# Corner of Carnage 2022 Blog



## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

Hi!
The weather here in Putnam county New York has finally started to level out so I've officially started on this year's haunt.
2022 will be my seventh consecutive year doing a garage haunt that opens for a few hours on Halloween night. Last year I promised some of the diehard (dare I say) fans that came through on Halloween that this year will be the biggest thing I've done to date and I plan on delivering. I also plan on documenting the process here for any that are interested.

In future entries you can look forward to progress pictures of my set constructions. Tutorials of the new props I will be building with pictures. That being said I promise to post at least one new entry a week on Wednesdays. 

The plan this year is to have an outdoor maze that ends in my garage. The theme is crypt and I'll be applying that somewhat loosely. So far I've started cleaning out the garage which had become almost totally gridlocked over the winter.

Before pics, behold the mess!

Back of the garage where the tool bench is:









Left side:









Right side where the set from 2021 is still standing:









After about 3 hours spent I managed to take the set down, clean up a little and begin strategically moving walls around so I can start building this years sets. 

Here's a stack of foam sets from years past:









Back by the tool bench note I assembled a new shelving unit by the cabinet:









Last years set is gone but the blocking fabric is still here. I will staple it flat on the ceiling soon as i plan on actually having false ceilings on the sets this year.









Alright that's it for entry number one. Lets see if I can get some walls up for next weeks entry.


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## Bojack (Nov 26, 2020)

I just love that I’m not alone and there are other people like me


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## Kdestra (Jul 23, 2018)

Your Set Pictures look amazing!! How did you insert the skulls? Can't wait to see more pictures & updates. 
Happy Haunting


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

Kdestra said:


> Your Set Pictures look amazing!! How did you insert the skulls? Can't wait to see more pictures & updates.
> Happy Haunting


Thank you! I used Loctite PL 300 Foamboard Adhesive to attach the skulls to the foam. It worked well for the set piece in the picture but for some of my other panels I'm still having problems getting the skulls to stay stuck to the foam. The plastic skulls are different on those panels than the ones in the picture maybe that has something to do with it. I think this year for those I will try and add a flat back to the skulls that are screwed in place and then use the adhesive to glue it to the panel. I think more surface area will solve the problem but time will tell.


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

Welp nothing big to report this week. My wife and I are in the middle of preparing for our daughter's fifth birthday party. I'll hopefully have a bigger update next week.


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## Kdestra (Jul 23, 2018)

The Corner of Carnage said:


> Welp nothing big to report this week. My wife and I are in the middle of preparing for our daughter's fifth birthday party. I'll hopefully have a bigger update next week.


Hey there, Happy Belated B'day to your daughter!


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

Thanks, she had a blast!


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

Since last year I had this idea to do the walls completely different than in years past. I wanted to build a backstage area that went from the side door on the garage along the wall to the tool bench. The idea was the I would have access to the tool bench at all times and it would allow for a decent sized control room. Normally once the walls go up the bench is blocked. The other day, after I realized that this floor plan would allow for a much smaller haunt area than perceived, I had an epiphany: What if I built the control room in the center of the haunt and the people had to walk around it?
After that thought I flipped through my notebook and thought it might be interesting for you to see this years entries so you can see my thought progression over time. I wrote the most recent version today it is probably what I am going to fly with. I also drew out the floor plan for this year it is not to scale. As you read these entries please note that in my mind my garage is three times larger than it really is, there are no limits to money spent on this and I have all the time in the world, lol.


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)




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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

Sorry for the inconsistent posts. June is proving to be a very busy month! Last week I ended up going to the Home Depot several times for work. One of those times I actually decided to go and look at the foam board insulation stock to see what we're working with for this year. Although the prices weren't as high as they were posted on the webpage they had zero stock in every size. This revelation struck me hard as I was planning on doing a lot of foam sets this year so I went back to the drawing board.

In one of the above posts is a pic of my notebook that has an idea I had early on that was American cryptids. I have revisited that idea because it can save me a lot of money and still look really good. So hopefully to finally lock it in for this year I am going to do an overall forest theme. Instead of constructing a maze outside of the garage that connects I am going to construct two additional scenes in the driveway in front of the garage. For inside the garage I still like the idea of doing the control room in the middle and having the scenes around it. The featured monsters will be: Loveland frog, Jersey devil, mothman, bigfoot and chupacabra. The Jersey devil and bigfoot will be animated the others will be static. For the Loveland frog I want to attempt a pepper's ghost effect.

I am going on a short vacation soon and then my daughter is staring day camp for the summer. Because of this I am going to work days at my job. This will give me a three to four hour window everyday to work on the haunted house so I'm looking forward to getting a lot more done in July and August!


