# Maze of Terror... building now



## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

Sat. Sept 27th temp: 80o high
Haunt helpers: Ronald, Andrew, Nathan, & Myself
worked on it 7 1/2 hrs

Todays weather was sunny & cool, 60o in the morning, & was mid 70o's by noon.

I had planned on getting up early & heading down to work on the maze. Well... that was a good plan that didn't happen. Didn't end up getting there until almost 2pm. By the time I was down at the maze location it was 80o & we had blocked any breeze with the maze walls already. It's very hard to work on the maze by yourself. Really need another person to help move panels into place & the other person hold it while one person screws the panels together with a cordless drill.

Ronald & his mini minions helped as much as possible... running for screws, etc. This year we wanted to add something special into the build. Being able to change the experience of the maze, with just a few minor touches. It was requested that the changes take effect after everyone had been thru several times. This would totally change the experience they had the first few times. For they wouldn't know what to expect the next time. We accomplished much today, with over half of the left outside walls & left passage ways completed. We are bringing back the tunnel / caves in several spots. Not exactly sure what the final layout of the maze will be. But, I'm sure that it will challenge our patrons & hopefully raise more donations as well.

photo link to follow

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b203/Haunt_Master/Maze 08/


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## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

Friday Oct. 3rd temp high 60o

Haunt Helpers: Ronald, Myself worked on it 6hr 30 min.

Ronald & I worked on the maze today, because of a conflict on Sat. First we installed all four of the tunnel / caves. With the largest of them being a single t/c in two pieces spanning 18 ft. The remaining outside walls went up quickly over time. Then the matter of filling them middle spaces & installing more flip doors, to change position later in the night. (after everyone has been through once or more) From there we worked on making the passages narrower & directing the flow of it. Regardless of how many times we walked through it, to change out a battery, get screws, etc. it started getting us confused which way to go. We took a 30 min. Supper break for store bought baked lasagna & chicken alfredo. Yum. We worked on it till 7:50pm cst.
I took a series of photos of the build in progress, as well as at the end of the night. Have quite a few photos to look through & upload.

Photo link to follow.

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ter/Maze 08/


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## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

Sunday Oct. 5th temp: 65o High

Haunt helpers: Alex, Myself worked on it 6hrs

Today was spent narrowing & filling the remaining spaces & passage ways. (insert evil laugh here...) It takes a lot of figuring, trial & error for to fit the spaces. Also, it's a challenge to get a sheet of plywood, door, or other large pieces of wood, through the narrow & twisty path. Found it easier to either put the wood over the wall & take it to the space. Or carry it two handed over my head & walls, horizontal to the place. Much like a waitress with a large platter of food. lol! More secret access ways were added to the maze. Sadly we have run out of full sized panels, & the door supply is dewindling fast. All that is remaining is scrap pieces of wood & the pile of support braces.

Photo link to follow.

Attention.... Security Alert, level orange!
Maze security here. Due to the possible security risk in compromising the maze. All photos taken Sunday October 5th, have been confiscated & held in high security. This is just a precaution for this time. I assure you that photos will resume, after the setup is complete.
Thank you for your attention & have a nice day.


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## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

Saturday Oct. 11 
temp 73o high, party cloudy with rain!

Haunt Helpers: Ronald, Myself worked on it 7hrs

I added a couple safety exits today & expanded the back of the maze further to the back. My hopes are to have it reach the very back of the shed to the back big sliding doors. Believe it or not, I still have some doors to use up to do this. lol. Ronald spent most of the time getting our display catacombs areas, & over head bracing. The weather changed from cloudy blue skys to a down pour a number of times! It was raining so hard, that we had a hard time hearing the radio (that was turned up loud!). Have to remember that the building is all metal with a metal framework. One of my minions stopped by briefly to check out all our hard work on the maze. I walked him through it from beginning to end. He smiled & said you've out done yourselves again! I can't wait for the party, people will be totally lost... ha! We had pulled pork BBq sandwiches & lasagna for Supper. Yum! I went out & worked on it some more to expand the back section. Got almost one side done, when Ronald came back to say G'bye. He has a busy schedule tomorrow & had to go. I worked on it some more & got a few flicker flame lights installed. Did a test run through it, it's still pretty dark.

No photos were taken, nothing really new to see. I'll take some after we get all the lighting up.


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## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

Thursday Oct. 16th temp:60o
Haunt helpers: Myself worked on it 2 hrs & 45 min.

It was such a nice sunny day today, that I thought I should work on the maze after work. Stopped home collected my tools & loaded the five large tubs of Halloween stuff in the back of the pickup. By the time the truck was loaded... I was already tired. lol Thought I'd just go work on it for a few hours, & get whatever I could done. Installed two strings of small flicker flame lights at the que area. Then I did a trial placement of lights. Didn't care for the effect, & took it down. It started getting colder as the sun went down but, closing the shed doors to kept it a bit warmer. Dredded doing it but, unloaded all the tubs from the truck. Got a few twinges of a muscle cramp in me leg. Ouch!! Took a few pictures in both light & dark. Worked on it a bit longer, then called it a night at 8:45 pm. Hopefully there will be a few decent pics to post. Saturday will be the big push day to get as much done as possible.


