"Scary Sounds Of The Night" CD

Another Friday in October means another Freebie Friday!

This week's offering was another blind purchase. When the CD case states, "This CD is guaranteed to create the ultimate creepy atmosphere with its chilling sound effects, haunting melodies, and pulse-pounding orchestrations" you don't take that bold claim lightly.

But then you see the silly, childlike illustration of the owl and witch on the front cover and think there is no way the bold claim could be true. Could it?

This week's offering is Scary Sounds of the Night from 1997. I think. Because the polar opposites of the artwork becomes a theme once you actually open the CD case, too. The CD artwork says the release is called Scary Sounds of the Night. But when you actually insert the CD, the album is simply referred to as Halloween Night. A telltale sign that nefarious bootlegging is going on, but also a telltale sign that we are in for something good!

And yes, the audio itself is surprisingly good! It starts off with the standard, echoing "spooky sounds" collection, but then it morphs into a cool mix of organ and sounds, and then rolls back into a collection of high-quality sounds (thunder, organ, howling wolves, cats, heartbeats, etc.). Plus the CD quality production makes this a better-than-average release. And at just over an hour in length, it is well worth the listen.

Don't judge this book by its cover! Give this one a spin and prepare to be guaranteed to be scared!

DOWNLOAD "SCARY SOUNDS OF THE NIGHT" HERE.

Ken Russell's "The Devils"

In 17th-century France, Father Grandier (Oliver Reed) is a priest whose unorthodox views on sex and religion influence a passionate following of nuns, including the sexually obsessed Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave). When the power-hungry Cardinal Richelieu (Christopher Logue) realizes he must eliminate Grandier to gain control of France, Richelieu portrays Grandier as a satanist and spearheads a public outcry to destroy the once-loved priest's reputation.

“The restoration of the material is like cleaning the Sistine Chapel with saliva. It is insane, the epic size of the film. I mean, I’ve seen it on the big screen in Telluride at a theater – but I’ve never, never seen the movie until I saw this restoration.” - Guillermo del Toro

An enduring masterpiece of cinema starring Academy Award-winner Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed, Ken Russell's The Devils is a prescient epic of obsession and corruption – and a defining work of art from seminal filmmaker Ken Russell. 

Assembled from the original camera negative, this new 4K restoration presents Ken Russell’s definitive vision of The Devils by referencing the edit he privately constructed in 2004. Ken Russell's The Devils is the uncut and unfiltered theatrical experience that Russell always envisioned – and the first time the film will be presented restored and in 4K.

I actually didn't know anything about this 1971 film but was super excited to go see it in the theater after watching the trailer...only to find out that the nearest theater to me playing this is 22 miles away. Dang. Hopefully they release this on a streaming service. Go see this if you can, as it's only in theaters for one week starting tomorrow.

The Neighborhood Trick-Or-Treat Flyer (AND Signs!)

The annual neighborhood trick-or-treat announcement flyers have finally been printed and are ready to be distributed to 125 houses throughout my development. And this year, it comes with a little extra...

In recent years, I have become the unofficial official flyer creator and distributor, which I do without complaint. Designed and printed by me and distributed by my son and a few of his neighborhood friends, we fulfill the incredibly important task of signaling the countdown to the big night.

And every October, we have abided by the HOA-mandated trick-or-treat date being the Sunday before Halloween. We have followed our Township's general rule, which truth be told, didn't always make sense. Especially to a Halloween purist like myself. But I begrudgingly went along each time, and managed to still always have a good turnout and fun event.

Now fast forward to this year. Someone noted on our neighborhood Facebook group that Halloween fell on a Saturday and trick-or-treat should be moved to that date. And cue the hysteria. Neighbors agreeing. Neighbors disagreeing. Neighbors claiming a different date would only cause mass confusion. Neighbors creating polls to vote on the date (Halloween night won by a 75% to 25% margin), the HOA chiming in with a long list of points to not change the date, only to then come back days later saying the final decision was not legally up to them, and then finally a consensus decision to change it to Saturday, October 31st... and it only took THREE WEEKS of back-and-forth.

