Lack of updates

Sorry for the lack of updates. Its been really busy around the Graveyard. I've been getting there early in the morning and getting home pretty late.

The last three days have seen a lot of progress but the rain today didn't help though. There are only three and a half days left before the preview night and still a lot left to do.

Kurtis started cementing the Temple ball face on Friday and Jesse and his friend put a second layer on Saturday. The face still has to be painted and the bottom of the mouth area has to be finished. (No its not going to be a big blue face like one of the House Managers said today. ;) Jesse and Erin have been finishing some other small things . Erin is putting up even more stencil work on the walls. The stencils are little drawings of people and animals and they add a nice touch the place.

I've been mostly lighting Temple with Jesse. I've been getting the wires ready during the day and Jesse has been deciding where most of the lights go. He's an artist so he wants every light perfect. It takes a lot of time but it looks really good. I still have a lot left to do besides Temple. Spiders still needs more lights, the Manor facade needs it lights, and the Queue line needs lights and sound. I'm pretty far behind but I have to get it all done somehow.

Witches finally got weed wacked and proped but Ernie doesn't really like how it was done. Last year he spent a lot of time on it and when Mike and Marybeth did it this year they changed things. Ernie is probably going to have someone redo it. Manor also got its props. Most of the other props are done except maybe a few small things.

Kevin is in good shape with the animatronics. He and Dan have been working on them a lot the past few days and almost everything is going. Pete came up for a few days to work on the animatronic wolf we bought in St. Louis.

The construction side still has some work especially the Manor facade. It needs a lot of work. The porch, the siding, and the roofing still need to be finished. The Queue line also has a lot of work left. The corrals are done and a small section of wall that blocks the view from the queue line to the show between Catacombs is finished but the queue line itself isn't even started yet. The Endless Tunnel also needs the last few sections put up.

Actor meetings and orientation have been going on the last two days. Lots of kids being showing their houses and where everything is. Leagh has been in the makeup trailers getting them ready and Bonita has been around also working on the costumes.

Zombo kicked out of the Big E.

Today I worked on putting repeaters in for Spiders, Temple and Fear of Death. I hooked up the Endless Tunnel Heartbeat and Strobe lights. I fixed a Light in Slaughterhouse and put a strobe in Demons.

Justin, that guy, and Dan worked on the Queue line. Kevin came up late to put Controlers in the animatronics. Dan helped him. Hunchback Mike worked on blocking off some of the gaps between areas with cloth. Marybeth and Walter's roomate worked on Manor props. Julio worked on Alisha's coffee hut and building a platform for the wolf animatronic. Pete worked on the wolf animatronic. Jesse and Erin also showed up late and worked on Temple.

Taylor was back in Zombo at the Big E but he ended up getting kicked out. Some guy came up to them and said that he and his son were there yesterday and that his son saw Zombo and as a result had nightmares and couldn't sleep all night. He also said they couldn't get into the Connecticut building since he was standing on the road in front of it. He told them to get out before he complained to someone. Eventually someone from the Connecticut building came over to Zombo Taylor and the Compounce person with him and told them they had to leave. After they went inside the Connecticut building and took the costume off the guy from the Connecticut building told them to turn the head of Zombo around so no one could see it. It was the first and only complaint about Zombo so its sad that we live in a time where one BS complaint and someone in power overreacts and kicks us out.

The picture is Kurtis working on the Temple ball face facade.

Deleted scene

Elgin, Justin, and some other guy put up mannequins in the Cemetery. I put sound in Spiders and Demons. Dan and Hunchback Mike put exit signs on pieces of plywood. Julio and Megal put a roof over Demons. They also worked on building Alisha a new bigger coffee hut. Ernie, Dan, Justin, Mike, that guy and I then started the corrals of the Queue Line. Jesse and Kurtis worked on the face on Temple ball. Taylor did Zombo today at the Big E. Also Pete came up today He's going to get the new wolf animatronic working.

The Graveyard had its first deleted scene. Never in the history of The Haunted Graveyard have we completed a scene and then removed it. The scene was the car crash. It was supposed to be something humorous like most of Trail 2. One of the original ideas was a hick crashed his car running from the cops with moonshine in the back of his truck. Somehow the actual scene that was put up was pretty disturbing, not scary, and didn't belong in a haunted house. There was really no point to it. We took it down and now plan to turn it into an axe murder scene.

