Trick or Treat

For the last several years we have charged an admission price of 3 pieces of trick or treat candy or 1 full sized candy bar in order to enter our haunt. We are usually pretty loose with that, as it was designed to prevent kids from entering the haunted house over and over and getting rowdy as they usually do once they know where all the scares are. Many of you probably wonder what becomes of all that candy. Well, our volunteers take quite a bit of it, but I am usually left with between 5-10 lbs of it to sort through and roll around in after Halloween. Sorting through all that sugary loot has become a post-Halloween tradition I look forward to. I particulary enjoy those few odd ball treats that fall outside the category of usual and mundane. While there was nothing this year that topped the chicken flavored crackers I found in last year's pot, there were a few noteworthy contendors.

Mystery Morsels. These are treats that are virtually unidentifiable. As pictured above, they certainly do appear to be candy, but it's anyone's guess as to what flavors might lurk beneath those clear, plastic wrappers.

Ok, so the admission sign reads 3 pieces of Trick or Treat candy or 1 full sized candy bar. I guess someone opening up a pack of skittles and dropping at least 3 unwrapped pieces into the bucket technically satisfies the requirement, but talk about cheap! Sheesh....

I guess someone didn't like these...

Gummy Goodness!

I'm not one to ever buy into all the media hype about the dangers of Trick or Treat candy. In fact, there have only ever been a few confirmed cases of such tampering ever in the history of mankind, but 2 unsealed cookies in a ziploc bag? C'mon...that's just asking for trouble.


A granola bar? That's almost as bad as getting fresh fruit or a Bible pamphlet. No wonder they unloaded this to gain admission.


Other assorted peculiarities.

Lost & Found

Each year I trudge through the corridors of Day31 on the morning after, and inevitably I find a treasure trove of personal effects and costume accessories that have been scared right off our patrons from the night before. Some people question our policy of not allowing hand held costume accessories into our haunt. Having to delay our line in order to walk back through with a flashlight to find these items when they are dropped is one of several reasons we do not allow them. Anyway, only one of the remaining unclaimed items falls into the hand held category. I feel sorry for whatever little bee had to navigate the rest of its night without its antennae. These items need to be reunited with their rightful owners. If you are the owner of one of these lost items, please email me so we can arrange pickup. RedRaven@Day31.net

Tear Down Day 2

Spent much of the day taking down the last of the props and the remaining electrical cords and air hoses. If I can get the South facing side taken down tomorrow there is a chance I can get the mountain of crap out of my driveway by quitting time. Managed to remove the ceiling from the South side before calling it quits tonight. It's a slow go removing all the staples so as not to damage the material. It will save a few hundred dollars if I can reuse the tarps next year.

Made several updates to the website tonight. Staff page is updated, and check out the awesome pics on the Photo Gallery page. I especially like the hidden camera behind the drop wall. Thanks to Julianne for having that great idea.

RIP 2009

We took Day31 to new heights this year! Nearly 600 visitors total visited the Day31 haunt in 2009. What an amazing year. I have been comsumed by the tear down, but I have lots of great pictures to share just as soon as I get the front of the property de-halloweened. I have not had a chance to review the video yet, but I will also put together a 2009 video once the dust settles. Thanks so much to all our volunteers and actors who are the heart and soul of this haunt. We had some new additions to our staff this year, and their talents and enthusiasm blew me away. I can't thank them enough for giving us their time, and I look forward to having them back next year. We will update the STAFF page on the website soon as well.

Check back soon!

Chicken Run Night

We had about 50-75 visitors for our Chicken Run tonight. I was concerned there would not be enough going on in the haunt to keep anyone interested, but in spite of the PG rating, we still had a few criers this year. Next year I will likely chicken up the Chicken Run even more, turning down most of the sound, turning up the lighting and doing away with the corpsed skeletons. Still a vast majority of our feedback was very positive, and most of our visitors went through multiple times. We hid candy throughout the haunt for the kids to find, and there were no major technical issues. We did experience a few minor ones: sound related.

Tomorrow I need to get up early as Day31 will be lending several props to Ysabel Barnett Elementary for their annual Harvest Festival haunted house. I have very fond and inspiring memories of the haunted houses my schools would do when I was a kid, and I have often wondered over the years why schools seemed to stop doing them. It's good to see them getting into the "spirit".

My day will be spent transitioning Day31 from a Chicken Run to the full blown frightmare it will be Halloween night. Watch out this year....you will be scared!

Friday night I will be visiting two or three other local area haunted attractions. Scroll down on this blog for info on those haunts if you care to join me.

Wind Damage

This is an aerial photo of the Day31 haunt after last nights pummeling wind storm.
Just kidding (Photo courtesy of google images). While I didn't sleep well last night with all the racket that was going on as the wind administered its beating, first assessments indicate the haunt held up rather well in spite of our little late October mini-hurricane. Nothing a few staples can't fix anyway.
I'm listening to the CD I just finished burning for the Chicken Run tomorrow night. Thanks to the BloodShed Brothers, Zach and Jeromy, for emailing me a bunch of cool Halloween cutesy tunes. I have an extensive collection of scary sounds, but toned-down-Halloween is something I haven't done for a while.
Need to get the pet cemtery up today and finish the rest of the hanging room partitions. Also need to paint the railings in the back and do some more detail work throughout with the webber. Details, details....

2 Days Left Before the Show

Had an opportunity to get dressed up a little early over the weekend. Too bad I don't remember most of the night....I hear I enjoyed it. I definitely did not enjoy the day after.
Spent much of today working on the mechanical and wiring for the Serpent Spitter. I can't wait to show her to you. Perhaps there will be pictures tomorrow. Have a few more cosmetic details to finish for the Chicken Run, along with producing the sound tracks for that night as well.