Origins of Burelloween

 I have always been fascinated with movie making and special effects, especially the science fiction and horror genres.  I saw my first horror movie at the age of 9, it was the original phantom of the opera with Lon Chaney, and I had begged my parents to let me stay up and watch it.  While tame by todays standards, the experience of watching the silent horror in the dark by myself at the age of 9, gave me nightmares for weeks, and provided the first inspiration into the magic of physical affects and props.

As I grew older I enjoyed the effects of the classics with Lon Chaney, Bella Lugosi, and the creature effects of Harry Hausen, and of course the mind blowing effects of George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg.  In addition to my inpiration from the movies I was also very much inspired by my father who was always tinkering, fixing, and building things in the garage.  Some of my fondest memories as a kid were building things out of scraps of wood or other junk we had lying around.  From a home made spiderman webshooter out of an old piece of tubing, some springs, and some string, to a catamaran sailboat from an old wooden apple crate, to a home made 'Nerf Man' out of some foam rubber,   it seemed that there was never anything that I could imagine that we couldn't build.

Halloween was always a fun holiday, first because it was a chance to make a costumes and put on scary makeup, and second because it was my dad's birthday.  Some how I think my dad got the short end of the deal on that one, although I think he really enjoyed helping me make my costumes.  As I grew older, the fun of Halloween had been relegated to an occasional party at someone elses house and the occasional scary mask and handing out candy to the trick or treaters.   After my father passed away, Halloween was kind of a bittersweet time.  It was a sad time, because he was no longer with us to celebrate another birthday, but a happy time because I now had a daughter to share the Halloween experience with.  For the first several years it was fun to get her dressed up and go trick or treating and to put on a mask to scare the neighborhood trick or treaters.  

Then in 2007 we decided to have a Halloween party.....
We hadn't really had a party since before my daughter was born, and since we were inviting all of our friends, we really wanted to make sure we did it right.  We bought some Scene Setters to cover the walls, and we bought some cheap props, and had planned out a menu to feed an army.  Since we were short of places for people to sit, We thought that building some electric chairs which would serve both as props and functional seating.  I had just finished one of the chairs and was assembling the other when two magical things happened... I had that feeling of contentment that I used to get when I built things with my dad, and I noticed that my daughter, now 4 years old, was sitting in the electric chair with the electrode on her head and here arms in the straps.  She looked at me and said " Daddy look!",  just as I looked up, she rolled her eyes into the back of her head and started shaking violently as if she had just been hit with 200,000 volts of electricity. She then stopped and laughed.   It was then I realized that Halloween was a great way to celebrate my dads birthday, and share the spirit, creativity, and generosity that he embodied with my friends and family.... and of course have fun scaring the heck out of kids coming to mooch candy.

I tend to have visions of grandeur when it comes to prop making, but occasionally a few of them actually turn out the way I want them to.  This blog is my way of sharing the process of building our haunts and preparing for our annual Halloween party now in its 6th year.   Enjoy the articles and feel free to leave feedback!