# 2016 "Gothic Graveyard" at Spangler's Hollow



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Okay guys! We're past halfway to Halloween so I figured it was most definitely time to move from the planning stage (first 6 months following Halloween) to the Execution stage(the 6 months leading up to Halloween). Last year our trio took a year off from our party to travel and to spend Halloween in Salem! It was a lot of fun, we even attended the annual Hawthorne Hotel's party, which was HUGE but....it just WASN'T HOME haha. So we are very much excited to get back to the party. Our last party was the Cirque Du Inferno in 2014 and it was probably our best one yet...so obviously we want to top it! 

For 2016 we're essentially doing a gothic graveyard, however, our official title is "Spangler's Hollow." Spangler being the name of our road. 

The Story:

_Spangler's Hollow is a cesspool for evil. When you make your way along the winding dirt road to the dead end bottom, you can feel the negative energy as it sucks you into it's abyss. It was once the estate of a retired Dr. and his wife in the 1800's until they were violently murdered by a pair of escaped mental patients. The patient's had no names, but soon took residence in Spangler's Hollow where they began their macabre legacy. The male patient started kidnapping people, drugging them and taking them to his parlor room where he would dissect, dismember, and embalm them alive. It was because of this that the male patient became infamously known as "The Mortician." After The Mortician was finished with his victim's, his partner and assistant would then proceed to dress the bodies and put make up on them for display. Often, she would find a particular feature on a victim's face interesting or beautiful and would flay sections of the face to wear over her own, covering her own insecurities. The pair met their third partner in crime, a drunken, deranged and out of work carpenter, while he was passed out on the property. Instead of disposing of him, the three struck a deal: in exchange for the money and personal items from their victims, he would help dispose of the bodies by building proper coffins and burying them. The trio was later discovered and executed on site, but had left a horrible legacy in their wake. Throughout their time they had amassed numerous graves and mausoleums on the property...all victims of their horrible rampage. Such negative energy can not be dispelled, and curious spectators have often spotted ghosts of the victims wandering the graveyard, unable to escape the hold the land has on them. And some even say that on a chilly, foggy night...one can look into the Hollow and spot The Mortician and his fiends, scouring the land for a living soul to devour_. 


Okay! So that's the idea behind our theme...we imagine our graveyard to be this sort of cesspool for all sorts of negative energies....necromancy, zombies, werewolves and trapped spirits. I will be posting more around our characterizations and the props, themes, etc. that we're looking to accomplish. 

Here is a graphic image I created as a teaser for our guests, which will go up with the online event page.










And another graphic image for the event page....










Be on the lookout because i'll be posting everything here so it's out of my head and in writing somewhere LOL. We have lots of ideas for the rooms in the house and a fun game to play, plus all of the decor and projects that I have on my list!


----------



## Saki.Girl (Aug 22, 2012)

oh I want to follow along with this I almost did this a few years back but we moved so did not do it but plan to do this at new place some time 
I have a great gothic garden pintrest board might find some inspiration there  
https://www.pinterest.com/sakigirl650/gothic-garden-halloween-haunt-ideas/


----------



## A little bit scary (Jul 21, 2015)

This!!! This is freaky good. Really digging your story line and cannot wait to watch this take form.


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Thanks guys!! I found some vases at my local goodwill that I plan on repurposing into urns.


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Okay! So we've decided on doing a sort of game this year. It'll be our first time doing a "party game" and we didn't want it to be too cheesy, so this is what we've decided on:

Part of the reason why all of The Mortician's victims can't find any peace in the after life is because of the horrible way in which they died. By torturing and slicing on his victims, embalming and burying them alive under graves with fake names, he stripped them of their human identity. One of these spirits needs your help to find peace...by calling her FULL true name out loud. Clues will be scattered throughout the party, hidden among the decor(think inside a book, an urn...maybe written on the wall in blacklight paint. The first guest to correctly piece together the spirit's entire name, sets her free and wins a "Gift Casket" (contents to be determined).


----------



## matrixmom (Oct 29, 2010)

Wow Kenneth - I am loving this whole theme and game. Such originality!


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Okay! Just got back from our vacation in NOLA! First time there and I absolutely fell in love with it. I had some time today to tinker around with invites and as of right now I do have a rough draft of our paper invites. We create an event on Facebook and invite people but we will be sending out special invites to select few "true" party-goers. These are only for the people we know will show up every year. 

