The final veil has fallen on Halloween 2022, and another glorious season of haunting is officially laid to rest in the crypt.
October is always a chaotic, adrenaline-fueled blur for those of us who live for the shadows, and this year was no exception. I spent the weeks conjuring props and curating spooky decor for two separate Trunk-or-Treat events. It was a grueling marathon of smaller fabrications – a bewitching balance of handmade relics and carefully resurrected store-bought oddities.
But this year’s crowning achievement? A towering, oversized Jack O’Lantern, engineered to serve as the ultimate, spooky cute backdrop for mortals seeking to capture their family selfies.
“Big Jack” was summoned from the skeletal remains of insulation foam left over from previous fabrications. He manifested with surprising ease – almost as if he wanted to be built.
In due time, I will unearth the schematics and provide a tutorial should you wish to conjure a towering pumpkin sentinel of your own.
From a milestone 33-year anniversary celebration to a spooktacular birthday surprise, Halloween night was a family affair at the patch. Take a look at our traditional yard display before the spell was broken, the stakes were pulled, and the ghouls were banished back into the garage until next autumn.
For a photographer’s local “Pic-or-Treat” gathering, the restless spirits took center stage.
To bring this ghostly theme to life, I bypassed modern illusions and went delightfully old-school. I channeled the nostalgia of Halloweens past, fashioning a small army of charming, vintage-style specters from modest materials: posterboard, craft foam, and translucent tracing paper. They were just eerie enough to capture the season’s magic without scaring away the littlest mortals.
Once the Trunk-or-Treat rituals were complete, we paused the frightful festivities just long enough to honor a milestone of our own: a staggering 33 years of wedded bliss. But the respite was brief, and we plunged straight back into the shadows to resurrect our traditional yard display for the grand finale – Halloween night.
As the autumn wind howled, my husband – whose own birth rightly falls on the Day of the Dead, November 1st – received the ultimate treat. Both of our sons (including our traveler from the West Coast) materialized at our threshold as the very first trick-or-treaters of the evening.
Yet, all hauntings must end and, by 9:00 PM, the spell was broken. We pulled up the stakes, banished the ghouls back into the garage, and cleared the grounds in record time.
Whew! What a wild, breathtakingly chaotic month in the patch.
But before we seal the tomb and tuck all the restless ghoulies back into their dust-covered crypts, let us linger a moment longer in the dark. Come, step closer to the hearth and peer a little deeper into the shadows. Let’s take a proper, lingering look at the dark details of our very haunted, vintage-infused Halloween.
I am utterly spent, ready to retreat to my coffin for a long, well-deserved winter’s nap.
But enough about my late-night conjurings. I want to hear from you, fellow fiends. How did you spend your All Hallow’s Eve? Did your own celebrations live up to the ghoulish heights you envisioned? Was it everything you screamed it would be?
Until the autumn winds howl once more and the leaves turn to ash…
Happy Halloween!
