# What's the best compliment you received?



## Death Wraith (Aug 31, 2005)

Had a few 'best house in the city', best house I've ever seen' and 'best costume I've seen' for my homebrewed Stalkaround. Plus we made the front page of the paper! Not bad for our first year of building props.


----------



## Hauntiholik (Jul 13, 2005)

I heard things like:
'this is the best house'
'this is the coolest house'
'I go to this house every year. I never miss it!'
'you should charge a fee'

One thing that was caught on video was someone saying 'I hope when I die I get buried ina place like this' <-- I don't know if that was good or bad


----------



## BATFLY (Oct 2, 2004)

i had few, one family told me they drove all the way from thier downtown neighborhood just to see my house. another kid after getting scared by the stalkabout gargoyle said to his buddy. isn't that better than halloween horror night lst week?

what a night!


----------



## greasemonkey (Sep 15, 2005)

"there too much [email protected]#$% going on in there I ain't gettin near it "and I also heard 
"this such a waste of talent,you should be working for a studio"

but the looks on the kids face were worth more than a 1000 words.


----------



## Deathtouch (Nov 19, 2004)

I had kids and parents tell me they love the Halloween stuff. But, the best wasn't what they said. I had one parent who was taking pictures with his little boy. He was taking pictures by the crypt, when he spoted the corpses. He thought it would be a good idea to take his little boy by them and take a picture. Big mistake.. I just happen to see him bring the boy over by the corpses, so the mom could snap his picture when I heard a scream from the little boy. They didn't get the shot that they were hoping. LOL. All I could do is laugh. The father was trying to talk the little boy in going back, but it didn't work. LMAO


----------



## mdawson8931 (Sep 20, 2005)

alot of the usual compliments like 'this is the best house' or 'this is the coolest house' or 10 out of 10 but the best compliments where when I looked down the tunnel and 2 teenage kids were on the ground, holding each other, screaming for help. Oh and also had a parent pee herself. Now thats good entertainment.


----------



## LHALLOW (Aug 10, 2004)

I had a mom and her 2 little ones (oldest was no older than 4.) The little girl still had her costume on but the little boy didn't and he didn't have a bag. I asked what happened to his bag and the mom said....."well, we came trick or treating earlier and you didn't have your garage open yet. We finished and are on our way to Walmart now and the kids begged me to see if your house was open yet. They've been talking about this place all week." 
That was the best one for me!!


----------



## RyanTuomi (Aug 31, 2004)

a couple people told me that our place was better than the local haunted house "pay" attraction but my favorite compliment was when people refused to belived I made my stalk around costume. One kid wanted me to come to his birthday party!


----------



## Mr. Sickhertz (Oct 16, 2005)

We got this is the best house. . .Some kid asked if this was "THe huanted house." I love when the older kids or the parents are more afraid than the little kids and the happened a whole bunch last night.


----------



## MrsMyers666 (Oct 19, 2004)

I was told it was the best house, but it meant more to me scaring the kids, that's the biggest compliment to me.


----------



## otherworldly (Sep 28, 2004)

Those big, wide-open eyes and awe-filled smiles. By the time they get to the door, the compliment is all over their faces!


----------



## madmax (Dec 28, 2003)

Hearing grown men scream and hidding behind their child or wife, or backing up into a corner and afraid to move. No words can be better than that.

I had tons of people to come back, 30 mins later and say thank you, this is the first haunted house I could afford, for their whole family. I also had a lot of people who said, they wished they saved their $13.00 and in some cases, $52.00 (family of 4) because this was 10x better than the haunted house they paid to go through.

I can honestly say this was my best haunted house and I didn't even get to finish all of my props/rooms.

I also heard a lot of stop, please stop, or I'm going to pee......News Flash!, NEVER tell a man with a saw, that you're about to pee your pants Most haunter, live for those words.

I still have 3 hours to enjoy, it tonight, before the hard part comes. Tearing everything down and stripping the props, so most of them will be different....NEXT YEAR.


----------



## miketom (Oct 8, 2003)

When a Mother with her 4 kids replied "We look forward to this all year...even more than xmas!" They came by an average of 3 times a day for 2 weeks.


----------



## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

The best compliment we got was when someone asked where we 'bought' the witch with the cauldron 

MsM


----------



## pandora (Jul 15, 2004)

My best compliment was, "It looks like a real graveyard". That made my day because I try and make everything as realistic as possible. I guess mission accomplished this year......now, what's next??? hmmmmmmmm


----------



## putrid (Aug 18, 2002)

Our best one came from a little TOT. Stood in the drive way and pointed at everything and said,

"Ooo look at that!"

over and over. LOL A future haunter if I ever saw one!


----------



## NecroBones (Oct 1, 2005)

No one comes around my neigboorhood for Halloween, so it's not my props that get the attention.. It's my costume (while visiting elsewhere), combined with the movement and mannerisms I use with it, that gets the praise.

Last night, there were a couple of teens (and I mean _late_ teens, like 18-19), who were about to walk past. One guy wouldn't get near me, so the other tried to drag him over, eventually putting him in a headlock. The scared one broke free, and still refused to get close. LOL!

I had at least one instance last night where the little kid would just stand there grinning, but the mom got spooked. 

Quite a few times people thought I was some sort of animatronic or dummy (even though I wasn't trying to pretend to be a machine), and they'd just start to get sufficiently comfortable with me not being "real", that just suddenly turning to look at them, or raising my arms, would be enough to send 5 or 6 people leaping back at once.