While in New Orleans I wanted to check out the cemeteries to see if I could draw some inspiration. I got to reading about all these different funeral symbols and what they mean and decided to use one in my invites. As you'll see, the broken flower in the design is a symbol of the delicacy of life. The invite is inspired around a simple memorial program designed to look like a program meant for the guest. Essentially, inviting them to their own interment. In the sample below, I blocked out the picture of my guest for her privacy(i'm grabbing their images off Facebook) and did blockr out pieces of our address info...not that I don't trust anyone on here but better safe than sorry. But each guest will have their own individual picture on the invite. 









I plan on printing these out on nice cardstock and I think i'm going to actually dip my hands in fake blood(with gloves) just before I handle and package them so they have a natural "bloody" fingerprint look to them.


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Went to an antique mall today and found some awesome amber colored apothecary jars 
That I will turn into formaldehyde and embalming jars. Plus, some weird magnifier that has 
clamps...I thought it would fit into the decor of the Mortician's room really well.


----------



## ooojen (Sep 4, 2014)

Fascinating concept-- and the amber jars were a great find!


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Worked on my apothecary jars for our Mortician's Room...
Now I know the labels look a little shoddy with my horrible
Hand painting, but it's become a bit of a signature of mine
And I've grown to rather like it. I could have easily created 
A graphic in Photoshop and printed it out but...whatevs.


----------



## ooojen (Sep 4, 2014)

They're not shoddy at all. They give the impression of an amateur embalmer's wares rather than a respectable professional mortician's. Perfect for the theme, I think.


----------



## margaret (Aug 19, 2013)

Hey accidental post


----------



## panampia (Sep 16, 2009)

This is so exciting. Your mind is on fire! Creativity up the ying yang!!! I love your theme, and all your ideas so far. You cracked me up with the "gift casket"...I may need to borrow that idea. I love this, and must follow as you develop the party. Sounds fantastic.


----------



## Shadowbat (Sep 27, 2009)

I like the look of those jars. It adds to the creepiness.


----------



## WickedWino (Aug 19, 2012)

Cool stuff! Love your back story and invitations. Sounds like it's going to be a fantastic party!


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Thanks guys! 

I worked on my goodwill vases that I turned into urns the other day. 
I bought the vases in hopes that I could find a lid of some sort for them.
Well, I never did find an actual lid but I remembered that I have a candelabra 
That I purchased from HomeGoods on sale because it was missing a holder.
So what I did was just unscrew the remaining holders and then hot glued them
Onto each vase as a lid. 
















And then I just painted them. I decided I wanted to use them as clues for our ghost
Game so together the vases say "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, our dear Olivia rots
Beneath Earth's crust." Olivia being the first name of the ghost. What I plan on doing 
Is in our Memorial book putting "Genesis" as a name, which will lead to a bible in our
Funeral parlor which will be highlighted with the "ashes to ashes" passage which will
Lead them to the urns which will be obscured somehow.


----------



## printersdevil (Sep 7, 2009)

Omg this is fantastic Kenneth! I will be following this for sure.


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Had a late night gust of inspiration. This wasn't even on my planned to do list but I made a sconce using a wood sign I had bought at Michaels and a skull form I had tucked away. 

I think I'm going to do the bathroom in skulls. Give it a really "crypt keeper" sort of vibe. Lots of spooky moss garland and fabric with skull and bone accent pieces. I'm also working on a mirror that I purchased at Marshalls on clearance. It's a gold, oval shaped mirror that's really ornate so I want to goth it up. That'll come a little later though.


----------



## Greenwick (Apr 25, 2013)

i think the labels look great! When something can easily be done perfectly, handmade stuff gains a spevial kind of charm!


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Purchased this podium from the At Home store the other day. I plan on using this in the foyer with our guestbook so people can sign their names to it as they enter. EDIT: not sure why the image us posted twice.


----------



## dbruner (Aug 23, 2012)

Kenneth, you are an artist! Your stuff looks great.


----------



## lilibat (Aug 10, 2015)

Post more please!


----------



## matrixmom (Oct 29, 2010)

Candleholders for vase toppers? WHAT?????Thats genius!! Looks fantastic !


