What I Saw.

Hey Frightners!

Well I am still going through all my pictures and video of the haunt this year and yes I really took that many! In the past I always fell short of having a lot of pictures and videos to look back on and I wanted to be sure I got everything this year... the down side is its hard to figure out which ones to pic and how to edit it all together into my haunt video this year but what I decided to do tonight is post some pictures from what I saw around town this year as well as post some links to fellow haunters that live close by me who's haunts are definitely worth going to see.

I will start with a few pictures. The pictures below all belong to homes in Roselle Park NJ. This is a great Halloween town to live in and where I hope to own a home shortly! The town actually holds a town wide decorating contest and urges the residents to get into the Halloween Spirit and you can tell by these few pictures that they really do get into it which is nice to see.

To explain a little more about Roselle Park NJ, it's where my wife grew up. It's a great mix of people and kids of all ages and every Halloween the streets are packed with Tot's. The most famous street notorious for it's off the wall home haunt displays is Bender Avenue. They normally block off Bender and hundreds of Tot's along with their parents go dressed up to the block to Trick or Treat and to show off their costumes. It's almost like a mini parade just without the floats and all that jazz.

I took a little car ride the weekend before Halloween to see some of the displays as people were decorating getting ready for the big night and these were the few shots I got...

All of them were neat in their own way but I really liked the witch silos as well as the over sided Devil in the last picture. The witch silos gave me some cool future prop ideas for Grimlock Manor. It's funny how simple they are to create and what a dramatic effect they have. I didn't really have the opportunity to go back to any of these at night as Halloween ended up being postponed in the town until November 5th due to the snow storm most of NJ experienced but I hear by Halloween much more was added to these displays and with their lighting at night they looked even better.

On Halloween I actually traveled to my friend Sharon's haunt Bloodcrest Manor. You may know Sharon as Joiseygal which is her haunt handle. Sharon also does weekly vlogs on YouTube in which she details her on going prop builds and all that is going on with her haunt. 

I had never been to Joisey's haunt in person and only have ever seen pictures and videos so it was a real treat to be there live in person to see it in all it's spookyness! Joisey is one of the many haunters who has taken her display to the extreme by adding a walkthrough to it which I can say from experience is a daunting task that requires a lot of hard work and time but she really uses that time wisely to set up one heck of a haunt.

Joisey not only had a lot of tricks up her sleeve with some cool special fx props but you can tell she has experience in how to set up a great scare. Joisey has been working as an actor at various pro haunts for the past two years (maybe more?) The experience she has gained through the pro haunts really shows up in her haunt as you wind your way through various scene set ups that all cater to different fears. She misleads your senses and does a great job to disorient you in order to shock you at the very last moment and I have to confess she made me jump a few times!

If you ever have a chance to see Bloodcrest Manor in person then I suggest going. This is one Home Haunt that continues to grow and deserves some attention. I for one plan to add a trip to Bloodcrest Manor to my to do list for Halloween from here on out.

Here is a quick day time walkthrough and keep your eye posted on Joiseys YouTube channel for future updates.

To wrap up this post I have one final haunt which is only 5 minutes from my house and until this year I never knew existed which is one thing I love about being a home haunter, each and every year you seem to find a new haunter to get to know and there is nothing better then finding out that their is someone who shares your same passion as a haunter and Halloween fanatic and they live only a stones throw away!

I came across Pandemic Cemetery which is run by Dr. Death AKA Dave this past summer as I received an email from his wife who I actually went to High School with! Small world huh?! Mrs & Mrs Death actually came to Grimlock Manor in our first year and finally followed the paper trail to myself a few years later. We have begun to talk and I look forward to meeting up with them soon and learning more about Pandemics past and future and though I couldn't make it to see their display this year Dr. Death has created a great video of his haunt this year which you can view on his YouTube Channel which I highly suggest checking out because Dr. Death himself actually posts videos quite often on all the props he is working on and the process of putting them all together. It's a nice behind the scenes look.

I will leave you with the Pandemic Cemetery 2011 video below which again is amazing stuff and overall it was a fun Halloween season in which I got to see some great haunts that have inspired so many new ideas. I can't wait to get started on Grimlock Manor 2012 and look forward to seeing what new haunt gems I find next year.

Stay Frightful!