Creepy Nights on Calamo

Some 2019 Haunt Photos up on Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 03:02:00 +0000

Check out our page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/creepynightsoncalamo ) for photos of our 2019 Haunted Walk-Thru (see the 2019 Haunted Walk-Thru photo album - https://www.facebook.com/creepynightsoncalamo/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2653740494943608 ).

We'll try to add some video later...

-Happy Haunting!

We're Lame...

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Sun, 15 Sep 2019 23:09:00 +0000

It's True. We're in the midst of setting up our 2019 Walk-Thru (which may be the last walk-thru we do for a while) when we realized we never got around to posting pictures and videos from the 2018 haunt!

So for a look at last year's walk-thru - with some photos and videos of each area - head over to http://www.creepynights.org/Gallery-2018/index.html

We are in the middle of setup for the 2019 Walk-thru - which includes a harrowing walk through the "Resurrection Cemetery" and a live(?) funeral you may not live to regret in the "Second Chance Funeral Home".

Remember, what does down, sometimes comes back up... ;-)

Haunt Walk-Thru Schedule Published

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Tue, 01 May 2018 02:20:00 +0000

Yes we are going to be hosting a (free - as always) haunted walk-thru again this year.
Bigger and better than ever...

For our volunteers (and others that would like to volunteer) have a look at the schedule and set aside those dates and let us know!

See the haunt schedule online at http://www.creepynights.org/2018_show_schedule.html

For any fans out there - check the website periodically. We have LOTS of new props being built/re-built this year and we'll be showcasing some of those on the web site in the "projects" area as we build them.

The projects page is at http://www.creepynights.org/Projects/index.html

Have you seen what Ralis is up to?

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 00:37:00 +0000

If you've been around the haunter industry for a while you likely know the name Ralis Kahn.

A frequent poster on many Halloween forums he's also an accomplished professional makeup artist.

Home haunter or pro, you need to check out his YouTube series (The Mad Monster Lab) for awesome tips and tutorials on all kinds of makeup and special effects techniques!

www.youtube.com/user/themadmonsterlab/playlists

He's launching a kickstarter campaign on January 16th to fund a second season. Check it out and show some love!

Here's the link to the Kickstarter campaign: http://kck.st/2rgFSAP

Visit us on Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 00:29:00 +0000

Yes we finally created a Facebook page for the haunt!

Visit it for updates plus photos and videos of the haunt - and helpful links to other Halloween themed attractions in the area!

https://www.facebook.com/creepynightsoncalamo/

DC Haunters Animated Tombstone Make 'n Take

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 01:29:00 +0000

May 15th saw another informal get together of the DC area Haunters hosted and organized by Keith Emery at his place in Kensington Md.

Keith made this short youtube video of the props for the build

A fun time was had by all. Lots of chatting about props and proposals for future builds.

I built myself the kit which turns a head side-to-side (picture right). It was a blast to build and came together easily thanks to the excellent prep work Keith had done getting the kits setup:

Anyone interested in joining the group - or just showing up for the next make 'n take look us up. We have a Google Group: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/gdchh

Or contact myself and I'll get you introduced.

-Chris

Our First Escape Room

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Sun, 17 Apr 2016 02:42:00 +0000

This past Sunday (4/10) we tried out our first "escape room".

Neither of us even knew what an escape room was until we went to TransWorld ( http://www.haashow.com/ ) in St Louis a few weeks ago. Apparently escape rooms are the latest craze and are popping up all over the place. I went to a seminar on escape rooms run by the owner of an escape room in Philadelphia called "Escape the 1980s" which sounded like a lot of fun (and we hope to visit that one sometime).

Having never heard of any, when we did a quick search on Groupon we were surprised to find two in the DC area (one in Laurel Md and another in Adams Morgan in DC) and a third in Alexandria Virginia that's scheduled to open May 1st.

We decided to try out the closest room http://omescapedc.com/product/room-omega/
The theme was that a scientist doing time experiments had disappeared and you have to discover what happened to him. There were probably 10 "puzzles" you had to solve spread across 3 rooms that you progress through.

The game itself was fun, though there were a few hiccups. The rooms weren't very detailed and the entire facility was a little... dumpy. But we all did have a good time.

Phil, Cecilia, Chris, Alisha, Chris, Catherine, Alex, Geoff

Our "Escape Room Crew"; 6 of us plus 2 escape room vets we met there - Chris and Alisha. We were shocked to discover that Chris and Alisha were also Transworld veterans and had been at the same show Catherine and I just got back from. (There will be a blog entry on that very soon).

