2004 was Guy's first year working for The Haunt @ Boo. It was the second year the haunt was at the current location and also the year we realized the address spelled "Boo".

I had been talking to Jen for ages prior to moving in with her about her love of Halloween and her annual yard haunt. As October approached she would begin to get excited/nervous and began the bulk of her planning for this year's trick or treat extravaganza.

Since I moved in officially in the first week of october, Jen and I set about getting out the props for the 2004 haunt. I'd seen pictures from the previous year, and a short video, so I knew sort of what I was in for. 

What we dealt with was a garage full of disorganization.  We got everything sorted out and working in short time and it began to ignite the spark that by October 31st would grow into a lifelong haunting fire.

I remember the most frustrating project of the year was the notorious "Fountain of Blood" It had been a fixture of the haunt since 2001 and never actually worked right. This year was no exception. It had developed holes in the base due to storage problems. Jen and I, ever vigilant, got them all fixed.  This was also the year I invested in a real bucky. My first "real" contribution to the Haunt @ Boo. He rode around in the back seat of my saturn during his off time.

"This Halloween is brought to you by black electrical tape"

Just about everything in the 2004 haunt that Jen and I put together was held together by one of 2 things: Jute Twine and Black Electrical Tape.  Fencing was attached to pipes driven into the ground and Jute twined together, Sleepy Hollow was actually shored up by 2 pieces of wood and copious amounts of black electrical tape. I had a large roll, and used every inch of it.

2004 would also mark the last year for "The Lab" which I manned. I did not even have a halloween costume until 1 hour before Trick or Treat was due to start. I grabbed a large white shirt and rubber gloves, threw on some goggles, covered my hair in mousse and talcum powder and then splashed on grand amounts of fake blood to make my mad scientist costume.

Our actors that year, although not as plentiful as the previous years, had discovered the "fun of the chase" that year.  Several of our actors were heading all over the neighborhood frightening random passersby. One of our actors was being hassled by a couple of neighborhood punks, who called the police to tell them he was using a real knife (which was untrue) from their cell phone. He was tackled by police minutes later and "detained for questioning" for several minutes.  Of course he was let go with their apologies and obvious embarrassment and got fake blood all over their police car.

In all, it was a fantastic time, lots of adrenaline fueled scares, lots of fun and laughs and although it may not have been as much of a success as the previous year, it was still the seed that fueled my desires.

It was during our clean up that year that I decided, however successful this was for the neighborhood kids, I wanted to do bigger. Jen did too. We were excited at the possibilities this opened up and got to brainstorming newer ideas that same week.