The Ravens Barrow - Halloween, Fantasy, and Horror in Modern Culture » Home Haunting

Now Playing: Theater of Illusion by Nox Arcana

Patrick Nottingham — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:37:13 +0000

NOX ARCANA conjures a realm of mystery and dark magic with THEATER OF ILLUSION.

I just got this in from Monolith Graphics – Theater of Illusion by Nox Arcana.

Welcome to the Theater of Illusion, the legendary stage of magic hidden beyond the threshold of dreams and nightmares. Behold strange and mystifying acts performed by phantom magicians and discover the dark secrets that lie in wait beyond the veil of shadows. Nox Arcana invites you to enter a realm of magic and dark fantasy to immerse yourself in a soundscape of haunting melodies, mystical rhythms and pulse-pounding orchestrations.

A lifelong fan of magic, Nox Arcana founder Joseph Vargo was inspired to create a musical tribute to the mysterious realm of illusion. The setting for this concept album is an old Vaudeville theater, hidden from the outside world, where master magicians gather to display their talents every Halloween night.

The 21 tracks take the listener on a musical journey throughout the theater and provide a cinematic soundtrack for the eerie acts that play out on stage.

“Our music has always been very popular with magicians, and several professional illusionists have used various Nox Arcana CD’s to enhance their acts. With Theater of Illusion, I wanted to create something specifically for magicians and fans of dark fantasy.”

The tracks range from haunting melodies on piano, harpsichord, and music box chimes to dramatic orchestrations accented by Gothic choirs and pipe organ. Other tracks offer exotic, mystical rhythms and hypnotic narratives to create a spellbinding atmosphere.

You can listen to samples below on the Amazon widget I embedded of Theater of Illusion and purchase from your favorite music download site: Amazon, iTunes, or CDBaby.

Amazon.com Widgets

You can also get Theater of Illusion from the Monolith Graphics site directly.

Check out these other posts that might interest you.

Designing ChromaDepth 3D Haunt Images with ScaryLadyVideos

Patrick Nottingham — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:50:13 +0000

ChromaDepth 3D Haunting Made Easy.

Click above to visit ScaryLadyVideos's Youtube channel.

Whether you love the latest slate of 3D films hitting theaters or not, 3D has been a constant in haunted houses for years. It’s always a crowd pleaser when done right. Well, keep reading to see how you can work it into your own home haunt.

Every now and again I get lucky and come across something cool – like these videos on 3D haunting – when I’m stumbling drunkenly around the web. I’m not even sure what I was searching for when I came across them, but I’m glad I found them. 3D haunting has always been a system that fascinated me, and while I’ve bought numerous books and videos on the subject I never thought about actually trying it. It always seemed a bit more artsy than I was capable of. Well, ScaryLadyVideos on Youtube – A.K.A. Terra on Hauntforum – has made it all a little easier with a couple of well done how-to videos.

Now I can share 3D haunting with you by embedding them below.

First up – Designing ChromaDepth 3D Haunt Images.

Second – Painting ChromaDepth 3D Haunt Panels.

Do make sure you subscribe to ScaryLadyVideos. She has tons of how-to vids to watch, and I’m sure you can work some of her great ideas into your 2010 haunt. It’s not too terribly late to try some 3D.

Check out these other posts that might interest you.

Now Playing: Carpe Noctem by Prelude to a Nightmare

Patrick Nottingham — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:29:49 +0000

Click the album cover to listen to samples in iTunes.

Dark, Haunting, Macabre.

Carpe Noctem by Prelude to a Nightmare has it all.

Need new music for you haunt this year or just like a good emo Gothic brood in the dark?

Here’s an album I stumbled across on Twitter a few days back thanks to having @PreludetoaNight suggested to me by the Twitter bots. See, social networking and micro-blogging are worth more than a pile of dog doo sometimes.

The album – Carpe Noctem – Prelude to a Nightmare – came out on Friday the 13th this month, and combines traditional ambient soundtracks with modern beats and effects. You can find out more about this Pittsburgh, PA (hooray for yinz in da ‘burgh) Gothic idustrial band by hitting their Myspace page or by clicking the iTunes button below. Once on iTunes you can listen to sample tracks and purchase the album for only $9.99.

If you’re a fan of music from folks like Midnight Syndicate or Nox Arcana then you’ll love the dark Gothic soundscape woven by Prelude to a Nightmare.

In case you’re wondering, I did buy it. ;-)

Check out these other posts that might interest you.

Free Sounds and Soundscapes from Gravecast.com

Patrick Nottingham — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:15:40 +0000

Click above and go get you some freebies from GraveCast.com

I’m always thinking of yinz when I spot freebies.

Over at GraveCast.com, Mobius J Kromwell – hell if I know if that’s his real name so don’t ask, k? – is giving away – that means free dammit – some awesome sounds and soundscapes.

Why?

Maybe cause he’s nuts? I couldn’t tell ya, but starting yesterday with this creepy cabin zombie soundscape and for 30 consecutive days you can go get them to use in your haunts or just to listen to and get creeped out. In the dark. Alone. Not even an LOLcat in sight. (What? I like LOLcatz. They make me smile when I’m ascaried.)

