Haunted Wood's Woods - Halloween 2002 Fun Facts

Welcome to the Wood's Woods 2003 Halloween Costume Party! In an effort to avoid redundancy and boredom, I've included only new elements to Haunted Wood's Woods this year. To check out the secrets from last year (many of which remained for this year), please click here. As always, e-mail me if you have any further questions or comments.

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The soundtrack heard in the graveyard is a custom-mixed, stereo-like soundtrack. A set of four outdoor speakers provide background music, courtesy of a dark gothic group, Midnight Syndicate. These are hidden in the woods opposite the graveyard. A single speaker in the graveyard pumps out a variety of creepy sound effects, mixed especially for this year. Click the tombstone for a Windows Media Player sample of the graveyard sound effects!

This giant lighting fixture on the carport is almost three feet tall, made of glass and metal, and has 18 bulbs in it. About 2/3 of these bulbs are set to flicker, but on seperate circuits, so they create a surreal, random-flickering effect that is really cool in this huge lamp. Our biggest problem was putting it somewhere where guests wouldn't knock their heads on it (the carport is only an 8-foot ceiling). The lamp was donated to our cause by C&M Builders ... it was sadly about to be pitched, but was saved and is now a major eye-catcher at Wood's Woods.

This evil-looking zombie character in the graveyard is actually a Charlie McCarthy ventriloquist doll, with his signature tuxedo (although somewhat weathered), and a new facial paint job for that "glazed over" look. Maybe in a few years we'll get a motor in his mouth to make him talk.

Our workshop coach lamps got some attention this year, with the addition of some 25 watt red bulbs, and an insert that makes an evil grimace out of each light. The face featured on the lamps also matches the face carved into our fake pumpkins, and featured on some other graveyard artwork.

We're very excited this year to have some awesome new lamp fixtures for the graveyard, with a perfect gothic look. This set of four lamps was rescued from a fate worse than death (the dumpster) by our friends at C&M Builders. Each light has three lamps in it (two flicker, one is constant), so they have a stylized flickering effect that is pretty close to real fire. They're perched on top of our ancient columns, and line the graveyard quite nicely. (For visual reference, that's a normal-sized skull sitting on top of the lamp)

Our pair of half-price skeletons (purchased last year on November 1st) hang out near the shack (though are pictured here in the graveyard). These are air-blown, plastic skeletons, which means they are by far one of the least realistic on the market. However, a good paint job makes them more passable (skeletons in the ground aren't ever bleached white), and their friendly, smiling face doesn't scare the kids quite as much.

Our wall of portraits returns this year, with the five center portraits being repeats from last year, and the two end ones being new. Each end portrait uses an optical illusion that makes the eyes follow you wherever you walk in the carport.

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So ... was the soundtrack in the basement voiced by a professional voice-over artist? Well ... yes and no. Paul Frees, the bass voice of Boris Badanov, Disney's Ludwig van Drake, and a slew of other characters, provided the ominous "ghost host" voice-over for the Disney Haunted Mansions. His narration is actually the result of editing his spiels from all the Mansions, and blending them together with sound effects and a background musical score. Some very precise digital editing had to occur, as when he says "only if you remain seated." The original was "only if you remain quietly seated", but we didn't want our guests to feel restricted. Click the tombstone for a stereo Windows Media Player version of the preshow soundtrack!

The bubble storm created outside the basement door is a pair of retail-grade bubble machines, an amber floodlight, and an industrial-strength fan. When activated, the bubble machines do a great job of pumping out bubbles, but it's the fan that really give the display it's kick. The bubble machines on their own blow out about 10 feet, then the natural wind takes over. But with an insanely-powerful fan behind them, we are able to control the direction of the bubbles more precisely. Why bubbles, you ask? Don't ask "Why?" ... ask "Why not?" !

A small sampling of our labwear on display in the basement pre-show area. Many of the beakers and flasks are filled with a special blacklight solution that appears purple in normal light, and a light orange in blacklight. This gives that classic "toxic waste" look, and also adds some interest, as the lab pieces are all backlit by a series of three 18" blacklights.

