Christmas Room is DONE!!

Merry Christmas Boys and Girls!! HO HO HORROR!!! The boys did a SUPER job on this room over the weekend! This room looks just like a set out of a scary horror movie. A ratty looking Christmas tree is sitting in one corner with a severed head topper and eyeball lights. There are bloody guts strewn among the branches. The fireplace is burning the remains of a body -- it looks like the tenants in this house may be up to some evil doings!! The mantle also sports some bloody body parts and various scary items. Is that a phone on the wall? This room is SO realistic!! What is that hanging just outside the doorway? That's not good ....

Line Up Area --

Things are starting to come together in the barn!! Here is a great shot of the main entryway --- this is where all the poor victims will ENTER and walk through the dungeon door with the big dragon head on the doorway.

Happy Birthday!!

These clowns are here to see that you have a perfectly HORRIBLE birthday party this year!! Hey ....who doesn't LOVE a clown --- aren't these boys the sweetest faces you've ever seen?!

St Patricks Day Massacre

This room is AWESOME!! The kids did such a good job this past weekend decorating this room all up. It's decked out in all green sheeting --- all the walls and the ceiling is green. There's green lights in there ..... bloody leprechauns hanging on the ceiling and laying on the floor .... an unlucky leprechaun is hanging in a stock on the wall. On one end is a huge Pot O' Gold that houses a suprise for all that enter this room .... "B'gosh and b'gora all ye' little ones that travel through this dangerous land of the leprechaun ..... beware of the pot o' gold ..... beware .....

The "Halloween Room"

This room has been dubbed the "Halloween Room" because Jason rose out of all the "Halloween" movies. Creeeeeeppppy.......

Hall of Spiders

The Hall of Spiders is coming along pretty nicely. Still have to get the big spider's lair full of cobwebs and we need to still cobweb up the hallway a lot more ..... scaaaaaarrrry.

Kung Fu Fighting ....

You might run into Walter hanging in one of the corners of the haunt. We hope that he doesn't give you one of his famous Kung Fu kicks as you pass by!!

Ouija Board Story

Since we're on weird and unexplained stories ...... let me tell you a GOOD one that happened here a few years ago. I had an old Ouija board that I had since high school in my room at mom's house. When we decided to do this haunted house, I remembered I had that in my old room at home and thought that would be a great prop to just set in the kid's room where we were putting a clown and a strobe. That would go really good in there, right? ....WRONG. My mom always hated that Ouija board and when she saw it in my hand she said --- WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT?! I told her I'm putting it in the kid's room in the new haunted barn. She said -- I wouldn't do that if I were you. I would leave that here up in your room buried where I had it. I told her she was nuts. It's a stupid game. So I brought it to the farm and stuck it in the room. After I stuck it in there, weird things started to happen. Mostly the electrical stuff that I was talking about before. Lights would go on and off. We'd go out and things we could have SWORN we turned off were turned back on in the morning ??? We thought it was kinda weird but always had an explanation. Then one night when we were open a lady walked through the haunt. She came back to the entry after she had walked through and pulled me aside and said ..."I see you have a Ouija Board inside there." I said ... Yep. She said that I needed to get that out of there as soon as possible because it will draw bad spirits. I kind of felt right away that this lady wasn't playing with a full deck so I humored her and said, no problem --- I'll get rid of it tomorrow. She got really agitated with me and said NO! You can't just throw it away ..... it'll come back! You need to BURN it and then celebrate its burning. She got really kind of angry at me and I knew it was time for her to go. I tried to put that incident out of my mind knowing that it was coming from a lady that was a little 'off' (if you know what I mean.... ;o) but I couldn't forget it. As time wore on, more and more weird things were happening. My mom chimed in and agreed with the strange lady that the Ouija Board was the cause. Ok --- so I finally gave in and said FINE -- We're gonna burn the stupid thing then. The haunted barn was over anyway and we were going to be tearing down the walls and everything so why not burn it and keep everybody happy. I went into the arena and started tearing down sheeting ---- there was a strange flickering coming from the kid's room --- it was the strobe. It was turned back on. Well, I freaked out cuz I knew that strobe was OFF at the end of the night. Everything was off because it was our last night. I looked around to try to find that Ouija Board and it was nowhere to be found. It was sitting right by the baby bed the day before ....... nope, not there. I asked everybody --- did you take it? Did you? Did you? Nope --- nobody had seen it. I eventually forgot about it and we kept tearing down the haunt. We brought in a big dumpster and one day when we were throwing out all the sheeting ....... I saw the Ouija Board. It had gone underneath a pile of sheeting (I think it was hiding ...... ok .... a totally irrational thought but by now I was freaked out when I saw the thing). I threw it in the dumpster with the sheeting. All is good. I felt better. The next day I was out throwing out more sheeting and um ...... you're not gonna believe this .... the Ouija Board was under another pile of sheeting .... across the arena ......out of the dumpster. Hiding again. Ok ...... I totally went off on Russ for pulling a fast one on me and taking it out of the dumpster and putting it under another pile of sheeting. I told him that WAS NOT FUNNY!! He swore he didn't do it and by the look on his face, I believed him. I told him we're burning that thing and we're burning it NOW. We tried lighting it on fire but it wouldn't burn. It was freaking cardboard but it WOULDN'T BURN!! We doused it with a ton of lighter fluid and it FINALLY started on fire. I told Russ ---- the old woman said we had to celebrate while it was burning. He said -- Seriously ..... you have gone batty. You believe that lady? I asked him ..... don't you? .....Well? ......So we started clapping and celebrating that it was burning. I danced a little jig for good measure. He said ..... I sure hope nobody's driving by here watching us cuz we look like a bunch of nuts.

