In the world of Dark Conspiracy, there are places in the world where the walls between dimensions have weakened, allowing things to slip through from their world into ours. In these regions, known as “Demongrounds”, things are not always as they appear, and the affects on reality are sometimes warped and twisted by the influence …
Author Archives: Mike
Cemetery Gate 2.0
In 2020, due to the COVID pandemic, we moved the cemetery entrance to the front of the yard, added gates, and chained it up. There will be no entry into the yard this year — on the big night, we’ll distribute treats to the kids from a safe distance. One of the challenges with the …
Jack
All of the props have a name, and that name was determined at some point during development of the concept. Jack is named for two distinct notions: 1. (for obvious reasons) Jack Reacher, and 2. (for no less obvious a reason): Jack-in-the-Box. First. The box… For 2020, ‘Jack’ will be one of our static ground-breaker …
Haunt 2020
The 2020 Haunt… Demonground: The Hidden Haunt640 Regal Lane, Algonquin, IL 60102Scare Rating: 3Hours: Oct 3 – Nov 1 (Dusk–10:30)Haunted graveyard with fog, sound, static, animated and pneumatic props. Occasional live actors. Not much blood.www.demonground.com Demonground: The Hidden Haunt (2020) Early Setup Photos Live Shots Props Added:
Grim 3.0
And then one year, Grim’s face just dry rotted right off. Not as terrifying as you might think. In 2017, we gave him a new mask, and added LED’s in his eyes. In 2019 he got new hands (prior to this, he had two left hands). Grim History: This prop has evolved over the years…
“Dusty” The Crouching Ghoul
We started seeing a bunch of ‘crouching ghoul’ props being built, in an attempt to replicate this character: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egksi_wWvFg . Special thanks to Rob Beach (Scares on Sequoia) for posting details of his build that gave us a leg up on the mechanism to get Dusty started. The first order of business was to work …
“Gary” The Revenant
Becky saw these cool wraith things with a massive hood. She decided she wanted to make one. And I decided that if we were going to make it, it was going to move. Gary uses the “Watchman” Prop Driver (Mark 3) for his back-and-forth motion.
“Watchman” Prop Driver
Everyone seems to be doing variations on the watchman prop this year. I saw some pictures of the mechanism and decided to document making one myself. I’ve built two so far, so the pictures below are first from the prototype, and then from the “tighter” Mark 2, and then the stronger Mark 3. Mark 1 …
Haunt 2019
The 2019 Haunt is significant for us because it’s our first year in the Chicago Haunt Builders directory. This page will be the hub for all information about this year’s effort. It’s ironic, but we’ve been haunting our house(s) since 1993 – in Algonquin since 2001, and we’re right up the street from two of …
Haunt 2018
While we were setting up the mausoleum, a car drove by and slowed. This isn’t uncommon. It’s pretty unsettling to see people doing front yard construction work of things made of stone. A few minutes later, the same car drove back the other way, even slower. Okay, I thought, they just want a better look. …