Remembering -- The Nightmare on Henry St. "Part 6" Punkinhead & Jack-O-Lantern ©

© Halloween 1993 was another great year added to the hall of Halloween Horrors on Henry St.  That year 1993 we were blessed with another little monster maker added to the family.  This was her first Halloween, Jenny was born on May 5^th that year; my other two daughters were Jamie age 9 and Jillian age 10 that year in 1993.  They were both by then Halloween horror-hound veterans, so they had a lot to teach their little zombie hunter sister.  Hundreds of people loved what we were doing on Halloween, for the entire month of October and especially on Halloween night.  Last year Halloween 1992, people really fell in love with Punkinhead, and having him on the front page of the local paper made his really popular.  I was really fond of the little guy; I thought he needed a friend so I created his pal Jack © this Halloween 1993: Jack-O-Lantern. Punkinhead ©

was always fond of his carving techniques, and he always loved to experiment.  He did a first class craving on Jack's skull, easily removing the lid, and removing his brains and eye sockets and tissue.  He stuck Jack’s eyes in his head to try them out for himself and he liked them - a lot. ©
                                                                  

     Old Jack told Punkinhead that he would like to get some

     advice on  pumpkin carving, but I don’t think Jack knew

     what he was getting himself into, what do you think?  ©
   

     Click below to see Punkinhead talk from Halloween 1993> ©

   

© Halloween 1993 had more Zombies to run amuck on Henry St.   One of the innocent by standers got a little too close for comfort, and before he could say trick-or-treat he was the treat.

 

As the Grim Reaper would say, the Zombies will relish on your flesh.  That’s one thing a good zombie loves on his flesh, a little relish and they don’t use catsup.   ©

Halloween has to have Zombies; a good graveyard would not be proper without the undead. ©

© Who hasn’t had one of those dreams where you were sitting in your living room, and them there was something you just happened to hear kind of like out of the corner of your eye.  A low moan almost as if it were invisible to your inner ear.  But then you wondered and you looked down why the hair is standing up on my arms.  An intense tingling feeling starting at the base of your spine, almost paralyzing gains your attention.  Your body wont move, nor can your utter a word, you want to cry out but can’t.  Suddenly you hear dull scratching on your door and window screens.  It almost sounds like putty or something rubbing, but you quickly realize that it’s rotting flesh trying to make its way in for a warm meal.  And you’re the soup in the bowl; you might as well be chained and gagged to your chair.  You cannot move - the horror that is causing your heart to almost burst in your chest.  There’s no pain (yet) as your adrenalin courses through your body madly like the Indy 500.  All of a sudden the mass of your seemingly impenetrable fortress collapses.  Your body can’t move but you can sense the onslaught that is about to happen as the doors and windows come crashing in. You tell your self it’s just a dream as you close your eyes, thinking you will wake up.  As if by magic you feel such a relief as you open your eyes knowing that you are safe in your bed, that your fear was just a bad nightmare.  But as you look up you see a wood ceiling pressing almost against you face.  You try to touch it but again you cannot move, and you know where you are as a tear finds its way down the side of your face.  You are in your coffin – 6 feet under and your horror has only just begun. 

I always wondered what would happen if Freddy met Jason.  This Halloween 1993 they tried to shake hands and become fiends.  As you can see they took to each other like a lit match and a dynamite fuse.  Actually these are just brotherly love taps; there one big happy family, they are kind of like cousins in the family of Horror. And they are just getting warmed up.  Only the future of horror knows what’s in store for them both.

We got a new pet this year, he was good boy.  It took a while to find the right size chain so we could keep him leashed properly in the yard.  It’s not his fault that is had to be 25 feet long and made with 8 inch steel links.   He is just a lovable little guy, the kids call him GOG.  So just talk nice to him, but don’t try to feed him.  As you can see from the guy here he got a little too seeing if GOG © would kiss the neighbor’s cat.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        

The toys of this little guy below decided to play with him.  Remember playing with your army men when you were a kid.  What if they wanted to play back, I don’t think they know any better do they there just having fun.  It’s a good thing they are only plastic, how much damage can a toy soldier do in your back yard.   It’s a good thing they weren’t 1/18 scale.






Human greed and corruption again rises up from among the depths as seen in this human trap with a few $100 dollar bills lying like cheese.  Some people are just like rats and in a blind less endless maze.  Luminescent beady eyes glowing though a mist of confusion trying to glimmer one’s own thoughts and plunder misconception which somehow is forced upon us. The old saying goes you "reap what you sow" but does this corruption germinate fully to blossom.  Not usually and undoubtedly ends just like this!  ©





Remembering -- The Nightmare on Henry St. “Part 5” HAPPY HALLOWEEN

© Halloween 1992 was an awesome time on Henry St.   I created quite a few new additions that year.  That year’s original prime example of Halloween horror at its finest was my creation of Punkinhead.  He stood about 4 feet tall, black hollow eyes with a maroon glaze of reflected blood from horror beyond another dimension that humans dare not even think about.  With a dead skull like face with a forked blood stained tongue.  His teeth carved from the dead remnants of thick heavy rotted pumpkin vine roots.  