We're all looking forward to trying the new escape room in Alexandria next month... And contemplating creating a mini escape room in our haunt for 2017...

Scaredy Cat and Creepy Chris

Haunt Video 2015 - Finally!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 03:30:00 +0000

Finally... Finished editing up the video footage from the 2015 Haunt.
Turned out pretty good if I do say so myself! We had a great bunch of helpers this past year which made all the difference.

We're not haunting in '16 but are already planning out the walk thru for '17. It's going to be even MORE intense and almost twice as long. We'll be spending this year building some cool new props.

Happy Haunting!
Getting ready for Transworld (our first time!)
-Creepy Chris

2015 Haunt Pics Online

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 00:31:00 +0000

The 2015 Haunt photo gallery is finally online!

See them at http://www.creepynights.org/Gallery-2015/index.html

*Still working on the haunt video; will update again when that's ready.

Haunt Hours This Year

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 17:30:00 +0000

Our Haunted Walk-Thru will be open 7-10pm Friday 10/30/2015 and Saturday 10/31/2015 only. No rain dates.

If you haven't checked us out before, be sure to stop by. The haunt is more intense this year than in the past, and is definitely not recommended for young children. We won't be doing the walk-thru next year so don't miss this one! The Hillbilly's have been cooking up a special batch of 'shine... and everyone's DYING to find out their secret ingredient...

We're excited to be listed on the:

Fairfax Family Fun Directory: http://www.fairfaxfamilyfun.com/blog/nova-halloween-2015-whats-in-whats-out-and-whats-new
WMZQ: http://www.wmzq.com/features/happy-halloween-1351/events/15/494554/haunted-house-locations-13958632/
HauntedHouse.com http://www.hauntedhouse.com/directory/haunts/usa/virginia/
and several other directories.

Feel free to stop by and enjoy our computer controlled music and light show out front - which runs nightly.

And PLEASE remember to bring canned food donations for E.C.H.O. - the local food bank.

WindowFX Digital Effect

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 02:00:00 +0000

We've been a big fan of AtmosFX digital effects for many years now... though we'd always used TV screens to project the effects. Never had the time to learn all about the various projectors out there and what differentiates them. New ones seem expensive and used ones are risky since apparently the bulb (which has a very limited life) is the major cost component in most projectors and if you happen to buy a used one whose bulb dies on you you're faced with potentially more expense than what you paid for the projector.

And if you're a haunter doing a yard haunt like we do, you also have to worry about potentially building enclosures for the projectors that will protect them from the elements so you can use them outdoors.

That said when AtmosFx announced an all-in-one bundled projection solution (WindowFx) this past summer I was all over it! We pre-ordered it and have been waiting anxiously for its arrival.

Well it finally showed up last week. It was worth the wait!!! VERY COOL.

I was looking to go back and order another - but alas they're sold out for the season already! You can bet we'll be looking for another one though!

$124 for a projector which plays videos off an SD card, an SD card pre-loaded with a variety of Halloween and Christmas effects, a wireless remote, and a scrim to project onto. The specs on the projector looked questionable, but after getting it and testing it ourselves we couldn't be happier!

Volunteers?

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 00:58:00 +0000

Anyone out there interested in volunteering to help out at the Haunt this year?
We're only open 10/30 and 10/31 from 7-10pm but would welcome volunteers that would like to be scareactors or just help with traffic control or any of the other aspects.

Contact me at Hauntmaster@CreepyNights.org

Laboring on Labor Day Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 02:26:00 +0000

It's been a BUSY weekend for us!

Last weekend we managed to get our front (Halloween) fence put up. (--> Fenced in area before props were set out)

This allowed us to complete the setup of our Halloween (Light-O-Rama0 Music and Light show on Saturday of this weekend.

The show area is a bit smaller than in the past (several of the props we put out front last year were stolen so we're keeping things closer to the house and all enclosed in fence this year).

Our lead singer (ghostly lady on the left) is accompanied by a skeleton, a ghost, and a pair of pumpkins and skulls up front.
Also accenting the show are alternating light strings in each of the three fence panels up front, and some colorful strings in the large tree out front. All wired up to the controller and tested! :-)

There will be lots of tweaking before we start running the show - and we haven't hooked up the sound yet... but it was a major item off the checklist!

And this was just Saturday.

On Sunday we moved to the back. We have several new projects out back this year - and one remake of an old project.

View as you approach the viewing area

Viewing area with table and coffin (which will go on the table once it's properly dressed).

First new project is a new "viewing" tent in the graveyard where passers by will get to pay their respects to a VERY recently passed victim.

View as you walk toward the tunnel...

