It's two days after Halloween and my neck is still killing me from hauling out the Jabberwock and mounting trees.

Even with the horrible rain, the results were worth it. True, I barely finished half of the projects I had planned due to unforeseen circumstances (illness, rain, more illness, more rain, even more illness, and even more rain). What went up, as a result, was of a higher quality and consistency than I've obtained before. Were there things I would do differently? Absolutely.

The driving forces? Last year, I committed myself to eco-friendly haunting tactics. The majority of the props are made with recycled materials, such as newspaper, old garden fencing/chicken wire, soda bottles, scrap/reused wood from old projects (the supports of the Jabberwock were formally siding panels from a shed in our backyard), garden trimmings, low VOC paints, etc. The only wasteful aspect of the haunt was the artificial feathers, and even those were salvageable for next year in spite of very heavy rain. Even the majority of the newspaper came from stuffed props I made last year. The Knight and base of the Jabberwock were designed to be used again and again in different configurations; the wings and the head of the Jabberwock were dismantled and all usable newspaper, wire, wood, and screws removed to limit waste.

Enough talking. Here's a Flickr slideshow of the haunt, day to night. Enjoy.