# Horrorfind Memories



## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

*Thursday August 14th*


Loaded my truck with my two bags (carry-on, suitcase) & my rock hard feather pillow. It was a bright sunny day with only a 30% chance of rain. Had checked Adelphi, Maryland's weather & it was the same. Got on the road before 9:30am for a 90 trek to the Minneapolis airport. My flight on NW airlines was leaving at 12:55pm, for a 2 1/2 hour flight to BWI airport in Baltimore, MD. Checked my suitcase & made my way to the pedestrian overpass to the security scan. At the entrance to the walkway I was greeted by security level: Orange. lol! Made it through security without incident. Picked up a Chicken Carbanara sandwich & a pop from Quizanos for lunch. Then the "hurry up & wait" began. Luckily I got a isle seat & more leg room... yeah! NW has generously offered to put me in first class (when I was checking in) for only an extra $150! wrong!! The man sitting next to me happened to be a pilot himself. He was pretty helpful to point out that we had been circling for 20 minutes above the clouds. I asked why? There is only a 30% chance of rain. Then 10 min. later the Captain announces that we've been circling West Virginia. Some flights had been delayed from landing in Baltimore. As soon as they had clearance, they would be landing. My flight was scheduled to land at 4:15pm est. As we got our clearance, & made our way to the airport... we could see huge lighting strikes just under the cloud lines. Had to go through one rough patch & it shook me in my seat. We didn't land until 5pm. I quickly collected my suitcase & dashed to the shuttle service. Yes, they could still get me to my hotel in Adelphi. Yea!! Was so glad that I had made the reservation for the shuttle, instead of just booking it when I arrived. Only had to wait a short time before catching a ride in the shuttle. It was almost completely filled, wow! The driver entered in all the people's destinations into the gps & we were off. Luckily fate smiled on me & my hotel was the closest!! As we are traveling down the BW beltway, traffic was heavy & only 2 lanes going each way. It starts to rain, then pours, changing over to downpours. The water on the highway was so heavy that it flowed like a quick moving stream. An old rich couple was sitting in the bench seat behind me. The "lady" complained that the A/C was too cold. So the driver diverted her airflow. That wasn't enough for her & she complained again... that she's freezing. The temp outside was 85o with high humidity. The rest of us were properly cooled off, considering that we were packed in like sardines in the shuttle. Once again another complaint... why don't they issue blankets if they want to have the A/C freezing cold? The driver had already turned the temp setting to warmer, once already before that. This time he totally turned it off & opened some windows. I almost yelled at her to shut up. I kept watching the gps for how long I would have to listen to her. Good, we're almost there. She makes 2 calls on her cell complaining that it's taking forever to get to her destination. The shuttle pulls up to my hotel, not a minute too soon. I felt so bad for the rest of the people on the shuttle, having to listen to her for longer. I walked into the hotel lobby & was ambushed with a big hug from my friend Veronica. After a long trip wasn't ready for that. But, it was a great welcome to the start of my vacation. I checked into my room & had the second surprize... & got more hugs in the elevator from my friends. The 3rd surprize was.... I got my wish of a large room with 2 Queen sized beds. Woohoo!! Ran down to the courtyard to find & hang with my friends. Little did we know that we would get another surprize. As some of my friends were smoking, drinking & chatting, at 10pm... the police roll up & surround us with their squad cars. Little did we know that the hotel had booked some sort of testing that ended just before 5pm Friday night. So a number of people had called the front desk complaining about 30 drunken people causing a ruckus! We were all suprised by how the police could all come up on us so quite & all at the same time. We all waved at the police & said hi. They didn't know what to think. We were all either sitting in the anirondack chairs or on the center base of the sculpture, cool & collected. No one was causing any trouble or anything. After a brief consult with hotel security, 2 HF staff, & a police officer.... the police left as quitely as they came. Security informed us that we could stay there, but to please keep voices low. He didn't care if we didn't leave till the sun came up. We all agreed & the security left. Sadly, some people left a mess with empty glasses, bottles, etc. to be found by the hotel in the morning. I went to bed at 4am & said goodnight to my friends. *End of day one.*


----------



## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

*Friday Aug. 15th
*
Today is the day, that I've been waiting for & counting down the days till... the start of Horrorfind Weekends at 5pm!

