Darkrose Manor 2012

Darkrose Manor 2012, a set on Flickr.

2012 at Darkrose Manor. The scaled down version of 2010's 'The Hollow' Or as we have begun to call it... "Darkrose Small-O" We had fun - it was far less stress this year.

We sat on the porch again, just the two of us. We haven't done that since our first year. The witch and the pirate just enjoying handing out candy to our visitors. 454 tots by the end of the night - which we found surprising and were grateful for despite the lack of a completely enshrouded house.

Now that we've reminded ourselves how much the simplicity of our love for Halloween truly is, we just might be able to happily get back to basics for next year after all.

Reminder!

Reminder... Darkrose Manor is NOT running this year in it's former grandeur. We will still be handing out candy to trick-r-treaters, but have only set out afew props this year. Please do NOT drive from long distances to see DRM! We hope you all have a wonderful holiday and we hope to be back next year! :-) To our haunter friends in the northeast, please be safe and our thoughts are with you! Happy Halloween!

Straw Bales and an Orange Lightbulb...

So, in an effort to get into the spirit, despite the lack of true Darkrose Manor glory in our front yard this year, we were outside setting up a few harvesty/halloweeny items on the front porch yesterday afternoon.

We had several bales of wonderfully decomposing straw that had been sitting in the backyard all summer. So, we decided to arrange them around the front porch to house a few jackos and maybe a pumpkin creep or two to keep Virgil company for Halloween. 'Darkrose Hollow' - or rather 'Darkrose Small-o' - for 2012.

So, a few straw bales, tree stumps, and a couple of orange bulbs in the trees later, we are sitting on the porch, happily sipping adult beverages, enjoying the early evening autumn air while admiring the small setup, if not lamenting the true lack of 'overboard' that we have usually accomplished by this time of year... when suddenly, a small gold sedan pulls up to the curb, the window rolls down, and an older woman hollers out the window saying, "if you block the street with people at your house this year, I AM CALLING THE COPS!" She then rolls up the window and speeds off just as quickly as she pulled up to the curb. No time for discussion, no time for retort. Nada.

Nice. The funny part is that we actually had security directing traffic last year. The road wasn't blocked - at all.

This followed an afternoon where most were stopping by to ask us why we hadn't set everything else up this year and that they were terribly disappointed.

Apparently, a 'harvesty' look at DRM is just as scary to some of our neighbors as the real DRM thing.

Whatever. I guess we can't please everyone.
Still looking for pumpkins and corn stalks to complete the tamed down version of Darkrose Small-o, though. :-)

Darkrose Manor needs donations of pumpkins and cornstalks

Darkrose Manor needs donations of pumpkins and cornstalks -

Ok so... technically, Darkrose Manor will not be running the full yard haunt this year. We just couldn't swing it financially. However, in an effort to keep the spirit alive for our neighborhood kids who look forward to this community event every year, we are asking for donations of pumpkins and corn stalks.

Please help - any donation will be accepted whether it's one pumpkin, one corn stalk bundle, or a truckload of both. We need your help!! Please help us keep the halloween spirit alive for these kids!

Not to mention, hopefully keeping our house from being TP'd by the disappointed kids because we couldn't afford the decorations this year!

Email or Comment for more info and to help. We greatly appreciate you!

Thank you!!!!!! Thank you!!! Thank You!!!!

Darkrose Manor provides a safe and fun trick-or-treating experience for kids of all ages in Southeast Aurora's Carriage Place neighborhood. No blood or guts - and tons of fun. We have been featured on 7News and in The Aurora Sentinel. For more information please visit..
www.darkrosemanor.com

Mini haunt in lieu of lifesize haunt...

So, unfortunately, DRM will not be haunting the yard this year. Instead, because I cannot even concieve of not doing something haunt related, I have begun to haunt in miniature... Here's a preview and a link to the new Etsy shop... there is much more to be added to the new shop in the coming days...