Of course, I also got the usual "Oh my god! It's looking at me! Ahh! It's still looking at me!!!"

At the end of the evening I received some compliments from the other costumed "actors" on the street about staying in character for a long time.

Not bad for a cheap throw-together skeleton costume: 

http://halloween.necrobones.com/2005.html#scaryperry

Heh.


----------



## Milez (Oct 20, 2005)

My best was from a mother. "I bet this is what Steven Speilberg did as a kid as well. Very well done!"


----------



## AliveNBuried (Aug 23, 2004)

We had people say that their neighbors had told them about the house and to come check it out. Good word of mouth. These people told me they never realized how much we got into Halloween and were glad to live on the same street. We had other people come by and would come back later with their spouses just to show them. At the current price for gas, to have them spend it on making two trips to the haunt is compliment enough.


----------



## ICKYVICKI (Sep 12, 2003)

I got compliments on the pumpkins (the one thing my hubby did). I also had to coax some kids to make it to the door for their treat. That's always the best compliment. Last weekend I bumped into a neighbor at Kroger's (I was in the Halloween aisle) she said, "You have enough Halloween stuff! My daughter is afraid to come to your house!" So then I brought the lights I was looking at.  Last night she wouldn't come to the door, so I gave her treat to her sister.


----------



## Scare Shack (Oct 2, 2005)

Everyone sounds like they did great.
I think my best compliant was when some guy asked me
"where did you buy that?, it's awesome!"
I said "I made it."
he was like "wow, thats great!"
Thats satisfaction enough for me for the trouble's that go into it, when others look and ask and are just amazed.


----------



## Sooz (Aug 3, 2005)

Mine was a little girl bragging to her friends that she comes to our house every year. This is only the 2nd Halloween we've been here, and the first we ever set out props for! (The people that used to live here were fuddy duddies, I doubt they did anything).

I heard her bragging as she approached, and she had to prove it to them by telling me "I _loved_ what you did last year".... LMAO! Last year was basically just a black light over the porch, which was there again this time only I was under it in a wafty white outfit.

I got a little boy's nervous but defiant "I'm not scared of that!", and heard people walking by on the road saying "oooooh, look at _THAT _ House!"


----------



## bobby666 (Nov 1, 2005)

look guys that day is embedded for ever in my recollection


----------



## Dr. Slickshill (Mar 15, 2005)

I had people who drove in from surrounding states just to see my work... that's flattering as hell. I also had people who stayed for twenty minutes, studying everything. A few asked pointed questions about animation, and I showed them behind the scenes and gave out some urls for here and the monsterlist. But, the best compliment of all came from whomever dropped a twenty in my Red Cross donation bucket.


----------



## Otaku (Sep 10, 2004)

I think mine was a father telling his son that he thought the corpse props were "beautiful". The kid stared at him and replied, "Beautiful?! Are you kidding? Those things totally creeped me out!". Another was three families who moved from the neighborhood this summer but came back to TOT at my house so they could see what was new this Halloween. They all said they'll be back next year, too.


----------



## dpolking (Oct 8, 2004)

Comment was made that I should go into graphic design!


----------



## Moonchicky (Jun 4, 2005)

My favorite comments came from a little Spiderman who was TERRIFIED to come in to our porch to get his goodies from my hubby, who was dressed like a grim reaper. He was in sensory-overload with all of our props and kept shouting - WHAT'S THAT - IS HE REAL??? IS THAT CAULDRON REAL? IS THAT A WITCH? IS THIS SCARY? His eyes were all bugged out - he was really grilling me for answers like he was an investigator on CSI or something. So to get him to come into our porch and shut the heck up, my hubby had to lift his mask to show him he was just pretending and the funniest was that after he got his candy, and walking out he says to me (or really, just to himself) - SEE ITS NOT SO SCARY, IS IT? What a funny kid


----------



## jcarpenter2 (May 30, 2004)

I am torn in what was my best compliment. 
- the teenager wanting to buy my grim reaper "for his room"
- the parents taking pictures of their children by my props
but i think for me it was the
- the kids telling me how they looked forward to passing by (on the school bus) my house everyday and seeing what new prop i had put out


----------



## putrid (Aug 18, 2002)

Bobby666 is spam.


----------



## BLAKKHEART (Aug 23, 2004)

A lady came by early when started and was tring to take pictures with a new camera and could not get it to work. She asked if we were going to keep everything out for the next day. So she could take pictures tomorrow. I told her I would try. My biggest compliment was not even said to me. It was a family that didn't even stop at my house. They drove to the house across the street stop there and ran back to their car. I thought they were going to peel out when they took off. The whole time their kids kept their eyes on us to make sure that we were not going to follow them. That was funny I thought "Hey we got candy too". lol. One lady asked if we were going to have our haunted house again this year . I stood there in my graveyard putting stuff up and thought to my self "Duh".


----------



## drunk_buzzard (Sep 9, 2003)

The best compliment wasn't said, it was the actions! The first group to walk up had about a dozen people, mostly kids with a few adults. None of them would come up the driveway! Three times they left and came back, and each time we actors met them at the end of the driveway. Finally the 4th time they made it to the candy. LOL

Also, after TOTing one little boy came back while I was cleaning up and asked how much I paid for all this. I told him I make my props. He couldn't believe I made it!


----------



## Long_Tom (Oct 26, 2005)

From last night, my favorite compliment was "Is this, like, a hobby, or do you do this professionally?" 

