73 Days 'til Halloween: Looking Back

My temporary Halloween themed public art installation, also known as a yard haunt, back in 2000.

This was literally thrown together in a couple of hours one afternoon a day or so before the 31st. Everything had been at my girlfriend's condo where we hosted a Halloween party the weekend before.

The sitting ghost mannequin was a favorite of mine. Her simple customizing (just paint, some draped fabric and hollowed out eyes with a light bulb shoved in her head) looked good and creepy in the low light. The open bench space made a fun photo-op for a few folks that night. I acquired her through my Mom in '98, who was working for Robinson May Co. at the time. They were closing down their Sherman Oaks department store and getting rid of old display stuff. She was missing an arm and had numerous cracks... no, not my Mom, the mannequin.

She was actually one of two figures I was able to get, the other became my False Maria aka Spooky Robot Lady who still haunts our dining room every October. I ended up selling the "sitting ghost" at a garage sale when I moved to a new place and I've regretting it ever since.

This mummy and coffin were dressing for Sci Fi Channel's SCI FI Buzz, a set I designed years before. Both props have long since fallen apart and just crumbled away. As a matter of fact, the electric chair that I use every year (and you can sort of see silhouetted on the porch in the top picture) is the only remaining prop I have from that show. I'll never get rid of it and try to keep it in good shape, as both a great Halloween decoration and nice memory from the series.

The Area 51 alien eye was the one all new prop I had made that Halloween. It's still around today, but it's gone through numerous stages of evolution over the years. It's last appearance was 2007 as a one eyed plant type creature.

My zombies back then were just painted "bluckys" with minimal, if any, customizing. Parts of these guys have been used in some of the undead characters I've made in recent years. The gravestones were last minute additions I knocked out really fast using chunks of leftover upholstery foam from a job and pieces of old drywall panels.