No Halloween Shortcuts
November 4th, 2008 by John Wolfe
Since posting my first Halloween ’08 Photo post, I’ve received a few emails asking why the haunt didn’t expand a whole lot from last year. There were several (personal) reasons for this; however, the main reason, which ties directly into the weeks leading up to Halloween, is I just don’t want to take shortcuts on my prep.
After preparing this haunt (equipped with handmade groundbreakers) for three years now, I’ve come to expect more from my props. I want them to reach progressively higher levels of quality. If a prop doesn’t make the grade, I don’t hesitate to yank it from the display or not include it at all. It’s for this reason that three of my older corpses are going into retirement after this past Halloween night. The new prop, I did add, took several weeks to finish because I wanted to achieve just the right look.
The several hundred cornstalks were each individually attached one at a time to the display fence (with fishing line and glue – as seen in the above photo) and to one another. I could have leaned them together in upright piles, but that just wouldn’t have achieved the atmosphere I was going for. I’ve thought of eliminating the cornstalks altogether (due to the amount of work they require), but they do such a great job of completely obscuring the house.
In my haunt, I want people to look at the display and lose all semblance of being in a neighborhood. It should be conceivable for them to assume they are truly looking at a cemetery or haunted patch of land in a creepy forest, far removed from civilization. Any large portion of the house, showing up in my photos, is a big hell no. The corn, fog and vast amounts of leaves, I feel, help to achieve that specific mood and level of believability.
My goal is to take the SOS yard haunt as close to the professional level as possible, through quality, not through sheer quantity. Even if I only add six or seven new props for Halloween ’09, I promise they will each be created through hundreds of hours of work, while incorporating the best eye for detail I can personally muster.
The days of building a single groundbreaker in a week or two are long gone for this haunt. Halloween at Season of Shadows is no longer about simply creating homemade decorations; it’s about taking visitors and trick-or-treaters into an alternate reality. It’s about making them second guess their location by helping them get lost in every rip of flesh and strand of sinew.
I believe the only way that can be achieved, through a yard haunt, is to hit extremely creative highs through detail upon detail, upon more detail. And, just when I think I’m done…there’s always more detail to be added. That’s my evolving version of Halloween – minus any shortcuts and minus favoring quantity over quality.
I’m John Wolfe, and I approved this message…LOL. I couldn’t resist saying that on Election Day. I probably sounded like a politician in the above paragraphs anyway. 
November 5th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Wonderful philosophy on haunting! I admire your dedication to detail and the pride that you obviously put into your haunt.
November 5th, 2008 at 9:05 am
I’m Goldie and I strongly endorse this message
So, you were getting emails about that hey. I’ve seen on youtube of countless users and comments how humanity “expects” certain things to be done a certain way in their mind and if that is actually detoured, they are disappointed. Given the hundreds of photos of many haunts in our beautiful country showing huge speads of haunts, I wondered if some of your readers weren’t a bit….thrown off by your display.
I never was because you and I are dear friends and know MANY aspects about each other. Therefore, given the cumbersome weather patterns–or lack there of–and taking it upon yourself to build so many new props in less than a few weeks, I was AMAZED that you were able to put so much up and out this year. Moreover, anyone who has read your blogs, be it this page or Windofthesoul, knows thoroughly how insanely detailed you are about your work. My grandpa used to be the exact same way. Even if he went over his due date, he would rather know he made it correctly and how HE envisioned it. Never to rush a job to appease people outside of him. Your blog writing style is identical. You never, let me repeat, NEVER EVER just throw something up for the sake of posting. Every single one of your blog entries has great meaning and deep significance.
Your props and Halloween decor is IDENTICAL to how you conduct the blog postings my friend. How could it possibly be any different? Plus most humans are so used to just slamming something up that often they forget the pain staking time, detail, sweat and loss of sleep that goes into making such a huge display from scratch. The corn is a classic example. Your right. If the corn were in bundles, it would have NOT felt that you were looking into an actual cornfield/graveyard. Like you said, a big, OH HELL NO!! Given the abrupt time alotted, I’m shocked you were able to get so much up and out. Also, though your new props, I felt, looked grotesquely fantastic–they HAVE TO live up to YOUR STANDARD of physical appearance and if they don’t, in the garage they go.
I loved your display. I thought it looked realistic, eerie, frightening, ghoulish, and extremely supernaturaly ghostly. The new sideways prop is EXCELLENT. I loved how it looked like it was battling the Earth to get OUT of the ground and DIDN’T have perfect posture. My favorite part about that prop is the looooooong arm reaching out and those lengthly boney fingers…..gives me chills to look at it.
So for those of us that are a fan of your work in more ways than one, John–we understand completely and no need to explain. Besides that, wow, Halloween for 2009 at the Wolfe house is going to make Wolfe Halloween history
By the way, what a fabulous last name to have!!! Personally, I cannot wait to follow SOS as 2009 rolls along and see what your creating and what your thoughts are pertaining to the display of your Halloween masterpiece.
Ok, lastly, admit it…….come on John, admit it…….the spooky light projector…..it’s in your bedroom isn’t it
Come on, fess up and don’t blame it on the cat 
Love your sites, love your work and deeeeeply appreciate your tremendous eye for detail. NEVER STOP that John and always remain true to yourself. Great job this year….lol, and against all odds too, wind, rain, puddles of water covering the corn…..you pulled it all together in perfect time. Thank you for sharing with us along the way for we are all extremely GRATEFUL.
Many Blessings Dear Friend, G~*~
November 5th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
John,
I cut many ideas and plans from my yard this year just because I wanted quality over quantity. This year I made some new ones but spent much time reworking old props to a better level of quality. Thanks to you and others, simple yard haunts are becoming amazing temporary public art installations. I hope to raise my game year to year.
November 6th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Couldn’t agree more with what you say. I think the added detail shows clearly through this year’s display. I’m a little surprised you got that comment about not expanding. Home haunting is all about quality.
These photos are amazing. The haunt is stunning.
November 7th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Mr. Macabre,
Thank you!
Goldie,
Glad you liked the pics and the new prop. And yes, the Spooky Shadows Halloween Projector is in my room. 
I appreciate it. Yeah, the weather was a bear, but it calmed itself down nicely at just the right time. Interestingly enough, the wind has been ferocious again for the last few days. The Great Pumpkin was smiling on my haunt this year and provided me with perfect weather.
Dave,
I know what you mean. One of my props never saw the light of day this year. Your display absolutely continues to raise the bar on yard haunts too!
Rot,
Thanks, man. Glad to hear the detail came through in the photos. It was a lot of small stuff that added up, but nevertheless it was fixes I knew I wanted to incorporate after seeing last year’s images. That’s one of the great things about taking photos and videotaping the haunt – you can analyze what needs work.