"Scaryfield Manor"
Halloween 2006
This year I took a weeks vacation before Halloween to work on the props. The fence needed a new coat of paint and I had a few new items to finish. October 29 was quite a day, winds 61 km/h with gusts up to 96 km/h. I was worried that the dungeon display or the fence might blow over. It all survived with no problems or damage.
New Items
A row of lighted skulls along the roof.
A monster that pops up out of one of the fence posts.
The living dead Bride and Groom.
The dungeon door opens and closes revealing a monster behind the door.
We didn't get as many kids this year, just over 420.
New Items
Full size metal cage (new home for Waldo)
Jump up Monster
Added a lot more Tombstones
Wow!! Did we have a lot of kids this year.
This was the first time we have ever run out of candy.
We had over 500 kids.
This year I did a
major upgrade to my outdoor sound system. For a number of years I
used three old stereo amps to power the speakers used for the
background sound effects. One amp provided scary Halloween
music, another thunderstorm sound effects and the third wolf pack and
lone wolf calls. For speakers I used three sets of low
cost, low power outdoor speakers. The speaker wires were run
through an open
window to the outside. Last year one of the speakers blew, one CD
player kept stopping and one amp started to act up. It was time
to upgrade. My goal for the new system was to keep the cost as
low as possible. Since I did not need high end sound for
the display I reduced my costs by avoiding the high end
equipment. By shopping the smaller shops and pawn
shops I was able to get a number of power amps. I
replaced the CD players with low cost DVD players from Walmart
and the speakers with some clearance outdoor speakers from Futureshop.
I installed the equipment in a rack mount cabinet I build from a shelf
unit and some rack mount rails.
| Old
System |
New
System |
| Three
old stereo tuner amps |
two
800w DJ type two channel power amps one 200w two channel power amp one 100w two channel power amp |
| one
DVD player two old CD players |
four
MP3 DVD players from Walmart |
| four
sets of 50W outdoor speakers |
two
sets of 500W outdoor speakers two sets of 100W outdoor speakers |
| wires
went through the window |
installed
speaker jacks outside on each side of the house. I installed
jacks for 8 speakers on one side and four on the other. I also install one video input jack outside so that I can connect up a video camera to record the event. |
| equipment
sat on an old shelving unit |
equipment
is rack mounted |
| powered
by ordinary house outlet |
Connected
up to my pre-owned 5000W UPS. I picked this up for for a bargain
price ($100). Now, No power, No problem! |
| Two
dedicated 15amp circuits added outside |
New Items
Mad Dog House
Skeleton Fountain
enhanced Witch display
Where's Waldo Skeleton
Upgraded sound on Trash Can Trauma
This year we had around 350 kids and almost as many
adults.
New Items
Dungeon Wall
Lots of Skeletons
12V Skeleton Skull Lights
Small skeleton in barred cage
Small skeleton in metal cage
Large skeleton spider eating a bat
Halloween
2002
New Items
Witch display
I added the Gargoyles to the fence posts
Halloween
2001
(I forgot to take pictures this year)
New
Items
Gallows
This year we removed our above ground
pool. This left me with a lot of outdoor plywood, 4" x 4" and 1"
x 6" cedar lumber. With a little paint and a lot of cutting I had
a new Cemetery Fence at very little cost. Recycle and
Reuse! I picked up a number of garden Gargoyles at a Canadian
Tire end of season sale.
New Items
Cemetery Fence
Trash Can Trauma
Crank Ghost
Mummy
Crypt Keeper
Werewolf in Cage
Bats