However, my favorite compliment in general was one afternoon last May or thereabouts. For some reason I was out front contemplating the front of the house (and in the back of my mind wondering about where to put stuff), when a neighbor walking by with her dog saw me, stopped and said "I'm really looking forward to seeing what your house will look like this October."


----------



## malibuman (Oct 13, 2005)

Well, I had some take pictures and just about everybody told me what a good job I had done and how mine was about the only house that was fixed up with displays. I have several families who tell me they look forward to seeing what I come up with each year.


----------



## DaveintheGrave (Feb 12, 2004)

We live on the corner at one of the entrances to our U-shaped neighborhood and every group of TOTs that came down the street from the opposite direction would start to see the lights and props and start yelling "Look at that..", "Check out this house..." (Keep in mind nobody else in the neighborhood decorates much).
Had about two dozen compliments of "You guys always have the BEST house."
A lot of people asked if the witch stirring the cauldron was a real person.
The best compliment I guess was from a lady standing in the street while her kids ran through the graveyard area. As she watched my crawling skeleton crawl toward her she said "I haven't seen one of those before." I told her I made that and she couldn't believe it. She said I should market it, but I told her it takes too long to make one. 
I also told her it's kind of a pain and takes all day to set everything up in the yard and she said "Well, WE appreciate it."


----------



## Greencapt (Sep 13, 2005)

Wow- there were so many great moments. I'm not bragging- just happily trying to think of particular ones. Several people told me they had spent time trying to find my out of the way home to see the decorations. One groups had gone to a similarly named subdivision and asked someone there 'is there a haunted house around here?' 

There were a couple of youngins who wouldn't make it up the driveway as well as one girl around 12 years old who was just petrified- but her mother and sister forced her to come up to ToT. Several teens said it was the 'best house in town' and many asked the 'how' and 'how much' questions. Maybe best of all several neighbors and adults thanked me for helping rekindle the Halloween spirit. I told everyone to do whatever they could even if its just some cobwebs and a couple of pumpkins.


----------



## Dr. Slickshill (Mar 15, 2005)

DaveintheGrave said:


> The best compliment I guess was from a lady standing in the street while her kids ran through the graveyard area. As she watched my crawling skeleton crawl toward her she said "I haven't seen one of those before." I told her I made that and she couldn't believe it. She said I should market it, but I told her it takes too long to make one.
> I also told her it's kind of a pain and takes all day to set everything up in the yard and she said "Well, WE appreciate it."


I thought of your crawler all weekend, and wondered about the reactions you'd get. Glad it was a hit, I had no doubt!


----------



## gmacted (Aug 16, 2005)

Here are a few of the comments I received:

1) "How much did all this cost?"
2) "I can't wait till next year!"
3) One of my neighbors actually went home and came back with her husband. 
4) One kid came up to me and said "...someone told my that the crate actually moves! Is that true?"
5) After my sister saw my FCG: " I thought it was you dressed up in a costume!"


And my favorite...

3) After a group of four 14 year old kids saw my FCG behind my front door: "This is starting to creep me out!"

gmacted


----------



## magicmatt (Aug 17, 2005)

Hmm, I would say the best compliment would be, "That was mean, why'd you scare him? We're not coming back next year." That was a mother talking about her 5 year old son. LOL


----------



## Wyatt Furr (Aug 27, 2005)

a lot of smiles and good compliments,from both the kids and parents.Several said they look forward to it every year.I have several pre-teens who have been coming round since they were small.I think next year I'll make a "kodak" photo spot, complete with sign. So many parents had the kids stand in the yard for pictures.It's great to think years from now they will look at them and say"remember that halloween and that spooky house"


----------



## Timbali (Jun 28, 2004)

"You MADE this stuff?????!!!!!!"

That's always my favorite.


----------



## Jon (Feb 16, 2004)

I think in general, My fav. was when i had a huge crowd waiting to get inside my haunt. We werent open yet and the crowd kept getting bigger. Finally when everyone was ready, i got my air horn, pressed it and let everyone know that we were open. Right when i did that everyone starting cheering and clapping. That was my favorite thing of the night. 
My favorite from a single person was from a young girl. She was waiting in line to get inside the haunt and she said to me"I heard this house is really haunted". I told her it was. I couldnt stop laughing after though. It made me so happy to hear that.


----------



## jdubbya (Oct 4, 2003)

Wow! Lots of similar comments from everyone. You gotta love it when your efforts are appreciated. Aside from the comments (the one that made me laugh was the first large group of kids that were half a block away running towards my house saying "oh man, he did it again!") the parents taking time for pictures with props, coming back 2-3 times with friends just to show them, calling up others on cell phones telling them, they "have to come and check out this house." Probably the best one was the TV reporter who said he had received at least a dozen calls about our house so he had to come and check it out. He interviewed several kids and myself, and took some great footage. Just the reaction of people makes it all worthwhile.


----------



## KNightWalker (Jun 30, 2004)

Wow... Reading all these great comments reminds me of all the compliments I got. The first one was when I had two neighnbors taking pictures before the sun went down. They both came over about the same time. It's nice to be appreciated. As the night went on the compliments got better. At first I was concerned because I had more TOT's refusing to come up to the house than I had approaching. A mother of a 7-8 year old said... And I quote" It supposed to be fun not terrifing" Later I had many people who came through the yard return with friends and family. One guy said.... "I come here every year" (This is year two). But the absolute best was at the end of the night. A girl (maybe14-16) brought her young boyfriend over. After showing off my house, she told me that I had the best house in town. She then announced that her house was the second best house in town.... It turned out that her dad converts his garage into a walk-through but thought tha my yard blew her house away. That made me smile big inside.