Next is a completely new prop for us that we're very excited about... a 10 foot long "spider tunnel". This weekend we got the basic frame up and covered and started to place some props inside. We have yet to add all the webbing and lighting that will really make it POP, but to give you an idea... Note you won't see what you're getting "in" to until you step inside as the entrance is on the right side and partially covered...

The approach as you'll see it walking up to it -->

And the view as you're leaving the tunnel:

Another 6ft spider in the trees as you leave the tunnel.

And looking back IF you make it through...

And to wrap up the weekend - on Monday we began two of the larger project areas in the back. First up was a major rehab of our 10x20 storage tent. It's getting a major makeover this year; basically turning it into a 10x20 shed with metal roof. And in the process - the front will get a temporary facelift as a hillbilly shack.

We got the beginning of the new 2x4 framing attached to the tent - a tougher and more complicated job than we'd hoped - but it will be a twofold project for us. The shack facade will be part of the show; and after the show the new and improved wood and metal roofed shed will allow us to store a lot of our Halloween props and decorations in a secure and weatherproof environment.

I didn't include any pictures of the tent yet but we'll cover that in a future posting.

The other major obstacle for us this weekend was to get a cover over the 20x20ft "cave" area that will house the still and other surprises. Pulling two 10x20 tarps up and over the steel pipe frame in the ~90 degree heat and 95% humidity was no small feat in itself. We did get it up and lightly secured as we figure out how to handle the side panels and water runoff.

Top tarps over the future moonshine still cave

MidWest Haunters Convention

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 23:13:00 +0000

We've been looking forward to visiting the MidWest Haunters Convention for years. We had reservations last year but had to cancel them for health reasons...

But we got there this year!

Read the details and see our pictures at http://www.creepynights.org/Gallery-Midwest-Haunters-2015/index.html

-Creepy Chris

A Haunters Get-Together

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 02:48:00 +0000

Thanks to Keith Emery who organized a get-together at his place in Kensington Maryland last weekend.

It was fun meeting a new group of haunters - there don't seem to be that many of us in the DC area - and I'm looking forward to more get-togethers in the future!

-Chris

Bummed...

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Sun, 20 Jul 2014 21:09:00 +0000

Very sorry to announce that due to extended health issues this year we're not going to be able to do a walk-thru this Halloween.

I am working on some new musical numbers for the music and light show out front - and we hope to create something new and fun for the light show - but there's no way I'll be able to manage the work involved to do a walk-thru this year.

Hopefully things will get back on track for 2015.

-Creepy Chris

Catching Up...

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 04:43:00 +0000

Not much Halloween '14 progress yet - mostly still putting away '13 and getting things organized. We haven't even finalized our themes for the '14 haunt yet - something we usually have finalized well before now.

But... I have been working on a couple new numbers for the Light-o-Rama music and light show this year.

The first new song (I just completed tonight) is a lovely little ditty by Alice Cooper titled "This House is Haunted". Gotta love it.

It's 3 and a half minutes long with some very good creepy sequences, as well as a nice intense sequence in the middle. I've been working on it off and on for about 2 months now - so I'm excited to finally finish it!

The sequence came out very nicely if I do say so myself - I hope it's a hit with our visitors.

I have one more new song (which I'm not going to announce yet) that I'm working on for the show this year; a more upbeat number that will have the zombies tapping their stubs.

We're also making plans to attend the Midwest Haunters convention this year - our first time up there. They just announced the preliminary details for their pre-haunt tours - which sounds like a blast!

Happy Haunting!
-Creepy Chris

574, 547 and 715!

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Sun, 24 Nov 2013 21:18:00 +0000

We're still cleaning up and putting away... and doing a little planning for next year. I've already started on one of at least two new songs for the music and light show next year. :-)

Our front yard no longer looks like the Addams Family, but the back yard has a ways to go yet.

But amidst the putting away and organizing, we needed to get all the donations sorted and delivered to the food bank before Thanksgiving; so we spent most of the day gathering, sorting, counting and organizing all the canned and other assorted goods our visitors donated this year. It was quite a haul!!!

First, since I haven't yet published our totals for the year; over the 3 nights we were open this year we had a total of 715 visitors (another record for us) - not counting repeats. Halloween night alone brought 392 terrified visitors.

And because of those generous patrons - as well as many that just stopped by to drop off donations - we are very happy to announce another record; we collected 547 items this year - weighing in at 574 pounds!

We just finished loading the pickup and look forward to dropping it all off in the morning!

