Halloween Preparation 1999
Originally the wall of pain. Now the Pillars of Pain. Once 9' tall. Now both sides stand 6'-6" tall. We've added several new faces and about 6 more cans of spray foam. Lots of spray paint also. This is right before we added even more paint. I finally just broke out the airless sprayer and gave them a coat of grey latex. Much quicker than the rattle can method.
Half corpse/coffin. He's placed in the front yard now but not quite finished. Need some dirt around him to give the effect of having just pushed up out of the ground. His wife is pictured below. These were great looking clothes we picked up at a garage sale. The old man that sold them to us was eyeing us real weird as we were covered in paint and looking for nice clothes. We didn't tell him that we were going to destroy them 10 minutes later.
The Mrs. She's not quite as dirty as she should be for someone just raised from the dead but we'll be fixing that real soon.
We fastened the gates first. Made from construction styrofoam and PVC pipe. They're hinged and fully functional. Next we placed the Pillars of Pain. As we did this cars kept stopping in the street to find out if what we were doing was permanent. We put the beginning of it up in the wee hours of the morning so the morning commuters didn't realize that the stuff is all styrofoam. As this was Oct 2nd no one thought about it just being Halloween decorations. Go figure.
The right side of the driveway.
The left side of the driveway.
This is how we began calming the passersby. This little guy here talks to folks as they pass. He even sings HOT HOT HOT!! I couldn't figure out how to bypass that song so I have to put up with it as well. It's a tension breaker though. Folks who are totally offended find themselves laughing as his jaws move and he sings to them. So far I've smoothed over any and all objections just by being myself and explaining that I do this for fun and that I get as carried away for Christmas. I guess I better decorate for Christmas this year. Hee Hee.
My first ever handmade outdoor Halloween decoration. Now 4 years old. It shows.
Rubber bats everywhere. Amber got real good at placing these.
The PVC fence takes shape. As of 10/12/99 we've used over 100 sticks of 10' pvc pipe.
Little closer view of the fence. All PVC and styro construction. Staked 4' into the ground.
I keep saying we, so I thought I'd elaborate. Amber Fritsch, age 8
Ambers hides all our paint over-spray with pine needles.
Dennis Kurtz. My partner in crime for this whole fiasco. Age 14.
Me (Mike Fritsch). I'd just realized I only had 22 days left.
The three of us modifying the top for the pillars of pain. The next update will show that we've mounted a huge entryway top on the Pillars of Pain and added a lot more skulls to the mix. By this time we were up to the jumbo cans of spray foam and had killed a total of 10 of the things. I've since killed another and can see where I'm going to need at least 3 more.
The fence now runs in front of this area and 30' farther to the right of the photo. Over 100' in length. We didn't set out to make it so elaborate but we couldn't stop once we started. As the next update will show, it was worth the trouble. We can lock the gates on the driveway and the walkway (not pictured yet but it has the same type of gate as the drive) so now we'll start putting out all the coffins, corpses, tombstones, skeletons and whatever else we put together in the next few weeks. We're already planning next year.
The most fun is standing in the house and watching the reaction of people when they think no one can see them. If they're on foot they almost all stop and touch the faces on the pillars. We had a sticky eyeball on one of the faces that would stick to their fingers when they touched it. Great fun to see them pull back quick. Problem was when they pulled back quick the eye came with them. Most laughed and put it back for the next victim. Someone decided they needed it for themselves the other day and now it's gone. I'll put another out soon. Just haven't dug it out yet.
Amazingly there's been no accidents yet. People pull up on the sidewalk, stop in traffic or pull in the driveway across the street without signaling all to ask questions, take photos or to voice approval. Most frequently asked question the first weekend was "is it permanent?" This was mostly from neighbors. Now the question is from cars that screech to a halt and want to know if we're going to have a haunted house.
THE WORK CONTINUES. FOLLOW THE LINK TO SEE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE NOW.
Let me know what you think