HorrorFind Weekend - Aug. 23rd-25th - 2002
Gearing up for the trip.....    About 6 weeks before the Horrorfind convention in Baltimore Maryland, we interviewed Ed & Damien Glonek, creators of the Living Dead Dolls. In this interview, I mentioned that I was considering dressing as one of the dolls for the costume contest that would be hosted by Bruce Campbell (of Army of Darkness and Evil Dead fame). The guys thought this was a great idea and we kicked around the idea of "which doll." Bad Habit was a possibility since I already had a nun's costume from years past.... but Eggzorcist was really the one I wanted to do.     Luckily the craft stores begin to put out their Halloween merchandise in the summer months, so I was able to find a pattern that could be used for the pajamas / bunny suit (then searched for white fabric that was not too heavy because after all, it was August, but not too sheer, because I really didn't feel like showing my goods to the entire haunt industry). That turned out to be relatively easy, and as luck would have it, I stumbled acrossed a reasonably priced purple wig.... the easter-egg painted cockroach for my basket would prove trickier, but thank God for the dollar stores! Finding a large "beetle," it sufficed and was painted to match. Still sitting at the sewing machine the night before we left, I finished the costume, all but for the noose that would hang around my neck. Too late to hit Home Depot, we'd have to pick some rope up along the way. The Trip....    Friends Vince & Carolyn joined us for the weekend, and friends Dean and Kim would be meeting up with us the next day in Baltimore. After a rocky start and sketchy directions, we arrived at our hotel (truthfully, it was Carolyn's "guess" that got us there, or we would have been lost). We had ordered our tickets in advance as there had been a slight discount, but more importantly, we BELIEVED this would save time. Dumping our stuff in the hotel, we bolted out the door to the host hotel. (They had booked solid months in advance, so we stayed off site). The event was to begin at 7 PM. Arriving at 7:30, as we struggled to find a parking spot in the crowded parking lot, we spotted the Hearse from Kim's Krypt. Once inside, we waiting in line for over 45 minutes just to get our tickets. Had we purchased our tickets that day, we would have sauntered right in. Too many people ahead of us in line had "forgotten" what name they put the ticket under, and it was a manual process of locating names on lists. Horrorfind has acknowledged that they have outgrown this event at this location and have switched hotels for the 2003 event, I hope they tweak the check in process as well.    The lines for the autographs were relatively small at our arrival and increased slightly during the course of the evening, but still were no comparision for the lines that we would see the next day. The celebrities present were Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Barker, Sarah York, Hal Delrich (all from The Evil Dead), Tom Savini (needs no introduction), Linda Blair (The Exorcist), Ken Foree (of numerous TV roles including Alfred Hitchcock and The X-Files), Doug Bradley (Pinhead), Mel Welles (The Undead), Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), Dee Wallace Stone (Cujo), Kyra Schon (Night of the Living Dead), Brinke Stevens (Hell Night), Dick Dyszel (The Alien Factor), Reggie Bannister (Phantasm) & Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead). Bruce would begin signing autograph's the following day but one had to purchase a photo in advance to earn a place in line. Not ones who are particularly star struck, and pretty much all in agreement that there was no one we would wait hours for to get their autograph, we skipped the autograph area and entered the convention area. Vendors were still setting up, but we were able to catch a glimpse of what would be offered the following day.    We ran into Ed & Damien at their booth (and Cindy picked up her LDD minis), our friends from Great Jone's World and Ricky Dick from Castle Blood. Cindy had exchanged emails with Ricky earlier in the year as they had extended an invitation to the Hauntfreaks staff; however, with the 10 day trip to Florida that October, we simply could not find a weekend available to make the trip to the Pittsburgh area, though we have heard it is an amazing event and that their approach is more unique than standard horror fare.    Ricky shared a small room with the crew from "Bennett's Curse" (they were there with a great "Stalk-Around") and had a nice little set up complete with items for sale (Carolyn purchased fangs for the following evening) and pictures of his attraction. I had the opportunity to speak with him, and we discussed the upcoming season and reflected on the past year when the entire industry had financially been affected by 9/11. His establishment had weathered the storm but many of the smaller events simply went under.    We were also quite happy to run into Leonard Pickle, one of the sponsors of the Horrorfind Weekend and owner/editor of Haunted Attraction Magazine. Ok, so now we were star struck :) If you have not checked out Haunted Attraction Magazine, please do so.... a very well done and interesting read by one of the haunt industry's top gurus.    