Things Begin To Stir At Highbury Cemetery...

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.

I took another extended break from all things Halloween (just for the sake of my sanity) and had planned on making my triumphant return just in time for TransWorld. And Half Way To Halloween. And again for the Midwest Haunters Convention. And then again for the 4th of July...

But it kept getting pushed back because I just didn't feel "ready." The full commitment wasn't there, so I just kept kicking the can down the road. And now the "100 Days 'Til Halloween" posts are coming. Damn. The alarm bells began ringing and the decrepit old voice buried deep in the back of my rotting brain whispered, "It's time..."

A small but fiery glow from a single candle cracked the darkness of the Cemetery and reanimation began the yearning toward those chilled nights of Autumn.

The planning begins again as I revisit the long list of new ideas and old repairs. The full transition will continue over the next few weeks as the stream of all things Halloween begins to flow again, but for now the seal of the grave has been broken and things are once again stirring at Highbury Cemetery...

102 days until Halloween. Are you ready?

  

ARISE!!! (The 2025 Redux)

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.

I originally posted this in 2022, but it's more relevant now than ever. I took another extended break from all things Halloween (just for the sake of my sanity) and had planned on making my triumphant return just in time for TransWorld. And Half Way To Halloween. And again for the Midwest Haunters Convention. And then again for the 4th of July...

But it kept getting pushed back because I just didn't feel "ready." The full commitment wasn't there, so I just kept kicking the can down the road. Until the "100 Days 'Til Halloween" posts appeared. Damn. The alarm bells began ringing and the decrepit old voice buried deep in the back of my rotting brain whispered, "It's time..."

A small but fiery glow from a single candle cracked the darkness of the Cemetery and reanimation began the yearning toward those chilled nights of Autumn.

The planning begins again as I revisit the long list of new ideas and old repairs. The full transition will continue over the next few weeks as the stream of all things Halloween begins to flow, but for now the seal of the grave has been broken and things are once again stirring at Highbury Cemetery...

100 days until Halloween. Are you ready?

  

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.

Animated Grave Breaker 2023 Prop Upgrade

Two years ago, I picked up a cheap Grave Breaker prop from Halloween City and transformed it into a ghastly, twisting corpse powered by a reindeer motor. You can check out the corpsing portion of the project here, and the animation portion here. It was a fun little build that added some much-needed movement to the front of my display.

Fast forward to today and I have now added a second version to my Cemetery. A few weeks back I was in my local Michael's checking out their Halloween wares, and I came across another Grave Breaker static prop and threw it in the cart. Cheap to begin with, but makes for a great starting point on another animated ghoul that I needed to add to my display...

I followed the same corpsing technique as the first prop, giving it a grotesque, dead flesh look. I ended up adding whisps of hair from an old wig to give it just a bit more creepiness (I simply snipped sections of hair from the wig and applied it randomly using contact cement.)

After the corpsing portion was done, I turned to animating it. The first prop turns side-to-side, so I decided that this version would rock front-to-back. I ended up throwing a linkage arm together with leftover pieces from the first build, powered by a vertically-mounted reindeer motor that I had left over. I mounted the arm to a single piece of PVC, pivoting on a single bolt and washer axle. (Take a look at the original supply list here.)

I'm really happy with the results of this one. It's a huge upgrade to the out-of-the-box piece, and it all went together quickly and fairly easily. I love the subtlety of the movement, as its slow, creepy lunge is just enough to catch your eyes and will look great among the tombstones at the front of my display.

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.

  

Grave Breaker Prop Upgrade: Part Two

Last Saturday, I shared Part One of my store-bought Grave Breaker prop upgrade, giving him more undead flesh and overall creepiness.

This week, I'll show you how I took it even further, adding motion to the formerly static prop!

After the "corpsification" was complete, I decided to finally use an old reindeer motor I had laying around and animate this guy. I ended up using HiLo Greg's excellent YouTube tutorial with a few minor modifications. I made my way to my local Lowe's and came back with the following items to build it:

- Hillman 1/2" x 5.5" mending plate (5-pack)
- #8-32 x 1-1/4" round combo bolts (I only needed one at this length)
- #8-32 x 1/2" truss combo bolts (x4)
- #8 flat washers
- #8 lock washers
- #8-32 nylon insert lock nuts
- #000 x 3-7/8" eye hook screw
- 3/4" PVC pipe section
- 1" PVC end cap
- 5/32 x 1-1/2 cotter pin
- Gorilla Glue
- scrap 1" x 6" piece of board
- scrap 1" x 2" piece of board
- FrightProps Fixed Speed 110V AC 5RPM Deer Motor
- I also bought a 90-degree angle bracket, but I ended up not using it.