I had set my alarm for 9am.
That would give me plenty of time to get cleaned up & dressed. Then head across the courtyard to have some Breakfast in the Cafe. (Breakfast closes at 10am) I had a hearty breakfast of pancakes, sausage, & caffeine.(Dr Pepper) Planned to meet Ravenhair at 10 am, down at the corner Starbucks in the annex building. Had just finished my meal & was making my way down the long hallway to Starbucks when I got Ravenhair's call. I got the biggest smile & even bigger hugs from her. We sat down at Starbucks & made plans for Saturday's Costume contest. Gave her an extra room key. So she could have access to the room whenever she needed it to drop off stuff, etc. We talked for a bit (about haunt stuff, etc.) & then she had to go run some errands. My friend from DarkCreations hadn't showed up yet. And many of the Dealers were already unloading their vehicles & setting up their tables at 11am. I spotted Total Fright & asked if they needed any help unloading. They were quick to take me up on my offer. Had them unloaded in no time at all. I spotted Dristanmorgana carrying her corpse, out in the courtyard & shared a big hug (the 3 of us). She had to get going & setup her table as well. It was shortly after that I spotted my friend from DarkCreations, & helped her move her dolls in. She thanked me for the help & surprised me with a free Vendor weekend pass. Woohoo!! She had felt bad for me & wanted to do something to help me. I had already paid for my weekend pass but, sold it later to a friend. Was asked if I could look after her table at 5pm so, she could take a 30 min. Supper break. Sure, no problem I said. So, I just hung out with friends until 4:45pm. As fate would have it, I sold the first doll for her while she was on break. It was a little unnerving sitting there & trying to answer questions as best as I could. Made sure people took their business card with the website on it. I gotta call from Killerfiction asking where I'd be at the opening of the convention. I met her & her boyfriend Matt, & we walked around the Dealer's room for a bit. We eventually made it to Dristanmorgana's table (Corspes by the Bunch) & took a photo together. KF had handmade some stuffed creatures & gave us a choice to pick one of them per person. After that we went to the Celb rooms & talked to Celbs, (Tom Savani & Sid Haig, to name a few) I briefly talked to Dee Wallace Stone & we chatted about the Costume contest. She was worried about topping last year's contest. Asked me if I'm going to go? I said I wasn't sure, that I had a haunt tour to goto. She surprisingly replyed "Blah, Blah, go away in a half joking voice. We were all getting hungry, so I suggested maybe a diner nearby. Agreed that sounded good & we ended up at Plato's Diner. It was all decked out Grecian style inside. The menu was huge, with lots of choices. As we were leaving... Tom Savani stopped us & said hello. That really blew us all away. We hurried back to the con. Where we met LittleZombiwoogums & her boyfriend at Rocky Horror picture show movie in the auditorium. Patrica Quinn (Magenta in the film) hosted the movie & answered questions before showing it. Sadly my friends left for the night. I hung out with my Horrorfind friends till I went to bed at 4am.