The first picture is Megal on the left and Julio on the right working on the Demon roof. The second picture is Elgin in the box truck with the Cemetery mannequins.

Zombo at the Big E

I took the day off today to go to the Big E. Dan was there doing Zombo. The guy that normally does it hurt his knee so Ernie is making some of us do it.

I got word from Justin about what when on at the Graveyard today. Justin did Cemetery. Ernie said two people were supposed to come by and help him but neither person showed up. Both of them have worked in the past but not this year. Ernie then said that hunchback Mike would help but Ernie made him level the area in front of the Manor facade. He then said Big Mike would help but when he got there Ernie made him paint. Ernie then said Julio and Megal would help but Ernie had them doing other things. Basically Justin had to do everything by himself. He ended up spacing the Tombstones a little closer together than normal so now we don't have enough stones to cover the entire Graveyard. The current plan is to make more tombstones and monuments.

forgetting more

Today Justin marked out the Cemetery path with string and Dan burned it. I worked on Spiders lights. More stuff happened just not sure what.

So much to post about so little time

Today I worked on finishing the Temple sound. It will have a general house sound and four special room sounds. Justin, Ernie, Julio, Megal, the new Mike and his three people worked on finishing Demons. Elgin hung fishing line in Spiders. The fishing line sort of feels like spider webs when you walk through it. A lot more happened but I can't really remember what four days later.

Another mike

Another Mike had his first day at the Graveyard today. Now we have the hunchback Mike, big Mike and this new one. He worked on the new Demon walls along with Julio, the special machine, and some lady I haven't been introduced to yet. They also put half of Demons up in place.

Jesse and Erin worked on Temple. Erin stained the fire room walls and used stencils to put drawings on walls. Jesse worked on the huge face that will be the new facade for the ball and also worked on the water room.

I worked on Temple sound, installing speakers and running wire. Justin worked on Slaughterhouse props and helping make the Demon walls. Bonita was here too. She is the new costume lady and has been at the Graveyard a few times since being hired a few weeks ago. Kevin worked on animatronic stuff. Elgin hung fishing line in Spiders. That's what we use for the feeling of spider webs hitting you. Mark was also here working on the Manor facade. Hes been working on it for many weeks now by himself. He still has quite a way to go but it looks really nice so far.

The picture is the start of the Temple Ball face.

Catacombs looking more creepy

Today I mostly worked on fixing the rest of the Manor flickering lights. Justin worked on getting more LEDs ready for the show and putting props in Trail 2 with Taylor. Jesse and Erin worked on Temple stuff this morning before leaving for school in the afternoon. Jesse brought his Mayan calender hes been working on at home. Its quite big and looks real good. Elgin tested fog machines. I had already tested them but some of them were screwy so Ernie wanted them tested again.
Here are some pictures of Catacombs with the Mannequins in place. The show looks so much better with mannequins. The mannequins should help with the actors scaring. Without mannequins every body a customer saw they knew was a real person so the actors had to hide behind walls and other things to scare. Now that the mannequins are back actors can stand out in the open and the customers won't know if they are real or not.

Little light rain

It rained a little today but it was all light and it didn't really halt work. Julio worked on Catacombs. He was cutting out sections of wall to install these small boxes that hold props. I finished the Temple low voltage wire and ran a new wire to the front of Vampires for a new display we have out there. I also tried to fix another candle light in Manor. Justin worked on proping Spiders. He then helped me by putting resistors on LEDs. I hope to use more LEDs in Temple than in other houses.

Taylor worked on more mannequins. Mike and Marybeth worked on the Car Crash. Dan and Elgin made some new panels for Demons. Later Elgin helped to test and clean fog machines. Kurtis continued work on Temple.

There was another actor meeting tonight. We got quite a few more applications.

Looping wire

Today I worked on running the Temple low voltage wire. In some of the houses the lights get dim toward the end so I'm trying something new by looping the wire. Hopefully the lights far from the low voltage box won't be so much dimmer than the rest of the house. I also worked on one of the Manor flickering lights. For some reason a few have gone out so I'm replacing the LEDs in them with Tea lights.