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

In a way I'm happy that I have procrastinated so long this year because it allowed me to refine my theme. In years prior I would come up with an idea and go full steam ahead with making it a reality. A major drawback to this is my ideas would be to big for the small space I have making the themes for most years irrelevant because nobody got it. The old stuffing five pounds of stuff into a one pound bag deal I suppose. Look at the posts above from June. The cryptids idea has all those monsters and to me the theme is obvious but to others probably not.

So one day a while ago I decided to widdle it down to just Bigfoot as a theme as appose to several monsters. For economic reasons I will focus on one prop for the big scare. Guests will enter a maze constructed of camo netting. In the center of the maze will be a camp scene featuring a tent, smoldering fire, huge footprints and newspaper clippings etc. referring to Bigfoot sightings in the area. The last hall of the maze will be blacked out until you enter the garage. 

Inside guests step inside a dense forest. Suddenly branches shake from behind. Moving forward into darkness a sudden gust of air hits the guests in the ankles. Around a bend is more dense forest. From above a huge apelike creature swings out screaming at the top of its lungs as the guests exit the haunt. I have everything I need for this haunt. The only thing I have to do is fabricate the Bigfoot, something to make the footprints and the newspaper clippings for the camp scene.

Originally I was going to construct a full size Bigfoot prop that would stand about eight feet tall. I based it off of a King Kong action figure and I even began building the base.























After this I went on vacation for a week it was great. When I returned to the project I thought about how to make it cheaper and smaller with a much simpler mechanism. I decided to only build the top half of the Bigfoot and have it fall from the ceiling as apposed to coming forward which was the original much more complicated animation. The mechanisms will be triggered by me from behind a wall. 

Lets see what happens, hopefully I will update you soon.


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

Hello again!
Well my bigfoot evolved into a swamp monster! While constructing the head of the prop with packing paper I became concerned about how the head/face would hold up after being slammed down several hundred times on Halloween. I was tempted to buy a gorilla mask and repaint and hair it but why spend the money? I had a butt roll of chicken wire so I decided to use that for the head.








A crazy old man gave me these giant claws several years ago. They're pretty rotten but I'm going to use them for my creatures hands.










I'll update again soon. Hopefully you'll be able to tell what it looks like by then.


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## Kdestra (Jul 23, 2018)

The Corner of Carnage said:


> Hello again!
> Well my bigfoot evolved into a swamp monster! While constructing the head of the prop with packing paper I became concerned about how the head/face would hold up after being slammed down several hundred times on Halloween. I was tempted to buy a gorilla mask and repaint and hair it but why spend the money? I had a butt roll of chicken wire so I decided to use that for the head.
> View attachment 767201
> 
> ...


Those hands are cool! Can't wait for more updates.


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

I cut down a piece of card board and placed it in the back of his throat. Then I stuffed the chicken wire full of packing paper to give the face more strength and to give the foam something to stick to.









Next I used "Great Stuff" foam insulation to give it more strength and to create his skin.
















I received a Great Stuff Pro foam gun for Christmas and this was the first time I've used it. I would highly recommend it if you use foam in your creations. It is a literal game changer with the amount of control it gives you and the can of foam stays good for up to 30 days unlike traditional Great Stuff which is disposable once the can is opened. 

Next I'll probably work on the arms and figure out his eye since he is a one eyed monster. My daughter thinks he should be pink. I was thinking green with purple highlights, What do you guys think?


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

I've done a lot of work but didn't update the blog so I'll do it now in 3 installments and pretend I did it the right way!

A few years ago a crazy old man that used to walk by the haunted house gave me a pair of oversized claws. They were in rough shape then and the years weren't good to them but I will still attempt to attach them to the swamp monster.








As you can see the latex is falling apart in some spots and dry rot has set in.








Using the monster prop as a work surface I place the claw so that the "thumb" can hang down. The idea being to let gravity do some of the work.








Using a spray bottle filled with water I soak down the inside of the thumb area. I filled the thumb and wrist in 3 stages letting the foam cure in between each stage. In my research I've found that Great Stuff foam is not meant to cure in an entirely enclosed environment. It needs moisture to cure and harden properly. I also added a few soaked strips of paper towel in spots that I thought would not harden. 

For the rest of the arm I took my time filling the space around a pool noodle then packing paper with foam. Once again going in stages to let the foam harden properly.








It worked pretty well! I hope this will also extend the life of the these prop claws.








One arm down!


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

After working on the arm and letting the foam sit to cure I went to move the project inside for the night and discovered that the added arm has made the monster to heavy for the hinge that he is meant to hang by. So I decided to amputate his arms. After doing so he is much lighter and the hinge should hopefully hold him.

Next I traced out and carved away the space for his eye and glued it in place with foam. Dialing the nozzle of the foam gun way down I traced out ridges to look like the eyelid.
















