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As some of you know (those from the Civ III or IV demogames, anyway), Halloween is a BIG deal for me. A little history.
In years past, my profession was actually building haunted houses for people with the help of my 2 brothers. (not running them, just designing and building them) We kinda sorta worked ourselves out of a job there, and after doing all the major haunted houses, including the local amusement park's "dark rides", we were left with the choice of traveling to continue the work, or getting real jobs.
We chose the latter. However, I kept at the haunted houses as a hobby, and made a unique, for charity haunt specifically designed for children, but to be scary at the same time. Nothing like that had ever gone up around here, all kids haunts being cutesy poo lala crap.
It was a resounding success, and we were able to purchase an entire room (equipment, room, everything) for the childrens burn unit in the local hospital in 3 years of operation.
However, the building we were in was condemned, and we were unable to locate a new place. So, I sold ALL my stuff.
That was 7 years ago. 5 years ago, we moved into a new house, and since the neighborhood had a ton of kids, I decided to do a little wee minor thing in the yard. 120 kids come by that first year.
It's taken a life of it's own, and last year, 450 kids come through, including a special needs school where the children with epilepsy had never been able to go through a haunt before.
For those of you unfamiliar with my stuff, last year's photos are here:
And a video walkthrough (crappy quality, I admit) here:
This year, we're expecting 600+ at the house.
Many of the concepts and in-progress stuff for '08 can be seen here:
I'm also intending to enter the Guild Wars Halloween art contest with Project Nightfall. Building a Nightfall inspired graveyard. It's progress is here:
However, this also marks a banner year as my return to a charity haunt. I have been contracted, just this last week, to do a room for a local school, and will be doing up a real quick and dirty Mad Scientist lab. They understand the extreme short notice they've given me limits some possibilities, so expect it to grow better in future years.
Today marks 39 days till Halloween. Many fewer till I have Project Nightfall and the mad scientist lab up.
I'ld love to hear what everyone else is up to, and to see all the kids costumes.
In years past, my profession was actually building haunted houses for people with the help of my 2 brothers. (not running them, just designing and building them) We kinda sorta worked ourselves out of a job there, and after doing all the major haunted houses, including the local amusement park's "dark rides", we were left with the choice of traveling to continue the work, or getting real jobs.
We chose the latter. However, I kept at the haunted houses as a hobby, and made a unique, for charity haunt specifically designed for children, but to be scary at the same time. Nothing like that had ever gone up around here, all kids haunts being cutesy poo lala crap.
It was a resounding success, and we were able to purchase an entire room (equipment, room, everything) for the childrens burn unit in the local hospital in 3 years of operation.
However, the building we were in was condemned, and we were unable to locate a new place. So, I sold ALL my stuff.
That was 7 years ago. 5 years ago, we moved into a new house, and since the neighborhood had a ton of kids, I decided to do a little wee minor thing in the yard. 120 kids come by that first year.
It's taken a life of it's own, and last year, 450 kids come through, including a special needs school where the children with epilepsy had never been able to go through a haunt before.
For those of you unfamiliar with my stuff, last year's photos are here:
And a video walkthrough (crappy quality, I admit) here:
This year, we're expecting 600+ at the house.
Many of the concepts and in-progress stuff for '08 can be seen here:
I'm also intending to enter the Guild Wars Halloween art contest with Project Nightfall. Building a Nightfall inspired graveyard. It's progress is here:
However, this also marks a banner year as my return to a charity haunt. I have been contracted, just this last week, to do a room for a local school, and will be doing up a real quick and dirty Mad Scientist lab. They understand the extreme short notice they've given me limits some possibilities, so expect it to grow better in future years.
Today marks 39 days till Halloween. Many fewer till I have Project Nightfall and the mad scientist lab up.
I'ld love to hear what everyone else is up to, and to see all the kids costumes.
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