But did we just slay the dragon? Did we just get a say in planning our neighborhood festivities?? I think we did! So as the unofficial official flyer maker, I chimed in stating that the date change would be called out in the new flyer and I also volunteered to create signs for the entrances to our development. This way, there would be absolutely positively no confusion as to when it was.

This whole thing has been a crazy round-and-round, but I think the smart decision was made in the end. Why not have trick-or-treat on Saturday, Halloween night, so that kids can stay out later and enjoy the evening's festivities throughout the neighborhood??

So after all of that, the flyers will be going into every mailbox this afternoon and the new signs will go up at the entrances to our development. Job done for another Halloween. We are getting closer! Are you ready?

Halloween 'Zines: Witch's Brew

Last year, I added a new feature to my October blogging: Halloween 'zine reviews!! Growing up as a punk rock kid, I collected many a fanzine through the years. Small, DIY handmade photocopied, low-budget mini magazines that covered all aspects of the music genre, created and produced by the very participants within that scene. There's just something about holding a small magazine that was created and assembled by hand that always felt so tactile and genuine to me. And when I later became a home haunter, I discovered the same medium and immediately began collecting them.

First up is Dr. Wolfenbergen's Witch's Brew No. Deux 'zine. A while back, I picked up the first issue of Witch's Brew, a cool, giant 14" x 20" 8-page fold-out zine full of Dr. Wolfenbergen's signature horror illustrations done in a bold, block color, degraded comic style.

This year, I went back and ordered the second issue, a smaller 6.5" x 10",  30-page follow up, filled with new signature illustrations.

While there is no copy on any of the pages, the real selling point of this zine is definitely the art on each page. Wonderful old degraded, comic-style horror illustrations with blown out halftones and photocopy residue. Absolute bliss for your eyeballs! And check out all of that extra swag that came with it!!

Both highly recommended issues of Witch's Brew are still available in limited quantities over at Dr. Wolfenbergen's Big Cartel page.

And if you dig the stylized illustrations as much as I do, you can still get the limited glow-in-the-dark "Reaper" silkscreened poster, too!

Jeff Greinke - "The Moor"

I have shared this track in previous years, but I wanted to revisit it again. Audio plays a huge part in my annual display, setting the right amount of creepiness to support the visual aspect of the haunt. Get the audio wrong and the display loses any effectiveness in creating a cohesive, creepy feel. Which is why I have searched many genres to find just the right sound...

I make no secret of my love of the dark ambient music genre. It sets such a great uneasy mood, and I have always thought that it works really well in haunt settings. With no recognizable patterns or vocals, the audio sits nicely in the background, supporting and heightening the tension of the haunt setting, never becoming a distracting focus.

For years I have been using various dark ambient tracks in my yard haunt, and in the last 5 or 6 I have settled on what I have found to be a perfect track. A wonderful, dark balance of creepiness and eerie foreboding. I absolutely love this track and every time I play it, it instantly takes me into the middle of my yard haunt display...

Enjoy the unofficial haunt soundtrack of Highbury Cemetery, artist Jeff Greinke's 1992 dark ambient masterpiece, The Moor.

New Holland Brewing - Ichabod Pumpkin Ale

It's shocking to me that in this second week of October, most of the pumpkin beers have already vanished. I can only guess that grocers are already making way for the seasonal beers of that OTHER holiday... And it sure does make it difficult for rankings in the highly scientific Drunken Jackos Rating System, but nonetheless here we go.

Even with the slim pickings, I was still able to grab a six pack of New Holland Brewing's Ichabod Pumpkin Ale out of New Holland, Michigan. I cracked a can from the pack and was met with a subtle earthy note, that actually left me wanting something more. The beer itself poured a nice, rich copper hue and held a firm head, and quickly progressed to a slight cinnamon sweet note.

