Happy Halloween

Halloween Night 2009.

First time it wasn't sunny & 70 degrees on Halloween in a long time.

Warm but mostly rainy.

A small turn out but still better than last year.

We had a blast hosting a family party and our candy crazed little girls got to play with their cousins past 11 o'clock.

Hope everyone had a great night, Happy Halloween !

Steve

Legend Nights

Philipsburg Manor in a torrential downpour this past Saturday was a slop fest. Mud, mud and a heavy helping of more mud made getting around and enjoying the haunt rather difficult.

It was raining so hard at times you could not hear the actors, mostly stationed in barns or some type of enclosure. 2 witches who braved the elements, tried really hard to work the crowd amidst a terrible soaking. Drenchy Hollow!

Awesome Tim Burton inspired scarecrows through out. Really tall, 10 -12 feet high - burning real candles within. Definitely see incorporating more height to my own next year. Mine leans forward a little and comes in at about 7ft. By the way ...the little twerp was found later that night face planted from being monsooned upon. The burlap gets really heavy when wet.

The Horseman was great. Atop a giant black horse he came across as both monstrous and intimidating.

Legend Days

Lopped Off...Clean as Dandelion Heads

The Horseman grasps a freshly chopped head with the aid of some well hidden fishing line.

The Witch of the Western Woods

Overall darker theme this year. Days of wooden cut outs are long gone.

A few shots of an updated witch after moving some things to the front yard.

Veil material completely covers the body now, a creepier look I think. A necklace and some "smokey eyes" painted on by my wife. She hated how the eyes looked before. A cheap, plastic Friday the 13th prop axe repainted.

The Horseman still needs to be put together ....should be out this weekend.

Want to put a better effort into lighting this year...waiting on some LED's from minionsweb.

ScreenCaptures

Source:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://museum.enchanted-rose.org/pictures/albums/movie_sleepyhollow/screencaptures01/thumb_01sleepyhollow_008.jpg&imgrefurl=http://museum.enchanted-rose.org/pictures/thumbnails.php%3Falbum%3D86&usg=__cXgU65403mH2RlMIr1rlKFU2TdI=&h=55&w=100&sz=3&hl=en&start=53&um=1&tbnid=rgIfvUmzFEDtTM:&tbnh=45&tbnw=82&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvan%2Bgarrett%2Bsleepy%2Bhollow%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26sa%3DN%26start%3D36%26um%3D1

A few cool screenshots from a place I recently came across.

There I realized how off base I was with the Crone's veil. It goes down to the floor! I'll have to fire my research department for that slip up. I'll see if it's possible to improve accuracy a little there without losing all of the dress details. I really hate being the only guy on line at the fabric store...maybe I can just use creepy cloth for it.

Family and I are making a trip to Van Cortlandt Manor for The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze this Friday night. We had a blast last year and we're looking forward to it again this year.

The following weekend it's minus the kids & back to Sleepy Hollow for Legend Nights at Philipsburg Manor & the ride of the Headless Horseman.

http://www.hudsonvalley.org/

We also will make our annual trip to Clinton Place in Hackensack, NJ. There you will find beautiful old homes on both sides of the long, closed street that decorate and go all out for Halloween. Original scary stuff and some really cute things for the younger kids as well...like The Great Pumpkin, Wizard of Oz and Nightmare Before Christmas. If you're in Northern NJ you should really check it out. Link to pictures below.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/john_kay_1/sets/72157602675701646/

Where Brave Men Will Not Venture

The Witch Of The Western Woods

Some mention was made also of the woman in white, that haunted the dark glen at Raven Rock, and was often heard to shriek on winter nights before a storm, having perished there in the snow. The chief part of the stories, however, turned upon the favorite spectre of Sleepy Hollow, the headless horseman, who had been heard several times of late, patrolling the country; and, it was said, tethered his horse nightly among the graves in the church-yard.

Some shots before I move things into the front yard for this years display...Probably on Saturday.

The tree stump is actually a speaker I bought on EBay & repainted.

The Crone

About 1/2 way there. Still needs a major paint job on the dress. It just eats white paint and it still looks black. I need more creep cloth as well. Her chest skin color needs to match her hands & face as well.
Kind of like her sitting down pose...My display lacks a good visual starting point. So...It might look cool if she was in front ...say sitting on a tree stump with an axe embedded into it while holding a copy of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.