Cupid's Revenge 2023 At The Haunted Schoolhouse

Okay, Northern Ohio haunt lovers! Valentine's Day is next week and what better way to show your love than by bringing your special sweetie to Cupid's Revenge at the Haunted Schoolhouse February 10 & 11 in Akron!!

Two nights of ridiculously fun and scary Valentine monster madness, with event-only souvenirs and themed-specialty cocktails guaranteed to make your date night...extra special.

And if you don't have a date? That's okay! Just meet me at the gate because I'LL BE WORKING THE QUEUE LINE BOTH NIGHTS!!!!!

And in the odd chance that you miss me, you're still bound to see Kal, Larry, and all those dumpster babies...

Enjoy that smell of love in the air this weekend and get there early to get in on all the, uhh...fun. Come see me and get scaaaaaaared!! Grab your tickets here!

    

Transworld 2023 Walkthrough Video

So here's a post for everyone (like me) who WASN'T in St. Louis this weekend for the annual Transworld Halloween & Attraction Show! 

I spent the weekend looking at all the YouTube, Facebook and Instagram posts and videos from the annual Halloween tradeshow, and it looked like the show was phenomenal again. Next year, I REALLY need to get back there!

I settled on posting this show walkthrough video from Brick Thunder because it did a great job of showing everything from the tradeshow floor. So much variety and so much volume!

Enjoy the video and maybe, just maybe we'll see you there in 2024...

  

New Year, Same Old Me

Happy 2023, everybody! I took a few weeks off, but I wanted to get back at it with a very big announcement.

I still can't believe this, but 2023 is going to be the 20th year of the Highbury Cemetery yard haunt!!

Wow. Where has the time gone (and am I REALLY that old??)?

I can still remember those early days of discovering the crazy world of home haunting, learning how to build props for the yard, meeting and collaborating with likeminded haunt lunatics, establishing the identity of the haunt, drafting friends and family members to join in on my Halloween fun, and finally taking the big step in starting this blog!

As they say, time flies when you're having fun and this trip has been one hell of a good time! In honor of the big milestone, I'm going to be bringing the goods throughout the year.

I'm kicking it up a notch with a ton of new posts from now through All Hallows Eve, including some extra special surprises along the way! Lots of announcements to come in the following months, so check back, hang out and celebrate!

Twenty years is a pretty big deal to me, so I want to make it extra special and share it all with the haunt community that has been my extended family for the entire ride. Let's do this.

Only 277 days until Halloween. Are you ready?

  

God Jul

Wishing all of my fellow haunters, haunted house freaks, Halloween enthusiasts and fans of the macabre a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Highbury Cemetery! I've decided that for the first time in quite a few years, I'm skipping the annual Christmas day posting of the "Grandpa scene" from Silent Night, Deadly Night.

Instead, I'm just going to post this wonderful little video from Pär Boström. A beautiful clip of his music set over a cool little scene of his father's homemade Santa village. (But don't worry, Boström's masterful ambience still draws on a bit of the darkness. So there's no for concern that I have suddenly gone soft!)

Everyone have a wonderful Christmas day, and we'll get back at it in short order. Enjoy!

  

The Shortest Day, The Longest Night

We've made it to the Winter Solstice. The official start to our winter season. With the ending of another autumn, I actually look forward to the coming cold and darkness. 

The balance continues and the cycle completes.

Back in 2020, dark ambient label Cyclic Law released this incredible playlist for the Winter Solstice. And while they haven't released anything newer, this one still captures the stark mood of winter cold and darkness so well. Hauntingly desolate, yet oddly comforting.

Enjoy.

  

A Major Award...

So a few months back, I posted on my excitement of the seasonal return of the Monster cereals. To relive my hyper-sweet childhood breakfast memories, I ended up buying a box of Count Chocula (the gold standard of Monster cereals) and Frute Brute (a horrifically sweet, cherry-flavored mess that I won't take a chance on again).

The thing that caught my attention was this year's customized Monsters, designed by famous street artist, KAWS. Nothing mind-blowing, but kinda cool.

But the thing that REALLY caught my attention was the contest on the side of the boxes, where you could win a limited-edition set of 4 KAWS Monster figures. Cool. I jumped on their site and plugged in the code from the box. And then thought nothing more of it. Because I never win ANY kind of contest like this...

Until now.

I ended up receiving a "Congratulations" email back in the middle of October informing me that I had in fact won a set of figures. I got really excited, then quickly went back to work on the upcoming haunt build.

Fast forward to this week, when a package from General Mills showed up in my mailbox...

My KAWS Monster Cereal figures! I actually won a contest, and they actually showed up!

Now having said that, I'm actually not really sure what I'm going to do with them. For now, I'm keeping them in their sealed bags and they will go back in the mailer envelope. I'll keep them in my closet until I figure out exactly what I'm going to do. Still, a really cool prize from a most unexpected win!

And I have seen a few other Halloween bloggers showing off their figures, so it looks like there were quite a few winners out there. So congrats to everyone who won, and if you didn't win (and you REALLY, REALLY want a set) you're still in luck. People are already posting them up on eBay for silly money...

But wait, there's more. In doing a bit of research on the Monster cereals, I found a most interesting fact...

Are you ready?

Did you know that Count Chocula has an actual first name??

It's Alfred. Count Alfred Chocula.

Do you want to know another interesting/kinda gross fact? I'm warning you on this one, though. Click the next link only if you REALLY want to know.

Learn all about "Franken Berry Stool." EWWW...