Howling Hollow Asylum 2008: New and improved version with added family memories.

Okay, maybe it IS 5AM, November 2nd, but I finally found a few minutes to post those photos! (thank God for day light savings and an extra hour of sleep!) I've been SO busy since Halloween. I know that clean up is going to be a huge job this year, and as usual, it will be MY job. (for some reason, no one EVER gets all excited and creative about clean up. ) Just as well, they don't have a lot of experience at cleaning up, they probably wouldn't know where to begin! Any way, I've decided that since Halloween was on Friday this year, I'll just leave it all 'till Monday. In the mean time, I've been doing prep work and getting things organized and planned out for storage.

But I digress - again. If you're a regular reader, you've probably seen alot of what the asylum/cemetery looks like. So . . . I've chosen the best of the photos from Halloween night. I'm planning out a post on my haunt blog that will include ALL the best photos - in a cute and clever way -of course. But that's going to take a few more days. (no matter HOW much my husband pouts) My regular blog readers get the best stuff first. I will let you know when the haunt blog is done and posted.

Here we go. First of all, Halloween night weather was PERFECT this year - warm and clear. Things got a little hectic earlier in the day because, at the last minute, I was able to have our home haunt listed on a local news channel's map site of "must see" Halloween decorations in Kansas City. Also, I had a few friends that had already informed me that they would stop by early, and I wanted everything to be set up before they arrived. In other words, At 4PM, we were still at Walmart buying extra candy and a new CD player for the one that quit working at the very last minute, knowing that we were expecting guests at 5:30 PM! But it all worked out. (thank you, God!) and once we threw open the garage door, we had a blast. ( *as usual, you can click on any of the photos to get a closer look)

This is Heather, in her Hippie chick costume. Unlike my sons, who would rather spend their Halloween with girlfriends in sexy costumes, my youngest stayed to help for most of the night before she and her friends went trick or treating together.



This is The Mad Doctor Foley in his laboratory, waiting for our first guests to arrive.


This was our crew for this year. (right to left) Heather, Roy, Alexis, (our next door neighbor and Heather's best friend) and Sebastian. Sebastian is a friend who came to last years Haunt and was so impressed that we promised him he could help this year. He held us to our promise, and he is a very creative actor!!! (I'm going to track him down for next year too!)

Jasmin and Jason, and their kids were one of our first guests. (They dropped off Christian so he and Jake could terrorize the neighborhood) And I got photos of my grand kids in their costumes ! This is Ana as a she devil.

Of course, girls never miss an opportunity to strike a pose in a new outfit.
Ana, Alexis, Heather.

This is my grandson, Caleb as a rootin' tootin' cowboy.

Since we didn't have time to eat, Roy BBQed some brats and hot dogs for the kids and a few of our neighbors.

One of the last minute errands was getting cows hearts, pork brains, livers and intestines from the meat market to fill the Dr.'s specimen jars in the morgue. We used Hair gel to add color and that gross, disgusting effect, and surrounded them up with orange twinkle lights so they would glow. The kids were absolutely fascinated with them.

This is the brain that Dr. Foley removed from Bob our patient. His job this year was to find a willing brain donor to reanimate Bob.

This is Alexis and Sebastian waiting for the "goblins" to arrive.

This is our coffin filled with candy to lure them with. I bought one of those bowls with a hand in the center of it that that says, "HEY!" and tries to grab any hand that reaches inside. I didn't think it would impress many kids because, I'm certain that everyone has seen them before at Walmart. But in the middle of SO MUCH candy, they never even saw it coming! Almost all of them jumped back in surprise.

Sebastian came up with a lot of new skits to try out and this is Roy, Alexis and Sebastian trying one out. (I really like this kid, he's evil! I'm putting him on next year's planning committee!)

Just like in the movies, the cute punk rocker always survives . . .

This is Sebastian acting out another skit for the kids with Elizabeth.

This was a pretty good view of the Asylum.



This is Edna, one of the last corpses that I made. Mostly, she just hangs around the morgue.

Roy and Sebastian (aka: George; the Dr.'s evil henchman) waiting for the next group of kids to show up.

These were some common reactions from little ones when they realised that the guy behind the exam table (Roy) was REAL !

This guy showed up thinking that HE was the scariest monster around. We try not to scare the little ones, but guys like this are doomed !

Halloween is a good night to make new friends. I think they make a cute couple.

The Dr. asked for volunteers to help hold Bob down when he flipped the switch to reanimate him. We planted a back massager under Bob's shoulders, so when the lights, and buzzers came on, Bob would bounce around on the table. A lot of the kids freaked out, thinking that they were going to get shocked. ( of course, watching them jump made everyone laugh)

Around 11PM, things started slowing down, and I lit the candelabra while Roy went to get us some burger's from Wendy's. Romantic, in a warped kind of way, Huh?)

Even the bone boiler seems kind of pretty after a long night of scaring little kids.

Roy and Sebastian.

Dr. Foley and his wife. (me)

We had an awesome time this year. I've got all kinds of new and exciting plans for next year. I can hardly wait!!!

We hope that everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween !!!!!

Good night.

LOVE,

Susan