Did I mention they’re free with no strings attached? Then why are you still reading? Oh, and you can follow Morbius J Kromwell on Twitter so when he updates you’ll be the first to know.

Check out these other posts that might interest you.

We Will Haunt You: Creative Haunted House Designers Can Take Your Haunt To The Next Level

Patrick Nottingham — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:23:26 +0000

Click the banner above to be taken to the We Will Haunt You site.

I gotta tell ya I have been totally inundated with awesomeness due to the DVD Monday contest this week and one of the ways to enter being posting something cool on the Raven’s Barrow Facebook fan page. One of the cooler things happening is that Barrow fans have been posting their own projects and endeavors, and one of the folks who has sent more than a comment or two my way is a haunter out in Orange, CA by the name of David King.

What I want to do right now, even though most haunts have their plans set for the year, is to point your browsers to David’s company We Will Haunt You. Nothing I could say would cover it as well as the website’s own words:

Welcome to We Will Haunt You! We are a creative Haunted House Attraction and Halloween Display production company operating in Orange County, California.

We design and create full-scale Haunted Attractions and Halloween Displays for a variety of clients.

We take care of all creative aspects of your project. Overall Theming/Design, Audio Design, Lighting Design, Prop Creation, Scenery Design, and Layout Design. We will even work with you to make your own vision a reality. Once your project has been designed, we will create it also! We have a full production shop where we build all of your props and scenery as well as any other design pieces that need to be fabricated.

We have all of the audio and lighting equipment you will need for your project as well.

We are your one stop haunt design and haunt production shop.

Check out more photos of their work on their portfolio page as well as get their contact info for booking them here. There’s some good stuff on the site as well as some original props you won’t find anywhere else that you can buy now right here.

Check out these other posts that might interest you.

Home Haunters – Check out the Blood Vlogs and Subscribe

Patrick Nottingham — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:12:24 +0000

Facebook and email peeps click above to watch the latest installment in the Blood Vlogs

The Bloodshed Brothers are Zachary and Jeromy Ball of Temecula California, and over on Youtube you can follow along on their saga of doing their home haunt – The Bloodshed Brothers Haunted House. It’s been fun to watch and see their successes and difficulties – we’ve all had those I’m sure you’ll all agree – in doing a community home haunt. Below I’ve embedded for your viewing pleasure the latest vlog as of this writing. Honestly it’s nice to see you’re not alone when it comes to some of the crap home haunters face for no pay. Facebook and email peeps will have to click the graphic to the right.

You can see their channel at TheBloodshedBrothers and do consider subscriber and leaving a comment on their vids while you’re there. They probably would like to know their not alone either.

Click above to visit the Bloodshed Brothers Haunted House website.

Check out these other posts that might interest you.

This Damn Weekend People! New England Haunter’s Gathering X Brought To You By The East Coast Haunt Club

Patrick Nottingham — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:01:52 +0000

Click the clubhouse to find out more about the gathering.

Hey people, if you’re at all within driving distance to the Radisson Hotel in Nashua, NH then you better get yer butts to the New England Haunter’s Gathering this damn weekend!

OK, so, lazy and hypocritical bastard that I am, I have never been to this one. I keep promising myself, but . . . I have no excuse, and neither do you. If you’ve never been to a gathering, as opposed to a con, then you’re really missing something. Think of the coolest family reunion you ever went to and people it with folks you actually want to spend time with who all love Halloween maybe even more than you do.

Here’s the scoop:

Gathering 2010

** New England Haunter’s Gathering X **
A decade of Halloween and still going strong!

That’s right, 10 years! The East Coast Haunt Club has trick-n-treated you with haunted Halloween fun for a whole decade.

Thank you all for making our Gathering one of the longest running of its kind!

Visit our store on Cafe Press!

When……: Saturday, August 7th
Where…..: Radisson Hotel Nashua, NH
Time…….: 10:00 am
Admission: $20.00
** Ages 14 and over only please! **

* Check out our PayPal option and please don’t forget to RSVP so we know how much food to order!

Be sure to go here to see the whole agenda for the gathering.

And now for your reading pleasure, here are a few other posts that got people talking.

Monsterguts.com Goes Christmas . . . sort of.

Patrick Nottingham — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:50:33 +0000

Click the skeletal Rudolph to check out Monsterguts new Christmas line.

Oh yes, you know you want a whole damn sleigh team of these out in your front yard this December.

Jack Skellington himself would be envious I’m sure.

I just got this press release in from Monsterguts.com about their new line of Christmas products, and of course, from the look of the skeletal Cervidea above, these aren’t your typical Yuletide decorations.

Whew! I was getting worried about my favorite Halloween parts supplier.

Greetings Fellow Haunters,

If you have been a subscriber to our newsletter for awhile, you may be scratching your head right now. Usually at this time of year, we would be sending you our “Three Months Until Halloween” newsletter. However, this year, we have something special in store for you.

Over the past two years or so, we at Monster Guts have been making plans to expand into the Christmas season. Now before you get too alarmed and think we are going soft, let me tell you where we are heading.

