Welcome to the Second Annual Ewoldt House of Horror!

This year was a bit different in regards to planning, layout, overall construction and, last but not least, weather! We met up with Mike and Shan to finalize plans in mid-September and decided that, while we would all like to have a cohesive theme from beginning to end, setting it up with sporadic man-power availability would be too elaborate. The general design was mapped out and we left the evening with a clearer plan of what needed to be done in the weeks ahead.

The donation of a number of prefabricated wall panels provided a substantial contribution to our lumber needs, and the rest was purchased or salvaged. Dave put in hours on his off days with Mike and Cody coming out to assist when their schedules matched up. Spreading the project out over seven weeks proved to give us ample time to complete everything.

Heeding our lessons from 2010, we decided to use a lit pathway and a guide to deliver our guests safely to the shop building rather than try to construct a tunnel. Also learning from last year, partitions were built inside the haunted house to slow down visitors and to provide multiple staging areas for our spooks and ghouls. We created a different pathway and utilized more of the yard which opened up new opportunities for scares.

Just like last year we made trip after trip to the local Halloween stores in and around the city. We made sure to hit the stores early this year and picked up two industrial sized fog machines, a variety of strobe lights, black lights, makeup, scar kits, tombstones, carving kits, and masks. Dave devised a hand rail at the entrance of the shop to provide a safe hand hold for our visitors stepping off of a newly constructed ramp onto the deck; it has become a permanent fixture. We finally got chicken wire (I've been trying to get Dave to buy it for one thing or another over the last couple of years and he finally found a need to go get some!) to fence off a cage for our pet zombie and his hapless victim.

As a special treat to our guests, Dave wanted to build a platform for a large jack-o-lantern that would be rigged to 'breathe' fire. After consulting with a special effects veteran and city fire department officers, he came up with a plan. After a test jack-o-lantern built a couple of weeks before the event using an aerosol fuel, Dave came away feeling confident that his creation would be successful; his ultimate plan for Halloween night would include a pump device that would safely spray fuel across a lit candle inside the mouth of the jack-o-lantern.

The addition of interior and exterior walls meant we would need some dark paint to cover up all of that multicolored scrap wood. Dave picked up a bucket of discounted 'oops' paint in a deep burgundy that was perfect for our needs with all of the lights down and the sun having said goodnight. To help guide our victims, errrr...visitors, through the labyrinth, Dave painted white arrows to show the way.

The week leading up to the big day was mellow compared to last year, with padded walls being added to a 'white cell', cobweb being strung, and a gallows being erected. Saturday and Sunday before Halloween, we set up our mechanized ghoul which was donated by a friend and future collaborator (Thanks Thom!), and carved a few pumpkins.

Again learning from last year, Shan and I decided not to make so much food. We stuck to some finger foods and the successful meatball recipe we used last Halloween. With sustenance, drinks, disposable bowls, cups, and plastic ware we were ready to go.

The day of: We carved a few more pumpkins, including some HUGE ones that should have been entered in a county fair, put some finishing touches on the haunted house, set up some ambient music, constructed the entrance, graveyard and started to get ready. All of our cast from last year returned with a couple of new additions. We were remarkably lucky with the weather; we received rain a couple of days prior to Halloween and then had some very mild days with cool nights. Perfect for us! About an hour before sunset, Billy went out to post some well-placed signs guiding potential screamers to our location. The sun dipped below the horizon and it was show time!

Stationed at the iron gate was Bloody Mary who directed visitors to follow the guide, a very angry girl (dead before her time) fresh from the grave; our guests were then handed off to the grim reaper who led them through the house. The hanged man was the first to frighten, quickly followed by the tortured prisoner in her padded cell. Just around the corner was our pet zombie with his meal and the mechanized ghoul which finished up the indoor treats.

Outside, Jason was the first scare up - draped over a fence with a knife in his hand, he rouses just in time to make a lunge for the visitors. Guests were herded between the haunted house and back fence through a narrow alley where the received a scare from behind by a fiend, quickly followed by the jigsaw puppet who popped up from behind the fence. Beyond the alley was the graveyard; with plenty of fog and ambient lighting, the grave digger provided a visual distraction from the vampire in her casket who sat up to surprise those who passed. Rounding out the screams was Michael Myers with a convincing incentive to scare our visitors on to the rest of their Halloween revelry.

Happy haunting to all our fiendish followers...see you next Samhain!

Brought to you by the Ewoldt-Anthony clan and friends

Cast (in order of appearance)

Bloody Mary - Mari
Angry dead girl - Jocelyn
The grim reaper - Billy
The hanged man - Mike
Padded cell prisoner - Shan
The zombie - Cody
The zombie's victim - Andie
Jason - Jake
The fiend - Jackie
The Saw puppet - Dave
The grave digger - Eric
The vampire - Betsy
Michael Myers - Jim