 He truly wants to invite everyone over for Halloween, his passion smoldering with sinister ideas to hollow out your head and give you a break from craving up his friends and family.   He’s so found of the way humans looks with a carved out skull.  A lit candle firing inside, as steam renders from your freshly hollowed orb into the still cold air surrounding the corn stalks in the field.
Punkinhead had a lot to say, and he could let you know what was on his mind.  When I built him I put in speakers and wired it inconspicuously into his head and ran the lines underground.  I recorded my voice as his character to bring to life his essence of Halloween horror.  That Halloween again the local times herald paper came to take photos, so many hundreds of people came that Halloween night.  And the next day on Nov 1st Punkinhead was on the front page of the paper.
        

© Below is a little sample to click on to witness his voice.

  



© The grim reaper as before had his voice beckoning   his warnings of damnation to wonderers abound.   Again as with my other creations that talked I had built speakers into his throat and when he summoned an audience you knew you’d better listen.
                                                                                    © The recording of my voice depicting his character let the humans of earth beware of the legions of Zombies rising forth to consume human flesh as abundant as we would eat an apple.  Thirsting and lusting for blood and flesh from all those that crossed their path.  The Grim Reapers legion was a relentless undying unstoppable force from the depths of hell itself.  Bent on nothing but the destruction of the human race on the planet earth.  earth. 

© The Legion of Zombies rise and take command of the flesh of the living

© Human greed is a never ending process of the animal called human.  It doesn’t take much to influence this species and tempt his feeble mind to gain that bit of advantage to rise over his competition.  Thinking with what can be gained to jump ahead and survive.  Well the Zombies show that this weak species of being that they are not of prime intellect, but just another link on the FOOD CHAIN.   





Halloween 1992 was a awesome year.



The Nightmare on Henry St. continued to grow year after year until its final year in 1998.  And with the help of friends and family it has grown to be a neighborhood icon loved among all young and old alike.  It brought people together as fellow humans, to look ahead and not take life so serious and be able to laugh at it, even if in the presence of Halloween Horrors.  More to come of the Nightmare in the next post.  © Punkinhead loves to make new friends and he is un-alive and mischievous and bloodcurdling as ever in “part 6” coming up soon.





Remembering -- The Nightmare on Henry St. “Part 4”

Halloween 1991 was the year of the great Halloween party at The Nightmare on Henry St.
Last year’s Halloween party we had 40 children at the house, and it turned out great.  We planned the party for that Halloween Sat night Oct 26th.   I spent most of the day earlier that Friday on the 25th working on getting things ready for the party.  I had already spent the prior four months working on the haunts and horrors for the yard itself.   And this was going to be a special party. 


We had invited both my daughter’s classes from their elementary school.  The girls were two grades apart and the children would range from ages 6 to 9 years old.  I remember I was working on the 4 x 8 plywood that I painted all black and painted on a giant ghost on it with its eyes and mouth cut out for the bean bag toss. 

The weather was not cooperating and it rained off and on.  And that evening while I was propping up the ghost, it was raining so hard that the power went out for quite a while.  I had later learned that at that exact moment concert promoter Bill Graham was killed in a helicopter crash near our town while returning home from a concert.  And the downed power lines caused a lasting power outage in the area, May he rest in Peace!! 
That Sat morning the 26th before the party it rained so bad, that we spent most of the day putting up poles of metal conduit and blue tarps all over the yard as a cover.   I was hoping that the weather would not ruin the party for the kids.  The cover would of worked fine, but by the time the evening rolled around the weather finally cooperated and the party went on and everyone had a great time. 

Halloween that year was on a Thursday evening.   The local times herald paper came out the day before and took some photos.   The paper that Halloween morning Oct 31th had my wife and Uncle Creepy on the front page, she was surprised.   It was another one of those years that people flocked in from every nook and cranny to see the Nightmare.  And it was awesome. 
I re-did Jason this year in an awesome pose he stood
7' 2"; he was standing there grabbing this guy by the neck.  He was supporting him in mid-air as though time itself had stopped.  The horror of it all, can you imagine.  Jason lops off his arm with an axe, it;s falls to the ground as though he was spreading butter on a piece of toast.

I remember people mentioning to me how realistic it looked with him standing there luminescent and horrific in the night. How the blood looked so fresh and disgustingly real as it flowed they would say. 

  

© 1991 I built the spider; he was extremely large 12 foot in diameter and with a hunger to match.

I built a web out of thick string that took quite a while, large enough to encompass his size and realism.  His eyes glowing with a hunger almost with of his next meal.  My thought was all the times that you see a spider in the bushes and you just brush away his web with your hand or a stick.  And you try to destroy him to the best of your ability. What if things changed a bit, what if you were the one being brushed away?  What if you were the one that was about to

be the meal instead of the burger you were about to eat?