On first sip, any hope of a cinnamon pumpkin flavor was immediately bypassed by an overall and lasting malt dryness that lingered at the back of the throat. And that dry aftertaste lingered well after the first few sips.

Overall, this beer had a flat, dry and earthy flavor with an overly pronounced dry aftertaste. Not what I was expecting and not what I was hoping for. Maybe a beer for those looking for a more roasted, malty, nutty flavor.

So with that flat flavor and that aftertaste, New Holland Brewing's Ichabod Pumpkin Ale gets a 2 out of 5 Drunken Jackos. I made it through one can, but the rest will go into the party cooler for Halloween night.

I sure hope that I can find a few more pumpkin beers this season. So far, the scale hasn't pinged any real standouts...

 

Whodini - "The Haunted House Of Rock"

It's not always so serious over here at Highbury Cemetery...

 

The Haunters - "Messages From Beyond The Veil"

Here is one I have been sitting on for a while, but a dreary Sunday morning was the perfect time to finally post it.

Subdued explorations of uncanny territories. Spectral hiss and abstraction of the immaterial.

The Haunters' Messages From Beyond The Veil is a great 4-track release, oozing with droning dark ambient and hollow industrial atmosphere. Another perfect soundtrack for the dark, melancholic and creepy side of the Halloween season.

Enjoy!

 

Talking Skeleton Prop Upgrade

Does anyone remember "Make & Takes"? It was when a group of haunters would get together and work on a prop project, helping each other out until everyone had a complete prop to go home with. Those were the days...

Waaaay back in 2012, I attended a great Make & Take session with the Garage of Evil Northern Ohio Home Haunters group (RIP). We all purchased a talking skull kit and assembled it during an afternoon together. I was so happy with my talking skull, I decided to fabricate a grim reaper body out of PVC pipes for it, complete with an aged, hooded cloak, skeleton hands, and a hidden particle board shelf within the chest cavity area to house a set of computer speakers to handle the audio. It worked great and was a big hit for that year's haunt display. I recorded custom audio for it to speak and it quickly became a focal point of the haunt.

Original talking skeleton build, 2012.

Fast forward 14 years, and the prop has now seen better days. The past few years, the audio would cut out or completely fail, rendering it a useless static prop. The motherboard finally gave out last year, 10 minutes into trick-or-treat...

So for this year, a total refresh was top of the list for prop upgrades. I quickly decided that a replacement talking skull kit would be the main focus, along with some cloak details and an adjustment to the size of the speaker shelf.

After researching talking skull kits, I settled on an already-fabricated kit from Cowlacious Designs. I didn't have the time to build a kit this far into October, so I opted for the Assembled Scary Terry Talking Skull With ST-450 Board. And I couldn't have been happier when it showed up. Very solid build and ready to go right out of the box. And the addition of red LED eyes that were programmed to pulse along with the audio was a huge upgrade! 

I dropped my custom audio track onto a microSD card, plugged it into the motherboard slot, and fired it up. Flawless from the start.

And with the time I saved on having to build this kit myself, I was able to really focus in on the skull itself. A basic, bright white skull will NEVER do at Highbury Cemetery, so I set about detailing it to look much creepier, older, decayed and realistic. I gave a dark wood stain dry brushing over the whole thing for more contrast and then further darkened all of the recessed areas in the eyes, nose and mouth. I even went in and removed some of the skull's teeth for added age, decay and withered detail. A few quick steps that made a world of difference on the final piece.

The original skull kit vs. the new skull kit. I didn't realize what a difference until they were side-by-side.

After the skull was complete, I deteriorated the reaper cloak with various paints and sandpaper to give it an dried, aged look. I wanted it to look dull and dusty, like it had already spent centuries in an old, musty tomb.