Right out of the gate, I noticed that my reindeer motor did NOT have the plastic swing arm piece that I see on most motors, so I had to start by fabricating one. I used a handful of flat washers on the spindle to build up support, and used half of a mending plate for the swing arm. I ran a cotter pin through the spindle hole to secure the arm in place. I ended up hitting it with a few drops of Gorilla Glue just to make sure it wouldn't move at all. 

Once the fabricated arm was solid, I then made the next swing arm connection with a full mending plate. I ended up using an inverted 1-1/4" mending bolt (threads facing up), a stack of flat washers, and a nylon lock nut. I needed to stack it so that the connection arm would clear the motor spindle when it rotated around. I connected the other end of the mending plate with the 1/2" truss combo bolt, flat washers, and a nylon lock nut to the remaining half of the first mending plate (waste not, want not). IMPORTANT! Leave a little play on both lock nuts so that the bolts will be secure, but still loose enough that the arms can still pivot around, as they will move back and forth.

The half mending plate section was then FULLY connected to a 90-degree angle piece of plate with 2x 1/2" truss combo bolts, washers, and lock nuts. Make sure this connection is tightened completely!

The 90-degree angle piece of plate is then screwed into a small section of 3/4" PVC pipe. I used 2 wood screws that I had laying around, and they need to be secured to the vertical PVC pipe tightly.

The last part of the build was the PVC pipe shaft. I used a small piece of pipe, as I wanted to keep the corpse figure close to the ground. I also took the 1" cap and screwed it down onto the scrap piece of 1" x 6". The slightly oversized cap acts like a cup for the PVC pipe section to rotate back and forth in smoothly. I also screwed a scrap piece of 1" x 2" next to the PVC pipe and screwed the eye hook in at the top. The eye hook acts as a guide to hold the rotating PVC pipe at the top while it rotates in the end cap at the bottom.

Once all of these linkage pieces were assembled and rotating correctly, I had to adjust the placement of the motor itself on the 1" x 6" so that I got a full, clean rotation on all of the pieces. Once I found a clean spot, I screwed the motor housing down, using existing screw holes on the motor's body.

Once everything was fixed in place and moving smoothly, I simply slid the slightly smaller piece of black pipe on the corpse prop right down into the PVC pipe shaft. It fits snug enough that I don't need to glue it in. It holds as is and rotates smoothly.

And after I had all of the final adjustments dialed it, I simply plugged it in and let it run! Flawless, slow rotations back and forth adding just a little bit more creepiness to an off-the-shelf Halloween prop!

And here is a video of the motor and linkage arms, working in sweet, sweet harmony.

The final step will be to add some finishing details. I'm going to paint the wood and PVC section black so that you can't see it at night. I'm also going to add some creepy cloth to the bottom of the prop's shirt so that the motor section is hidden from view.

I had a blast figuring this thing out and I'm REALLY happy with how it tuned out. Huge thanks to Hilo Greg and his video for giving me a template to work from! This will be placed up front in this year's layout and will provide some much-needed movement to break up an otherwise static display.

 

Grave Breaker Prop Upgrade: Part One

2 weeks ago, a Halloween City opened up near me. I never have any luck finding anything for my yard haunt at these types of stores, but I decided to go in just to get some haunt spirit motivation.

They had just opened and were still in the process of filling their shelves, but out of the corner of my eye, I caught a small Grave Breaker prop. And it actually looked kinda cool.

My mind raced with ideas on how to make it much creepier and I decided to bring it home and immediately got to work...

In looking at the prop, I realized that it was a bit flimsy out of the box, so my first step was to beef it up a bit.

I removed the hair and sculpted part of a foam ball that I had laying around to form out a full head. I used a few toothpicks and some Gorilla Glue to join the piece to the back of the head. For some reason, this prop had a flat back of the head, which wouldn't work when viewed from anywhere but straight on. And I had plans for this guy to be up at the front of my display...

Once the glue dried, I went to work on "corpsing" him. On a quick note, some people like to paint the skull before adding the corpsing layers, but I don't. I keep the skull as bright as possible, so that it will stay lighter in the highlight areas once the staining is complete. I also add 3 to 4 layers of plastic "flesh" to the body to get better raised areas, especially across the face.

I use the standard .7-mil plastic drop cloth, torn off into random, jagged pieces. I wrap the pieces around the skull (or other body part to be "corpsed") and then simply shrink/melt it with a heat gun. The plastic reduces down nicely, and when layered will form a solid layer of flesh. I added extra pieces of plastic to the areas I wanted raised, like the brow, cheeks, and lips.

