Another ghost picture

taken from Ft. Barrancas. Some of you may remember that back in August, Gavin took a picture while walking around Ft. Barrancas and it had what appears to be a person standing down a hallway. (For that post go here.) Well last Saturday we took Jen's mom and brother out to the fort. While we were there walking around Jen kept saying that she felt like we were being followed and watched. (We were actually the only people at the fort because they were getting ready to lock up for the day.) She was taking pictures (like she always does) and she spun around real quick and took a shot from the way we were coming. (In fact if you compare the picture from august to this one it is the same corrider.) A few days later she was going through the pictures and she saw something. Note: the only thing she did to these pictures was adjust the lighting and contrast. (She also zoomed in a bit on one)....

In this one she saw someting down the corrider. If you look at the upper right of the corrider you see some "discoloration" in the picture.

In this one she adjusted the contrast and the lighting. If you look closely it appears to be a face of some kind.

This is the picture zoomed in. I have no doubt that that is a face looking back at us. We've taken the picture and zoomed in even more and it appears to be wearing a robe or a dress. We have briefly mentioned the original picture to the park rangers there and they told us that many people "feel" that there is something in that part of the fort, specifically in that corrider. I'll let you decide if you think that is a spirit looking back... I know that's exactly what I think it is.
Tonight we're taking a candle lit tour of the fort. It is the anniversary of the Fort joining the civil war. Maybe we'll see this spirit again....
Happy Haunting!!!!
~Bill

DVD Review - Make Your Own Scratch Built Corpse by Christian Hanson

I got this DVD right before Halloween. Corpse making has been something I have wanted to try, but I have never really had the time to do it.
I was browsing on the Halloween Forum and I came across this post. I then went to The Monster Closet and saw that the DVD was only $14.95 plus shipping (for a total of $19.90) I thought "well, for under $20 even if it sucks I can take the risk." I am so glad I did.
Here is Christian Hanson's bio (taken from his website):

Christian Hanson has had an interest in makeup effects since childhood, and became a serious student of the craft in the late '90s. He is the creator, designer and administrator of The Monster Lab, a popular online forum for FX artists (no longer online). He is currently working in the art/fabrication department of museum outfitter and design firm, sculpting animals and creating realistic environmental and educational displays. Over 2007, he invented a new process for creating corpse props and teamed up with filmmaker Sam Thompson to produce "Make Your Own Scratch Built Corpse" DVD. Make sure to check the "News" section for current work and updates. With each project, he aspires to the highest quality of realism, design and craftsmanship. Christian lives in his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The DVD is of professional quality. It appears to be an actual DVD not pressed from a home publisher. The film quality is excellant. I had a question after I ordered it and within hours my e-mail was answered. So a thumbs up on customer service. The techniques that are discussed are ones that I have not seen before (and believe me I have scoured the internet and forums looking) and they are very clearly described and demonstrated. The dialogue between the cast on the movie is a bit cheesy, but for the information you get from the DVD it is easily over looked.

Here is the preview video that they have:

Ok, so here's the bottom line: This DVD is awesome. Even if you don't plan on making a corpse from it, the information given can easily go into other projetcs. I believe this is one of the must haves for haunters and for the price you really can't go wrong. Go get you a copy while you can.

Happy Haunting!!!!

~Bill

As promised

here is the picture that my wonderful kids got me for Christmas...

They got it from a guy in Estonia. This is the first & only one I have. the seller said it was a woman in her wedding dress. I think he may have been mistaken though. I did some research and it seems that in that part of the world they often will bury someone in white (much like the "dresses" that people wear for baptism, first communion, confirmation, etc.) So it would be reasonable to think that this was such a case. Of course that is nowhere near as interesting to a buyer as saying it's a dead bride.
I am actually trying to find post-mortem pictures from around 1865 - 1915. The ones that they posed the deceased and then took pictures with them as if they were still alive. I know, one might say that is a bit weird, but that's only because we feel death is a taboo. Anyhow, I promised I would share the pic....
Happy Haunting!!!!
~Bill

My family is

the best family ever!!! How else can you describe a wife that gets her husband this book ...

for Christmas??? She so enables my obsession at times. See she knows that for next years haunt I am not only doing the outside of the house but I am also planning on doing the front room as well. And part of what I am doing involves Post-mortem photography or Momento Mori. (Click the link for info on this topic). This book is chock full of the things... I'll post a review of it as soon as I can...Also she helped the kids pick out and purchase an original Death portrait for me. (Yes, even my kids enable my obbsession.) Is it wrong that my two 13 year olds and soon to be 10 year old see nothing wrong with buying me a picture of a dead person??? So yeah, I believe I have the best family ever. Those that truely know me also know I honestly HATE the Christmas season, but I do have to say that this Christmas is in my top 10 days of my life (so far). The kids this year made it awesome:)

I did get some other cool stuff...a wood burner with 4 tips (which will also be used on next years haunt), an awesome cast iron skull bottle opener, and maybe my favorite gift of all a ukelele... I know odd. Anyway, I'll think about scanning and posting the pic that the kids got me sometime this week....

I hope your "other holiday" was as fruitful as mine:)

Happy Haunting!!!!!

~Bill

I lied....

when I said I was not going to build any more props until after the New Year. Last night I finished yet another tombstone. This time I did something different. I saw this picture :

I was like wow...I love this. So I tried to copy it. Here is what I got:

Now that I am looking at it I think I have just a few more touches to add then I'll be finished. I was trying for that "sandstone" look. Not sure if I achieved it or not. Jen likes it, the kids approve of it, so I suppose I'll add it to the cemetery next year.

Until next time....

Happy Haunting!!!!

~Bill

Yesterday I was kidnapped...

on the way home from Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Jen decided that whether I wanted to or not she was going to take me through the North Hill district of Pensacola. She's been trying to show me the houses there for months, but I have been giving tons of excuses like they don't have big front yards... or I'm too tired... While we were riding around through one of the neighborhoods, out of no where appeared a huge overgrown cemetery. It was like they just built the road right through the middle. Unfortunately at the time it was really cold and we didn't have the camera, so we went home. After the sun came up a bit more and all the kids were up, we returned to the cemetery to "explore" and take pictures... here are a few that Jen took....

This looked like it was the cemetery for a poor church congregation. There were a lot of graves that were just unmarked or simply the names were "drawn" into cement as it was drying. I think though I'll be able to use this as some "direction" for aging some of my tombstone projects.
Until next time...Happy Haunting!!!
~Bill

The Rott Family Plot

I figured since I already had Fester N. Rott & Diane Rott, I might as well go one step further. The dates I have on both of those two lent themselves to a sad truth that I decided to use. When we go visit the older cemeteries, we always see graves for youngsters all over the place with the dates in the 1800's. So I decided to give the Rott's an infant son....Willy
So today I made Willy's gravestone:

Here's another pic of the stone:

The stone says : Willy Rott... Born 1842... 18 mos. ... Sleep, my little one, Sleep
 I have the stone in betwen his mom & dad:

Maybe next year I will fence off a section so they have their own lil family plot. Jen says this is really creepy, but for me it just fits into the whole vision I have towards realism...hehehe
Tomorrow is the big day!!!! My anniversary and Halloween!!!! Woohoo!!!!
Happy Haunting!!!!
~Bill