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

matrixmom said:


> Candleholders for vase toppers? WHAT?????Thats genius!! Looks fantastic !


Haha thanks! I consider myself to be a very resourceful person. It's hard for me to not slip into the realm of hoarding because i'm always looking at something thinking "hmmmm what kind I make out of that?"

But yes, the toppers were used so that just left the flat round bases on my candelabra. So instead of putting taper candles in them i'm just going to simply use pillar candles.


----------



## tinafromidaho (May 8, 2008)

I want to follow this and see how it turns out. I love the idea of a guest book, I don't know why I never thought of that before.


----------



## danimal3114u (Sep 5, 2009)

Can't wait to see how the final party and lead up turns out, definitely following this thread!


----------



## punkineater (Apr 26, 2014)

*clapping hands* You are soooo creative! I'm following along too


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Thank you so much guys!! I really appreciate the words of encouragement!

Spent yesterday working on corpsing my first skeleton. 









I plan on utilizing him in a crematorium scene. I want to put him in an enclosed room with some fabric flames behind him, my fire and ice light and a fog machine. This won't be a room guests will go in, however I will make it so that they can "peek in" through a window of some sort to view the display. He's wet in this picture and still not done. I want to paint some pinky-fleshy tones on him.


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

I also bought some of the spring floral that Michaels has on final sale for 70 percent off. I got 10 bundles of flowers for right at $20. We have a jet black baby grand piano adjacent to the kitchen that I want to use as a display for memorial flowers. I want to display them on top of the piano with dead petals sprinkled around it. I'm not finished with all of them, but I plucked the flowers off the stems and tea dyed them. I then hand painted them individually before sticking them back on and bending the stems to give a dead like effect.


----------



## pumpkinpie (Jul 9, 2011)

This looks awesome, EVERYTHING DOES!!!! I've been watching this thread from the very start and I have to say it's one of my favorites, love your ideas and how you've implemented them and love love love your back story and game (very clever)


----------



## katshead42 (Aug 5, 2010)

Everything is looking really rad. Good work!


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Okay! Finished up my last bouquet of flowers....









Annnnnnd one of the things I've been wanting to get done for a while now. This mirror I purchased on sale several months back on clearance(regular 150 I got it for 25) which I modified with some skulls and a new coat of paint. This will go in our bathroom.


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Oh, and I know there's spray paint lines on the mirror but I'm distressing the outer rim anyway so that'll get covered up.


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

My Venetian Victoria and lantern came in the mail today! I'm just crazy about her and I think she's going to fit in perfectly.


----------



## dbruner (Aug 23, 2012)

That mirror looks awesome Kenneth!


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

dbruner said:


> That mirror looks awesome Kenneth!


Thanks! 

Okay, so not much in the way of progress. I believe i'm at a point where I only have a handful of projects that I can complete in my current space, the rest will have to be done at the party location. For those of you just tuning in, we're a three host event(me, my best friend, and her mother). They live about 45 minutes north of me in Virginia and i'm in North Carolina. My current living situation is such that i'm in a one bedroom apartment which means it's really hard and damn near impossible for me to complete or work on huge builds. I have two cemetery columns that I still need to make, some mausoleum markers, plus an obelisk tombstone that I have gathered some cardboard for. Those will probably have to wait until the week of the party when i'm there for vacation(yes, I save a week of PTO to dedicate to the entire week before the party).

My next project that i'm going to tackle is the letter cut outs that will go on our cemetery sign. Last year we purchased this portion of the Spirit Halloween zombie subway sign. I plan on refacing it to say "Spangler's Hollow Cemetery"








I also created a very basic map layout of the yard. 









We also purchased two of the Spirit Halloween trees last year, so those will be used at the top of the driveway beside the cemetery arch. 









We're hoping to rent a hearse, so that's why I added the image there. I don't know if it's possible because I don't think there's any rental companies that offer a hearse option. I was going to check and see if a funeral home would lend one out but I feel like that's a long shot....any recommendations?

