The Think Tank

Crestfallen Manor

The big day is finally upon us, and I have been negligent in getting photos or descriptions on here so that those of you who cannot make it are able to see what we’ve done this year.  Making matters even worse, I don’t even have a good excuse for not doing so.  We worked very hard this year to get everything up and ready early, and we succeeded in a way that I don’t believe we ever have before:  We were basically done by the second weekend in October, and completely done by 21st.

Getting everything done early was really nice because I got to just sit back and enjoy it for quite awhile, instead of having to be outside building it every night until Halloween, just so I can turn around and take it all down again.

I didn’t add much by way of new things this year, instead focusing on fixing several things that broke last year and making improvements existing elements. I did make a couple of new things, simple things though, just because I can’t help myself:

The Drinking Man

The first new thing I built was our Drinking Man.   I found a really good skeleton for an affordable price, and I rigged him so he sits on a barrel which is filled with water (dyed red, of course).  I put a small pond pump in the water, and a tube up his back so that the water pours out of his mouth and makes it look like he is trying to drink, but the liquid just pours down through ribs and back into the barrel he is sitting on.  It’s very simple but also effective.  I quite like him!

The second thing I built is a small pneumatic prop in the side yard, which is motion activated and springs up when people walk past.  I built the mechanism that drive it at Fright Fest this year.  The original idea had been to use a spider as the prop, but we found a light weight little skeleton with a glowing face and decided to use that instead.

We stuck him in the side yard, and he has been doing a great job of scaring unsuspecting people as they walk past the yard all season.

Chief among the improvements that I made was to fix our Crypt Creeper in two ways: I improved the apparatus that swings him out from behind the crypt, and I changed his sensor and added a couple of boards which do two things: 1) he makes sounds when he is triggered, screaming “Hail to the King, Baby!”; and 2) he now will wait for 20 seconds before being triggered a second time, even if the sensor detects motion.  That is a big improvement over last year, because when it got really busy he just popped out and hung there for minutes on end, not scaring anyone.  This year will he will continue to retract and pop back out again, so he will scare people even when it is very busy.

Other improvements to the yard were minimal and I honestly can’t remember what they all were, but they are nice finishing touches on several things.

As usual we will be doing our annual haunted yard tonight, so anyone who can should try to stop by!  It’s really a blast to see all the little kiddies coming through, hear all the screams and see the occasional parent run away down the street in horror.

You can see all the pics by following this link.

Happy Halloween!!!