If there was anything remotely negative to say about this Halloween season it’s that the weather was bad on the big day. Wind gusts up to 40 mph and sporadic rain made it impossible to keep candles going in the jackos. One particular prop blew over twice, the second time landing in a cast iron fire bowl and being completely consumed. That was swell. Still, we soldiered on, though not without more than a few choice words from me.

Rather than spend the whole post bitching about what my haunt wasn’t, I thought I’d share some pictures of what it was.

Here’s a bunch of photos (what I managed to get before the rain kicked in).

My aim this year was to go for a darker, more atmosphere-focused haunt. I spent less time on monsters and more time on things like candles, lanterns and pumpkins. The larger props were crude wooden tripods with skulls and other good stuff hanging from them. Lighting was kept to a minimum. The hope was that most everything would be lit from the fire bowl and about 30 different lanterns and candles and stuff.

You can’t really tell from the photos, but the skulls are marked with runes and arcane symbols. I wanted to create the sense that these objects were warnings to anyone wandering past. The layout was such that the trick-or-treaters were led up the driveway to where the props got more dense as they approached the garage. The idea was to make the “warnings” more ominous the closer you got to the goods.

I’d offer you photos of the whole “stage” but, as I mentioned, the rain really revved up before I could switch to my wide angle lens and finish shooting. Oh, well. Next year I’ll have to come up with a better sacrifice for the weather gods, I guess.

Speaking of next year, I’m going in an entirely different direction. Wish me luck.