For as long as I can Remember I have loved halloween. I think that I stopped going trick-or-treating when I hit the 4th grade. I was too busy haunting my house with tombstones, ghosts, strobelights and stuffed dummies.

When I got to 7th grade I got really serious. The drama director (and one of my mentors) Robert Desautels, a home haunter for a very long time, Began working with the West Haven Council of the arts on "The Haunted Castle" in an old restaurant building down by Savin Rock. Since I had worked on sets for his plays, which is where I got my beginnings in theatre and the arts, It only seemed natural to work with him again on halloween. It was a great experience, and it only furthered my love for the holiday. We built so many cool props and structures. Each year we would walk the space and design the floorplan on the fly as we built the wall frames.

Finally when I graduated highschool and went off to college In Boston, I couldn't work with them anymore. I was very depressed. I went back one year for a weekend which was ok but wasn't enough for me. But that didn't really matter because the next year, The Haunted Castle got cut from the budget. and the council of the arts was disbanded. I felt so bad for Des and his crew.

I came to live in California in January 1998. I was living 10 minutes from Hollywood, special FX mecca. The only city that a person like me can really enjoy looking for a job in. I got a job in a computer graphics special FX house and was very happy, but Halloween was quickly approaching.

I figured "Hey this is Hollywood, there must be haunted houses out here right?" Boy was I ever. The first place I found online was Spookyhouse, and I was welcomed in to their family with open arms. You see hauters are a special breed, and they love their own kind. I had to prove myself of course but I had no problem with that. Bob, Kevin and Dan and the rest of the bunch soon became fast friends. Each year I have worked with these guys on spookyhouse has been bigger and better than the last. In fact for 2000 we opened 2 attractions. A 14,000 sq foot walk thru spookyhouse, and a 70,000 sq foot haunted forest attraction. All custom built and wired by our small little crew.

So take a look at our handywork in the pictures and video captures that I have saved. Read thru my how 2's and for god sakes subsrcibe to the halloween-l mailing list, its the best place to feel a part of the magic all year long amoungst people who won't think you are absolutely insane for working on props in the middle of April. :-)

-redpaw

UPDATE!!! October 2000

Bob Desautels and Bob Mikenis (Haunted Castle founders) finally got back into the commercial haunt game. They did "The Ruins of the Haunted Castle, Haunted Hayride" LOL. A nice jab at the city for screwing them when they cut the funding that year. This time it was all privately funded. It just goes to show that once you get the commercial haut bug there's no going back. I hope that everything went really well for them. I'll talk to Des at christmas.