Random crap with Uno.

[Unorthodox]

They are splitting folks into groups of roughly 30.   Our group has my family, what appears to be a grandma with some grandkids ages 5 and under, and a small group of boys and/or adults, the only one I really took notice of being a ~ 12 year old or so.  He...Talia called him a scaredy cat...

So we watch a film setting up the haunt, how the witches made the crops turn to dust and all this and that, and BURN THEM!!!



Gorgeous faux gaslighting in the moviehouse. 



I only snap this moving on to the next house as our 12 year old starts FREAKING OUT as HERE are those failed crops, it's all real, they're gonna eat me!!!



Of course, my taking pictures also disturbs him.  "Aren't you scared?!"  Nope, I build this kind of stuff.  "WHY do you DO that?!?!?!" 

We step into one of the most gorgeously crafted scenes I've had the pleasure of seeing.  A chapel all deranged for a witch's ritual. 





The second witch working the crowd, smells fear and of COURSE takes her place right behind the 12 year old.  *snicker*



As folks filed in and filled up the pews, and the ritual goes on, I start to thinking this would be a nice gig to see little clips through the whole town...

Which is exactly the point in which they, of course, cease that train of thought.

Guide directing us to the next destination, and informing that from here, we'll be in smaller groups.  The setup is now over, time to get to the rest of the place, more or less.

[Unorthodox]

The inside, then back outside, then back inside, however, makes the camera spotty at best as the glass fogs with the continual shift of conditions. 

Cool, web witch...did they do spider woman?


I'm curious how much is intended symbolism here...the evil witch is offering patrons a wine glass (alcohol of course against the LDS religion). 


And the wheels start coming off the theme here...why is the barber evil now?  What's that got to do with witches?  He does get a rise out of Talia for threatening to chop her hair. 



More webs...and red lighting...




And, ooo, another black cloak generic figure...



And so it went. 

Some Gillie suits out in the bushes. 

Then we get to another acting room!  Yay! 

The stunned silence from the group that had reformed through the rest of the place (so much for pacing us) at the sight of a Ouija Board!!! OMG evil.  Alec continued his habit of JUMPING into the chair of every fortune teller, only to not have a question to ask (several different haunts now).  hEt knows how to play this game though, and asks the board how old will Alec be when he dies.  I think that shocked the actor more than anything. 



Kinda curious on this scene, though, as it was VERY softballed.  These witches had banter muck like one would expect from Samantha and Endora, to the point I half expected one to wiggle their nose.  With one calling the board nonsense right there.  Not quite fitting with the edgy demonstration from the chapel.  But then, the actors may have been dumming it down for the younger grandkids and 12 year old that were all pretty scared at that point. 

[Geo]

Something I found on YouTube

[Unorthodox]

seeing this sign, I thought to myself, this better be a meat packing facility with bodies hangning on hooks...I was not disappointed. 



Of course, we end with burning the witch.  Which...was really off beat as well.  The rest of the witches had played this up as real witches, and this played it up as help me I'm innocent.  I'd have much preferred a witch cursing us all with a promise to come for our pitiful souls, myself. 





All said, different, fun, about the right speed for a family outing, but lots of room for improvement. 

[Unorthodox]

Gorgeous blood moon this morning. 

I don't know if it's a local Utah thing or what, but the blood moon is one of the most spectacular of the year, particularly when setting early in the morning. 

Anyhow, officially full tonight around 7, and there's a partial eclipse for those of you on the east coast. 

[Unorthodox]

It appears the annual photo contest is not running!?!?!

However. 

http://contest.halloweenexpress.com/

Not that I would even enter that one. 

[Geo]

Gorgeous blood moon this morning. 

I don't know if it's a local Utah thing or what, but the blood moon is one of the most spectacular of the year, particularly when setting early in the morning. 

Anyhow, officially full tonight around 7, and there's a partial eclipse for those of you on the east coast.

It looked typical white here (either this morning, or yesterday morning).

[Unorthodox]

Well, yeah...

I meant blood moon as in it's the name of the october moon, the moon of the blood harvest.  AKA the hunter's moon or the Sanguine moon.  Not that it was red.

The partial eclipse probably won't turn it red either.   

Though when setting, here, it appears especially large and gets a nice golden yellow tinge to it.   

[Unorthodox]

Watching I walked with a Zombie for like the 100th time.  Just what I needed.  So much inspiration in such a small package.

[Unorthodox]

Went out to a corn maze last night.  Shockingly, this is the first one I've ever been to. 





Gorgeous night out.





It was "Haunted", in that they had a bunch of folks out in the corn with masks and/or noise makers.  It's clearly a little family run thing that's only 'haunted' on Saturdays.  And, depending on your perspective, to their credit or detriment, they had the kid gloves FIRMLY on when dealing it us. 

Can't blame them, you see Talia coming, the typical 6 year old can't handle much.  For THIS family, though, it was a bit soft.  Judging from the screaming in the corn, they do know how to get the scare on when they want, so I can appreciate the 'don't scare the little ones' mentality instilled in the family setting. 

The maze itself, maybe it's the fact that I've been designing mazes in various forms since I was 8 in various forms, but I found mostly logical for these things, and the general concept of following the sound of screams paid off. 

[Buster's Uncle]

You make it sound like there was no one but you there?

[Unorthodox]

It wasn't crowded, and we endeavored to be alone when we did run into folks.  For a little place out in the sticks, I'd say it was doing fairly well. 

[Dio]

As far as I know, where I live, Halloween is not a huge holiday. The most memorable halloween I have ever had is the one when our house got egged and some stupid people stole all the pumpkins that were on our front porch.

[Unorthodox]

There was an article in the paper how Halloween is much more popular in Utah than the average state....


Anyway, I had an idea...why not use the trees for a change? 

Setting up for hopefully the last lighting test...



(that's a breathing grave on the ground there)







Just testing right now, but I'm liking the idea...

[Geo]

Anyway, I had an idea...why not use the trees for a change? 

Do you typically have calm weather around Halloween?
I suppose if the wind gets too strong, and with fire hanging from the trees...