Since it's only one week until Halloween, here are photos of the "Hallowed Haunting Grounds." A yard display and show.
The website is http://www.hauntinggrounds.org The images page has some good photos. There is even a "comments" page.
I've added some new pics this year. Here are two to begin with:
Top photo- a portion of the graveyard with a banshee over a coffin.
Bottom- The "pointer & mourner."

Wow that looks like it's really interesting! This is the first time I'd been to the site. Are you involved with this at all, or just a fan?

Too bad I don't live in California. :(

Wow that looks like it's really interesting! This is the first time I'd been to the site. Are you involved with this at all, or just a fan?

Too bad I don't live in California. :(
I would be considered just a fan. I do give the show's creator copies of photos I take every year and I have made a few suggestions but I don't help set it up.

Great photos Fleet! Did you mean to post this on the Current Events board? If not, I can move it to Chit Chat for you. It might get more attention there.

Here are two more photos:
Top- The Wandering Spirit.
Bottom- Floating Ghost.

Great photos Fleet! Did you mean to post this on the Current Events board? If not, I can move it to Chit Chat for you. It might get more attention there.
Glad you like the photos, Janice.
Yes, please post in Chit Chat. That's what happens when I try to make a new topic late on a Sunday night. ;)

Hey Fleet, I've been meaning to ask - what's with your fixation on Halloween? Someone stiff you on some candy as a kid??:D

Hey Fleet, I've been meaning to ask - what's with your fixation on Halloween? Someone stiff you on some candy as a kid??:D
Yeah, that's what happened. :D
Actually, I find ghosts and spirits mysterious and unexplained and they are usually tied into Halloween.
It's fun to look at a yard display or go into a public Halloween-type "haunted house" and try to figure out how the effects work.

Yeah, that's what happened. :D
Actually, I find ghosts and spirits mysterious and unexplained and they are usually tied into Halloween.
It's fun to look at a yard display or go into a public Halloween-type "haunted house" and try to figure out how the effects work.

Hated those things as a kid! I ran out scared as hell one time and left my mom to fend for herself!

Hated those things as a kid! I ran out scared as hell one time and left my mom to fend for herself!
:lol:
Hopefully, that doesn't happen anymore!

:lol:
Hopefully, that doesn't happen anymore!


It does for me!:lol:

Great pics Fleet.

Great pics Fleet.
Thanks. Here are two more...
Top: The banshee by the coffin, with the "Tree of Souls" behind it.
Bottom: The Wandering Spirit and the monk over the well photographed in heavy "fog."

Well, I went over to this place (Hallowed Haunting Grounds) last night. At 10:00 PM, the line to see the display/show was more than 3 houses long. So, I went to another near by display and got back to this one at 11:15. The line was better then and while waiting in line someone was handing out a "Final Year Souvenir"

It's a three-way foldout and kind of interesting so I will post it here.
It is bigger than my scanner so I couldn't fit it all on.
I was able to fit most of the entire display. This is the walk-through in which you look all around, even into the windows to see the supernatural effects.

This is page one of two which explains some of the different effects:

Page two of two about the effects.

That's all very cool. One year we had a nice elaborate setup on Halloween night. We had the illusion that we were hacking my sister to death with a chainsaw. We had an actual chainsaw, but used a leaf blower to provide the noise. We made a few kids run away crying that night, LOL.

This Hallowed Haunting Grounds really is a unique Halloween show. For one thing, it is one of the longest-running yard haunts at a private house in the country (first year: 1973).

Second are the distances some visitors come from.
I found this review in:
http://www.themeparkadventure.com/houses2005.htm
(Note... Nov 4... link no longer works.)

"Halloween enthusiasts have come from as far away as Canada, London and Sri Lanka specifically to see the Hallowed Haunting Grounds. The person from Sri Lanka said that he was so impressed by what he saw on the website that he had to come to America and see it for himself on Halloween."
(And I thought I was bad.) :D

The review is the second review from the top.

More photos of the Hallowed Haunting Grounds:

Many of my photos came out good, so here are some of them. All are taken at the Hallowed Haunting Grounds.
This is the Wandering Spirit.
That's me on the bottom posing with "her."

Here is the banshee over the coffin.
I'll post more pics later.

COOL pics, Fleet :)

Spectacular pictures Fleet! Thanks. :)

More photos...
The top two are the Wandering Spirit at night and the bottom two are assorted ghouls and a "flute"-playing skeleton.

More:
Top... Pointer and Mourner.
Middle... Monk over the well; Wandering Spirit in the background.
Bottom... The creator of the Hallowed Haunting Grounds, Gary Corb, posing with the Wandering Spirit.

Well, I stopped by this place (again) today. Much of the props and special effects were taken down. Since the "owner" of the show said this was the last year, some of the bigger props were put on a truck and taken to a place which will use them next Halloween.

