Archive for the ‘Site Updates’ Category

In my many efforts to improve on both the site and the haunt over the years, I have created a new version of the site which will be much more organized and easy to update! I have also set a new personal goal to increase the amount of donations the haunt collects for charity.  The old site was great, but many features were hard to find and on my end it was hard to update pictures and videos. 

Here are some important things you should know about the new site:

• Every Monday there will be new blog posts!  I will now be blogging about Haunt on the Hill, as well as other home haunts that I like.  I may talk about Halloween products, shows, anything Halloween related!  Come back weekly for new content!
• Everything is now organized under subheadings so you can find things much easier!
• There are a few new pages of note: I now have a page devoted to current sponsors, as well as a page for businesses looking to help sponsor and raise money for charity!
• The Haunt now, in addition to collecting donations on the 31st, also has an online donation page where you can contribute to The Sick Kids Foundation.  Just click on The SickKids page.
• There is now a facebook page for Haunt on the Hill!  Join it!
• The guestbook has been integrated directly into the site!
• I like exclamation marks!
• Are you seriously still reading this?

There’s a whole lot more to discover, so look around and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me or leave a message in the guestbook!  Oh, and the list of new props for Halloween 2010 will be posted soon, as I have been hard at work and even have a few things done already!

Thanks for sticking with me all these years!

Yours Truly,

Rachel “Wednesday Addams” Brown

It’s coming!

OK so just for the record, I am writing this at 11:45pm on October 31st, so I am extremely exhausted and somewhat delirious.  I will try to include some of my usual humour, and I will definitely try to make sense, but right now I am bruised and have cuts all over my hands from building and setting up.

 Usually I start by saying how, “this was my best year yet”, unfortunately this can’t be said this time around.  Wind and rain plagued the haunt, making it impossible for me to set up everything until the very last minute.  However, what really upset me was the lack of visitors.  I received half as many kids as last year and it was all because of the fear of H1N1.  I even had a neighbour put a sign on her door saying, “H1N1, come back next year!”  I mean really now!  Your children go to school every day where they are ten times more likely to catch something then they are on Halloween night.  Take precautions, but don’t shield your kids from the world around them.  There will most likely be many more serious illnesses to come around and you can’t just stop living your life people!

Ok, ranting aside, it was not all bad.  The new electric chair was a huge hit and kids were actually afraid to pull the switch!  The lighting worked out great.  Audio was amazing.  People loved my pumpkins, although I was sad to see just how many kids today have no idea who Count Von Count is!  Sesame Street anyone? 

While this was not my best year, it was definitely a learning year.  I picked up new tips and tricks and came up with new decisions for the future.  I also collected some money for charity and have new ideas about that as well.

I went into this year thinking it would be my last, but have since been talked out of that idea by my fiance, who I might add was never that into the whole, “my girlfriend is a weirdo” thing.  Now he wants me to take one more stab at it, and I agree.  If I end the haunt, I must end on a bang and this was not a bang, it was merely a whimper.

Pictures and video of the haunt will come in the coming weeks, but for now I would like to thank the following people:

• Pops – Even though you abandoned me to go to Mexico this Halloween, I forgive you.  You helped me hang the spider and you did all my math!
• Mommy -  You are truly there for me when I need you and you are also there when Bubbles the Vicious Spider needs you.  I could not have pulled any of this off without you.
• Mike – Lights, audio, beer.  What more could I say!  You helped me in so many ways and you will continue to do so for years to come because I am wearing your ring and you are stuck with me!  Mwahahaha!
• Marc – Relays for electric chairs don’t just happen on their own!
• Sam and Rosie – technically you two did nothing, actually I think Sam broke some things, but you are my nephew and niece and amuse me greatly!
• Most importantly I would like to thank my neighbours for all their years of continued support, except for that one kid who said there was a better haunt nearby.  I didn’t care much for him!

Oh and a big shout out to the kid with the curly blond hair.  I’m really sorry, but I don’t remember your name, but you visited my haunt at least 1001 times and you are the coolest kid in the neighbourhood!

Now, normally I spend the day after Halloween in bed, tired and depressed that the fun is all over, but alas, I am moving out of my parents’ house next month and will be spending my Sunday at Deblin’s picking out thread counts for bed sheets.  So, to all I bid adieu until next Halloween, when Haunt on the Hill will truly have its, “best year yet”, because I have already started plotting away!  New things to build, old things to make better!

Sleepy time for me!
Rachel “Wednesday” Brown

Last year I got to thinking.  Something just wasn’t right with the haunt, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.  Then it occurred to me.  Even though I have added some new things every year, there was no real big change, nothing to refresh some of the tired looking areas.  With that in mind this year I have focused a lot of my time and energy on the mad lab, as well as a few other big changes.

Behold, the list of new props for Halloween 2009!  Yes, it is on a Saturday this year! Read the rest of this entry »