Halloween 2017 is dead and buried (in bins in my attic)! All Hallow's Eve was another frightfully fun night with a 306 tricksters begging for treats. To thank my many minions who helped me out, I made my annual Haunt Stew, an Irish beef and stout stew that's a nod to Halloween's origins. The recipe will be posted on my MyScaryHalloween.com soon. In the meantime, view pictures of My Scary House!
This year my fiends and I had a lot of fun at Halloween attractions. October started with a trip to Fear Overload Scream Park in San Leandro, CA which featured two mazes including a pitch black maze you had to find your way through. It was a nice appetizer to what was to come.
In Chicago, we attended the best haunted house in my life: 13th Floor. This is literally a living nightmare housed in a warehouse on the outskirts of Chicago. The walk through seems go on forever with fully realized, detailed scenes, the numerous actors in elaborate costumes, trap doors, excellent lighting and special effects and just about trick in the book guaranteed to make you scream. Add it to your bucket list and when you go make sure you get the fast pass. We skipped a line of about 300 people.
To finish off the season, my dear fiend Britta, Webmistress of the Dark treated us to a Halloween Candlelight Tour of the Winchester Mystery House. This shortened tour takes you into the pitch black, spooky house filled with lurking ghosts. Our guide, of course, keep picking on the scaredy cat in the group who jumped at every little thing (me). The tour ended with a trailer of the upcoming Winchester movie which looks fantastic, followed by a splurge in the newly renovated gift shop.
And last, but not least, was the annual pumpkin carving night with my nephew who recently started watching horror films at the young age of 7 (!). I hope he grows up loving them even though his mom is a little concerned. I reminded her that I started watching horror films at 5 years old (with The Exorcist naturally). I don't think this helped matters.
Fiends are often concerned that I'll have post-holiday blues. However, I'm pretty okay with it! I need some rest after months of planning, production in a hot workshop, troubleshooting problems, and paying for lots of stuff. The nightmare is trying to put it all away. I cleared out two large bins of stuff and still managed to not have enough storage space. I build these interesting props and then have nowhere to store them and ultimately, they either get donated or end up in the trash. Is paper mache recyclable?
I hope your Halloween was as scary as mine. Now let's go hibernate for the winter, hide from all those terrifying silver and gold merriments, await Krampus, and see what monstrous thing develops in the new year.
Señor Scary
Editor-in-Mischief
