Ghost Traumatic Stress Disorder

After 2 marathon days of last minute checking, rechecking, zip tying, taping, stapling, hammering, drilling, measuring, swearing, kicking, stomping, and throwing an occasional tantrum, another successful haunted event has passed peacfully into the pages of the Day31 annals.
The most important thing is that no one was hurt, and hopefully all of the children who came through the haunt this year will be nightmare free for tonight and into the forseeable future, although tear free was too much to ask for as more than I would have liked to have seen came out bawling this year.
The main scare was the chain saw maniac in sync with the sliding dead end wall. We had some timing issues that prevented many people from experiencing the full intended effect, but I think it did a good job of topping last year's electric chair and spark fence as the main event. I'll be hard pressed to beat the chain saw scare, but I now have 364 days to cook something up. To be honest, I'm not sure the hearts of my patrons can handle anything more intense, and while the reactions of the older kids have been my lithmus test for the success of my props and scares, it saddens me a bit to see the little kids being left behind as my haunt and my skills as a haunt owner mature. I was pleased with the results of the Chicken Run this year for the smaller kids and weaker stomached adults, and I think it has a place in my future haunted ventures.
Here are some of my final results. 463 people passed through the long and narrow chambers of Day31 this year. We didn't do an official count, but we estimated approximately 250 visited us last year. I have been strongly against charging a monetary fee to walk through my haunted house, and while many home haunters except cash donations, I have been reluctant to do this because, frankly, I didn't feel the haunt was good enough. This year I was talked into allowing a donation jar at the entrance placed in a very non-conspicous place. The final result? $30 and some change. I'm flattered that some of you felt this experience was worth leaving a cash donation, especially in these times. As promised it will be put towards new props for future haunts.
There were no major issues to report. My kicking hang man did go at some point from being a 2-legged kicking hang man to a 1-legged kicking hang man, but I'm confident that will be an easy fix. The intensity of the chain saw scare did cause the walls to be pushed and shoved against often over the course of the night, and although the walls had to be pushed back into place repeatedly and plastic restapled, the overall structural integrity of the corner did hold up, and I never felt that desptire the beating it was taken there was any danger of a wall being knocked over. The number of volunteers was the major issue for the second year in a row. If you can get 40 people to lay their hands on a Bible and swear by their immortal souls they will be there Halloween night to help, you'll get 10 who show up.
I want to sincerely thank my reliable core of people who helped make this work. We all keep that naughty and nice list in the backs of our minds, and all of you who showed up and helped are on the nice list, which means your kindness and generosity will be repaid in kind and with interest as the opportunities arise. As for the others, particulary the ones who just no showed without even a phone call, you are on the naughty list, so if you're broken down on the side of the road and desperately need someone to come out and help you, please give me a call. I'll come out and help you still, of course, but I'll probably finish watching whatever was on TV before I leave, and there's a good chance I'll stop for a slow and liezurely lunch along the way. I'll likely pull over to the side of the road and pluck a few gray hairs out of my goatee as well just to make sure I'm looking my best- gray hairs I got trying to man a 15 man event with a staff of 10.
Anyway, it's now 2:30am and I'm standing at the foot of the mighty Everest of a mountain that is the post-haunted house tear down, but I'm already shaking off the it's-all-over-dumps and looking forward to next year, and I certainly hope I'm not the only one!