Pumpkin Dump 2025

For my final act of Halloween defiance this season, I was able to get my pumpkins out for the ninth year in a row for my annual Pumpkin Dump!

Starting back in 2017, I decided that I wanted to do something more than simply toss my post-Halloween pumpkins into the trash, and ended up covertly setting them up in a local metropark to much surprise and joy... and it has become an annual tradition ever since.

Every year I look for a new, creepy location to set up my jack-o-lanterns and extend the Halloween season for a bit longer. An Easter egg of sorts to anyone who happens to see them, and food for the local wildlife at the very least.

This year, I paid homage to the Dump locations from 2021, 2023, and 2024. We have a long, ever-expanding main road through town filled with commercial and industrial parkways, continually springing new buildings into any remaining available space. And while these buildings and warehouses to continue to pop up, the original, now abandoned and quickly deteriorating homes sit rotting, waiting to be leveled to make way for the next new construction project.

Lucky for me, these forgotten and ignored homes serve as the perfect location for my annual pumpkin dump. Rotten and decayed, overgrown and just a bit intimidating. I set up my pumpkin display to complete the autumn image of fright!

With help from Brother Scrapes, we loaded up all 23 pumpkins from this year's display and headed out. We calmly parked in what was once a driveway to the house and went to work in the cold, rainy, and dreary morning. We quickly got some photos and videos of the setup, then slipped away completely unnoticed.

Another perfect Pumpkin Dump to end another really great Halloween season!

Please enjoy my annual submission to the Great Pumpkin Project, the Highbury Cemetery Pumpkin Dump 2025…

  

Highbury Cemetery, 2025

Year twenty two is now complete and another successful season for the Highbury Cemetery yard haunt is in the books! For another year, the weather cooperated throughout the weekend of trick-or-treat (although heavy rains and wind struck on either side of it), allowing me time to set up, adjust, and perfect. Trick-or-treat itself, while down again in total attendance a bit from last year (something I have noticed the past two years??), went off without a major hitch with perfect plumes of thick fog rolling across vibrant colors and shadows of a cool evening. 

And with the heavy rains and wind that came after our Sunday trick-or-treat, I was able to tear down most of the cemetery display, and then put up a different, mini display for Halloween night. A new twist to Highbury Cemetery lore, and something I may look into doing from here on out!

So without further ado, I'll get to the good stuff... 

Ladies and gentlemonsters, boils and ghouls, I proudly present Highbury Cemetery, 2025. Enjoy!

When all was said and done, we ended up having 183 trick-or-treaters, parents, neighbors, and curious onlookers through the gates of Highbury Cemetery this year. A little bit lower than last year's total, but I'll still take it.

And before I end it, I can't go without giving a special thanks to everyone who helped put on the show this year. I couldn't do it without your help and your presence in just making the whole night a ton of fun. Special Highbury Cemetery thank you t-shirts go out to: Mrs. Highbury, Christian Highbury, Sharon, Karen, Laurie, and Nancy. And an extra high five to the neighbor who came up and showed me his photo of him and me from last Halloween - and wanting to take another photo this year - with his new baby boy! Congrats and thanks for bringing the next generation of Halloween fan by the haunt.

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So there you have it. Halloween, 2025 is done and dusted and the Cemetery is closed for another year. Twenty two years of home haunting and still going strong. And even though our numbers were down a bit again this year, it only reinforces the importance of what we as haunters are doing - keeping the traditions of Halloween alive and passing them on to the next generation to keep it all going.

Only 362 days until Halloween. Are you ready?

  

A Halloween Night Mini Display

I had to have SOMETHING in the yard on Halloween night! After Sunday's trick-or-treat, we took most of the display down in anticipation of Wednesday's heavy rain and wind. So yesterday, I went out and set up a small display, if for no other reason than to appease the Candy Corn gods. And maybe for one more night of Halloween enjoyment for myself, too...

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