Justin, Dan, and Elgin continued work on Spiders. The area doesn't have straight walls so its its something a little different. The only other areas that don't have straight walls are Lost Souls and Fish Puppet.

Kurtis, Jesse, and Erin worked on Temple. Mike worked on Mannequins in Vampires. Marybeth worked on touching up her new paintings in the Ballroom windows and painting eyes on Mannequins.

Spiders redone

Julio and Megal worked on the Temple ball today. They had to rebuid the front wall of it. We took four feet off of it a few months ago to make room for an emergency exit between Temple and Dungeon.

Justin, Dan, and Elgin worked on the new Spider area. We decided in early spring to bypass the old spider house. It was a low point in the show and it needed a lot of repairs. The new spider area will be between the Car Crash and the Demon walls. Big mike also helped later in the afternoon.

Kurtis worked on Temple stuff. The other Mike worked on Mannequins in Vampires. In the morning I worked on showing the electricians where the emergency lights go and where we need extra outlets. I also worked on the Fear of Death sound, and some other small things around the show. Marybeth painted stuff including eyes on mannequins. The special machine was also here again today. I don't believe hes finished yet though.

The picture is the new spider area in the process of being built. Dan and Justin are inside working.

Still lots left to do

Its getting close to opening day and we are running around all over the show getting stuff done. I put up strobes in the Fear of Death and Vampire Ballroom. I also fixed lights in Catacombs, put a light on a new Vampire prop and started converting some candle lights to low voltage.

Justin finished taking off the Manor roof. Dan, Elgin, and Mike picked up the Manor roof and brought it across to be stored while the show is open. Dan, Mike, Elgin, and Ernie also put one of our trucks on the top of Trail 2 for the car crash. The four of them then put up the wooden fence in front of Slaughterhouse, moved the milk truck into place, put up the hanging meat in the last hallway, and put up the plastic freezer flaps. They then put up the stretchy walls for Demons.

Marybeth finished painting the Ballroom windows and continued painting Dungeon. The "special machine" continued his weedwacking. Taylor put arms and hands on mannequins for Catacombs.

The picture is the Catacomb mannequins standing in the front hallway waiting to be installed.

all Kevin's fault ;p

It looked like it would rain a few times today but nothing fell. I worked on fixing Trail 1 lights, Fish puppet lights and Vampires lights. The Trail 1 and Fish puppet lights being out were a result of Kevin not connecting the wires back together after taking out some animatronics last year. The Vampire problem was from people cutting wires when we were replacing the Transformation room area. I also fixed a couple random lights throughout the show and put up some covers for the strobe lights in the Fear of Death.

Kevin and Dan worked on stuff for animatronics. They put the compressors in for Cemetery and made some amplifiers. Elgin picked up garbage around the show with Ernie. Justin took off the Manor roofs we put on the hallways. Katie was in the park for the Enter to Win 2 free tickets contest. Its the last day Compounce is open until we open in two weeks.

Stitches

Today Jesse and Erin worked on Temple for a few hours in the morning. I worked on soldering some bridge rectifiers for the repeters and then installing them. Kevin worked on making bridge rectifiers for animatronics.

While Kevin was cutting some hot glue off one of them he cut his finger. It was pretty bad and bleeding a lot. We went to the Compounce security shack and they called the medic. She bandaged Kevin's finger and told him he needed stitches. By the time we left the guard shack his finger pretty much stopped bleeding though. I drove Kevin to the hospital in Meriden. Kevin's parents came after about 20 min of us being there. He got called into the waiting room about an hour and a half after getting there and it took about another hour and a half to get treated. While he was in the room Dan and 3 of Kevin's friends showed up. Dan kept sneeking into Kevins room every time a nurse opened the doors to the patient rooms. Kevin got 5 stitches total from the "crabby doctor"( Kevin and Dan called him that). After we left the hospital, Kevin, Dan, the 3 friends and I went out to dinner. We then went back to the Graveyard around 1am and walked through the show making a list of stuff we still had to do.

special machine broken

Jesse and Kurtis worked on Temple. Justin and I worked on Pumpkins. Julio worked on putting plywood on the new Manor facade. Mike and his friend worked on proping something.