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## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

Saturday Oct. 18th temp high: 56o

Haunt helpers: Ronald, Sharon & her mini minions, & Myself worked on it 8 1/2 hrs

It was a sunny, breezy, & cool afternoon when Ronald & I started to work on the maze. Today is crunch time with the party being a week from today. EEk! The catacombs were setup & three faux wrapped bodies were added. Sharon & her mini minions came to help decorate the maze. Spider webs & spiders are added. I placed battery flicker candles through out the maze. It'll give a creepy floating candle look in the darkness. Sharon & her minions had to go home before Supper. We had Sweedish meatballs, baked potatoes, & roast beef for Supper. We went back & worked on the maze some more. Ronald had setup a butcher room & worked on the torcher room before going home at 8pm. I continued to tweak the maze for lighting & take care of light leaks into other areas. I called it quits at 10pm, loaded up my tools & headed home. We still have to setup the foggers, tarp the maze, & do some more decorations before next weekend.


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## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

Wed. Oct. 22nd temp 43o
Haunt helpers: Kathy, & Myself worked on it 2hrs

Cold / rainy all day & into the night.
Main goal tonight is to place tarps over the entire maze. This is never an easy task because of how the maze is constructed. Normally we have a passage way running to the left side of the shed. We use 2x2x8's with a screw through the end, & place the tarp eyelet over the screw & pull the tarp into position. This year we decided to use as much space as possible & build it to the inside walls. Doing so made made it more challenging to place the tarps. We use 20x30 sized tarps & it normally takes all three of them to completely cover the entire maze. But depending on the maze configuration, it can take even more. Using tarps accomplishes a number of things:
makes the maze darker
keeps the fog within the the maze
keeps the rain out
& as a bonus keeps it warmer inside.

I took a few pictures of the finished scenes, etc.

Still have to place the foggers, setup the main stereo, place another boombox, hang the tea light lanterns in the trees along the winding driveway, & place the sign for the party. Also have to make freshly popped popcorn for the party.

Photo link to follow


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## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

Saturday Oct. 25th temp high 60o

Today is the big day of the annual Halloween party! I've been watching the weather forecast & they still say cold temps 30-40o overnight. Boy, I was I glad that they were wrong.

Had planned on arriving early morning. But, after loading up supplies, etc. Didn't get going & arrive till 1 pm. sigh. Oh, well... I got the foggers setup in place & a few other things. Drove to the end of the long driveway to setup the tiki torches & sign. Being that the party is a mile outside a small town, someone reported us to the police. They came along as we had placed the last tiki torch (4 total) in place. The officer asked what was going on? (because they had gotten a call in report about mysterious people at the edge of the highway). I calmly explained that we're having a Halloween party & using the torches to mark the driveway turn. He said ok & thanked me, then left. I placed the glass mason jars (w/tea light candles) hanging from trees & bushes along the winding gravel driveway. My neice Stephanie wanted an old ambulance/hearse out by the maze entrance. Her Dad hadn't gotten around to doing it. So, she hooked the tractor up to it herself & dragged it into position. My minions made an early appearance & walked the maze a few times to get used to the layout & hiding spots.

Six o'clock & time for potluck supper! A number of guests had shown up, & had to get the minions fed before the haunt opened at 7pm. We were all ready to open at 7pm but, where was the guests? The vast number of them didn't arrive until closer to 8pm. The night was warm & a star filled sky, what a perfect night. With the weather nice, we had our first big bon fire.

Guests had to cross the bridge of doom to enter the maze. Once inside, I was the doorman & guided them to the que holding cell & where to go from there. Majority of our guests were high school teenagers, & they went through in groups of 2's, 3's, & 4's. I timed it so groups were a minimum of 5 minutes apart. A group of four was the most popular size. Next year I think I'll limit group sizes to 1's, 2's, or 3's, to up the scare factor.

This year marks our 8th year doing the maze. In the seven previous years, we've never had a single person go by themselves through it. We'll that changed this year, with a brave teenager. He thought it was even more scarier!

After 9pm the minions needed a 15 brake. Before opening it again, we did a minor configuration change in a few places. Once we got going again, we sent the guests through the right side exit as our entrance. And had them exit through the left side, which was the entrance before. They were all filled with anticipation of what could be different then before.

A few of the minions got creative as well. They asked if the large canon strobe light (only strobe used) could be turned off? It was & they even turned off a few flicker candles to make it more harder. lol! Some groups were so confused that they ran into another group that was sent in after them.

All in all everyone had a good time & closed the maze a little early at 11:45pm. This was mainly because of the teenager's curfew limitations of driving at night. After everything was turned off for the night, tiki torches & sign collected it was 12:30. We were all wiped out & ready to go home.

This morning we all slept in & met for a late brunch. The weather was cold & windy. A high of 35o all day long with flurries of light snow. Not enough to do anything but to melt & be annoying. Everyone involved in the party was still tired, & had a lazy day relaxing.

I'll have to check the camera for party pics. Was too busy working the maze to take pictures.


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