----------



## hdwerep (Jan 20, 2006)

*awsome mosolium (sp)*

Pandora : I love the mosolium as well as the pillers on your fence. how big is the mosolium, what thickness of plywood did you use? also how did you build the pillers? The paint job looks just like concrete. hdwerep


----------



## Haunter112 (Nov 27, 2005)

One year I actually had someone tell me my haunt was "better'n DisneyWorld."

It was completely unfounded but it made my night anyway.


----------



## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

I just read every post in this thread and they made me smile and feel great for myself and everyone posting here, these moments make all the hours and work and sometimes abuse from some idiots worth it .
I have had my haunted house open for tours almost every night for almost the last 20 years now, so my opportunity for compliments is extreme compared to anybody, anywhere, I know this and I'm not getting goofy here I really feel so happy for all of you because we all share the same feelings about very similar activities, we are therein a "Brother/Sisterhood."
It's nice not to be alone, isn't it?
My first year of doing tours I had a really good compliment.
A family came here for their first time, when the tour was over, ran to their car , drove back to the campground, loaded up another car load of kids, paid their way in! When that tour ended they drove to get yet another car load but time had run out it was too late.
Last night I got an e-mail from a woman who was here 5 years ago and loved it, she bought a Ravens Grin shirt from me and wears it every other day! She is bringing her husband here this summer to see the house.
The title of her e-mail sure got my wife's attention it said :"Jim Warfield I love you!" (I explained to my wife, they don't "love" me, they just appreciate what I do for them.")
This woman came through my house twice in one week and laughed like crazy both times at my routines , yet she was also scared!?
Then she complimented me by saying I am the best at what I do, or something like that?
I e-mailed her and told her I learned long ago to keep my ego in-check!
Incase some of you might be wondering, I do much more of a comedy routine here than anything like a terrifying show, but I seem to have all of these repeat customers(or are they "Patrons?") So I must have found a fair number of people who like it this way?
One more time:I think it is so great that you all shared your wonderfull, beautiful compliments here, they made my night! They really did!
Thank You All.


----------



## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

The "compliments" that I really remember from all of these years are non-verbal. I used to put on a walk-thru in my house in Vancouver in the 80's. The show culminated with a dash down a pitch-black tunnel illuminated by a strobe light while being chased by a chainsaw maniac. Once you left the tunnel, you found yourself back inside....our Carport! From utter mayhem to total normalcy in a few running strides. Several groups (of Adults) would pause in the Carport just outside the tunnel and applaud. Completely spontaneous, completely unprompted, completely unexpected. Now THAT, was praise. 
My then-wife told me that for days afterward she would overhear other moms at the Mall raving about the show, not knowing who she was. That was also rather nice.


----------



## Shadojack (Sep 7, 2003)

Nice Ass.

OH you meant Halloween compliment...

Nice Ass.


----------



## Shadojack (Sep 7, 2003)

Ok actually it was when someone went through one of the haunts I helped on. When he was done he came up to us and said

"You guys are evil"

We smiled quite awhile on that one.


----------



## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

My most memorable compliment on a costume I made was people coming up to me days later saying things like:"You are the reason I had to take my kid home from the Halloween parade early! You had him scared to death!"
(I never meanaced any "child" at all and barely moved from one spot once I got there, it was a well-lit streetcorner in the downtown)
"I didn't see you or your kid, where were you?"
"We were about 90 feet away."
My costume was a 9 foot tall skeleton, the arms moved pretty realistically, the skull sat above my head, I looked out of the chest from behind black ragged material, I was "walking" on homemade lifts strapped to my shoes. these shoe-things were 2by4's seperated by 5/8 inch threaded steel rods about a foot long? Crude, a pain to learn to walk in but then, what's a little time and pain when you scare someone from 90 feet away?
(Insert evil laugh here~)


----------



## scotty10_31 (Jul 29, 2004)

I think the best part is one the "tuffguys" older kids who aren't afraid of anything kinda back away from you while try to still appear totally calm to their buddie's. It makes me smile behind my hideous mask!


----------



## spookineer (Sep 25, 2005)

Compliment? 2 years ago I thought the puddle on the walkway was as good as it gets. Then last year we had a woman run screaming down the street, and left her 4 year old at the door! To me, that's a compliment.


----------



## Vlad (Nov 2, 2003)

I think the nicest comments are the "thanks on the kids behalf" type ones you get from the parents.


----------



## grapegrl (Jun 16, 2005)

that house on ventura said:


> Compliment? 2 years ago I thought the puddle on the walkway was as good as it gets. Then last year we had a woman run screaming down the street, and left her 4 year old at the door! To me, that's a compliment.


Ha! The “puddle” reminds me of the time I helped my sister with TOTers at her house a couple of Hallowe’ens ago. She had an elaborate cemetery set up in the yard complete with a ghostly skeletal bride and groom vignette near the front step—nothing scary, just spooky. We had a large group of kids come up and one in particular had to be practically dragged kicking and screaming by her brother to get candy. She was totally hysterical. After they left, a lady and her toddler who were at the back of the group commented on how scared the girl was and as they were leaving she told her child to be careful because the steps were wet. My sister and I looked at each other and said “wet?”—she went inside and got some cleaner and a mop and we made sure the steps were ready for the next TOTers.