The last piece to address was the speaker shelf. It worked great holding the hidden speakers inside the chest cavity area, but it stuck out a bit too far when the prop was fully assembled. That is, you could see the edges of the shelf protruding out from the reaper cloak. Something that always bothered the perfectionist in me. But it was finally and quickly remedied with a trim from my Sawzall. I also used a permanent glue to adhere the speakers to the shelf so that they could no longer tip over and fall off the shelf during the night.

And once it was all put together, the last thing to do was set it up and grab the camera. I'm really, really happy with this new, upgraded version. And I'm really, really happy with the way the skull turned out. I can't wait to get this guy back out to the front of the display where he belongs, functioning correctly and mesmerizing all of the visitors that walk by.

"Halloween At Home - Fiendish Wailing Ghostly Stories" Record

Second Friday of October, so that means another Freebie Friday offering!

Up this time is the Halloween At Home - Fiendish Wailing Ghostly Stories record from 1972...

Now it's time to visit the land of horror. Sit back. Turn up the volume. Dim the lights. Close your eyes. Enjoy your journey...and may daybreak come soon!

I see this particular release for sale each Halloween season, and finally picked it up this time around. And I'm so glad I did. While not of the typical "spooky sounds" collection of sounds, this record starts off on the first side with a narrated collection of classic horror short stories. And each is voiced with a really great actor, adding to the campy, creepy fun of each story.

Side two is more a collection of spooky sounds, but with the addition of narration on a few of the tracks. This gives more of a separate storyline to each sound. It doesn't flow as one continuous track, but again the great narration really makes this a fun gathering of sounds.

Overall, this is definitely geared toward smaller children and goes very light on anything really scary, but it's presented in a fun, campy sort of creepy way. And the great production quality adds to the overall package, giving it a unique spot within anyone's Halloween collection.

Definitely with the listen!

DOWNLOAD "HALLOWEEN AT HOME - FIENDISH WAILING GHOSTLY STORIES" HERE.

Hexentanz - "Mark Of The Witch"

Just a quick post today, but this one is really great. I discovered this track while creating an Instagram post and immediately had to find out more about it.

From the Hexentanz Bandcamp page:
Hexentanz emerged first in 2004 with Michael W. Ford, Mark Riddick, Michael Riddick and Dana Dark, producing dark ritual ambient music. Hexentanz presents a dark ritualistic examination of the Witches Sabbath coupled with themes of medieval necromancy. Composed with actual period instruments, synthetic ritual devices, human bones, and authentic arcane chants of medieval and modern occult practice. 

Human bones? Sounds good to me! I absolutely love the dark tribal, rhythmic drums and ritual chanting on this track. When I first heard it, my immediate thought was that it would be perfect background audio in a haunt scene. The entire record has since made its way into my October playlist, and will become a staple of the Halloween season. Definitely one to add to your collection.

Enjoy!

The Brew Kettle - Pumpkin Drop Lager

Every October, I like to pick up a few six packs of whatever seasonal pumpkin beer is on the local grocer's shelves, bring them home and sample them, and then write a detailed review, based on my highly scientific Drunken Jackos Rating Scale. Pumpkin beers have long been a fun piece of the Halloween season and make for a perfect little treat for those long nights toiling away in the garage.

First up this season is The Brew Kettle's Pumpkin Drop Lager. Now The Brew Kettle is a small, local brewery out of Strongsville, Ohio and there's a good chance you won't be able to find it outside of Northeast Ohio. But that fantastic can art immediately drew my attention and immediately went into my cart, headed straight for the Drunken Jackos rating system. So here we go!

Upon opening the 16 oz. can, I was first greeted with a nice, subtle, sweet cinnamon pumpkin note. And the beer poured a light amber color with a tall, fizzy head.

Before the first sip, I noticed the sweetness of the pumpkin scent had settled, leaving a more earthy scent. And the sip itself was light and crisp, typical of lagers, leaving a slight, dry aftertaste.