ALSO--I posted this in another thread but we actually just obtained a super huge witch figure from user cbmar here on the forum. He's had it for years and decided to give her away to a good home. Well, we actually made the trek up to New Jersey in a UHAUL because we fell in love with her and brought her back! I guess she's gonna turn into the Wicked Witch of the South now. I definitely want to show her off and use her this year but we did grapple with how she would fit into the theme. I think we decided to put her in the center of the cemetery like she's coming up out of the ground(she's only a torso figure) and she'll be a necromancer of sorts. We imagined that the great witch is what brings the spirits life(including the Mortician) and him and his fiends draw upon her power to remain the living dead. I think what i'm going to do is utilize my obelisk tombstone as a marker for the witch explaining her powers somehow and that will be set up beside her. 

Here is a picture of her provided by cbmar








She needs a little TLC on places like her hands as they are cracking, but it's nothing a good sanding, plaster, and paint won't take care of. I want to get her back into shape before I post my own pictures of her for the world to see.


----------



## margaret (Aug 19, 2013)

If you can't rent a hearse can you find a cutout of a hearse and use it like a stage prop?


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

margaret said:


> If you can't rent a hearse can you find a cutout of a hearse and use it like a stage prop?


I thought that was a great idea, and i've tried looking, but can't find anything unfortunately. 

I decided to go in a different direction with our invites. I felt like adding everyone's picture and having to create individual files for all of our invites would be too worrisome. I went a simpler route, but what I think I will do to keep things personalized is add a toe tag with the guest's name and information on it.

front of invite








back of invite








vistaprint.com is running a 50% off sale through the 19th so I got them for pretty cheap.


----------



## mita23 (Jul 17, 2012)

Amazing work so far! Very inspiring


----------



## Hilda (Jul 31, 2011)

Kenneth said:


> Haha thanks! I consider myself to be a very resourceful person. It's hard for me to not slip into the realm of hoarding because i'm always looking at something thinking "hmmmm what kind I make out of that?"


Were we separated at birth?!?! hahaha  

This is uber cool. I am thoroughly enjoying the ride. Thank you so much for sharing your creativity and creations. 
Your guests are going to be in for a treat this Halloween.


----------



## Hilda (Jul 31, 2011)

OH GASP!!! You got that witch! I was seriously considering her, but alas. The inn is out of room. Literally. 
I am delighted to see you are going to give her such fabulous new digs. Congrats!!


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Hilda said:


> OH GASP!!! You got that witch! I was seriously considering her, but alas. The inn is out of room. Literally.
> I am delighted to see you are going to give her such fabulous new digs. Congrats!!


YES! I'm SO excited to have her! She's got some work that needs to be done to spruce her up a bit, but i'm confident she will be a spectacle.


----------



## Kitty Fuller (Sep 8, 2015)

Kenneth said:


> Worked on my apothecary jars for our Mortician's Room...
> Now I know the labels look a little shoddy with my horrible
> Hand painting, but it's become a bit of a signature of mine
> And I've grown to rather like it. I could have easily created
> ...


Hey Kennth....jar look great. If you want to make them look old (although you may not be going for that look) yo couple darken them a little by using tea. Just dampen a cotton ball a tiny bit and press it to the label!


----------



## Kitty Fuller (Sep 8, 2015)

Wow! Kenneth you really have some great looking props!!!! Awesome!


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

Thanks! The labels are actually tea dyed and then once they're dry I burn and singe them with a lighter (yes, i'm a bit of a pyro).


----------



## Kitty Fuller (Sep 8, 2015)

Yes I understand..... I just brought out the flame torch! Working on a prop I saw on Pinterest that I already had a piece I could use it with. Never had to use it before so I've got the water hose ready!!!! Hopefully I won't catch the tree on fire under which I am working!!!


----------



## PumpkinGirl12 (Aug 9, 2016)

I am absolutely in LOVE with everything you've done so far for the party! I'm going to be checking back in to see how it all turns out! Great work.


----------



## Kenneth (Feb 14, 2014)

WHEW! Sorry it has taken me so long to update!!! Once it got closer to the party it just consumed everything and i'm still recovering from it months later! Just wanted to let you guys know that I did upload some pictures to an album if you wanted to check them out!!!

Spangler's Hollow


----------



## halloween71 (Apr 22, 2007)

great party pics!!!


----------



## bettyboop (Jul 24, 2010)

Beautiful work!! I love everything that you have done so far.


----------