*End of day two*


----------



## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

*Saturday Aug. 16th
*
Got up at 9am, cleaned up & went over to the Cafe for Breakfast. Wanted to be up & awake because Ravenhair & crew was going to be here at 10am. Got a call from Ravenhair, "I'm here & dropped off stuff in the room. Where are you?" I was at the other end of the hallway, walking towards her. We met up & made our way through the dealers room first, then off to meet the Celbs. I bought some more dvds to add to the couple I bought Friday. As a group we met Patricia Quinn, Tom Savani, Dee Wallace Stone, Sid Haig, Tony Todd, J LaRose, Greg Nicotero. I waited my turn to meet Chris Sarandon (voice of Jack Skellington- NBXS). He didn't seem to be having a good morning. I noticed that he put on a fake smile, when he talked to the person before me. That same fake smile came back when he greeted me. That was until I handed him a small metal Halloween (that I had bought in MN at Micheal's Crafts) sign to autograph. It said "Skellington Jack's Pumpkin Patch". His face lit up & he was smiling from ear to ear! Excitedly he asked me multiple times "Where did you get this?" "Would you have another one?" He told me that he has a pumpkin patch in his garden at home & it would be perfect for it! I said Michaels Crafts. Michaels Crafts? he said. Yes, Michaels Crafts I said. He grabed a scrap piece of paper & quickly wrote it down. Next he turned to his assistant & said find the nearest Michaels Crafts, & get me that sign. Chris got up & shook my hand & thanked me for making his day!!!! I was going to ask him to pose for a picture but, thought I'd better not push my luck. Besides, the sign above him stated that autographs $25, photos with him $25. When I met Dee Wallace Stone officially, it was with Ravenhairs crew. Dee had remembered RH from the March HFW's costume contest entry. She was all smiles till she got to me. I got a dirty look from her as I introduced myself. I said that I will be at the Costume contest. Then all was forgiven & I got her to smile at me. RH, crew & myself all headed back to my hotel room to relax. I pulled out the Halloween candy, the crew was busy with that & watching tv. Poor RH was frantic to get everything setout & ready to go with the costumes & makeup. She had picked up a great gift basket or goodies: Sourcream & Onion Ritz baked crackers, hoagy sandwich, chocolate piramid, Russell Stoufer chocolates, 6 pk of beer, & replacement battery (for my electronic nametag). We all had good conversations & shared many things of interest. KillerFiction called me to ask where I was? I said up in my room, we have RH's crew up here & she is starting to do haunt makeup. Come on up & see for yourself. Tams & Chris's family called me also, & they came up too. We all hung out for a while, ate Halloween candy, & visited. KillerFiction & Matt decided to head back to the con. Would meet up with me at Goatman Hollow tour. Tams & crew also headed back to the convention. I said my Goodbyes & left to meet up with Gravedigger to ride to Goatman. Went with much anticipation. We both were really missing not working on the HFW HH, or running it. Finally found the place according to the address. It was an old industrial building (that was "L" shaped) with a chainlink courtyard. One of the hosts explained that it was actually 4 buildings built at different times. But, were inner connected much later. They were in the midst of building the haunt. Only one scene was ready to show during the lights off tour. We were broken into groups of 10, shown the entire haunt. Video footage of previous years was projected outside to watch while waiting. They planned on doing a lights on tour afterwards & explain effects, etc. We were invited to stay afterwards enjoy refreshments & talk about haunts. It was decided that we both wanted to get back in time for the Costume Contest. So, off we went back to the con. I am always amazed at what people come up with there every year. Never quite know who is going to win but, we all have people that we're rooting for. I was surprised when I saw my friends Al & Dana dressed from Fido. RH's "Sirens from Hell" along with her, make their way to the stage. They kept in character all the way from the entrance to the stage. It was amazing how they worked & shocked the judges on stage. A blur of costumes went by & then they announced the winners for the novice catagory. The Sirens won 2nd place novice. They all made it to the stage to accept their prizes. Then the rest of the costumes were shown. The judges had a hard time choosing the winners. Each winner was announced one by one. Then the Best of Show catagory.... Sirens from Hell!!! It was amazing that they had not only won once but, twice!! Many pictures were taken, & it took an hour before they could go back to the room & change. Rh was over the moon with smiles & excitement!! I had missed a number of things during my time up in my room. But, I could tell that Ravenhair really needed me there for moral support. I really didn't mind, & was glad to help a friend. RH & crew packed up & said their Goodbyes. I headed back down to hang with my friends for the rest of the night. Went to bed at 4am again.