Some of the best comments I get are when kids say “this house really could be a haunted house!” At least one person says something like this every year. I live in a pretty rural area and the house is well off the road. A lady parked at the end of my driveway last year and walked her kids all the way down my driveway just so they could get the experience of walking down the spooky, lantern-lit little lane to the house. She commented on how much I had decorated for Hallowe’en and told me how “wonderful” everything was. I think she was more excited than her kids! That was pretty cool.


----------



## 3SpookyChicks (Jan 20, 2006)

Mine was from my daughter who thanked me very sincerely last year for making Halloween so much fun for everyone. I think we scared every kid in town and she was immediately famous at school-even recognized by the "big kids" (4th graders). Big stuff for a six year old!


----------



## HowDoIMlkACow (Aug 5, 2005)

I have a great one about two years ago this lady peed on herself then came back with some more people and peed herself again it was awesome also this kid somewhere around twelve years old was escorting his sister and we scared them and he took off and dropped his bag of candy and left his sister all alone. Heee Heee Heee I love Halloween


----------



## Redneck220 (Dec 13, 2005)

The best compliment is "hey great job making something scary,,the kids won't go near it"

I worked several years at aRoller skating Rink and was given free reign of the halloween decorating.. The boxes of decorations were hokey at best. They wanted the stage "decorated" something a little better than the dummy or two dressed up they'd done before. Oh,,they should'nt have given me free reign,,,,,,,they really shouldn't

The hokey stuff I hung around the snack bar wuick and got to work then on the stage. It sat at a 45degree angle at one corner of the skate floor. The first question I got was "why are you bringing in all those tree branches?" "wait and see....." "what with.......whats with that,,,,," 

My creation filled the stage,,,a forest scene with a lot of depth to it that made it look much deeper than it was. In the rear black netting in the dark helped give an obscured view,,,a realistic fire with a caouldron sat at one corner as if it was waiting for some one to tend to it any minute,,, a creep in another that seemed to be peeking out, just right amount of light for atmosphere etc etc. 


The point to all this? oh yeah,,compliments! The manager and owner loved it .
The real compliments came three days later when I was due to work again. It seems kids were either making huge arcs around the stage or stopping and afraid to continue on the floor. They were convinced SOMETHING was there and going to jump out. I was asked several times at the DJ booth if someone was in there and were they gonna jump out? I was told maybe I should have made it a little less scary. 

Ahhhhhhh the sweet smell of success. The greatest compliment to me is someone thoroughly creeped out before they even enter

Mike


----------



## Doug B (Oct 12, 2004)

One TOT was accompanied by his costumed grandfather and un-costumed 70+ year old Grandmother. After touring my haunted basement with his grandfather the TOT convinced his Grandmother to go with him on his second trip, upon exiting the basement the grandfather asked his wife what she thought. 
She replied “What sick mind thinks up this kind of stuff”. 
At that point I was compelled to answer “Thank you, thank you very much”.


----------



## Spooky Chuck (Jun 14, 2003)

One Halloween I had someone tell me that I was the creepyest neighbor he ever had. I took that as a compliment


----------



## Gravedigger (Jul 27, 2003)

A set of parents asked my neighbor if I worked at the local movie studio. And we had several parents who had to TOT for their kids, because the kids wouldn't come uo to the house. The parents admitted that they wanted a closer look.


----------



## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

Since I have lived in this little town for most of my life, 20 years ago when I was trying to buy my haunted house and people around here would tell me that I should go to "Hollywood" to make my costumes and stuff, I took it as not a compliment, rather them wishing that I should leave town!
Sometimes they would persist in saying this, so I would indulge them, playing "Devil's Advocate" would ask them if they knew anyone out there or had any phone numbers of people in the business out there?
"Uh,..No."
"Well, I don't either, so I'm staying here."
I'm still here and obviously have more fun than should be legally allowed!!!
The Ravens Grin Inn, OPEN almost every night of the entire year.
(If I had moved out there 20 years ago, I might have enough money saved up to buy the front door of a house? Unless it was the guy on "Extreme Homes" whose front doot cost $800,000.oo!!)


----------



## fallfire (Aug 9, 2005)

The best compliment we had about our haunted walk through was from a mom who brought inner city kids to the neighborhood to tot, she said "it is a service to the community" Crap if my old high school teachers could hear that I bet they would drop dead. The second place winner in best compliment was from a teenage girl who screamed "HOLY $H!% WHAT THE HELL IS THAAAAAAAAT!!!!!


----------



## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

Fallfire, I used to get that "service to the community" kind of compliment, too. It's sort of an attempt to say "thanks for making our 'hood a little better place to raise kids," but, you're right, it IS a nice notion. I also remember getting a lot of little smiles and nods from parents that expressed more than words.


----------



## Choppy (Dec 28, 2003)

Best spoken compliments:
1) "THIS WAS BETTER THAN THE ONE AT 6 FLAGS" A group of about 4 kids around 13-14, they were the last group of the night, so we just gave them everything we had.

2) "OH MY GOD, I THOUGHT HE WAS FAKE!! HES REAL!!!!!" Its always nice to know that your efforts to look fake paied off.

Best unspoken compliments:
1) Having people drive up in cars, sometimes the parents were in PJ type clothing, just to come to our house. really makes ya feel good.


Well, this is wat i think our best compliments are.


----------



## SkullAndBone (Aug 18, 2005)

We love Haunted Manor, so of course I love any of the "this is like the haunted mansion" types of comments. 

However, I really like when the tots try to say they really like an element, but have a hard time explaining or even understanding what they are looking at. I really take it to heart when tots have a hard time absorbing and describing the display even when they have spent a long time looking at it.


