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