Column Dweller

A "Flat Back" prop who resides inside the column. I am not happy with the amount of light that hits this prop, however, that's probably something that will be addressed next year. Plus, this guy is a little creepier than most of our props so, maybe it's best you can't really get a great look at him at night. We've named him "Cuthbert." Not sure why. And, he is mentioned in the radio play if you listen closely to the end.

Column guts....

Here's a good look at the stuff that makes the column go. You can get a good peek at the cylinder here. The mess of wires are connected to the controller which fires the cylinder, the lights and the sound...Thanks again to Brent Ross at Devious Concoctions for all the help. And to Bryce Miller for giving up a Saturday to help out with the "skinning" of the columns.

Overall, the column props add a lot, we think.

Haunted Column in progress...

The new Haunted Column before Amy got her paint brush on it.

Repaired and Installed

And here is the repaired and rejunvenated Gargoyole. We changed the angle of his neck. In year's past he always peered downward so he stared at you as you passed under him. This year he looks out toward the street and I think he's more engaging that way. Note the new, larger wings as well. I think he looks better this year than when we was new.

Behind the Scenes: Gargoyle Repair

Here is the gargoyle...his arm now wrapped in the burlap that will soon be dipped into the monster mud. In addition, we changed the angle of the head this year so gargy looks right at you and we gave him new wings. All in all a successful job.

Welcome to The Sweeney Family Horror 2005

Sweeney House is up and running in 2005, We're happy you've stopped by our haunt, This year we did not get to all our projects, but we did manage to install large new columns (with an added surprise) and we repaired and restyled the Gargoyle. We also "freshened" the radio show with some new dialogue and lot of added SFX. We hope you enjoy it. In the coming days, we'll post some additional behind the scenes pics and we'll repost more of the Sweeney Family's backstory. Let us know what you think.

Slow going

Sorry that I haven't posted any pictures of the progress on props but the going has been SLOOOOOOOW. I'll update you when something significant happens.

Flying Crank Ghost

We had a request about the Flying Crank Ghost on the guestbook. The Sweeney Family Horror suggests Phantasmechanics Online. Doug Ferguson was the inventor. I have a lot of respect for Doug and therefore suggest you get your first FCG through him. Though you can also obtain an FCG or plans to build your own from ebay. Just search "Halloween Props" and page through until you find one. A caution about ebay FCGs. Some do not come with cranks. Most are of excellent quality. This time of year they are in demand so you can pay a pretty penny for the ghost alone. You can also get an excellent product from Creep Craft Products We've done business with them and were very happy with what we got.

Operation Gargoyle

He sure looks sad right now. But by Halloween the Gargoyle will be as good as new. Last year I noticed that the gargoyle was really listing to one side. When we took him down we noticed his right arm was essentially broken. After several seasons, this was to be expected. The problem was of my own making I had reinforced his wings with "Great Stuff" expandable foam. You can see the gargoyle's shoulder got the same treatment. Good idea for the shoulder. Bad idea for the wings. They because way too heavy. Add in the wet weight of a few October rains and the monster mud around the elbow gave way. I stripped the monster mud "skin" off the gargoyle's arm and you can now see the skeleton. Simple chicken wire shaped like a garyole's arm. You can see the real problem here. I didn't "fuse" the gargoyle's elbow with great stuff. So, when the weight of the wings got to be too much, the wire didn't hold. I'll fix that simply by spraying in a little foam and letting it dry before I re-mud the arm.

Not everyone fuses joints like I do with the foam. But I think the key to a long-lasting prop is giving it a good foundation. The foam is the strongest and innermost layer of support for the prop. And it helps ensure the prop is durable.

Where to put the fog...

I have a wild hair that I can make fog come out of the gargoyle's mouth. Much easier if I made him that way in the first place. Or if I hadn't filled him with expanding foam as you see here. Still, I think I can get it done. But I am wondering how to get the tube into the head. Also a little concerned about how small of diameter of tubing a normal fog machine can push fog though. So, this may or may not happen. At the very least, you have a good view of more of the skeleton of the creature.