----------



## AliveNBuried (Aug 23, 2004)

Last year, during the day while I was setting up, a car pulled up at the end of my driveway and stopped. There were two people (middle aged married folks) in it. I didn't know if they were lost, so I went to the car and asked if they needed help. "No, we couldn't wait for tonight." the woman said. "we just wanted to see what you were putting up. Is that ok, or do you want us to leave?" I told them they could stay, but the effect wouldn't be the same as if it were night. "Oh, we'll be back tonight." the man said. Nothing like hype.
That night another guy came racing into my driveway with his his son in the car. After they went through he told me he didn't even know we did this, that he heard from another parent about it and how awesome it was. I said I planned on expanding each year until my wife finally decides enough is enough. To see the gleam in his eyes as he told me he couldn't wait for '06 was priceless. Word of mouth about my haunt is perhaps the best compliment of all.


----------



## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

I have had so many people come here at night and then return during the light of the next day to look at the house, as if they can't believe it or something?
Of course I used to tell people that during the day this place looks like a turquiose and white 1955 camping trailer, "Then, at night, under the full moon and the influence of some bad odors floating around from the hog lot(hog lot is gone now) "Magic" happens and a mass halucination takes place seeming to make this place into a 1870 Italianate house with a cupola on top!

Yesterday and last night I had a total of 18 people come here in three groups and every group said they wanted a "Lights on-No Scares" tour!?
I was severely complimented at the conclusion of the tour for the 12 little girls who began the tour with tears in their eyes and asking to "Be let out", an hour later as we were headed toward the exit I did scare them, they screamed , them immeadiately all laughed! Just the way that it should be!
I very possibly created a whole bunch of new patrons , people who will not only return for more fun but will also be favorably talking about their time here with more people, just like a real business, I made satisfied customers!!
There it is, my secret is out! (My biggest secret anyway)


----------



## skrew2nite (Feb 2, 2006)

I would have to say the best comment I had came a couple of days after halloween when I was at a gas station and the car filling up next to me the guy said to his son "I told you he wasn't a real zombie" the kid looked at me and then shook my hand and said "Great job you really scared me" Found out they drove about a 1/2 hour because they heard my house was the cool one. He recognized my truck.

But to me it isnt the compliments its the scared sh*tless look on thier face as they start to run away!!!!!!


----------



## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

Is your truck a 1949 Chevy cab-over with a box body on the back and a huge homemade steel bumper for crunching 60 Chevys with?
Just asking.


----------



## skrew2nite (Feb 2, 2006)

HAHAHAHA thats funny no my truck is a mitsubishi outlander I've only scene a few others around town.


----------



## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

After "Jeepers Creepers" had been out awhile I was at McDonald's with my 89 Olds station wagon, it had decorations already on it by this time, promoting my house, but I overheard a little boy say as he pointed at my "Spooky Car", "Look! I't's the car from "Jeepers Creepers!??"
Olds station wagon looks like that old cab-over truck?
My Dad told me when those cab-overs were new they had alot of problems with the shift linkage binding up and the truckers who owned them around here spent alot of nights working on this problem...maybe some of them became so frustrated that they grew bat wings and deveopled evil supernatural powers and began ripping on people at night?
If only GM had designed a better linkage, none of this would have ever happened!!


----------



## Guest (Feb 19, 2006)

*Better late than never*

Hi guys-
I hadn't replied to this thread, though I meant to when I first read it a while back.
I think the two best compliments I've ever received, and maybe will ever receive, came on the same night, two years ago.
The first, earlier in the evening, was from my grandmother. 
Now, you have to understand, my grandmother GAVE me Halloween; she allowed her crazy kids (my mom and her numerous siblings) to use her lovely home to begin our family Halloween tradition of putting on a display/haunted house since '69.
And she always got into the spirit and the hard work of it herself, no matter her age or condition.
Well, two years ago, the last Halloween she saw, she came by MY house, the fifth year in a row she'd come out to my Halloween house, and took me aside after spending hours looking and laughing and saying her usual wonderfully 'Grandma' stuff like 'Oh, that's so gross!' or 'Ew! How can you stand it! I love it!', etc.
So she took me aside, and whispered to me. "This is so wonderful, that you give this to your community, just like we always did."
"Well," I said, "YOU'RE the one who got us all started so long ago..."
"And now you're keeping it alive, and it will stay alive as long as you keep doing it. The mantle is yours now, kiddo."
I think I teared up a bit. I knew she was not long for this world, and she was giving me a family blessing. 
I cherish it still.
The second compliment came a few hours later, when things were really dark and spooky and perfect, and a father (who had spent as much time jumping and screaming and laughing as his kids and wife had!) came up to me and asked (as many do), "Why did you start getting into doing this? Have you always done this?"
I gave him my usual story of being a kid and all the wonderful Halloween moments that shaped me. I ended with a story of my GRandmother's house, the first Halloween I can remember with any clarity.
"And that moment did it for me," I finished. "Those memories, those world-changing moments, are the reason."
"And now," he said, "my kids have their own. Thank you." And he put out his hand, I shook it.

Can't have felt prouder than that moment. 

Mike C


----------



## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

Mike C:
Right there in a nutshell. That's why we do these things.


