Haunted Overload Daytime Walkthrough

So you might have seen this posted over at Pumpkinrot's blog (does anybody still visit his site?? wink, wink), but this video is just too gorgeous not to share and share again. 

In 2016, Mrs. Highbury and I took an October trip to Salem, Massachusetts. But the true highlight was driving over to experience Haunted Overload, a personal bucket list haunt in Lee, New Hampshire.

To this day, Haunted Overload is still at the top of my all-time favorite haunts list. And it's not even close. The design and scale is unlike anything else you have seen, and the organic decay throughout the outdoor wooded haunt gives a truly creepy feel as you walk from one absolutely stunning scene to the next.

And watching Grimm-Life Collective's amazing daytime walkthough video only pushes Haunted Overload further to the top. So much intricate detail on such a grand scale. And with a daytime walkthrough, you can stop and appreciate every little detail and take your time to really absorb each scene.

After seeing this one, I realize that it's probably time for me to head back up for another Haunted Overload experience.

Who's coming with me??

The Must See Top 31 Haunts of 2017!

Another weekend is approaching fast, so why not make the most of a nice October night and attend a local haunted house?

Haunted Attraction Magazine has released its "31 Must See Haunts of 2017," and while there are a lot of seasoned, well-recognized names, there are also quite a few names that I haven't heard before.

Be sure to check the list and see if any of your local haunts made the list. I'm thrilled to see The Haunted Schoolhouse and Laboratory, a very local Akron, Ohio haunt now in its 44th year, made the list. But I'm also excited to see all the new names that would someday make one hell of a road trip! As it stands right now, I've only been to 3 on this list. How about you?

See the full list here.


  

My 2017 Begins

It was November 5th, and a thick, dense fog had set into my brain. I had just managed to put every last extension cord, costume, light, bin and prop back in its proper storing place and I was done. Drained empty. After an especially grueling 3 months of constant planning, late night building and hurried set-up for the big night, burnout had taken a firm hold of me. I had experienced it in years prior, but never to this extent. I barely wanted to think about Halloween. I knew what I had to do…

I had to put it all on the shelf. Leave it and not touch it for a while. Turn off the light and walk away. Besides, I still had a full Disney family vacation plus the yearly grind of the upcoming holiday season to get ready for. It would be nonstop, all the way through the end of the year.

Fast forward another 3 months. I made it through the vacation and the holidays with relative ease. I’ve also had time to focus on other hobbies and projects while clearing the mental clutter. This has allowed me the time to fully recharge my Halloween storage tank. A much-needed readjustment period.

So after the short, but vitally-important break, the craving to reimmerse myself into all things Halloween has returned. That spark of creativity that had dwindled to a flicker has been reignited.

I’m back, baby!


I hope everyone has had a nice, post-Halloween holiday season and is just as ready to dive back in as I am (if you haven’t already started!). To kick things off, I wanted to go over a couple of updates for Highbury Cemetery, 2017.

First, a few updates to the blog. The new icon is up on the menu to the right that will take you to the 2016 Halloween photos. Some decent pics of all the new props that were out on display.

Second, the text menu at the very top has (finally) changed. You can now go directly to the Highbury Cemetery YouTube Channel. There are a few videos up, but I have made it a priority to get more quality videos up in 2017, starting with my delayed 2016 haunt video. Truth be told, I wasn’t very happy with the photos or the video that were shot, so I ended up shelving the whole project (no Dead With Dave Home Haunter Awards for me this year!). I will be revisiting it in the coming weeks and will piece something together. I also hope to share some more videos of the novelty Halloween record and tape collection that I have amassed over the years. I currently have one up and it has received a lot of views and positive feedback.

And you will also notice a brand new link in the menu above. If you haven’t seen it on Pumpkinrot’s blog yet, I’m happy to announce my brand new Highbury Cemetery Instagram page. I’m pulling the best of the best of my Halloween-related photos and sharing them all in one spot. With the rich photo controls in Instagram, I can really create some wonderfully atmospheric Halloween images. Sorry, no lifeless selfies here…

A photo posted by Highbury Cemetery (@highbury_cemetery) on Jan 16, 2017 at 9:04am PST

A photo posted by Highbury Cemetery (@highbury_cemetery) on Jan 13, 2017 at 4:59pm PST

A photo posted by Highbury Cemetery (@highbury_cemetery) on Jan 13, 2017 at 4:52pm PST

A photo posted by Highbury Cemetery (@highbury_cemetery) on Jan 14, 2017 at 8:31am PST

Plus, with a new year comes new haunt ideas. I’m currently brainstorming a slew of new prop ideas as well as the cemetery-standard tombstones which I hope to churn out over the next 9 months. I’ll be documenting each new prop as it gets completed, as well as going back and giving a proper, thorough how-to on 2016’s enormous prop, the Walk-In Crypt.

And finally, I hope to be hitting the road a bit more in 2017. The Midwest Haunters Convention is a given, but I’m actually toying with the idea of getting to Transworld for the first time in March. Not much time to make a decision! Also, I hope to get out and visit more haunted attractions this fall. I hope to cross of the Dent Schoolhouse in Cincinnati, Erebus Haunted House in Pontiac, Michigan, and Hundred Acres Manor and The Scarehouse in Pittsburgh off of my Haunt Bucket List this year. I also hope to check out my local haunted house, the Haunted Schoolhouse and Laboratory, which will be starting it's 43rd season under new ownership. Ambitious, I know, but the Halloween spirit has been reawakened.

And it feels good to be back.

Haunted Overload, 2016

This past weekend, Mrs. Highbury and I snuck away for a mid-October weekend trip to Salem, Massachusetts (more on that coming soon!). We couldn't think of a better place to go to celebrate all things Halloween. And while we were in the planning stages for the trip, a strange thought popped into my head: how far was it from Salem to Lee, New Hampshire?

A quick check on Google Maps revealed that it was only an hour's drive. BINGO. We're going!!

I was about to make the journey that would enable me to cross off the absolute number one on my haunt bucket list... Haunted Overload.

After spending the morning roaming the streets (and cemeteries) of Salem, we hopped into our rental car and headed north. Lee was just over an hour away and the trip felt like three hours, due to my haunt-induced giddiness. I had seen the photos and videos, watched The Great Halloween Fright Fight, and listened to owner Eric Lowther intently when he was on an episode of Haunters Hangout. I was ready.

When we arrived at the DeMeritt Hill Apple Farm, I sprang from the car with camera in hand. Of course, photography was prohibited past the cue line, but I snapped what I could...

It was all there. The giant timber skulls, the giant jack-o-lanterns, the giant train, the giant house, the giant pumpkin figures and the brand new giant circus tent. I could barely contain my excitement as we made our way through the haunt. Without a doubt, this was the greatest haunted attraction that I had ever been through (for the haunt bucket list record, I had been through the original House of Shock in New Orleans, so Netherworld, The Dent Schoolhouse and the 13th Gate now top my list). The warm and calm weather even made the fog settle ominously throughout the entire haunt, giving it an added sense of unsettling creepiness. It was perfect. Every scene was richly staged with absolutely gorgeous lighting. The atmosphere for each scene was off the charts. It was unlike other haunts, which relied on actor-based scares. I could have walked that haunt for hours...

After finishing the haunt, I was completely blown away. It really was a feast for the eyes and had such a different feel from other haunts that I had been to. Everything was built on such an immense scale and the attention to detail was incredible. As someone who is a home haunter, I really appreciated the care that was given to every inch of this haunt.

As we walked back to the car, Mrs. Highbury and I only half-joked about getting back in line and going through it again. It really was that good. I don't want to give away too much more, because I want everyone to go experience this haunt for themselves. Haunted Overload deservedly sat at number one on my haunt bucket list, and after grabbing an Overload t-shirt and a surprisingly delicious, homemade Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Covered Twinkie, I was the happiest man in Lee...

Haunted Overload 2016 Time Lapse Trailer from Artifact Images on Vimeo.