Overall, I actually felt the flavor was a little thin. With neither a predominantly sweet pumpkin pie nor dry, earthy, organic nut profile, the beer still had a nice balance and was very drinkable throughout. This beer will definitely go into the cooler on Halloween night.

And so with the cool can graphics together with the typical lager drinkability, The Brew Kettle's Pumpkin Drop Lager gets a 3 out of 5 Drunken Jackos. Just an easy drinking beer for someone not looking to go too far on either end of the pumpkin beer flavor range.

Halloween Scene - "Super Spooky Sounds Of Halloween"

31 minutes of hair-raising, shivering, quivering, creepy, thrills & chills to make your blood run cold!

There's nothing I love more about the Halloween season than those old "spooky sounds" records, tapes, and CDs. An audio flashback to dressing up in your plastic costume and racing from house to house, filling up a pillowcase full of candy (if you were fast like me). And stopping for an extra second at those houses that were decorated with eerie lights, tombstones, spooky monsters and creepy sounds. The distilled, pure nostalgia of the season.

And Halloween Scene again nails that nostalgic feel with their latest release, Super Spooky Sounds Of Halloween. A modern interpretation of those old school classics, it's a perfect homage to the soundscapes that made the originals so great.

The limited edition cassette release was another no-brainer to add to my collection and is still available on the Lamp & Dagger Bandcamp page.

Enjoy!

 

"Reaper" Print by Dr. Wolfenbergen

As I get older, I have become a big supporter of independent artists, especially during the Halloween season. I truly appreciate zines, clothes, posters and anything else handmade or done in a truly DIY (do it yourself) manner. To me, it just feels more authentic and personal, and it's usually of higher quality as opposed to a mass-produced and cheaply made pieces pulled from a shelf.

Case in point is this incredibly awesome silkscreened poster print from Dr. Wolfenbergen. I have been following the Dr's Instagram page for a few years now and I absolutely love his bold, blocky and textured, vintage creepy lo-fi Halloween and monster illustrations.

I recently saw this new "Reaper" poster produced by Valhalla Studios and I immediately put my order in! Classic hooded grim reaper (my favorite!) exploding from the page with boney, skeletal hands in his signature offset textured style. Sheer perfection.

And did I mention it GLOWS IN THE DARK!?

Support our independent Halloween artists and grab your own copy at Valhalla Studios!

 

Controlled Death - "Demonic Trip Through Hell"

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my discovery of Japanese industrial noise/black ambient artist, Controlled Death, and his incredible split release with Black Mountain Transmitter that was released by Deathbed Tapes (the cassette that came in a clamshell VHS case and a silkscreened BARF BAG!)

Today, I wanted to highlight another really great release of his. Demonic Trip Through Hell is another wonderfully grading and droning industrial soundscape, with two tracks of oozing, ear-piercing distortion and lo-fi reverb.

In other words, REALLY great background audio for a haunt display!! (Is it odd that I find this so soothing?)

And, in what really draws me to Deathbed Tapes, the limited edition cassette also comes in an also-limited-edition VHS release. Break out the old VCR!! It consists of the two tracks from the cassette, backed by a constant background of black-and-white decay featuring skulls and vibrating patterns. A perfect visual accompaniment to the audio. Total noise and harshness.

Enjoy!

 

Dave Quiggle's "10 Years Of Drawlloween" Book

I just came across this cool new book from Southern California artist, Dave Quiggle. 10 Years Of Drawlloween covers Quiggle's uniquely stylized Halloween illustrations for the annual Drawlloween project - that is, 31 drawings in 31 days throughout October.

Alongside his collection of illustrations, the book also contains his sketches, unused drawings, and tattoo flash. 336 pages of glorious Halloween art and inspiration that is sure to look just right in your Halloween collection, as well as mine!

Grab a copy of 10 Years Of Drawlloween here, and visit Quiggle's site to pick up more of his killer work.