----------



## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

Of course the best compliments are the ones we work for, deserve, in other words, and it gets even better when they are actually complimenting your somewhat natural abilitys that you have spent a long time working on.
As I am telling the long, involved version of the hauntings in this house I sometimes wonder if anyone is really listening to all the nuiances of speech and vocabulary choices? Are they paying attention at all? Or am I just fooling myself and are they just wasting time?
Then I hit the whole story's punchline and quit talking, the room is dark.
You can hear a pin drop for the next minute in that room.
Then something happens, screams are heard, then quiet, then more screams!
Of course a couple of Halloweens ago I would ellict screams, then laughter, then more screaming, more laughs, I was flipping a scream/laugh selector button, almost.
Quite the feeling of power and control, quite tempting to feed it raw to my ego, no, can't do that, I might choke to death!
The truthful gaze of a video camera surveys the audience, keeping ego in check, especially a "Shoot-in-the -dark" model!


----------



## Long_Tom (Oct 26, 2005)

It happened again yesterday.

I was out in my driveway working with some lumber (building raised bed frames for the vegetable garden). A man and his kid walk by. The man stops, looks at what I'm doing, and says "I hope you aren't starting on Halloween already!" Here it is, May 7th, he sees my house and thinks "Halloween." I guess I've made an impression.


----------



## Ween12amEternal (Apr 15, 2006)

How cool is it that the replies to this went all the way through February? What a testament to evreyone's commitment to this scare the bejesus outta anybody!! 

Our neighbors are always suspicious of us when we do yard work out front, especially at the end of summer/ back to school time. "Is it that time again?!" And that all the neighbor kids rate us the #1 house in the area, that's a pretty big compliment!


----------



## Guest (May 10, 2006)

I know what you mean, We'en!
Even if we're out just, I dunno, re-chipping a flower bed or digging a new culvert for run off, we get the neighbors chiming in 'It's not Halloween yet, is it?'
and we have to laugh.
The kids around here are always walking by after school in the Fall, and you can see them pointing, long before there are any real decorations up, pointing and talking to their friends. Some of them even come up and ask me 'So are you still doing Halloween?' and of course I say 'Of course!' and they start getting all excited, telling me what they're going to be, or what I should have in the yard (I've gotten some cute ideas from these moments!) and it's a very cool compliment to be the 'Halloween House' in the area voted by the KIDS.

Mike C.


----------



## Redneck220 (Dec 13, 2005)

Long_Tom said:


> It happened again yesterday.
> 
> I was out in my driveway working with some lumber (building raised bed frames for the vegetable garden). A man and his kid walk by. The man stops, looks at what I'm doing, and says "I hope you aren't starting on Halloween already!" Here it is, May 7th, he sees my house and thinks "Halloween." I guess I've made an impression.



What he doesn't tell us is that he was planting vegetables,,,,pumpkins of course


----------



## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

Besides asking me "How did you get into Halloween so much?"
I also get asked "Why have a haunted house open all year?"
Halloween is the most creative, freedom inspiring holiday , bar none.
Having all the fun of a haunted house should be available every night of the year, why not?
How many happily married normal people only get really intimate once a year?
Last night a young couple who had never been here before were really enjoying the tour, they were scared, they were also laughing and enjoying it greatly and said they would be back with friends before Halloween hits again.
Guess what? I also had a whole lot of fun giving them the tour!!
Would I rather be running a Roto-rooter down a stinky sewer pipe?
No. Been there , did that for 15 of my adult years.(although I can tell a few funny stories about that too!) (Some are not really proper for mixed audiences)


----------



## Zombie-F (Jul 23, 2004)

The best compliment I got came from a little kid whose mother was prodding at him to go get a closer look at my monster-in-the-box. "I don't wanna. It's too scary!"

Then the kids mom broght him over to it and he screamed. That scream was the best compliment I ever received.


----------



## bodybagging (Nov 18, 2003)

Hmmmmmmm for my Yard Haunt I would have to say the best compliment was one halloween night many full moons ago when a good hour and a half after shutting down the lights, there was a knock on the door... upon opening the door I was begged to please turn the lights back on, seems as though the gents sister had called him and told him that HE HAD TO SEE THIS, after a 2 1/2 hour drive he was not disappointed!
For The HauntedHOuse I would defintely say the best compliment ever was when I scared a yongman outside the Haunt so bad that he ran away,over a hour later he was found over 2 miles away and still running and crying....
As for my Makeup work, the best compliment was being compared to universal studios.........................................


----------



## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

Today the following letter was in my mailbox:

Dave & I came Wednesday May 10th and were completely amazed!
Neither of us expected to be that Scared,Creeped Out or Impressed.
It wasn't until we got back in our car that we realised that you weren't going to kill us and bury us in your wine cellar.
We had so much fun that we wanted to send you more money!
Thanks again. We hope to be back soon.

Dave & Erin.

they had enclosed a check for $20.

I guess the next time they come here for a house tour I will HAVE to kill and bury them to go beyond my earlier efforts and to once again aptly impress them? (Anything to please.)
Tonight four people , first timers, showed up, the one young woman had been Erin's bartender 45 miles from here where they were staying. (And they were ALOT of screaming, jerking, twitching, Fun!)
By other people's standards I do put alot of time and energy into every tour but that is what it takes to succeed , in my opinion.


----------



## slightlymad (May 8, 2006)

quite simply it is the kids who wont walk past the front of my house we will soon be moving from a corner house the end of the street while the possibilities are endless for scares we loose the pleasure of seeing terrified tots crossing the street and going around what is basically a static display


----------



## erie_pa_halloween_guy (Mar 20, 2005)

Although I do agree with all the above statements. I believe the best compliment any of us can receive is from us. When we post pictures or links here and hear thats awesome or good job from our peers, I believe that is the best compliment any of us can recieve, due to the large amount of talent here.