Give the monster a hand

Here's close-up the gargoyle's current hands. They're "sculpted" expandable foam. You can imagine that I have never been happy with them. Of couse, at night from 20 feet away they are just fine. But in the picture above you'll see some new hands that I am considering utlizing as I rebuild the prop. I bought them a few years ago and haven't ever really used them. They're gloves actually. But a little foam, monster mud and paint and they could be much more refined.

New Prop

Thanks to a big assist from Brent at Devious Concoctions, SFH has a "monster" new prop to deploy! Brent is shipping me the guts for a drop panel column...this should be a very exciting prop to watch in action this season.

Early Summer Update

All right, I've determined a good list of 2005 projects. Since, as of today, we are eliminating the basement portion of the haunt, we hope these new features will make our yard haunt more enjoyable for our fans. I am fairly sure none of our fans are reading this site at the moment, however, if I am mistaken, please feel free to let us know what you think.

New Cemetery Fence with pillars (and possibly a header)
Priority: High
Difficulty: High
Expense: High

Rebuild gargoyle/add fog feature
Priority: High
Difficulty: Medium (I think)
Expense: Low

Remake of radio play
Priority: High
Difficulty: Low
Expense: Medium

New, more advanced outdoor Version of last year's "gatekeeper" effect
Priority: Medium
Difficulty: Medium to high
Expense: Medium to low

New lighted logo sign (may be replaced by cemetery header)
Priority: Medium
Difficulty: Medium
Expense: Medium to low

New "pop up" character/creature
Priority: Medium
Difficulty: High to medium
Expense: High to medium

Scary tree application
Priority: Low
Difficulty: Very Low
Expense: Low

The Dead Awaken: Early Spring Update

Spring weather is sure to arrive any day. That means another busy Summer is just a few months ahead. Summer is the time we (along with most haunters) plan and build new props for the Halloween season. This year, we're very inspired. We hope to pull off some really great new props for the front display...money and time will, as always be the deciding factor...I am exceedingly interested in building or finishing out an animatronic prop or two for the front yard. I am still debating whether or not we should go with an all new storyline. The poll isn't much of a help since our "customers" really only visit this site during the season. The few votes we have indicate to leave it...and I suppose we should...but surely there are some new surprises we can add. And the radio play needs a good updating as well...although that's difficult because we want to keep the length managable.

Two things that ARE ON the to do list and are definite projects:

1. A new (or expanded) fence. The one we have is not one of my favorite accomplishments. Not to mention that it only goes acros the front of our lawn. We need a fence that surrounds our props. We love our customers. But last year we had damage to some of our props because folks were running wild in our front lawn. This, of course, is also a huge safety issue. I would like this fence to include pillars. And a surprise. Might need some help on that one.

2. A rebuild of the gargoyle. After several years of being lugged up to the roof our our porch, Gargy has finally begun to give out. I have an idea to improve him anyway...something I should have incorporated into the original design anyway...so...I have not decided whether or not I will "skin" Gargy and work with his bones or just rebuild the prop entirely...I guess we'll just have to see.

Over the next few days I want to share some links with a couple of haunters that are doing some mind-blowing stuff.

Hope the Easter Ghoulie is good to you,

Winter Update

All:

As you can tell, posts here are few and far between "off-season." But I wanted to take a minute and share some news. I have made the decision NOT to do a haunted basement for 2005. We'll still have something very special and fun on Halloween night, but it won't include a walk-through haunted house. This is an experiment for 2005 and we'll see if it sticks or not. Instead we are going to dedicate all our energy into improving the yard haunt and some special surprise props for Halloween night.

Overall, we think this will actually improve the experience. For us and for you. There have been just too many problems with crowd control on Halloween night. So, we're going to eliminate the problem.

The good news is that the yard haunt should be better than ever. We're still considering whether we should do an all-new storyline or simply add props to the existing storyline. Any thoughts or feedback on this would be welcome.