Anyway, I was wondering what he was doing with two props I saw still on the front yard. He said since they were old and crumbling he would probably throw them out. I offered to take them and he agreed!

I was going to just store them in the garage until next Halloween, but being a major Halloween enthusiast, I will clear out a portion of a spare room and display them in there. That way I can look at them all year long.

Here is what they look like- nighttime and daytime photos...
These props are called the "pointer and mourner."

It was sad to see the show end this year (for the final time), but I'm glad I was able to get a few pieces of it. A piece of its history.

Pretty cool stuff. I wanna go!! Beats the stuff they have around here! :p

Pretty cool stuff. I wanna go!! Beats the stuff they have around here! :p
I know what you mean. It's kind of hard to find a yard haunt which relies on sophisticated lighting and sound effects instead of people dressed up jumping out from bushes or arms and legs thrown about.

I know what you mean. It's kind of hard to find a yard haunt which relies on sophisticated lighting and sound effects instead of people dressed up jumping out from bushes or arms and legs thrown about.
Yeah, that's stuff I went through for Halloween this year! :lol:

Thank you for all the pics, they are all so great! Keep 'em coming!

Thank you for all the pics, they are all so great! Keep 'em coming!
Glad you like them. Look for more coming up soon. :D

Hey Fleet, I've been meaning to ask - what's with your fixation on Halloween? Someone stiff you on some candy as a kid??:D"What's his fixation with Halloween?"?? HALLOWEEN IS AWESOME!!

It takes a lot of imagination and creativity to make Halloween special effects work the way you want them to. It's just too fun of a holiday!! :D

Now if I could put on my vampire makeup the right way....It's hard without a person to guide you.

Awesome pictures Fleet. :cool:

"What's his fixation with Halloween?"?? HALLOWEEN IS AWESOME!!

It takes a lot of imagination and creativity to make Halloween special effects work the way you want them to. It's just too fun of a holiday!! :D

Now if I could put on my vampire makeup the right way....It's hard without a person to guide you.
Yeah, I can understand what it takes to put on a Halloween-type show. It takes a few days to set the small one I have in my garage... and I plan to expand it next year. The guys at the HHG (Hallowed Haunting Grounds) start getting the yard and house ready *5 weeks* before Halloween!

As for why many people consider Halloween a fun holiday, the last part of an article in a local newspaper describes it perfectly...
"People like it because it's fun- and they enjoy being scared. But it's done in a safe way so that they know they'll walk away unscathed. There's a sense of freedom to Halloween that attracts both young and old. You can be an adult or a child and enjoy Halloween. You don't need a significant other. There aren't any strings attached to Halloween. It's just a whimsical holiday where people can really let go and have fun."
- Los Angeles Daily News... dailynews.com

Yeah, I can understand what it takes to put on a Halloween-type show. It takes a few days to set the small one I have in my garage... and I plan to expand it next year. The guys at the HHG (Hallowed Haunting Grounds) start getting the yard and house ready *5 weeks* before Halloween!

As for why many people consider Halloween a fun holiday, the last part of an article in a local newspaper describes it perfectly...
"People like it because it's fun- and they enjoy being scared. But it's done in a safe way so that they know they'll walk away unscathed. There's a sense of freedom to Halloween that attracts both young and old. You can be an adult or a child and enjoy Halloween. You don't need a significant other. There aren't any strings attached to Halloween. It's just a whimsical holiday where people can really let go and have fun."
- Los Angeles Daily News... dailynews.com
I bet you're already counting down the days till NEXT Halloween! :lol:

I bet you're already counting down the days till NEXT Halloween! :lol:
357 days and counting. :D :D :D

Well, I stopped by the Hallowed Haunting Grounds today to give Gary (the show's creator) some Halloween-related info and he gave me a few more props from the show.
One of them is a relatively major prop- a 5-foot tall standing monk. Known officially as the "hooded figure on hallowed ground." Also a orange/red light which is aimed toward the other props I got (pointer and mourner) and some black fabric.

So I now have 3 major props from this show... it's almost like having a mini-Hallowed Haunting Grounds in the spare bedroom (that's where all the figures will be displayed throughout the year).

I am really glad to get some of the props since I really liked this display.
Here is a photo of the standing monk in its former setting in the fog-choked graveyard...

The hosts put a map of the show on their website:
http://www.hauntinggrounds.org/hhgguide.htm

They have also added some streaming video in the Images section...
- Dancing Shadows. You can see the lightning in the window, the skeletal harpist and the ghostly dancing couple.
- Face of Corruption. It's a statue which changes from a living person to a corpse.
- Seventh Face of Man. It appears and disappears.

More updates as they add more to the site.

spoookkkyyy:eek: