We Are All Charley Parker

40 years later and our hobby, our passion, and our drive remains the same...

"We have a very good time getting...uhh, more or less putting it all together."

It's still our responsibility to carry on these crazy traditions, and to keep the fun of Halloween alive. Be THAT house in your neighborhood that "brings something good to it." And brings the neighbors together for a good time on a spooky Halloween night.

Be Charley Parker.

Click on Charley to see an incredible 1983 interview on WTOC 11 from Savannah, Georgia. Early home haunting at its best!

  

Douglas Pipes - Trick 'r Treat

Today's torrential downpours have really taken it out of me. Quite a few little things left to do before the big night, but tonight I think I'm just going to crawl under a blanket and watch my annual Halloween classic.

But until then, I think I'm going to fire up the trusty turntable and spin the amazing soundtrack to said annual Halloween classic...

Always wear a costume

Hand out treats

Never blow out a jack-o-lantern

Always check your candy

The Neighborhood Sign Goes Up!

An annual neighborhood tradition continued yesterday morning.

Going on my seventh year as official "Neighborhood Keeper of the Sign," I installed the somewhat-official trick-or-treat announcement sign.

Our neighborhood has a wonderful Halloween tradition in that we ALWAYS celebrate trick-or-treat on October 31st. Rain or shine. Even when the rest of the city has their various scheduled times on the Saturday or Sunday before Halloween. I still don't understand why they have to complicate things?

Back in 2011, I stepped up to create the above sign when the previous keeper's sign became old, faded and then vandalized. In 2010, a small temporary sign was created but I wanted to make one that screamed out the trick-or-treat announcement. So with some great vintage clip art, Halloween fonts, a projector and some paint, Mrs. Highbury and I created one worthy of the High Holiday.

Seven years on, it's looking a bit rough and might need some touch-up paint, but it is once-again placed at the top of the neighborhood, announcing the grand celebration for all.

And even after seven years, I look at the sign when I drive in and out of the neighborhood, and every time I still get a big smile...


Halloween is coming.

  

  

The Final Countdown

I've always kinda hated that song, but the title is very fitting. Revision after revision, I had the final list of projects for the Halloween display. One by one, I went down the list, checking off each task. The jack-o-lanterns were carved. The lights were all set, along with a bin full of extension cords. The props were staged, ready to be placed in the yard with lightning quick precision.

As I continued to whip through my list, I kept seeing that one last project: fix the animated shiatsu massager ground breaker. It's a prop that I have always loved, but also hated due to the finicky nature of it working and not working.

By the time I decided to go for it, it was already getting late. At this point of the night, I was already contemplating shelving the whole thing for another year. But I still ended up pulling it out, at least to assess the amount of work needed to fix it. I remembered that the arm had broken off the last time it was used in my display.

As I pulled it apart, the extent of damage was quickly evident. The entire "rotating nub" of the massager itself had broken off. Not good. It would require more work and time than I had originally planned for, but I decided to see what I could do.

After running through different ideas of replacement bolt nubs or even gluing, I realized that there was a different fix. I had a second shiatsu massager sitting in a corner. What transpired next was a blur of disassembly and reassembly that would make Dr. Frankenstein proud.

I was able to swap out the entire massager unit, make a few arm piece length adjustments, and then rig up two straps to hold the neck and arm PVC pipe pieces in place without clunking into each other. All told, the entire switch took and hour and 15 minutes. I plugged the new massager in and hit the button. The zombie sprung to life as the head twisted side to side and the arm swung wildly back and forth. I sat on the basement steps, watching in amazement as the prop continued to work flawlessly.

As I sat and marveled at my work, I realized that I was not yet done for the evening. I turned the prop off and headed back upstairs.

The clock already read 11:00, but I had a certain tradition to continue.

I sat my weary body down on the couch and fired up the Blu Ray player...

After my annual Halloween Eve viewing of Trick 'r Treat, I pulled my body into bed to catch a few hours of sleep before having to get up early and get the big show started. It's always a ton of work, but it's always worth it!

'Twas The Night Before Halloween...

The excitement is building! Tomorrow is the big day!! The props are all done (for the most part), I'm sitting on the couch watching my Indians try to win their first World Series since '48, I'm drinking an ice cold one, and I'm about to put in my annual Halloween Eve viewing tradition...

I even had a minute to engage in some pumpkin carving - something I haven't done in about 7 or 8 years, as I have always left that to the expertise of my mother. Well that and the fact that I have always been knee deep in setting everything else up in years past...

And while things seem to be going smoothly so far, the final weather forecast for tomorrow only helps things along! This will be the first Halloween without rain in 4 or 5 years!!

 

I'll still wake up nice and early for tomorrow's big set up. It all goes up tomorrow morning, finishing just in time for the neighborhood trick-or-treat, a quick video and photo session to document this year's display, and then it all gets taken down. So if you're in the area, come out early or miss it for another year!

Good luck to all my fellow haunters who are getting ready to do their thing tomorrow. Keep your traditions going, scare those kids good and most of all, don't forget to have fun! It's the reason for the season.