the graveyard

Nevermore Manor wouldn't be complete without a Raven

October 1st!

It's been a long, strange trip...

Here we are, October 1st- time to start setting up. Got the tombstones and fencing put up, along with the floodlights. We'll add more tomorrow and Friday, and try to finish it by Saturday.

Still have the crypt interior to finish, but that can't be done until the crypt exterior is out of the garage- plus, it won't be viewed for some time yet.

Here's some pics of the first day's setup:

 

The cemetery is up, just need to add the finishing touches

 

View through the fence

 

The Blackberry doesn't do it justice- the blue lights give a nice glow

Crypt Completion

Well, Labor Day lived up to its name- another full day of work, but the crypt is more or less finished. Once again, Math bested me in single combat and I ended up 2 feet short on my burial niches, but I can fix that later. I need to add some boards to give the foam more support, and I need to add a roof and some trim around the garage door opening, but that's it. Come October 1st, when we put it up, we'll do some additional detailing and weathering, add some moss, and then put the skeletons and candles everywhere.

This was a challenging build, and it seemed like nothing was going to go right, it would never be finished, etc. But now that it's "done", the hard work really seems to have paid off. I'm pleased with how it turned out, and can't wait to get the lights sorted out and test it.