*End of Day 3*


----------



## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

Uploaded some Horrorfind pics.


Flickr: mazebuilder's Photostream


----------



## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

Sunday Aug. 17th

The last day of the convention is always depressing. Because no matter how hard we try to hide it, this is it. I got up at 9am like usual & headed over to the cafe for Breakfast. Luckily a few of my friends were there & we got to eat together. I had gotten a call Saturday night from Dark Creations. They were planning on leaving very early Sunday, & called to say that they didn't need my help loading things up. I thanked them for the call & again for my weekend vendor pass. At noon was the "Scares that Care" silent auction. Everyone had until before noon to place bids on the many items donated for the cause. The big item was a mache with almost all the "Jason's" (except one) from Friday the 13th autographs. As the dollar bids got higher, it got down to 2 bidders. I believe the bidding started at $50 & went up from there. It got really exciting as the bid got to $500! Then it quickly moved to $600!! How long would this last & who would get it? Then to $750! Would it go to a $1000? As it reached $800, sadly the one person bowed out. He said "I have a big heart but, sadly the other guy has a bigger wallet". Heard that the winner was prepared to goto a $1,000 for it. Each item or items top bidder was annouced. A corpsed skull was donated by Gravedigger, & chances to win it were done with a ticket donation raphel. The rest of the day was spent hanging out with friends. Many of the dealers packed up early & left by or way before 4pm. Sadly things were being packed up & Horrorfind was drawing to a close. Movies were still being shown in the auditorium for a while. Said my Goodbyes to a few friends. Did manage to watch Hellraiser in the auditorium. We eventually all ended up in the bar hanging out. People came & went. Everyone was getting sadder that it was over. DeathByNascar & I both ordered Crabcake sandwiches with fries for dinner. Celbs came & hung out in the bar as well. After chatting with some friends for a while, I said my Goodbyes & headed to my room to relax. Turned the tv on for a distraction, as I repacked my suitcase with my newly found treasures. Had to try to balance what could go in my suitcase vs carryon. Remembering that if my suitcase was overweight, it would cost me an extra $50! Went to bed tired & sad that it was over.

End of day 4


----------



## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

Monday Aug. 18th

Got myself cleaned up & went over for Breakfast in the cafe for the final time. After eating, I took many pictures of the convention areas to show my HS friends. Then I went up to my room to do a sweep of it, to make sure that I hadn't forgotten anything. Cleaned up the area a bit. Dristenmorgana had given me a bag of sandwich stuff on Sat. (which I had on ice in my bathroom sink) I had a lite lunch of sandwich meat, cheese, etc. Gathered my suitcase, carryon, & my pillow & checked out of the hotel. Waited in the lobby for the shuttle to come pick me up & take me to the airport at 11:55 am for a 2:30pm flight. Wasn't happy when I got an automated call saying that they were running up to 30 min. late. It got to the hotel a bit earlier & still had plenty of time at the airport. The flight made good time & it only took 2 hrs vs 2 1/2 that it normally takes. I still ended up in rush hour traffic all the way home. Didn't get in till after 6pm. Tired & worn out & happy to be able to relax. Had lots of stories of my adventures & pictures too. But, was too tired to explain it all.

But, the next day would be my first day at a temp to hire position as a forklift driver. No recoop time of a couple days like I normally have. Nice to finally start making some money, after being without a job for 2 weeks prior.

The End

P.S. More pictures to follow... just have to upload them first.


----------



## halloweenscreamqueen (Jul 23, 2007)

Hey, glad to hear you found a job so quickly!! How do you like it?


----------



## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

The temp job didn't last & sadly I'm unemployed again.


----------



## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

New Horrorfind Weekend pics just uploaded.

Haunt_Master/HFW10 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting


----------



## darth stygian (Jun 19, 2008)

Great Pictures.


----------

