Highbury Cemetery, 2025

Year twenty two is now complete and another successful season for the Highbury Cemetery yard haunt is in the books! For another year, the weather cooperated throughout the weekend of trick-or-treat (although heavy rains and wind struck on either side of it), allowing me time to set up, adjust, and perfect. Trick-or-treat itself, while down again in total attendance a bit from last year (something I have noticed the past two years??), went off without a major hitch with perfect plumes of thick fog rolling across vibrant colors and shadows of a cool evening. 

And with the heavy rains and wind that came after our Sunday trick-or-treat, I was able to tear down most of the cemetery display, and then put up a different, mini display for Halloween night. A new twist to Highbury Cemetery lore, and something I may look into doing from here on out!

So without further ado, I'll get to the good stuff... 

Ladies and gentlemonsters, boils and ghouls, I proudly present Highbury Cemetery, 2025. Enjoy!

When all was said and done, we ended up having 183 trick-or-treaters, parents, neighbors, and curious onlookers through the gates of Highbury Cemetery this year. A little bit lower than last year's total, but I'll still take it.

And before I end it, I can't go without giving a special thanks to everyone who helped put on the show this year. I couldn't do it without your help and your presence in just making the whole night a ton of fun. Special Highbury Cemetery thank you t-shirts go out to: Mrs. Highbury, Christian Highbury, Sharon, Karen, Laurie, and Nancy. And an extra high five to the neighbor who came up and showed me his photo of him and me from last Halloween - and wanting to take another photo this year - with his new baby boy! Congrats and thanks for bringing the next generation of Halloween fan by the haunt.

--- XXX ---

So there you have it. Halloween, 2025 is done and dusted and the Cemetery is closed for another year. Twenty two years of home haunting and still going strong. And even though our numbers were down a bit again this year, it only reinforces the importance of what we as haunters are doing - keeping the traditions of Halloween alive and passing them on to the next generation to keep it all going.

Only 362 days until Halloween. Are you ready?

  

Revised 12 Ft. Skeleton Prop

The revised 12-foot skeleton prop for 2025!

We're getting down to the wire, but I was still able to get one more prop off of the "to do" list! A few years ago, I picked up the popular 12-foot skeleton from Home Depot, as I needed to add some height to my display. I originally corpsed the head and added a full reaper's cloak made from a roll of black fabric and creepy cloth, ensuring that it looked different to all of the other 12 foot skeletons in all of the other yards. 

Halloween, 2024.

And while I liked that initial look, I didn't LOVE it. It always looked a little too "cartoon-y" and the proportions always looked off. And whenever it got wet from rain, it became very heavy and everything would sag. So after last year's incident where the base and head snapped and broke due to being blown over from high winds, I knew this was the year to completely revamp him...

High wind damage, Halloween, 2024.

I first secured a replacement base and a new head-to-neck junction to replace the broken pieces. After all of the replacement pieces were gathered and installed, I first went to work staining the entire skeleton. I wanted to get that darker, more aged and dried look. And while it took a bit for the stain to fully dry on a few of the pieces due to the nature of the smooth plastic, it immediately looked ten times better than the corpsed flesh treatment I had originally done.

Replacement head-to-neck junction from Frawsted Creations.

The next step was to add a new cloak. And based on a cool reference photo shared by Cemetery friend Brent Wilson, I wanted to add whisps of fabric to further the decayed look. This lighter treatment of fabric would also keep the entire skeleton lighter in weight overall, and less likely to catch and winds and possibly get blown over again.

I ended up using the original old black fabric, cut into long thin strips, and then loosely wrapped around the legs and arms, further adding larger tattered pieces for the waist and shoulders. I added a few pieces of tattered stretched creepy cloth as highlight accent pieces over that and called it done. A lot less fabric ended up looking way better!

For restraining the overall approach to detailing it, I couldn't be any happier with the final look. A quick turnaround and setup in a new location toward the back my display was just the refresh it needed. I added an off-white uplighting to add that extra bit of creepiness and attention at night and now it's once again a main focal point in the Cemetery, towering over the rest of the props in the display.

Highbury Cemetery, 2024

Year twenty one is now complete and another successful season for the Highbury Cemetery yard haunt is in the books! For once, the weather cooperated throughout the week leading up to trick-or-treat, allowing me ample time to set up, adjust, and perfect. Trick-or-treat itself, while down in total attendance a bit from last year (something I have noticed across the board??), went off without a hitch with perfect plumes of thick fog rolling across vibrant colors and shadows of a warm evening. All in all, 2024 turned out to be one of our better years.

So without further ado, I'll get to the good stuff... 

Ladies and gentlemonsters, boils and ghouls, I proudly present Highbury Cemetery, 2024. Enjoy!

When all was said and done, we ended up having 203 trick-or-treaters, parents, neighbors, and curious onlookers through the gates of Highbury Cemetery this year. A little bit lower than last year's total, but I'll still take it.

And before I end it, I can't go without giving a special thanks to everyone who helped put on the show this year. I couldn't do it without your help and your presence in just making the whole night a ton of fun. Special Highbury Cemetery thank you t-shirts go out to: Mrs. Highbury, Christian Highbury, Sharon, Karen, Laurie, Stacey and Vince, and Brother Scrapes. And an extra high five to the group of neighborhood kids who hung out around the yard and scared the other trick-or-treaters who came up. I think they all had a blast and I hope I'm sowing the spooky seeds for the next generation of haunters. Keep up the good work, kids!!

--- XXX ---

So there you have it. Halloween, 2024 is done and dusted and the Cemetery is closed for another year. Twenty one years of home haunting and still going strong. The success of this year again has me motivated to start on next year's display. As always, a few improvements on existing ideas and a few new ideas to add to the mix...

Only 363 days until Halloween. Are you ready?