It occurred to us that many home haunters also decorate their homes for Christmas as well. And while some haunters go the conventional route with light strings and similar decorating, there are still other haunters that add some Halloween flavor to their Christmas display. Often, this is something as simple as putting a Bucky in a Santa outfit, or as elaborate as a Nightmare Before Christmas display.

Well, we want to encourage that. There are too few options for us haunters out there to bring a little haunting to the yuletide season. Monster Guts is making efforts to fill that void. Monster Guts typically focuses on prop building supplies. However, for this Christmas line, we are expanding into prop making, and what we will be offering can be found in a new category at Monster Guts we are calling a Merry Scary Christmas.

Our first foray into this is with our skeleton reindeer, or, what we are calling, our “Slain Deer”. Sure, you’ll find those wire deer in yards across America, but have you ever seen a skeleton Reindeer? Ours was inspired by Dr. Finklestein’s creations from A Nightmare Before Christmas. Molds were cast from an actual deer skeleton and the bones are cast from resin. The finished product is life size. These are individually crafted at Monster Guts, and not mass produced in China like most skeletons we are all familiar with. You can take a look for yourself by going to http://monsterguts.com/merry-scary-christmas/slain-deer/prod_229.html .

We are also offering in tandem with the release of the Slain Deer several versions of the skull to it in case you don’t need the whole skeleton. These skulls can be used in many applications, including adding further detail to your haunt or Christmas display. Currently, we have available the skull and antler set without a jaw, which can be found at http://monsterguts.com/merry-scary-christmas/slain-deer-skull-no-jaw-/prod_226.html. Also, you can get the entire head, including the jaw which is hinged with springs to allow for movement, and can be found at http://monsterguts.com/merry-scary-christmas/slain-deer-skull-with-jaw-/prod_227.html . Lastly, we are offering the skull mounted on a plaque in case you want to add it to a trophy room setting, and that can be found at http://monsterguts.com/merry-scary-christmas/skull-on-plaque/prod_228.html .

The Slain Deer is but the first of many props we will be releasing in the future for our Christmas line. Being that you are a subscriber to our newsletter, when new props are released, you will be among the first to know.

Monstrous Regards,

Dean Davis

Owner

And now for your reading pleasure, here are a few other posts that got people talking.

News from Hauntspace

Patrick Nottingham — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:37:22 +0000

I got this in a couple of days back from HauntSpace and thought I’d repost. Looks like they’ve got tons of newness going on:

That time is coming once again and I’m proud to say that HauntSpace.com is exactly where we want it to be.

This year we added a new addition to our family WWW.UNOARCADE.COM which can be accessed by that URL or you can also click on HauntSpace Arcade near “home” at the top of HauntSpace.

We are still strict about “on topic discussion” and encourage you to show off your 2010 Haunts, Projects and endeavors.

Our membership base is quite large now and many folks have created their own informative groups on the site.

Our GIVEAWAY this year consists of $200.00 in cash money and will be awarded to the winning member without delay. Such member must have at least 500 viable user points to qualify. Please see the chit chat section for more information.

We’re still in need of WRITERS for www.HAUNTOFFTHEPRESS.com as well, please let us know if you would like to be featured as a bio, how to or whatever you can contribute.

Get working on those projects……………..

Enjoy your Halloween 2010 season.

SPAN
The best in Halloween Communications
http://www.hauntspace.com
http://www.halloweentrade.com
http://www.hauntoffthepress.com
http://www.hauntersnetwork.com
http://www.unoarcade.com

And now for your reading pleasure, here are a few other posts that got people talking.

How to Haunt Your House, Book Two is available now on LULU

Patrick Nottingham — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:59:03 +0000

Click the cover to check it out on Lulu.

This just in from Rabbit Hole Productions – How to Haunt Your House, Book Two is available now on LULU. I loved Book 1 so I thought I’d pass this along to you folks even thought I haven’t had a chance to check out the second book in the series.

The coffin lid was raised a little higher in, How to Haunt Your House, Book one. Now it’s time to dig a little deeper and conjure up some new projects and decorating ideas to impress this year’s ghouls and goblins! Inside, How to Haunt Your House, Book Two, you will find a broad range of home haunt prop step-by-step instructions. From animated props to full sized grave ghosts there is something for the haunt enthusiast in everyone. See how to hack store bought props into something truly ghoul-a-rific. Turn Styrofoam into tombstones, crypts and tombs using just a few basic ingredients and tools. Make a severed hand endlessly stir over a glowing cauldron, amid a collection of Apothecary jars and witches’ bottles filled with strange potions and sinister looking ingredients. Turn this year’s Halloween party into the hair raising experience even the undead will be talking about. Find more great tips and videos visit us at: www.howtohauntyourhouse.com.

In case you’re wondering, I don’t make a dime if you snag this from Lulu, but if you’re so inclined below is a link to Book 1 on Amazon. I’m just saying. Be that as it may I intend to snag a copy soon for review, and guess who’ll end up with it in a contest sometime? Hmmm?

See, even when I’m begging ya to buy something I’m still thinking of ya. ;-)