Halloween 1991    

Remembering -- The Nightmare on Henry St. "Part 3"

Halloween 1990 was just the start of getting things rolling for the Nightmare as it continued.  My kids and their friends were having just a blast for Halloween; it lasted throughout the year, and year after year.  I found myself always working on something new and different.  It took a lot of time creating new heads, new bodies but it was always exciting and fun.  

In 1990 I created © Barnacle Pete, a long dead pirate looking for his buried treasure and to take revenge on his mutinous murderous crew. 

As time went on with the Nightmare, I tried to add a bit of realism to the surrealistic perception that was built into the horrors still life.

 

For © Barnacle Pete, I built in speakers into his skull and wired it to players which had recordings that I had created using my own voice.  In the bottom of the hole that Barnacle Pete was crawling out of I had a set of lights and red plastic discs spinning around by using the heat dispersed.  It worked rather well.  As you approached him, shining up from the hole it appeared as thought he was crawling right out of Dante’s Inferno with what looked like flames rising out of the abyss.  Then all of a sudden Barnacle Pete would speak out in his pirating voice alive again and festering on bloody revenge against his latent crew.

Usually on Halloween night I would get into the spirit of the evening by envisioning some sort of character and acting out that particular hosts haunt.  Of course what would a good haunt be without a mad scientist and his torrid scaled lab of destruction and doom bubbling away into mist?   

I wish I could of made my own Dry Ice, it got a little expensive every year for nearly 100# of the frozen CO2, from the lab’s domain to the hollowed out tombs in the graveyard.  But it so added to the eerie concoction of the awesome elixir of doom.

                                                                                                  

                   The Mad Doctor of Henry St.                                    





Halloween 1990 we had our first party for my two daughters with their friends from the neighborhood and from school.   It was a lot of fun and the kids had a great time.  They enjoyed the games that we had planned.  Throwing bean bags through the giant pumpkin, actually a giant pumpkin cut into a 4 x8 sheet of plywood leaning up in the carport.   Of course popping balloons with darts was always a treat.  And then there was the great pumpkin pass, everyone would line up and pass the pumpkin until the music stops.  It was always the Monster Mash song used.  When the music stopped they got to keep the pumpkin.   

My daughters having Halloween fun fun fun

My oldest daughter with the Grim Reaper who also made

      his appearance for Halloween 1990 





Remembering -- The Nightmare on Henry St. "Part 2"

Nightmare Part two, wow this is like watching a cool horror movie, part II, yea.  What a wonderful time during that first year in 1988, I had the most remarkable time with my two daughters and my family that Halloween.  Unfortunately this would be the last year that I would be able to enjoy taking my two little girls trick or treating, but what a trade off.   My god they were only 5 and 6 years old what was wrong with me?  What the hell was going on in their fathers mind?   The following years were the best though; my girls loved doing Halloween in the yard.  Helping dad create monsters, creatures and creepy things that go bump in the night. 

I thought to myself as I remembered Halloween growing up. What child cannot remember looking forward to trick or treating at Halloween actually was like 1911 when it first began; and so much longer ago in other places in the world. And the legends of Halloween go centuries beyond that, centuries.  There must be a place that people could go to celebrate their favorite holiday.  Well that place ended up being the “Nightmare on Henry St.” for thousands of people over the following years and I’m not exaggerating that number at all.  People found a place that they could bring their children to enjoy Halloween.  Parents could relax and cherish the memories with their children and reminisce a bit of their own.  As a parent, I wanted a safe place that my children could enjoy the fun and silliness to those of Halloween and still embrace the true horror.  And I knew I could keep it all in check where I could keep an eye on my children as all parents do.   And not only for my children but all children who wandered the fields of the Nightmare that we provided. 

What’s wrong with a little fog, a little scare, a little scream, a little fun?  But as we grow up and face our modern responsibilities we lose track of the inspiration the fascination the curiosity that we all had when we were a child. And that was another plus watching all those parents be able to open up a bit and get away from the trials and tribulations of life’s true horrors.   And be a child with their child.

Halloween 1989

Front page of the local paper Halloween day 10-31-89



Halloween 1989 I build a lot of tomb stones out of plywood.  My daughters and there friend’s in the neighborhood had fun with that.  They enjoyed writing little quirks and painting them on.  I would put little holes in the ground so that they could insert the tombstones into the yard.   They also took a lot of spider webs and strung them all over the yard.  It gave the atmosphere of Halloween that really cool eerie effect.  I rebuilt Jason and made him bigger and stronger; he was about 7 feet tall by the time I had finished, he looked very intimidating. 

The local times herald paper came out and actually took photos, I was so surprised to see my photo on the front page of the paper that Halloween morning.  Well that actually launched a steady influx of people curious to see what this Halloween trick or treat was all about.  A few hundred people actually came by the house that day.  And not just in the evening but it seems right after everyone had their breakfast and coffee and saw the paper that morning.  It seemed that a chain reaction of childhood memories took form to reminisce and spark the minds of the people of the town.  

For a brief moment I felt like the Frankenstein monster, with the town’s people storming towards me.  But not with lit- torches a- blazing and misunderstood misconceptions of hatred and anger, but with what seemed to be flashlights and curiosity instead.

   

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