A previous tram-full of people? Actually, the front end of a tractor, and two tire slivers, set on the hillside to create this illusion. The tractor is left over from Peter and Matt's run at the Howard County Fair this summer, where it was used as the basis for a "gas-powered bubble machine." We even set up the headlights with a flickering mechanism, for that sense of "recently-crashed."

Once everything was turned on and being tested the night of the 1st, the circuit breaker kept tripping for the electricity throughout the woods. The reason? On our 20 amp breaker, almost 20 amps of electricity was being used by fog machines alone, not including flood lights, the snow machine, or audio systems. While our foggers generally don't all heat up at once, whenever two or more were reheating, the breaker tripped. Our solution? One less fogger, and the least amount of lighting needed. For example, the yellow floods (total about 400 watts) were turned off once your tram left the Shack horseshoe pathway. Thankfully, no more electrical hazards or malfunctions occured throughout the evening.

All of our dynamite is made with 1/2" PVC pipe, spray-painted a glossy red. This provides not only a good, glossy reproduction, but it is also more heat-resistant than wooden dowel rods or cardboard tubes. As seen here in this side view, only five 1/2" pipes make up the "bundle," while the rest is filled in with a 2" pipe. Because the audience only sees these from one side, corners like this can be cut easily.

Often, the most low-tech solutions are the most reliable and functional, as seen here in a backstage view of the falling tree effect. The tree branch is bolted to a 2x4, which is in turn attached to the sturdy tree trunk. A cable that runs through a pulley connects the tree branch to a cinder block, which both have about the same weight. The cloth to the right is used to mask the operator from the audience view. When the tram approaches, the cinder block is lifted up, which causes the tree to fall down. To reset, even a small operator can easily raise the tree branch, because of the counter-weight system.

This "toxic fumes" pipe is a series of 1.5" PVC pipe lengths and fittings attached that extend over the tram. Because fog (in most quantites) leaves no residue, we really wanted to surround our guests in a thick cloud ... at least for a few seconds. The two strategically-placed skids at the tree's base allow for an operator to sit and activate the fogger. We used a higher-end fog machine for this effect, rather than a cheap Gemmy from Wal-Mart, because we needed to get the most fog into the tram in the shortest amount of time. The cloud also provides a great opportunity for the operator, if in costume, to jump out and scare the daylights out of the passengers.

Our fleet of industrial barrels and gas cans have been collected from various yard sales, auctions, and donations over the years. While they take up a good deal of space, they're quite low-maintainence, because they sit outside all year, don't need to be painted, and if they get dirty or rusty, they have even more character for an application like ours. A green flickering floodlight in the base of one barrel gives a toxic sense to the approaching tram.

This year, the log cabin got a bit of a facelift, with a new triangular facade (left over from the tavern set in Halloween 2000), and a lovely faded white curtain. The "shingles" are actually pieces of plastic-covered dense foam, measuring about 8" tall and 2 feet long. These were purchased at an auction where a grocery store was going out of business, and the shingle panels were the headers for a spice display. They're wonderfully low-maintainence (no painting required), and they go up faster than individual shingles would, too!

The fire effect in the log cabin is controlled via a control interface that, to our knowledge, we came up with. A yellow floodlight shines up into the treetops, simulating an ongoing fire, and providing great back-lighting for the fog effect. The fogger is controlled via a motion detector interface, which converts the motion detector's signal into a command that turns on the fog machine. With this method, every tram-full gets the same effect (assuming the fogger isn't reheating), and it doesn't require a technician to sit there and fog it all night long.

So, if you've been on the ride, you may have noticed that the snow "drift" actually occurs on the right. This is a classic example of an old haunted house trick, as well as magic show misdirection. If people assume something will happen on their left, they will expect it, and brace for it. So when it actually happens on their right, it's even more scary. We also like that this year's tram route requires that guests go back through the snow area, which will let both the right and left sides get a good flurry.

The crisis of the evening: At the very end of the second tour, the back left tire of the Cub Cadet tour tractor blew out, making it impossible to proceed on that tire. The guests were walked up to the house, and in true NASCAR-crew style, Matt and Ken changed the blown out tire in a matter of minutes. Aside from a weak battery (and you thought that was just part of the story), all the other tram/tractor technical elements went of without a hitch (no pun intended).