After bailing on two different Day of the Dead celebrations this weekend (unfortunately, since I still have never been to one), on Sunday night I was feeling like I needed one last injection of Halloween spirit before I was ready to commit to November. Reticent to drive very far or spend much money, I visited yet another impressive amateur haunt.
Now operating for five years in Glendale near the north end of Griffith Park, the Hollywood Haunter theme changes every year. Last year, the owners and operators built an old western mining ghost town called "Grave Rock Gulch." This year, they erected a 25 foot haunted house facade for "Beware the Pumpkin Dare," replete with neighboring cemetery.
You can actually walk up to the house – which seems like a real, decrepit house –
...and up onto the porch...
...where skeletons peer at you from inside the windows...
...and an impressive light show with accompanying sound effects illuminates all of the features and small touches.
You can even ring the doorbell.
The shutters rattle, the chair rocks, and a motion-detector trash can scared the bejeezus out of me.
Next door is a fog-filled cemetery...
...with many hand-made props like skeleton flamingos...
...plenty of creepy faces...
...and figures that threaten to come to life...
...and just might jump out and grab you.
It is all perfectly ghostly and ghastly...
...and, once again, surprisingly elaborate...
...especially for a non-profit operation.
And now, I guess I'm ready to move on to the imminent holiday season – one I'll likely be spending alone for the first time ever this year, which scares me more than any of these October frights.
For photos of other festivities from the entire Halloween season this year, click here.
Related Posts:
Photo Essay: Boney Island's Magical Skeleton Crew
Haunting for One
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