Starting Halloween 2007 I decided to take the art of yard haunting to a new level for myself. Over the last few years our yard haunt had been pretty successful and probably the most visited house in the neighborhood.

However, I felt it was time to turn things up a notch. For the first time I had done a handful of DIY projects versus buying stuff off the shelf. To coincide with this I decided to follow a general theme, something I feel creates a unique experience versus a generic yard haunt filled with the classic frights. Themes are a tradition I intend to do going forward with each season presenting a new theme.

2007’s theme was The Awakening (aka The Gates of Death) and focused on the gothic nature of the afterlife and the undead. With that came the traditional graveyard filled with skeletons, ghosts, and a terrible tragedy that befell twin sisters on their wedding day.

Below is a photoshop rendering of the planned haunt.

And below is the end results:

THE SETUP

LIGHT TESTS

OCTOBER 31, 2007 - DAY

OCTOBER 31, 2007 - NIGHT (FLASH)

OCTOBER 31, 2007 - NIGHT (STILLS)