Ok ..... Here's Another Weird Thing.....

You know how they say that dogs can detect supernatural activity? Well, I don't really believe in ghosts and all that hocus pocus too much but I usually feel a little more comfortable when all my dogs are around me out in the haunted barn. If they're all laying around me sleeping or playing or licking themselves ......all is going well. I feel as if there are no 'unseen' beings floating around me. The other day I went out to work on the haunt and I was all by myself. I called all the dogs to come with me and away we went. I started working in the main entryway when the 4 puppies (Wednesday, Stripey, Boo, and Baby Girl) started barking at the door to the arena (where the haunt is). The wind was blowing a little making the dungeon door wave back and forth and some of the black sheeting was blowing out under the door. I told them ..."Stupid Puppies ...... Stop that ..... It's just the wind." They quit for a little bit then it seemed like something got their attention all of a sudden again and this time they started barking uncontrollably at the door and all their little hair was standing up on their necks. Ok ...... the door is blowing a little more and it's creaking now and I'm telling myself ..... it's just the wind ... yeah ..... just the wind so suck it up and keep working. I told them to SHUT UP again but this time they didn't listen to me. Then Wednesday let out a yelp and starting yiping like someone bit her in the butt and she went running up the ramp out of the barn all the way up to the house. .....while the other three were still barking uncontrollably at the door. Then two of the older dogs started in -- Happy and Jack -- and their hair was standing up on end and they were growling like there was something really bad inside there. Um .... ok .... that's enough for me. You don't have to tell me twice, --- dogs going nuts when nothing is there ..... that's not good. I'm outta here. (**FYI -- since that incident I no longer enter the lower barn without someone with me.)

-

UPDATE TO THAT STORY -- Now when I let the dogs outside the puppies immediately run down to the barn and line up around the arena door and bark like crazy at whatever is inside. Day or night. They won't go into the arena. Hmmmmmmm........and neither will I unless there is another person with me now.

Weird Things Are Happening ...

Every year when we start to put this haunted barn thing together weird things start to happen in the barn. We have two rows of 4 big light bulbs each (total 8) in our arena in the rafters. When we started putting up the beams and making the internal structure of the haunted house, Russ went out and bought a bunch of big light bulbs to replace all the burned out bulbs so we'd have plenty of light to build in. We go all 8 bulbs shining bright ....... about 2 minutes (....and I'm not exaggerating here ...) one of the lights he had just replaced started to fizzle and slowly burned out. We had the normal reaction -- we both swore, kicked the sand in the arena -- and I went and got another bulb to put in. We put it in and then the one beside it on another wire line fizzled and burned out. That's when we looked at each other kinda quietly and said .....hmmmm. Um ...... that's weird. We left that one out and went on about our work. It has been 21 days since we put all those new bulbs in. Yesterday when Steve and I went in to put the new chimney in place ....... all but one bulb was burned out. You might think --Oh your wiring is nutty ...... but seriously we had that barn all rewired just a year and a half ago because we needed so many extensions and plug ins. We had an electrician in all day making sure that the electrical work was all ok. Hmmmmm ........ SO .... when Steve and I went into the Bloody Merry Christmas room it was pretty dark in there without any lights on. So I went into the main entryway and dug around in the light box and found a brand new box of regular light bulbs. I unscrewed a blacklight bulb from a portable light fixture and brought it into the Christmas Room. I plugged it in along with a string of eyeball lights. Super! LIGHT!! We can see!! We started working on the chimney. I screwed in one screw and fizzzzzzzzzle ...... ssssssttttt..... the light bulb burned out. The eyeball lights were still going off that same extension so the extension wasn't bad. I looked at Steve .... hmmmm ...... well, let's go get another light ..... so I got another light out of the box and we screwed it in and it worked the rest of the time we were in the room. Hmmmmmm..........

