About me and how this all started

My full time job is in the medical field. I'm into science, computers, building and creating things.I do have a very active imagination and have always been into Halloween since I was a kid. I'm about 50, married with 3 teenagers at the time of this posting.
I think it was about when my daughter was in 4th grade. She's our oldest. Up to that time I would come home after work on the actual day of Halloween, set up some props outside the front door, put on a scary mask and hide behind a tree with a fog machine and a black light nearby. I did manage to scare some people. My daughter then gave me the idea of using the garage and perhaps that would open up more 'possibilities'.
The rest is pretty much history. Every year seems to add one more layer of insanity. I tend to spend most of the time building scenes and effects which have grown more elaborate over the years.
2009 was definitely the break-out year.
2 major projects were undertaken. I am going to briefly describe them since I did not do a blog that year and these are definitely worth mentioning. Some details are being left out so if you have any more questions about them please ask.
If you've been to the Disney Haunted House then you know about the floating lantern. I believe their effect is accomplished with the use of cranks. Since I had a small space, the best option was a lightweight microprocessor called a 'prop-1' powering a small computer fan. The result was quite spooktacular. Here is the concept

I am very grateful to the author of the program for sharing the  PBasic code for the prop-1. Basically all I had to do was cut and paste the code on his webpage which is referenced above. The prop1 controller fan and motor cost less than $100. I modified the application to float a ghoul head instead of a candle.I had to use a strobe due to the fact that the effect was seen pretty close up and I had to disguise the background apparatus. Here is a picture of the apparatus during construction. Top image is the back end of the pendulum with the prop 1 unit mounted at the end. Bottom image is the ghoul head we used in the haunt. I tried to upload the videos and I am having difficulty with that. Hopefully soon.

OK. We'll try YouTube then. I believe here are the videos now:



And now this...the actual live version:




And now for our greatest creation ever for a halloween garage haunt...the Crush Room! A 4 x 8 x 10 foot chamber with a ceiling full of skeleton heads. Through the eyes of the skeletons spikes appear that are lowered and then the entire ceiling comes down on the guests.
I got this idea from one fellow hauntmaster James Beach whom I am very grateful to for detailing the plans to such a level that I really though it could be done. I really pushed the edge on this one. Here are the details of  what he did and the movie that shows the room in operation http://www.garageofterror.com/crushhome.html
My spikes were carved out of dowels and bolted onto the subframe. I had a camera in the room so I could gauge just how far I could lower the spikes without actually spiking people.

Here is what my crush room ceiling looked like 

And after lowering the spikes..This!...And This!


And so it was on Halloween night 2009..a completely spooktacular 'epic' as they say.

Finally I would like to thank my wife Cathy for giving up the garage for all these summer months and putting up with this and my kids Sam, Max and Ben for their yearly inspiration and assistance!
Happy Haunting to all!

Feel free to contact me at hallsofdoom13gmailcom