After this was done I freaked out because I didn't paint it yet and had forgotten that spray paint can melt certain types of foam. I knew the great Stuff would be OK but was unsure of the eye holding up. 









I used masking tape and whatever was left in the can of foam to help hold down some of the loose paper ends inside of his mouth.








Here he is upside down, which is how he will appear in the haunt.

Next up paint!


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

I like using spray paint to paint my props when possible. I do have an air gun but am still a little intimidated by it.
Today I used these colors which I already had.








First I sprayed the inside of the mouth red then immediately hit it with some black to knock down the bright color and add depth to the mouth and throat. Next I covered the entire outside of the head with hunter green and let it dry. Then I took the grape color and went heavy with it around the mouth and eye and tried to fade it out towards the back of the body but it didn't come out just right but I'll take it.
















After the paint was done I wished I had painted the pupil in first because the "shadow" around the rim of the eye was a happy accident. Oh well maybe I'll break out the spray gun and try to replicate it after I paint the eye in.

Next up: teeth!


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

I've been hard at work juggling the haunted house and building a trunk or treat display to compete locally. I spent a few days putting up the walls.
I'm happy that I finally cleaned up my bench although shortly after this pic was taken it became a mess again.









This box will.serve as the control room.

















My wall panels are connected by wooden pegs. One at the top and bottom. They are inserted into the groves and then screwed into place. In this pic is a one sided panel but the majority of the panels are double sided and very heavy.









One side done I forgot to take a picture of the other side woops!










Finally the facade is put up in a similar fashion with wood pegs. These panels are also wedged between the door frame and the garage door which is opened. The metal plates are used to attach the foam decorative facade that uses strong magnets to stay in place. I usually wait to put that up until it's close.









Next my monster needs more paint and he needs to get mounted to the ceiling


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## Kdestra (Jul 23, 2018)

You are rocking & rolling!! Can't wait to see how it turns out.


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

I haven't made any progress on the haunted house because I've devoted all my time completing the trunk or treat display which I finished today!








It has its own thread if your interested in seeing some behind the scenes.

Now I can focus on finishing up the garage. Right down to the wire as usual lol. Look for updates soon.


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

Today I finished my swamp monster or the purple people eater as I've been calling him. The teeth are made of foam clay. I attempted to add some funk to his gum line with black spray paint but it didn't work as intended. Oh well its to late in the game to do a repaint so I'm moving forward.









The teeth are glued in place with contact cement. His eye was also repainted using cheap acrylic paint. Black, orange and yellow are the colors I used. I think it looks great!








The purple people eater is ready to be hung from the ceiling but that's going to have to wait until tomorrow.


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

Well obviously Halloween happened. The haunted house occurred but completing it was to the wire. That is my bogus excuse for not updating the blog. The monster was mounted to the ceiling and a paracord was strung through 2 small pulleys back to the control box. It was an excellent effect when it worked properly. 

At first I was turning on a strobe light then hitting the monster roar sound effect on my cell phone that was taped to the wall and then I'd let go of the rope that was in my hand so the monster would swing down. Not long into it I decided to just leave the strobe light on.

This is the first and last year I will be using my cell phone to trigger sound in the haunt. A lot of the times I tapped the screen and it didn't register. It was my number one problem. On a positive note the sound effect I found on YouTube of the monster's roar was terrifying and literally sent some people running for the door. To try and alleviate the sound issues I started playing an ambient monster noise track until people entered the garage then I'd pause it and press the other track at the right time. That seemed to get a better response from the touch screen registering my finger.

The outdoor camp scene was terrible as I didn't get a chance to find my tent prop so it was what appeared to be a random fire and some body parts on the ground. I did manage to spray paint the giant footprints on the ground but they wore off pretty quick. the chalk footprints in the garage held up much better but disappeared in the red light I had inside so only the cheaters who used their flashlights saw them.

To compensate for the large size of the swamp creatures head, now to be known as the purple people eater or simply PPE, I was forced to staple some camo netting and black curtains to block the head while it was in its up resting position. It worked and created a good scare but it created a very narrow passage. Like less than a foot, granted it was soft material on either side it still was not ideal.

I was inside of it all night operating the monster so I couldn't hear what was going on outside but I felt it ironic that the people that complained about it while inside unbeknownst to my presence were those who used their flashlights to walk through. Or came through in a large group. Just saying!

I'll take some pictures tomorrow while I start to take it down.


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## The Corner of Carnage (Aug 28, 2016)

The outdoor portion of the haunt was created using camo netting and 2x2 stakes. Both materials I had left over from the maze I did in 2020 during the covid outbreak.








Here he is the PPE in his final position! There is an eye hook in back of the top of his head that a paracord is tied to then strung through two pulleys. 








Thanks for taking an interest in my haunt! Next year I am changing the haunt considerably and I plan on documenting it on a blog here starting in the coming weeks.


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