Apparently the special machine broke yesterday. Instead of the electric weedwacker he was using one of our gas powered ones. Since we aren't sure if the electric weedwacker or the person was the special machine we are going to call him the special machine now.

The picture is Jesse and Kurtis working on a skeleton.

Tagged

I started out today by looking at the tagging the kid Julio brought did to some of the queue line stuff. Apparently someone gave him a can of spray paint to paint props but I guess he wanted to paint more. ;pChris worked on putting more roll roofing on the rooms in Temple. Justin, Taylor, and Dan worked on putting up the props in Cornfield, Pumpkins, Trail 1, and Vampires. They also picked up some trash around the show.

I worked on Pumpkins.

Ernie had been talking for about a week about how Julio was going to bring a friend with a special machine to pull up weeds in the Cemetery or something like that. Today that special machine arrived and it was (drumroll) an electric weedwacker. Not sure whats so special about it, we have plenty of gas powered ones and they generally work a lot better. Guess we'll see over the next couple days. He only got one very small section cut so far.

The picture is Dan holding the scarecrow, Taylor pulling something out of the box truck, and Justin telling Dan where the stuff goes.

Wish I wrote this the day it happened

Today Julio worked on doors. He put one in Vampires and another one in Catacombs. He also brought a kid. He was helping out a little here and there. I worked on Pumpkins. I'm over half way done wiring them up now. Taylor worked on more props for Catacombs. I'm not sure about anyone else since I'm writing this a week later. ;p

weekend quiet

I came in to work at the graveyard today. I expected to see other people when I got there but I was alone. Kevin eventually came around noon and Justin and Katie came at 3. I worked on Pumpkins. Kevin worked on animatronics. Justin and Katie were in the park signing people to win the two free tickets to the Graveyard.

Kevin told me he was the only one at the Graveyard on Saturday. Overall it was a very quiet weekend.

Commercial shoot!!

Today started like any other day. Justin and I worked on Pumpkins. We finished the middle fence. Kevin ran air hose for animatronics in Temple. Ernie and Taylor kept installing new props in Catacombs. Kurtis ran around and got things ready for the Commercial shoot.

Kurtis is the person making the commercial. Leigh did the awesome makeup. The shoot took place in Manor, Slaughterhouse, Cemetery, Catacombs, Vampires, and Trail 2. Jesse, Bobby, Taylor, Marybeth, Mike and two other people I don't know were in it. Many of us stayed at the Graveyard until after 3am when the shoot ended. Here are some pictures of the night up until my camera battery ran out. >< Marybeth and Mike during the shoot in the Cemetery.

Kurtis, the camera man, and Mike at the entrance to Catacombs.
Taylor in the Sawmill.

Still more Pumpkins

Justin and I are still working on the Pumpkins. We have most of the middle fence wired. Ernie and Taylor worked on installing props in Catacombs.

The picture is Taylor working on putting foam noodles on the Catacomb facade with Bobby watching.

Many painters

We had four painters painting stone today. Marybeth, Mike, Mikes friend, and the other Mike all showed up to paint today.

The picture is Marybeth, the newer Mike and his friend painting the new Ballroom in Vampires.

Jesse and Erin showed up this morning and worked on Temple with Kurtis.

The Picture is Jesse, Kurtis, and Justin in the Earth room of the new Temple.

Taylor and Dan worked on some Vampire stuff and later in the day Taylor worked on some new stuff for Catacombs. Julio and a friend he brought worked on the Catacombs main alter and some other things.

The picture is Taylor working on some new things for Catacombs with Julio, Ernie, and Justin in the back. Julio is in front of the new main alter he and Megal built.

Justin and I worked on more pumpkins.

Another new person

Justin and I continued on the Pumpkin Patch. We took down all of the shelves on the Left wall when you first walk in then put them back up. Some of them were a little loose so we put a 1x3 on the fence where the shelves are so when we screwed the shelves back on the screw was into more than just a thin piece of fence. Kurtis worked on Temple. Julio and Megal worked on a new main alter for Catacombs. The top of the old one was starting to sag in a little so Ernie had them make a new one. ALso Mike an actor that applied to act this year came up to do some stone work painting on the new wood in the houses. He and Marybeth went through and finished all of Catacombs by the end of the day.