Highbury Obelisk 2.0


So it only took me 2 years, but I finally had a chance to repair and update my original 3-tiered obelisk tombstone prop from 2011.

Back in 2015, the top section of the obelisk blew over on a windy Halloween, cracking the insert piece that held the obelisk's giant ball topper in place. The piece was still attached, but the ball sat at a noticeable angle. I immediately placed its repair on my next year's "to-do" list, but of course it was displaced by bigger and cooler projects.

I ended up letting it go as is, until last year, when the top piece finally cracked in half and the ball completely fell off. And without the ball on top, it just didn't look right at all. So I finally put the repair at the top of the list and was able to get it all done in 2 days...




I simply cut a new top piece from some scrap foam, screwed it in to the top of the obelisk, drilled a new hole for the ball's PVC insert piece, glued it all together, spackled over all of the holes and seam cracks from its previous tumbles, and it was ready to go. Almost...

I had some daylight left after everything was repaired, so I decided to give the entire obelisk a fresh coat of grime, giving it a new darker, weathered look. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and how quickly I was able to get this lingering project off the list. Finally.








If you'd like to see how this monstrosity was built, you can travel all the way back to 2011 to see the whole process here!

This also served as a nice starting to point to the 2018 build season. I got a really late start this year, but it really cranked the motivation to get the next projects on the list started and completed. Time to get to the garage and start crackin'!


  

Raison D'ĂȘtre - The Empty Hollow Unfolds


The ambience of grim desolation...

Keeping the workflow going today with the help of one of the most legendary dark ambient releases. Originally released in 2000, The Empty Hollow Unfolds still holds up with it's rich, unsettling atmospheric tracks.

Incredible.




100 Days




100 days until the big night! It's time to kick things into overdrive in anticipation of Halloween night. We're getting ever so closer...

Are you ready?

  

Desiderii Marginis - "Ephemeral"


A perfect track to start off a weekend where I need to get A LOT done for this year's haunt... absolutely classic dark ambient.




Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits by Matthew Rolston


All photos courtesy of Matthew Rolston/vanitasproject.com


Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits is a new photographic series from artist Matthew Rolston that documents the incredible "mummies" from the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Sicily.

From his site:
MATTHEW ROLSTON’s latest photographic series, Vanitas: The Palermo Portraits, is comprised of portraits of mummified human remains housed in the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Sicily, where the religious, aristocratic and affluent classes from the 16th through the early 20th centuries chose to display their dead, fully clothed, as a measure of societal and spiritual distinction, and in an effort to bring them closer to eternal salvation.








Absolutely stunning portraits of the many mummified inhabitants of the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo. Each bathed in a blue glow, the earthen-toned figures maintain a warm, yet still somewhat horrific highlighted contrast. The orange and brown hues of the preserved flesh retain a strange lifelike tone to the ghastly remains of each figure.

The Capuchin Catacombs have been on my bucket list ever since I had first discovered their existence years ago. I'm absolutely fascinated with the mummified figures and that even with their sometimes advanced stages of decay, are accepted and viewed as an historic religious site. Someday, I will make it to this site and take in all of its wonderful sights.

And as a haunter, I find the Capuchin Catacombs to be an immeasurable source for reference material. The real-life mummification is on view for all to see, and for people like myself to use as a vastly important source when creating corpses in my home haunt crypt.

For more photos and a wonderful slideshow video of more of Rolston's gorgeous photos of the Capuchin Catacombs, please visit his site at vanitasproject.com.

There is also a great in-depth interview with Rolston on this project over at Vice.

  

It's Friday The 13th...


...and that means it's all Jason Voorhees all day! 

As always, I'm going to start it off with a little music...




And why the theme song from Part 5? Ohh, it's because the great people over at Waxwork Records are releasing the soundtrack to Friday the 13th: A New Beginning today! Get those credit cards ready because they are probably going to go pretty quickly once it goes on sale. And have you seen this thing!?



Another gorgeous release from the boutique horror and sci-fi film soundtrack label. And although it doesn't quite compare to that glorious "disco" theme from Part 3, the soundtrack from Part 5 is a consensus favorite in the long line of F13 films. I can't wait to get my grubby little mitts all over this one!

And as an added bonus, Waxwork will also be introducing their first figure in their new toy line called Spinatures. The first figure, coinciding with this release (and its release date) is none other than F13 Part 5 character, "Impostor Jason," Paramedic Roy Burns! Aww, he's so cute!




And when all of this Friday the 13th hysteria is over, it's on to the last bit of F13 fun...



