The light at the end of the tunnel

I remember back to the good old days when it only took me 1 day to reclaim the front of my house from the monster that is Halloween. This time around at the end of the 2nd full day, I am almost done de-halloweening my front yard, but there is still work to be done. Human beings having short memories can be a beautful thing, because if I remembered what a miserable task the tear down is a year from now, this would be the last haunted house I would do....ever! Finding a home for all this stuff is the real challenge. I have wall panels stacked up on the side of the house, soon to be 2 stacks deep and as high as the fence line. I don't dare stack them higher out of respect for the neighbors who I'm sure don't want to have to see pieces of haunted house all year long. Buying storage would seem the logical solution, but I can't bring myself to give up $1200+ per year for rented storage space when I can still make this side yard thing work.
On November 1st I had the pleasure of visiting two other local haunted houses- The French Valley Haunt in Winchester and Night Terrors here in Temecula. What I really loved about the French Valley haunt was its simplicity and low impact read on the fright meter which would have made it very child appropriate. The owners of the haunt were also very friendly and enthusiastic about their haunt, which they have been doing for 7 years. It appeared to be a true neighborhood affair, with neighbors visiting around a driveway camp fire and scores of kids mingling out front waiting to run to their places as soon as fresh victims drove up. I do hope the kid who ran face first into the closed garage door is ok, although I am still breaking into fits of laughter 2 days later each and every time I recall it.
Night Terrors relied heavily upon the use of very talented actors, which made the haunt very intense in places and memorable to say the least. I am always very impressed by a haunt actors ability to remain in character despite whatever the actions/reactions of the haunt patrons may be. This is the single most important attribute of a good haunt actor, and to be able to find them in the form of volunteers is truly a score. So, I have to give high marks to the ghostly woman who went nose to nose with me in a staring faceoff that seemed to last 5 minutes, although I'm sure it was less. Although I'm hard pressed to call the experience frightening, it did make me at least wish I'd popped a breath mint before entering her passageway, for her sake at least. Highlights included a butcher's room, and some very benign looking children who sit at tombstones in the graveyard but are quite unsettling in their singleminded ability to follow you with their eyes as you walk by without showing any expression whatsoever.
There were lots of local home haunts to choose from this year, and this is very encouraging as I like to think the holiday of Halloween is on the cusp of another golden age as more people are deciding to celebrate it.