The Haunt

All of the projects shown on this site were built for display in the haunt. Unlike other home haunts that usually stick to a single theme or idea throughout the years, the theme for the Shadoween haunt changes from year to year. This approach affords a lot of opportunity to let your imagination run wild, without having to be confined to making the standard "haunted house" type of props.

That approach also has it's drawbacks... We often find ourselves starting over!
While that may seem daunting sometimes, it really is a minor tradeoff for the amount of self expression that it allows!

This also forces you to keep an open mind while designing props. Making props using 'generic' mechanisms, when possible, allows reuse in later projects. This is also a challenge unto itself!

Planning
Planning of the theme and props usually begin pretty early in the year, maybe around March or so. We work on flushing out ideas and layout of the haunt through the summer months. Construction on larger props will usually start during that time also. The heavy construction, and late nights, start kicking in around September.

Setup
Most of the outside setup activities are performed beginning the week before the haunt's official opening (which we refer to as 'the party'). Setup inside the house really a day or two before the opening, and there is never enough time, the day of... :)