ARISE!!


 
An eternity of cold, lifeless slumber is abruptly shattered. Movement stirs within the undead crypt as frantic reanimation courses through once stagnant flesh. A distant bell beckons from the darkness, tolling the seasons’ metamorphosis. The tomb’s stone slab lid slides ever so slightly releasing a fiery amber glow. This awakening cannot be stopped, will not be stopped! A withered hand jolts skyward, breaking the silence of eternal rest. Blood red eyes cast a manic gaze into the blackened depths of a cold autumn night. And locked in the incessant grip of insatiable voracity… I rise from my grave.


The "100 days until Halloween" posts have once again snuck up on me. You would think that after doing this for so long, some sort of internal alarm clock would be ringing...but I'm caught off-guard again. Time to fire up the blog and get back into planning mode for Halloween! 99 more days to plan, build, and execute another super spooky yard haunt display. 

Lots to do and lots of ideas already in my head, so it's now officially go time. I'm REALLY excited to blow the dust off the casket, rise from the crypt, and dive head first back into spooky season.

I have quite a few new posts ready to go (the ones that never saw the light of day in 2023 PLUS some brand new announcements for 2024), so check back soon for a whole new crop of creepy fun!

2024 will be year TWENTY ONE for Highbury Cemetery and I STILL get just as excited for Halloween as I did way back in year one. Reanimation is coursing through the veins and it's time to get back to work. LET'S DO THIS, creeps. It's go time.


Cupid's Revenge at the Haunted Schoolhouse



It's that time again! Love is in the air, serenaded by the romantic sounds of... SCREAMS! Valentine's Day is here and that means one thing:
Cupid's Revenge at the Haunted Schoolhouse! It's one of my favorite off-season haunt events, because this one definitely gets crazy. It's the one event that really is more fun than scary, and everyone in attendance is there to have a good time. It's definitely more party than haunt.

And while I will not be guest-acting at this year's event, I will still be there on Saturday night, getting down disco style. I can't wait to boogie with those disco dumpster babies...


If you're not in the Northeast Ohio area and can't make it out to party down with me, be sure to check your local haunts. Plenty are now doing themed haunts and would love your support!!

Happy Valentine's Day, all!

DOOM [ デス ]


Belated happy new year to all you haunters! I took some much-needed time away from all things Halloween after another successful and fun season, but it's already time to get going again. Things are already moving for 2024, so it's time to dive back in.

Gonna start things off with another insanely great dark ambient mix from the Cryo Chamber label. I was instantly hooked by the incredible cover art on this one, and each track in the mix puts me right back into that dark and creepy Halloween mood. And it's only February.

As always, it's time to get crackin'. Enjoy!

 

Jason Edmiston - "Source of 5 Essential Nutrients"



An incredible mashup between the classic Universal Movie Monsters and the General Mills Monster Cereals characters. Amazing art from
Jason Edmiston, with limited edition prints available at this weekend's DesignerCon in Anaheim. I absolutely love this!
 
  

Fröhliche Krampusnacht!


It's Krampusnacht, and that means that all of the bad children will be visited by Krampus tonight! Krampus, the Christmas Devil and evil counterpart of St. Nicholas, is a cloven-hooved, goat-demon that punishes bad children with a lash of his birch branched switch, then transports them to Hell inside the wicker basket upon his back.

Have you been good this year?

Photo courtesy of Liv Rainey-Smith/Xylographilia.

Photo courtesy of Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

Photo courtesy of Matej Divisna/Getty Images.

Photo courtesy of Miguel Walch.

Photo courtesy of Hexe Productions.

Photo courtesy of Fest300/Krampusnacht 2013.

Photo courtesy of Stefan Koidl.

And a little homage to the horned-one himself from the 2015 Michael Daugherty film of the same name to put you in a ghastly yuletide mood... "Cloven" by composer Douglas Pipes. Enjoy!

  

Ghost - "Zenith"


FINALLY! Zenith is one of my favorite songs from Ghost, although it has always been a "hidden" track in that it only appeared on a special 2015 vinyl box set release of Meliora. It was the only Ghost song in their entire catalog not widely available on any streaming service. Until today!

From Ghost:
We wish to inform you that these times call for a divine compilation of some of Ghost's most sinful psalms and the most observant shall find the wider release of Ghost's cult tune "Zenith."  Ghost's 13 Commandments: so let it be written, so let it be done.... Listen now everywhere.

Enjoy!