Happy Holidays!
-Creepy Chris

FIrst Two Nights - and the FRONT PAGE of the Fairfax Times Newspaper

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 03:48:00 +0000

So we opened Friday night (10/25) to just over 110 visitors... and continued on Saturday night (10/26) with over 200 more visitors. Screams were constant through both nights, and there was a reported pee-tality in the mine shaft!

We had a great crew and things went very smoothly both nights.

10/25/2013 Creepy Nights Cast

Gregg MacDonald (the reporter from the Fairfax Times) even stopped by to present us with some hard copies of Friday's paper - where we made the FRONT PAGE!

Front Page of the Fairfax Times Newspaper 10/25

And a photo of the Saturday night crew with Gregg as well;

10/26/2013 Creepy Nights Crew plus Fairfax Times Reporter Gregg MacDonald

Keeping our fingers crossed for a rain-free Halloween night! See you there!

S C O R E !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 02:51:00 +0000

Been a HAUNTINGLY BUSY couple weeks but I wanted to share a couple things...

We gather props year round (in fact sometimes years in advance) and this year's haunt was on different I'd been searching for 55 gallon drums for our toxic waste area for at least 6 months, and from the time we decided to do a field hospital many months ago we've been looking for those small details that make it more realistic. Hospitals are tough to do well because to be convincing you need equipment that looks (and typically is) very expensive.

We had planned out most of our props anyway, even coming up with cheap alternatives for the hospital beds/cots - since even army style cots aren't cheap if you don't already have several laying around - and we didn't.

So about a week before we open a doctor's office in the medical complex where Catherine works shut down, selling everything on the premises as an estate sale.

Other home haunters out there will appreciate this even more (I know I'd be jealous) but talk about lucking out...

If you've ever dare shopped for hospital gurneys on EBay or similar - you'd find that even used they run $1200-$1500.

Working EKG machine

3 hospital gurneys and 2 IV stands

Catherine got us 3 - for $25 each!!!
Plus a couple IV stands, an "Exam room" sign... and - wait for it...

A WORKING (Hewlett Packard)EKG machine - with leads ($25!)

Took the truck over to pick them all up Friday morning before our opening night!

Probably going to pick up a couple more items too before they finally shut down the office next week!

It's beginning to look a lot like... #Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 02:08:00 +0000

It's been an exhausting couple of months but things are finally starting to look very Halloween-y.

The mine shaft is creepy and dark, the toxic dump has all but its final toxic touches done, the graveyard is taking shape, the decontamination tunnel sprouted this past weekend, the hospital area has taken shape and awaits its first blood, the giant web out front is CRAWLING with spiders, and the morgue is already lined up with bodies. We even revamped several old favorite animated props - look for the "well to hell" in its new reincarnation! What else could you ask for? Oh and did we mention we'll have quite a few more scareactors than we've had before!

We'll be putting some signs out along the local streets this week and I plan to paint a new hours-of-operation sign for the front fence this week. As a reminder (the show schedule is up on our web page at http://www.creepynights.org/2013_show_schedule.html ) but tour nights are the weekend before Halloween (Friday 10/25 and Saturday 10/26) plus Halloween night (10/31); 7-10 pm each night. Feel free to park in front of the house - we'll have some cones and reflectors guiding you).

We got listed in quite a few directories this year so we anticipate a crowd. We also may be getting a visit from the Virginia Lottery folks who have promised to stop by one evening with some giveaways!

A shot of the toxic dump area:

Scaredy Cat has been busy detailing; a few previews of the areas as they come along. First the Field Hospital:

Next the morgue:

More updates when I get a chance to get some more photos! We'll definitely get some shots after we spray the entire hospital area with blood and add the toxic "goo" to the toxic dump area.... ;-)

Light Show Premier 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 02:10:00 +0000

We made it. The Halloween music and light show went online on schedule tonight - October 1st, 2013!

The massive spider web that covers most of the front yard is rockin' and rollin' - even the cocooned victims are singing along. If you pass by, roll down your windows or just tune your car radio to FM 91.1 to listen in on the tunes - each of which was custom synchronized to the 16-channel light show.

The show comes on at 5PM nightly and shuts off at 9:30pm weeknights and 10:30pm on Friday and Saturday nights. The light show will run through October 31st - then it's gone! Below is a short video I took while we were testing it - just a fast cycling of all the lights:

Also thanks in large part to help from Will Bentley (and Gabriel) this past weekend we finished the mine shaft structure assembly and wiring - including the thunder and lightning system that RATTLES the entire back yard! It's a massive 20'x20' enclosure full of surprises; and with luck we'll get most of the detailing done this coming weekend.