Merry Christmas .......Muhahahahaha!

Steve and I worked all morning building the chimney for the Bloody Merry Christmas room.

It came out pretty good actually .... considering Steve and I are NOT builders!! :o)

This is just wrong ....

Got the "Little Brother" vest in the mail yesterday. A person wears a shirt or coat over the top with the front open and it looks like this weird, little, deformed baby is growing on the outside of someone's belly.

Reminds me of Austin Powers movie ..... "GET IN MA BELLAY!!"

Entryway is Finished!!

This year our victims will enter the haunt and turn to the LEFT (last year it was right). They will be greeted by the massive blood wall with dear ol' Henry hanging next to it. An eerie red light will be casting shadows on the wall .... (** to all you prop builders out there, this wall is made up of skulls purchased at walmart, llama, and cow bones from a local breeder and Great Stuff foam. :o)

YIKES!

Good lord...... ROTTENTAIL IS HERE!!! .....or is this Kelly when she has a bad 'hare' day ..... AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! (sorry, I had to say it ... :o)

Pretty, pretty fairy .....

Looky at what came in the mail today!! They're PERFECT for the Tooth Fairy!!!! :o) Such pretty, pretty wings for a perfectly HORRIBLE fairy!!

Um......that leprechaun is a little bit bigger than I thought he'd be ..... uh oh....I bought 3 of those suckers ...... um ..... yeah, that's not gonna work.

Andromeda Decorates the Tree!

Ok! The tree in the entryway is finished!! Unless I find some other neat stuff laying around to put on it!! Andromeda -- the feared half man/half dragon (read more about Andromeda in "The Dragon's Eye Legend" on the website -- www.dragons-eye.com ) is standing next to the tree decorating it. ( ...to make Andromeda, I took one of Lauren's riding jump brackets and screwed another 2x4 to it and then took my pirate dummy and wired him up to the pole so he stood 7 feet tall, then I crawled up on my stool and put Andromeda's costume on him - very carefully --- and walla! Andromeda comes alive!!! :o)

Chimi-Chonga Meets the Donkeys ....

Chimi was having fun today outside with the donkeys. Ellie the donkey just LOVED Chimi-Chonga!! She wouldn't leave him alone!! :o)

Santy Claws .....

Nick worked on his Santy Claws outfit a little today trying to get it looking 'SCARIER' .... the white trim is just a little too white ....... and we need some guts and blood and scary writing on the outfit .......

Meet.....CHIMI - CHONGA!!

This year the kids wanted me to buy a Gorilla costume. We've never had a Gorilla in the haunt before. SO --- I listened. Again -- this has nothing to do with any Holiday but what the heck. We're doing this for the kids and if they want a Gorilla ... I'll give them a Gorilla. The kids finished up the Gorilla lair today so I broke out the new Gorilla costume and asked one of them to put it on. He has been aptly named ..... CHIMI - CHONGA. You will probably see many more pictures of good 'ol CHIMI in future posts. This costume really rocks! He looks REAL!!

Lothar, the two headed Dragon is BACK!

The dreaded two headed bone dragon, LOTHAR, is back again this year. He's out in the open this year. We had him behind bars last year so he wouldn't scare people that much. This year he'll be sitting at the back of the line up area for everyone to see -- up close and personal.
-
(**Just an FYI for those prop builders out there .... this one of a kind monster was hand wired and made out of llama, ostrich, emu, and calf bones. Kevin Stalder and his friend Mic from Jewell worked on this all summer back in 2006. It's really amazing to see up close. This is a one of a kind peice that we are very proud of. We can't thank Kevin and Mic enough for all the work they did on this giant!!)

The Tooth Fairy Gets a Home!

Dani, Brianna, and her friend Sam worked together on the Tooth Fairy room putting the bed together and the walls up. This one's gonna be a scary one, folks!! You might think the Tooth Fairy isn't that scary ....... but you haven't seen OUR Tooth Fairy!!!

The kids worked on the Dot Room today and got it completely set up. This room doesn't have a lot to do with the Holidays but it's so darn popular that we have to bring it back year after year after year. Our guests really love this dumb 'ol room so what the heck --- here it is again !

Merry Christmas Boys and Ghouls....

We've started decorating one of our many Christmas Trees for everyone to enjoy this Halloween "HOLIDAY" Season. This one is just started with black garland and spider lights. We're not done yet ..... you'll need to come and see what other horrible things will be hanging from these limbs!!