When using the heat gun, I will pay special attention to the face, namely the eye sockets, the nose cavity, and most importantly the mouth. I want to form those areas as realistically as possible, trying to get the prop to emote emotion. I will always try to keep the mouth open, as though it's screaming.

Once I'm satisfied with the flesh layers and the facial expression, I get to staining. I use whatever I have laying around, which happened to be a small can of dark wood stain. I start with a full, heavy coat over the entire head. I then take paper towels and carefully wipe away the raised areas that I want to highlight. I will then go back and add a little bit of stain to the areas I want to keep dark, adding as much contrast as possible. (PLEASE wear gloves while doing this!)

I went and spattered the wood stain across the prop's clothing to dirty it up a bit, too.

On this particular prop, I went in after the stain had dried, and added some black paint to the eye sockets, nose cavity and inside the mouth for even more contrast and detail.

Once everything had dried, it was ready to photograph!

Be sure to stop back next week for part 2, where I make this prop move!!

  

Soon...

 

Back From The Grave!

 

After four long months away, it is time to reanimate this festering, lifeless corpse! Time to awaken from my deathly slumber...

Four months since I've posted anything here in the Cemetery. It's hard to believe that it has been that long, but life and time, even when flipped completely upside down, still move on...

Back in March and April, when the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect all aspects of our lives, I figured that further on down the road, our high holiday of Halloween would inevitably be cast aside. Yet another unfortunate but necessary precaution to insure the safety and well-being of us all until things could return to normal (whatever "normal" may mean anymore...).

And as I had alluded to in previous posts, the burnout from 16 straight years of home haunting had really begun to take its toll. Couple that with moving to a new neighborhood and having to "start over" last year to a much smaller, unsuspecting crowd (on a Sunday, no less) drained my Halloween enthusiasm tank to near empty.

As the days rolled on into summer, our annual Halloween and haunt conventions were canceled one-by-one, further removing that traditional ramp up toward the big night.

It was then that my obvious choice was clear. 2020 would be the perfect year to take a break. A year off from the taxing craziness of home haunting. Especially if there wasn't even going to be a Halloween this year.

But apparently, I was wrong...

Within the past couple of weeks, a strange thing began to happen. Murmurs and rumblings began about our beloved day. And it got me to thinking about the possibility...

"What if?"

And then it happened. My city announced last week that there would be no official trick-or-treat planned for this year. BUT! Each neighborhood was free to conduct their own trick-or-treat, if done in a safe and responsible way.

Bingo. Go time. I was talking to a new neighbor who was quite fired up on the announcement and decided to "take over" the night's planning as no one else had stepped up to lead the charge. And at this point, I was still on the fence about even doing anything this year. So I quickly decided that I had a strong, new ally for Halloween night.

We sat and talked for at least 30 minutes as I revealed my true Halloween identity. She was floored. At that moment, my plans for 2020 changed. I decided that I needed to step up and help rescue Halloween this year. Trick-or-treat COULD be done in a safe, responsible way that could be enjoyed by the entire neighborhood.

I immediately volunteered to create a trick-or-treat flyer. In previous years, our neighborhood trick-or-treated on the Sunday before Halloween, 5-7 pm. This year, that just ain't gonna work. We have already decided that our trick-or-treat will be on Halloween night. As I think it should be. And being on a Saturday night this year is quite a bonus...

My previously empty Halloween tank had just gotten a quick jolt of life. I broke out a couple of my wonderful old spooky Halloween records and they sounded better than ever. I took my son to the local Spirit Halloween store and bought his costume for this year. He is super excited and he is going to look great as whatever-the-heck Fortnite character he's going as. I even pulled out my annual inventory list for the home haunt and I'm seeing what I still have time to create for my yard display. And I realized that I could channel this sudden surge of inspiration and creativity into this blog.

So after four months away, it looks like the orange-and-black spirits have brought me back to the fold. And I don't think I could have it any other way.

I hope my little kickstart helps inspire and motivate some of you as well. It is a very strange time, and we are nowhere near out of the woods with this pandemic yet. Halloween needs us all this year, but we need to stay safe and prove that we can do this responsibly. I have seen quite a few announcements that haunted houses will open up, mostly in reduced capacities. But for this year, I'll take it. 

Please be safe and follow established guidelines to help us get through this crazy year. It will ensure that we all come back full force next year.

47 days until Halloween. Are you ready?