The toxic area is also coming along nicely... We have several more large items to move in there, but here's a preview of how it's starting to look:

Stay tuned... some VERY COOL news to be announced soon!

Things are coming together!

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 03:30:00 +0000

We got LOADS done this weekend. We worked 8-9 hour days both Saturday and Sunday building and setting up; with Will on Saturday and Will, Rosa, and crew on Sunday.

Our first goal Saturday was to get the secret passage in the mine shaft (re) assembled. With the very un-level ground out back it was more of a challenge than anticipated, but after we struggled with the first couple panels we found our groove and the rest came together much quicker.

After that tarps rapidly went up around the perimeter and we began laying out pallets that will serve as barriers in the maze-y part of the mine shaft.

Next we moved on to the Toxic Dump area. We're creating a fenced-in area where the toxic "zombidium" extracted from the mine is stored; and where infected individuals claw at the visitors passing by...

We had the large sand area from a previous swimming pool setup, so we built a frame around it and mounted wire to it. We also strung up a pair of tarps that will hide the area from view until people leaving the mine shaft come around the corner where it begins.

The "compound".

Close up of the bottom of the fence, corroded and eaten through by the toxic "zombidium" and some of its victims!

Final touches on this later will include some "great stuff" (painted the same toxic green) "oozing" out from under the fence...

Also for this weekend, we built the frame of the (carport) field hospital area. This area will be a zig-zag passageway divided by curtains among hospital beds and other surprises.

We got the overhead frame up (made up of the 1" emt conduit) ready to hang curtains. There are still several props and surprises that need to be built for this area, but getting the frame and overall layout built was a major accomplishment.

Finally for this weekend, we got the conduit frame that covers the front of the house assembled and all the new flats we created for the front-porch morgue were drilled and fitted to be attached to the front wall of the house for next weekend.

We will also attach all the tarps to the front of the house and assemble the front-yard spanning spider web next weekend...And probably remove all the furniture from the front porch and start assembling all the morgue tables.

Pity the mail/fedex delivery people that end up delivering to us after next weekend!

Hi Ho Hi Ho... It's off to the mine we go...

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 01:23:00 +0000

First, last night's haul from the local Home Depot. Every (straight) piece of 1"x10' EMT conduit they had left in the store (sadly only 10 and I still need about 17 more) plus some pallets (got permission from the store manager to relieve them of some of their spare pallets!). Pallets will form some of the dividers in the mine shaft.

Recruited a new helper today; Greg Phillips came by and together we managed to put together the rest of the mine shaft structure! Even got a tarp over half of it (the tarp for the other half is on order and hasn't arrived yet). Many thanks to Greg as I couldn't have done it all myself!

Good progress; got done exactly what I was hoping to get done today. It only took us two or three times per connector to get things straight ;-)

We even laid down indoor-outdoor carpeting over the grass so things don't get muddy/sloppy - and so things look more like a mine/dirt and less like a yard inside.

Tomorrow if I have the energy I'll try to disassemble the mine-shaft passage way (see earlier blog posts on that) and get it hauled out into it's final position.

Also on the agenda tomorrow (time and energy permitting) is the setup and first fitting of the pipe structure that will go in the carport to support the field hospital area and dividers.

Now we're cooking with gas!

Haunt On!

Goodies!

noreply@blogger.com (Creepy Chris) — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 02:37:00 +0000

Goodies in the mail!

Specifically some of the stuff we ordered from the "Seasons" catalog.

They only sell wholesale so you have to buy things in quantity (1 case each) but they do have some good stuff - and some items we needed for the haunt this year.

The order so far (not everything we ordered has arrived yet, but most of it did - and ahead of schedule);

6 Body Bags
6 miner's/zombie hunter helmets with lights
6 axes
4 foot diameter poseable spiders - 3 in brown and 3 black

We like the body bags. Since we have 6 "slabs" in the morgue this year this worked out just right. They zip open down the middle with plenty of room for an "occupant" inside.

The miner's helmets are pretty cool as well - and nicer than we expected. The lights come on automatically when you tilt them down; they have adjustable fittings inside to adapt to different head sizes; and each came with a spare light bulb.

The axes are pretty cheap... They looked better in the catalog - but with some touch ups I think we can use them.

The spiders are nice. These 6 (plus some more larger ones on the way) will be added to the menagerie that took over the front yard last year for a REALLY creepy overrun feel.

We have a few more packages en route. And hopefully tomorrow we'll be getting a ~100lb FedEx package with the remainder of the pipe fittings we need (from the wonderful folks at tarps.com) to put together both the mine shaft and the field hospital in the carport...

Should be a constructive long weekend at CreepyNights.org!!