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Sorry this is a little late; very exhausting work, this graveyard business. Anyway, in spite of threatening weather and a sheer lack of as much stuff as I wanted to have to do things with in an ever-shortening time frame, we still got a lot done and we’re the hit of the neighborhood. With luck, we’ve inspired our neighbors to rise to the challenge. Here’s the finished product to start with.

The final count was three spotlights, 9 tombstones, two fog machines (including 1 ground fogger), 1 boombox with spooky music, 2 scarecrows w/pumpkinheads, and a boiling cauldron full of candy for those treaters brave enough to face our guardian witches (when they weren’t being chased by the Grim Reaper, a gravedigger, and an animated scarecrow). Lessons learned: we need more lighting for next year.

From this vantage point, you can see the cauldron with the flame beneath. This effect was one one of those fake illuminated silk blowers that look like real flame, but the effect beneath the cauldron was fantastic… I’ll be locating more of these throughout the next year.

Special thanks to our witches, Sara and Des, for watching over the cauldron. More pictures coming soon!

With Halloween Horror Nights behind me and October 31st coming up, I have nearly everything needed to put out little graveyard together. While Trick ‘r Treating will be Halloween night, weather watch says we might be competing with light rain that night, although it looks to be clearing up the day after. This could all change (and has been changing) over the next week, so no worries yet.

To give you (and myself) a sense of what I’m trying to accomplish here, I took a series of pics with my camera phone to present where I’m starting from.

Above is the side lot. The house is back behind the driveway and the Saturn VUE and extends down to the fence in the back (there’s more yard back there, too, maybe for another year!) The side walk runs parallel to the street down to that green electric box marking the end of the property. Yep, M R ducks on the bottom right.

Above is a shot from the opposite end of the yard just behind the green electric box and looking down the fence on the property line. Here you can get a better sense of how big the lot is I’m trying to fill.

Above is what most people will see either from the road driving by or walking past The Lot. This will be “Headstone Row,” the visible part of the cemetery. I’m thinking five or six plots here, each made up to look like fresh graves in front of the tombstones. What you can’t see too well is the tree to the right where you can hide things that scream at you when you walk by looking the wrong direction. Remember, kids: scaring people requires misdirection and timing! More to come…

Some of those who will be haunting the little project I’m putting together threw around a few names, looking for one that sounded both ominous and appropriate without being too difficult or overly long. Trail’s End Cemetery has the right ring to it… now all we need is a clever urban legend as to exactly WHY a cemetery is being installed in the middle of a dead-end street and specifically in time for Halloween.

So far we have a few decorations, including three full-size grave headstones (we’ll need five or six), a mausoleum cover, one of two ground foggers I hope to have, and a few other items. Coming soon: BEFORE pictures of the lot that will soon be crawling with magic folk and the living dead!

From time to time, you’ll find pictures and/or how-to instructions for decorating a home, porch, or yard for the holidays. Most of the time, very little is shown and you’re left to wonder about the details and history with only a few pictures and little insight into the project itself. As fate would have it, I have the opportunity this year to turn my landlord’s side yard into a “spooktacular” Halloween spectacle, a haunted country graveyard next to a pumpkin patch tended to by “pumpkinhead” scarecrows and cauldron-stirring witches!

Now, this project could cost a lot if you went out to Garden Ridge or Spirit Halloween stores to buy every tombstone, creature, and prop. What I’m going to concentrate on is a mix of theatrical design, electrical engineering, and good old-fashioned Martha Stewart innovation to keep the budget low and the results high. Will I accomplish what I’m setting out to do? You’ll witness the success or failure right here in images and words. As of today, I have 45 days to plan, purchase, and pull this off!

The lot itself is about a one-quarter acre ringed on two sides by an aging five-foot tall fence. The house is to the left when facing the lot, and a sidewalk allows passage past the lot without having to go into the street. It’s from the sidewalk inward that I’ll start the graveyard, taking advantage of the three tall bushes in the yard to act as part of the cemetery, with at least five tombstones and simulated open graves (more on that little trick later). Behind the grave and trees will be the special effects box, including the boom box with 80 minutes of spooky music and two ice-chilled ground foggers.

Behind that and in the center of the lot will be the witches’ cauldron surrounded by scarecrows and an evil-looking pumpkin patch. I want to use two scarecrows by the witches and a third by the sidewalk to the right of the graveyard so it can be seen by the road. Since lighting is what makes every seen, I’m working on a cheap way to mount “dollar store” 1-buck led flashlights to illuminate the graveyard and battery-powered tealights to light the pumpkin patch. The cauldron will have a fake flame machine under it but I’m still debating on how to light it to make it look creepy.

More to come…!