Thats my story and im sticking to it.


----------



## frizzen (Sep 9, 2004)

Yeah that's it! It's when a haunter gives their honest opinion that you've got a great haunt!

Though the wet steps, looks of horror, countless screams, "please don't hurt me!", people too scared to run, somebody who leaves after a scare and doesn't stop running once they leave your yard... Those are just the icing. 

Though I think some of the best verbal compliments from TOT and TOT-parents I've gotten had to be: "Aaahh #$&@*!! I thought that was real!!!" , "No I don't want to go up there, too scary!" , "Aaaahhhh!! God, that's so cool!" ....

And one of my all time favorite quotes was the first year after I convinced my parents to let us get back into haunting (they stopped for something like 6-8 years due to work and stuff) so just to gauge reaction we did a pretty light haunt setup. Anyway, one of the older TOT (late-teen) "Oh man, this is great seeing this house do something for halloween again!!! The people who used to live here used to have the BEST haunt!!!" My parents have owned the house since sometime in the 70's, and before that my great-grandparents had it since it was built... Hehe. Damn those "former owners", setting the bar too high with props we've still got.


----------



## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

Since I am open almost every single night, I have ample opportunity to show my house to other haunters.
I guess that it could be considered a "compliment" when they fall down screaming infront of their friends?
The things I do here for a show are mostly so silly as to be totally unexpected , especially from someone who is a haunter I guess? (Of course some don't like to be seen getting scared infront of their buddies)
I honestly do give everybody as close to the same tour here as I can.
Sometimes at the end of the tour I would break the bad news to some haunter(s), by saying, "Sorry to tell you, but this was the same tour that I give to everybody."
I do give various kinds of house tours depending upon what people might want or according to age group, ex cetra.
Couldn't you just see a haunter who had been doing a haunt for 15 or 20 years asking for the "Kiddie-Lights-On" Tour?


----------



## scorpio (May 9, 2005)

over the years recieved many compliments, last year when a local school was doing thier nature walk, they stopped viewed my display from across the street, and they all started to clap and the teacher commended me.


----------



## JohnnyL (Nov 6, 2005)

I would have to say the best thing for me is while hiding around a darkend corner and seeing a trick o' treater skipping along holding her moms hand and saying "this is the best thing I've seen on Halloween!" That truly makes sends warmth throughout me. I cannot begin to count the amount of times people have told me to send in a portfolio to a production company such as Disney or Universal, which makes everything worth while, however just knowing that I have truly given someone a great Halloween memory.... well, that's all I need.


----------



## michigal (Oct 30, 2005)

Probably the best two I've had were when I walked down to the road, and a mom and dad were taking pictures of their little boy in the graveyard and checking the monsters close up, because it was so scary at night that they wanted him to see it during the daytime. The other was a couple who told me they came up on vacation every year at this time of year, and part of their must-see was what I'd done that year, and they were so glad that I'd put it out already. I start setting up at the end of September, so it's out for the entire month of October. Gotta stretch it out, although I keep adding to it. In fact, the two local newspapers printed photos of the display, one of the captions mentioned it "grows by the day."


----------



## Beepem (Jul 16, 2006)

mine was a kid on my street saying wow brian sweet dude this is like the best homemade halloween crap ever


----------



## Guest (Jul 24, 2006)

"You're scaring me Mr. Robert!" Said Nicholas, 6 year old from across the street!


----------



## IshWitch (May 19, 2006)

I have had kids that won't come into the yard. Even to the point where the parents yelled to us to bring the candy to the car! Yeah, right! You want candy, you gotta earn it!
Bwahahahaha!

I have some repeat kids and that is always fun. 

I think one of the most rewarding is when people at work are talking about my yard for weeks after bringing their kids by!


----------



## ScardeyCat (Sep 10, 2005)

Some TOTs came by and their parents peeked around us while we were giving out candy, and looked into our house. We had had a Halloween party the night before, and the furniture was still covered with white sheets, and the decorations of lillies and skulls were still everywhere. All this leading into our living room, framed by a cheesecloth ripped up grey curtain.

She said something like 'oh, your house is really...nice' and we explained that we had a party, and...

LOL she thought it always looked like that. Which, it pretty much does, but hey, we hadn't met the neighbors just yet...I think we freaked them out, but they ALL came back the next year, with all their kids. Haha. It was great.


----------



## isis11571 (Sep 7, 2004)

an entire bus load of kids from a church t-o-t-ed my house on the 30th AND the 31st last year, said it so cool they had to come again, and I expect them this year, our town has a pop; of 200 ,these kids came 15 miles on a bus to our home 
from the nearest town
I guess that gives new meaning to "if you build it they will come"


----------



## Sipesh (Sep 5, 2004)

Let's see...
There have been a few people that returned later with their video cameras to shoot the house-- gotta love that.

The comment that most amused me was when I took my daughter out and left my husband to man the fort as it were for a few minutes. On the street behind us is another house that goes a little crazy. As I walked up to that one, a group of kids passed us, and one of them said, "This isn't anything like the house on the NEXT street!"

YAY us!


----------



## Lady Nyxie (Jul 27, 2006)

The best compliment I get is when people walk in to see my Halloweentown (Lemax village) and are simply speechless for the first few minutes. Then I get a "Wow! Look at all of this." Finally, I get people who just crouch down (it is on the box spring of a full size bed) and stare at it, trying to take it all in.


----------

