7000 sq ft plastic + 400 ft extension cords + 250 ft twine + 14 cans of black spray paint + 7 months of planning and building + 7 days of set up + 6 hours of tear down + 45 minutes of scaring = 1 happy five year old

This year's haunted house was 3 times the size as the first. It was a lot of work but everything worked out as planned.

New props for this year include:

  • toe pincher coffin - I got the plans for this from Shallow Valley. It was really easy (and cheap) to make.
  • metal cage - Another one from Shallow Valley. This is a great way to make a realistic looking metal cage very cheap.
  • ship's wheel - My parents made my wife and I a wooden wagon a few years ago. It was beginning to fall apart so I salvaged one of the wheels for this project. I bought some wooden rollers at a craft store, cut them in half and stuck them around the rim to create a respectable ship wheel.
  • cannon - Had an idea to build a cannon and lucked out on finding an 18" sewer pipe for my cannon. Follow the link for details on this prop.
  • pillory - Made from scrap wood that I salvaged from my in-laws front deck after a remodeling.
  • gallows - Another project created from salvaged landscape timbers.
  • graveyard - Styrofoam, an exacto knife, a rotary tool and some paint were used for the tombstones. The fence is lathe strips connected with brads.
pirate cave map cage pillory coffin gallow graveyard cannon ship wheel ghosts

Daytime

Nighttime


Additional pictures can be found here.