Halloween 2011

Halloween 2011

I began putting up a couple of Halloween decorations in my yard in 1999, a light up spider web and a couple of red eyed skulls on the front lanai, that was it. I had also found a CD at Costco which had a whole bunch of  scary sounds on it. For what ever reason I dragged an stereo player upstairs and placed a could of speakers in the front yard. A short time later I had a father and his young daughter walking up the path to our lanai. I fired up the CD choosing the monster sound scream and blasted the two of them. The little girl dressed as a very nice 7 year old princess dropped her dad's hand as well as her magic wand, turned and ran screaming headlong down Melelina Street. The father looked back at his fleeing young daughter and then walked toward me, my hand on the volume knob. I of course thought: "Oh shit, I pissed him off and now he's gonna wanna kick my ass...", He steps up on the lanai and sticks his hand out and says: "Good one dude!" Then turns around and starts calling: "It's OK Kelly...there's no monsters..." and runs after her.

Since that time I have added to my collection of Halloween gear each year as the Chinese Zen Halloween masters continue to fill Walmart with new inscrutable All Hallows Eve electronic scary devices. Last year I did not put the effort into setting up my yard to scare future Kelley's into tears. It was the first time since 1999, and it was because my son was in Japan and my daughter would be spending the sacred night in Waimea begging in the cold for damp frosty Milky Way Bars. I decided to endure the Halloween night drinking beer with my buddy Mike at Humpy's on Alii Drive. But, it was not as satisfying, I must say.

And so 2011 allowed me to once again spend the three days it takes setting up the yard for a splendid scarefest on Halloween Eve. I put Luke and Josh to work on Saturday carrying down all the boxes from the attic containing the wonderful scare tools of Halloween. The next two days were spent carefully transforming my front yard into a multi chambered pathway of horror for Kona's small fry to be scarred silly in.

I always find myself setting up to the last minute and then beginning the fun as families with young kids begin to arrive before sunset. And I hardly ever remember to take any photos or video as I am playing the wizard behind the curtain blasting scary thunder or wild wolf sounds from the speakers while hitting the strobe light to imitate lighting strikes, not mention pressing the fog machines buttons to spew a wall of fog to complete the effect! 

Well, I did manage to do a quick run through with my camera before things got going and even grabbed a video camera for a rapid walk through after dark. 

Here are a few shots of Luke working on his annual Halloween Jack O Lantern

As I said I did a quick walk through with a video camera to try to catch the scene between people walking through:

Happy Halloween to you all!