Haunted Hot Sauce Halloween 2011

Just a few days shots of my small display this year. More than quantity, this year was about lighting and ambiance.

Click Here to see the photos.

Or Click Here to see the fancy slideshow.

OUTSIDE: The entire house was illuminated by three blue spotlights hidden in the trees.

INSIDE: Red spotlights shone through the boarded windows which made the house scream "EEEEEVIL!" I didn't have time to detail the Styrofoam "boards" but that made no difference at night as they appeared as silhouettes when lit from behind.




WITCH JARS: I made a dozen of these quickly the night before Halloween. Hung at varying heights from the huge Magnolia tree and lit with tea lights, they were VERY effective in creating interest, movement, contrast and a ghostly atmosphere.




THE COFFIN UNDER THE STAIRS: Illuminated by a hidden red spotlight from above, inside this coffin is where I hid one of those sound activated "haunted hedge" shakers. Everyone that approached it was greeted by a violent shaking, rattling sound and guttural growls coming from within the coffin. My fog machine dispersed thick fog from under this coffin at regular intervals.



I actually got to hide in here for a while to scare trick-or-treaters.


THE CEMETERY: Each tombstone was illuminated by a blue/green LED light "expertly" duct taped to a spray-painted black paint stirrer stick and shoved into the ground in front of the tombstone. A few had LED candles and others had oil lanterns hanging from them.



One of my only "night shots".




The same shot the morning after.




The wilted and faded cemetery flower urns I made can be found elsewhere in my blog.




I realize that the inside of this coffin looks too "new" but at night, illuminated by the flickering oil lamp, that goes unnoticed.


SUMMARY: This year's display was creepy and beautiful. Red light streaming through the boarded windows, blue light illuminating the entire house, each tombstone illuminated by it's own blue/green light, flickering candles and oil lamp flames and glowing witch jars swaying in the slight breeze. Haunted organ music, crows and the moans of restless undead souls were heard.

I'll use the lighting tricks I learned along with much greater detail for next year so keep an "eye out" for Moonlit Hill Cemetery - Halloween 2012!


Click Here to see a few more shots!

Halloween 2010 photos

CLICK HERE to see HauntedHotSauce.com's Halloween 2010 Flickr photo gallery

Or here's a fancy slideshow!

And below are a few "teaser" photos. I'll probably add a few more to this set soon. If you have ANY questions about ANYTHING, please feel free to comment or email me at: TheUndertaker@HauntedHotSauce.com.

Making Funeral Flowers

During a recent trip to a cemetery I noticed how much atmosphere the flowers left for the deceased add to it. Real flowers die and turn brown quickly while artificial arrangements wilt and fade in the sun.

I decided to try and capture a bit of this atmosphere in my own Halloween cemetery. I went to the Dollar Tree store and purchased about 15 bunches of artificial flowers at $1.00 each. [photo] Big Lots provided four $3.00 plastic urns.

Using a heat gun, I blasted the flower arrangements causing them to wilt. Then I lightly spray painted the tops of the blossoms and leaves with a flat light tan color [photo] to try and create a faded look on the colored flowers and a dusty look on the white flowers.

The results are below. The photos really don't do it justice but all-in-all I think it's pretty successful. I still have to weather the urns in the photos below.











A coating of spider web and some interesting lighting and I think these arrangements will add to the creepy atmosphere of my cemetery...or of my casket viewing area. What do you think?

Funeral Flowers & Body Parts

Thank you Dollar Tree for making the flowers for my Halloween party funeral display and random body parts affordable!