Arcanum Miniatures on Etsy
Flickr Photos (The Flickr photos are still raw - processsing will likely take some time.)

Thanks for looking, visiting, commenting, and supporting Darkrose Manor! Hopefully, we'll be back in full size next year!

Darkrose Manor... just accused of being Santanists.

Ridiculous...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The city that we live in has actually listed our yard haunt as a 'city attraction'. That in and of itself is, in my opinion, quite the accomplishment. I just had a rather interesting and somewhat disturbing conversation with the neighbor that lives directly to our right. She has never said anything before. We've been here for over 3 years now. But... amid her bid to see if we had time to fix the rotting fence post between our yards, (post on her side, fyi,) she made sure to mention that it was getting close to Halloween and she had some things to say. At this point, I notice something I had never noticed before. After just returning from her mailbox... and just after receiving the usual patronizing wave that lets me know she wants to speak with me... I spy the outside of the bundle she is carrying in her arms. She is carrying a magazine. That outside of that magazine reads... 'The Evangelist... The Ministries of Jimmy Swaggart'. ...insert dramatic pause here... or ...'Dummmm...dummmm.....dummmm....' Now, being that I have several Christian neighbors... most of which beg us to do the haunt each year, I initially think little of this. That is, until, she says, 'I think you should know that I am a Christian. Halloween is not a 'Holy-Day'. I view Halloween as a Satanic night and those that are invovled are Satanists.' I'm pretty sure that the woman who just asked me to fix her fence just called us Satanists. I'm fairly certain that we will not be fixing her fence post. As I attempt to tell her that I respect her's, as well as everyone else's religious beliefs, as well as making the futile attempt to school her on the origins of Halloween as well as it's predecessors... (my husband does have a degree in History and Philosophy, after all.) She sthen remarks, 'I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.' Honestly, every fiber of my being wants to haunt like I've never haunted before. This being on the year we weren't even certain that we would even be able to afford said haunt, for that matter. Thaunts? (Transcribed = haunty thoughts?) __________________ - Pandora "The surface may seem calm enough, but underneath... underneath..." www.darkrosemanor.com

To Haunt or Not To Haunt...

It's been awhile. A long while. I can't say that the months since Halloween or even Christmas have been easy ones for us. I'm not going to bore you with the dreary details, but suffice it to say that we are considering retiring Darkrose Manor. At least this year. At least it wouldn't be to the scale that we have been creating the last few years. Minimalist and simple. Maybe a few props from years past and an evening of sitting on the porch handing out candy like 'normal' folk. It would be a revisitation of our first year doing just that.

I always thought that we would haunt no matter what. That lack of time, lack of money or even lack of good health wouldn't stop us. We just loved doing it and that was why we did it. Even the nay-sayers or those inevitable crappy, trying to look cool to their friends, teenagers that specifically walk by complaining about how 'this sucks' or 'this isn't scary' couldn't stop us because we've always fantasized that those are the ones that would return home only to have nightmares.

I have been over the video clips from 2011 and once again found myself dragging my feet to put it together. I'm not sure if that was simple procrastination due to the other every day struggles for time or that the very thought somehow meant that I didn't love the haunt any longer. I'm still trying to nail that one down.

I've spent most of this morning rummaging through photos and some of my favorite blogs primarily Halloween related. Rot is always my first stop, and I spent hours back-tracking through the months of posts on his blog that I'd neglected to visit. As I was doing so, I couldn't help but feel that familiar increase in excitement as each page passed by celebrating all things Halloween. The props, the music, the videos, the words, toss in a little spanish moss and fog - and suddenly I want to start brainstorming this year's display. Or even finish editing 2011's video.

I don't know if this means that we will do anything on the scale on the last few years or if it's just a fleeting moment of nostalgia. But I do know this...


...I can't pretend that Halloween isn't approaching, even in the breath-stealing heat of this particular Colorado summer. I can't pretend that the thought of crunching leaves and cooler evenings won't remind me that time is a-wasting.

We'll see.