 

"Sounds From A Night Of Terror" CD

It's the first Friday of October, and that can mean only one thing...

The return of Freebie Fridays!

Every Friday in October, I dig up one of the vintage novelty Halloween soundtrack cassettes, CDs, and vinyl records from my ever-growing collection and share it with all of my fellow classic "spooky sounds" junkies.

I've been doing this for quite a few years now, and I still absolutely love doing it. It's a great way to share the love during the Halloween season, and a great way to (re)discover some really neat-and-or-hilarious old novelty soundtracks from Halloweens long past.

So let's get down to business!!

Up first, we have the Sounds From A Night Of Terror CD from what I can only assume is the mid 90s/early 2000s. No date to be found anywhere on this release, but it just has that 90s feel to it.

What initially drew me to this release was the cover art. Glorious, illustrated comic-style art of an undead hand rising from the grave made it an instant purchase for me. Again, no credit to an artist anywhere, but one can only assume it was ripped off from somewhere else.

I was also pleasantly surprised when I popped the CD in. High production sound quality on this one, and it's an hour of continuous audio in one single track. It's a sampling of different, standard "Halloween sounds" themes, some almost sounding cinematic in composition, all linked together by a continuous, laughing voice laden with downtuning and reverb. Used a little too much for my liking and far too repetitive, it luckily doesn't overwhelm the overall release.

For another cheap, blind purchase, this one is a pretty great, campy Halloween release. And a perfect release to start off this Halloween season! Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD "SOUNDS FROM A NIGHT OF TERROR" HERE.

 

Highbury Cemetery Logo, 2026

Welcome. Here we are again. October 1st...

IT'S OFFICIALLY THE HALLOWEEN SEASON! And it's time to kick off the annual Countdown to Halloween! An orange-and-black blitz of 31 posts in 31 days, all leading up to our high holiday of All Hallows Eve!! This is my 16th year celebrating all things creepy and cool with the Countdown to Halloween blog party, and we are still going strong. Can you feel that crisp, electric excitement in the air!!??

We've got a long list of blog posts all lined up and ready to go. A full month stuffed with tricks and treats, so be sure to check back daily because this party is going nonstop straight through the 31st! And you don't want to miss out on the good candy, do you??

So let's get this thing started, shall we!?

Each October, I like to start the festivities with the unveiling of my annual yard haunt logo. It's a great way to set the tone for the spooky season, and it gets me motivated to finish all the planned projects for the year's haunt. 

For the past 22 years, I have created an increasingly defined and prominent Highbury Cemetery haunt logo for the season. The logo is used across social media and a very small batch of t-shirts. Each year, the t-shirts are hand printed here at the Cemetery and then given out as a thank you to everyone who helps put on the yard haunt on Halloween night. A well deserved treat for all of the hard work that goes into this crazy thing every year.

So ladies and gentlemonsters, boils and ghouls, without further ado I proudly present the ghastly and gruesome logo for Highbury Cemetery, 2026:

YEAR TWENTY-THREE. So many good memories and still so much fun, why stop now?!

Only 30 days until the big night, so let's get this pumpkin party started. Let's do this!!

 

Home Depot Angel Of Death Monument Prop Upgrade

My first prop for Halloween, 2026 is done! For the third year in a row, I have picked up a cemetery statue from Home Depot and then given it a full Highbury Cemetery custom detailing.

I must admit that Home Depot has had a few really nice, right-out-of-the-box cemetery statue pieces lately and this year was no different. I ended up ordering the 5 Foot Angel Of Death Monument statue (Slaaaaaayer!), immediately thinking just how far I could take this one. It's taller and wider than either the Eternal Embrace Statue or the Hourglass Grim Reaper Statue that I had picked up the previous two seasons, and would serve as a nice centerpiece for the trio of statues. And as the centerpiece, I really wanted to push the customization and detail of it.

The finished piece, shot in my back yard...

