They're Heeeeeerrrrreee

Image by thehauntnextdoor.

Barebones Halloween Extravaganza

We present the popular "Halloween Show" each year as an alternative Halloween community arts event, appropriate for all ages and without a commercial focus, that takes place in a Twin Cities urban neighborhood park.  Over 250 artists, puppeteers, musicians, performers, builders, technicians, ushers, and helpers of all kinds are involved in the creation of each performance. During the past 29 years, the Show has grown from one performance to five, and our combined audience has mushroomed from around 100 to around 8,000. 

Images by schwerdf.

Barebones site here.

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has a truly magical Christmas.

May your day be peaceful and fun, and relaxing.

Cheers and Merry Christmas!

Christmas Yet To Come

The Spirit stood among the graves, and pointed down to One. He advanced towards it trembling. The Phantom was exactly as it had been, but he dreaded that he saw new meaning in its solemn shape.

“Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point,” said Scrooge, “answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?”

Still the Ghost pointed downward to the grave by which it stood.

“Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!”

Now Playing: Hinn Sýnilegi Heimur

A delightfully dark (and Winterish) track from Hekla.

Click below...

Or click here for youtube.

Haunted Overload: A Documentary

Click below...

Halloween Snow

Image source.

Happy Winter Solstice

Devil Face Jug

Found on ebay.

Gorenaments

These are pretty nifty.

Click here for the shop.

Now Playing: Two Eyes Made Out Of Coal

The annual Christmas track from the always-incredible 400 Lonely Things.  This one is SOOO delightfully strange and slightly unnerving, but absolutely soothing (I swear).

Click below...

And click here to check out the rest.

Now Playing: Through The Mouth Of Eternity

By Snakes of Russia.

Click below...

Or click here for youtube.

Ghost House

I dwell with a strangely aching heart

In that vanished abode there far apart

On that disused and forgotten road

That has no dust-bath now for the toad.

O’er ruined fences the grape-vines shield

The woods come back to the mowing field;

The orchard tree has grown one copse

Of new wood and old where the woodpecker chops;

It is under the small, dim, summer star.

I know not who these mute folk are

Who share the unlit place with me

Those stones out under the low-limbed tree

They are tireless folk, but slow and sad

Though two, close-keeping, are lass and lad,

With none among them that ever sings,

And yet, in view of how many things,

As sweet companions as might be had.

- Robert Frost

Image source.

This Way To Dark Ride

Image by bartgrubbs2000.

Dodging, Disappearing,...

Goblins on the doorstep,

     Phantoms in the air,

Owls on witches’ gate posts,

     Giving stare for stare.

 

Cats on flying broomsticks,

     Bats against the moon,

Stirring round of fate-cakes,

     With a solemn spoon.

 

Whirling apple parings,

     Figures draped in sheets,

Dodging, disappearing,

     Up and down the streets.

 

Jack-o’-lanterns grinning,

     Shadows on a screen,

Shrieks and starts and laughter -

     This is Halloween!

 

- Dorothy Brown Thompson

Image source.

Grimsby Family Cemetery

A short video here.

More images here.

Elm Park Haunt Halloween 2025

Click here for some great videos and more images.

Christmas Wish List: Kingwares Crystal Whiskey Glasses

Man, are these gorgeous (and expensive).

More glasses from Kingwares here.

Haunt Retrospective

Re-post of the old Retrospective Gallery post to bump it up (just added a photo from the 2025 display).

Had fun posting these to Instagram and wanted to have them all in one place on the blog.  Prior to the first display photo below from 1986, we did random things like stuffed dummies or rubber masks hanging in the tree.  1986 was an important year as it established that the lawn would always be some kind of cemetery.  And it featured a prop centerpiece (a focal point), which would become a general theme in the coming decades.  The Ghost standing in the cemetery had a flashing strobe light in its head, and even now after all these years I love the vibe in that photo.  It really captures what I love about Halloween.  The macabre absurdity of it all.  Creating some strange little world on a small lawn of a brick house in a strip of rowhomes in suburbia.  Trying to make the ordinary (and life) spooky... and making it a little mysterious too.