Tonight, me and the usual group of fellow Akron-area Halloween nuts will be going down to The Factory of Terror Haunted House in Canton, Ohio for Slasher Fest, a special "Friday the 13th" slasher-themed haunt!

Truth be told, it's pretty much the standard haunt with a few slasher characters scattered throughout. But honestly, it's still a blast. We have been going to all of their off-season/special event haunts for years now and they have all been a really great time. We'll never skip the opportunity for a little haunt fix outside of October!!

If you have the chance, why not see if a local haunt in your area is running a special "Friday the 13th" haunt tonight? The popularity is growing with more haunted houses participating each year and it's our duty as fellow haunters to support these kinds of events. And more importantly, it's our duty to go out and have some scary fun...


KI-KI-KI...

                                    ...MA-MA-MA.

 

Hauntcast Returns. Again!


There are a few Halloween- and haunt-themed podcasts across the universe, and I've tried to sample most of them. But somehow, the only one I come back to time and time again (Stockholm Syndrome?) is Chris Baker and crew's Hauntcast. Ugh, I feel so dirty for even typing that...

It's the only podcast that doesn't take itself too seriously, but entertains, actually informs and keeps my attention all the way through each episode. I guess it really speaks to the lowbrow neanderthal haunter in me. But that's cool!

So I was pretty excited to see the release of Hauntcast Postmortem 11, the newest episode, hot on the heels of the last episode. Which was released 9 months ago... But I'm REALLY excited to see that they were interviewing friend of the Cemetery, Brent Wilson from Planet Doom Haunt AND featuring killer horror punk music from The Spooky!




I fired up the new episode at work and flew through it way too fast. Again, another hilarious, yet informative episode, and I even have to admit that Brent's interview was really good, too. Good luck on your jump to pro haunting, good sir. I know you're gonna kill it!!

If you haven't downloaded the latest episode of Hauntcast, do yourself a favor and grab it right ovah heeah...



But wait, there's more!

Chris dropped an amazing little nugget a few weeks back that he was starting a Patreon campaign to bring the show back, along with all of the show regulars, monthly! Monthly!?


Hell yes I want that! A year or so ago, I actually wrote about feeling guilty when they tried to bring Hauntcast back as a subscription service and I never chipped in for it. I had always wanted to, but I always had something else to put that money toward.

In hearing this announcement, I immediately ponied up to support it this time around. And quite a few other patrons did, as well. As I type this, they are about $60 a month away from their goal of making the new and improved Hauntcast a reality. Just in time for the run-up to Halloween!

So if you haven't yet, go check out what's going on over at the Hauntcast Patreon page. New bi-monthly/monthly podcasts, contests and a ton of new content throughout the year. And all in a crazy, super fun, entertaining and informative package. They're so close to making this happen, I command you to throw down a couple of bucks.

Okay, no I don't. But at least check it out. It really is a great resource for our haunt community, and it's always a fun listen.


And finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't send out some positive Cemetery vibes to Hauntcast regular, Revenant. I was bummed to find out that he didn't have a segment in this latest episode, but was even more bummed to find out that it was because of some health issues that he's currently going through. His "Theater of the Mind" segment is by far my favorite of the show and his segment in episode 10 was probably my favorite segment ever. Get well soon and get back to making amazing and inspiring content. We'll keep the ghost light burning...

  

"The Chemist" Voodoo Doll by Artsytartsyandsuch


Now I know the first thought that will go through your head when you see the photo is, "That isn't something that Highbury Cemetery is into. It's too cute!"

And you're usually right, except in this instance. On very rare occasions, I'll drift into the "cute" Halloween realm...

Good friend of Highbury Cemetery, Miss Juli Riedel at Artsytartsyandsuch recently posted a photo of her newest voodoo doll creation and I knew I had to have it. The amazing fabric print pattern used on The Chemist really spoke to the graphic designer in me and I snatched it up the second she put it up in her Etsy store. She found out that it was a little birthday present to myself and she ended up going the extra distance and added a few extra goodies including a handmade birthday card. Super cool!!



So now my newest voodoo doll will take his rightful place among the few other voodoo items on my office shelf (right next to the Highbury feltie that was created by Miss RoxyBlue!), providing positive juju to the entire Cemetery!

If you're interested, you can still get "The Chemist" from Juli's store, Artsytartsyandsuch on Etsy. Do yourself a favor and check out all the cool handmade goodies in her store. And tell her that Highbury sent 'ya!!



  

Happy Fourth of July, Everyone!


It's my second favorite holiday, Fireworks Day!! Happy Fourth of July, everyone. Just be careful out there, and don't blow off anything important...