As with previous statues, the first step was adding paint to increase the contrast. I started with a dark purple/black wash to accent the shadows, followed by a white dry brush overcoat to add highlight to the raised area. This also gave it more of an old, cemetery stone look. The third step was to add a dry brush green to some of the recessed areas for a moldy, mossy look. To finalize the painting process, I spattered a watered down purple/black over the entire statue for some added grime. The cherry on top was to add a heavy, drippy coat of the purple/black to the eyes to simulate black tears down the cheeks and body for that extra bit of creepiness.

The next step served as an homage to one of my earlier props, The Guardian Of The Tombs. This was an old garden angel statue that had blown over in the wind, broke, and was then relegated to becoming a Halloween prop. One of the angel wings had broken off, so upon its October transformation, I had recreated a new "wing" out of twigs and Spanish moss, giving it a cool, overgrown organic look. This prop has since fallen over a few more times through the years and is headed for a possible retirement due to its increasingly fragile state.

So for the new prop, I discarded the same wing and fashioned a new one out of branches, creepy cloth, and hot glue cobwebs. I was able to find long branches with angles that mimicked the angle of the wing, spreading and stuffing them into the hole in the back where the original wing would have attached. I then solidified it all together with a generous blast of expanding foam. Once the twigs were placed and set, I gave them a mist of white spray paint to match the color of the statue. I then wrapped sections of cream-colored creepy cloth across different branched to fill out the wing's shape. I ended up giving each piece a shot of spray adhesive just to give it a bit more of a hardened, fixed setting. As a final accent, I added clumps of Spanish moss to hang from the branches.

Once the wing was completed, I wrapped two pieces of vine (that I had gotten while seeking out the wing branches) around the entire statue. I attached both vines at the base and at various hidden points up the body with hot glue and a few screws for a permanent attachment.

I then decided on one last accent and added melted white candles to the base. I used hot glue on three toilet paper rolls (all cut at angles), giving them all extra glue drippings around the base of each. I painted each with basic white paint and added an LED tea light in each, giving it an old, realistic look.

And as a final detail, I layered on a heavy coating of hot glue spider webbing over the entire piece to give it that old, aged feel. My Webcaster Glue Gun skills have improved greatly since my first try a few years ago, and I was able to concentrate the webbing around the statues face, the main focal point of the piece.

Once everything was done, I put it in the back yard for a quick evening photo session. I'm REALLY happy with the way it turned out and it will serve as another signature piece in Highbury Cemetery.

  

Exhumed Mask From Night Creature Collectibles

Updated mask with painted accents.

One of the projects on this year's haunt list was to come up with a new character for my yard haunt on Halloween night. My previous, while still great, had been used the last four years and was in need of a refresh.

So with a limited budget and timeframe, I quickly looked around to see what was available.

I was fortunate to score a great deal on the dark sand color variant of the Exhumed mask from Night Creature Collectibles. The old school reaper feel and the killer sculpt on the skull face caught my attention and I pounced on it!

I was really happy with the mask when it showed up. I'm a sucker for a good skull face, and I love those sparse, gnarly teeth hanging out of the blackened, decayed mouth. Add to that the attached hood and it was the perfect piece to build a new character around.

And while I love the mask overall, I kept looking at it thinking that I could add just a bit of detail to really accentuate the overall look of it. So I grabbed a few acrylic paints and went to work, focusing on that decayed mouth and those wonderful teeth. I added overall contrast and a bit of shadowing to the entire face, giving it just a bit more grotesqueness to it.

I didn't want (or need) to overdo it, so I kept the accents to a minimum and called it quits. Done. A really great mask made a tiny bit better with just a bit more detail. I'm currently working on a heavily tattered, monotone and multi-layered cloak to go with it and this detailed mask is going to be a strong focal point to the entire character. I can't wait to show it all off!

The original.

A big shout out to James Dunn at Night Creature Collectibles for the hookup! Check out more of his killer work here!