Upon leaving that night, we did stop at Michael Berryman's table for an autograph and I am immensely pleased we did. The most gracious of the actors there signing autographs, the soft spoken man told us of his upcoming film. Vince and Brian continued to photograph the autograph room only to be stopped, actually blocked, by a large woman in an orange t-shirt (Horrorfind Staff) when their lenses glanced the way of Linda Blair. Now I understand, that for those that have not had a hit movie since the 70's, that this is how they make their living, BUT a picture of a table surrounded by people and a small glimpse of the star seated at it is not going to suffice for the fan that will wait 2 hours to get her autograph and a personal picture with her. It will however work to capture the atmosphere of an event.    We ran into a group of party girls waiting in line for the "Horrorfind Midnight Sceance" (hosted by writer and para-normal investigator Mason Winfield), each sporting a shirt from Halloween Horror Nights from a different year. So of course, we had to talk to them, and had asked them if they heard the event would be moved to IOA. They had not but were curious about how that would affect the event, and as long time visitors of HHN, they expressed the lament we have heard so often before, "we miss the bands!" We left the hotel and attempted to find some food.... this is in itself was an event, for you would think that an area littered with hotels and close to the airport would have plenty of places to eat... not so.    The next day, we returned to the convention where we sat thru a seminar on "Atmospheric Effects" (aka "fog machines"), correction, we STOOD thru a seminar on "Atmospheric Effects," hosted by Nathan Kahn. Another improvement I look for next year would be larger rooms to accommodate the seminars. When the room cleared out for the outside presentation, we snagged seats for the next one, John Burton of DOA was giving decorating tips in his seminar "Blood, Guts & Gore." An interesting seminar explaining the many uses of insulating foam (makes really good guts) and different paint mixtures for various stages of drying blood, etc.    We had hoped to catch ANY of Leonard Pickle's seminars but a crazy schedule kept us moving and we weren't able to, nor did we make Tom Savini's, and we can only imagine how many bodies were packed in for those. In preparation for the evening's event, the costume ball & constest, we left for a few hours that afternoon to go find a home improvement store as I still needed my noose, and we needed to change for the evening.    Around 7:00 we arrived back at the host hotel where we met up with my redneck friend Dean & his wife Kim... and Dean promptly transformed the rope into the required noose (whipped it right out, was the scariest thing we saw all weekend! Even knew that he had to watch the loops, 13 makes it a hangman's noose and is illegal... you learn something every day!) Kim arrived dressed in a goth / spider attire, and we entered the room. As far as my costume, you either got it or you didn't. I was stopped by people that said "You're my favorite Living Dead Doll!! Can I get a picture with you?" and heard whispers of "What's with the Easter Bunny Costume?"    Kim and I got in line for the Halloween contest and waited. And waited. And waited. Seems Bruce was going to be late. They considered starting the event without him, but once he arrived, everyone was glad they didn't because he was hysterical. On the panel of judges were Dee Wallace Stone, Doug Bradlee, Ken Foree, Leonard Pickel and Jack Ketchum (author).    In line, Kim and I were situated between zombies and counselors from "Sleep Away Camp." Drunk counselors.... but very funny. I struck up a conversation with the zombie in front of me who was done completely in latex, and it was pretty fascinating to hear how it had been done. (Had used spaghetti for a vein, and a piece of lasagna noodle for this big ugly flap of skin.... tricks he had learned from following the work of Tom Savini). Since I was sweating my ass off in that bunny suit, I could only assume that the zombie must be dying (hmmmm, well you know what I mean). He explained he couldn't really sweat in the latex, so yes, it was a little uncomfortable. He was there to see Tom Savini's seminar the next day and had been one of the brave souls who waited for a signed autograph of Bruce.   Now we knew there must have been issues with obtaining the autographs last year because it was set up differently this year to accomodate the demand. You could purchase a picture and that would give you a place in line for the autograph (generally, you can wait in line and it is one transaction). To hold the crowd, they held the autograph session in the pool area, (the warm, humid, indoor pool area) and Bruce stayed later to continue signing atugraphs which is what caused the delay that evening.    We spent nearly two hours in line, and if it had not been for the heat, it would not have been an issue as there were so many nice and interesting people to keep us company. During this time, I saw Damien and Ed (seperately) as well as Ed's girlfriend Becky. We had hoped to meet up sometime that evening for photos but as it turns out, I was approached by a friend of Damien's (unaware that we had already met) who wanted a picture for him, and we managed to snap one of the two of us.    Finally, it was my turn on stage. I walked the ramp to a few cheers of "EGGY!" from LDD fans, and of course, like a big dummy, I walked completely past Bruce and up to Count Gore who talks to me and then turns me around to Bruce, who, with puzzled expression exclaims "What the hell is this? It's some sort of 'purple bunny thing'..... with a basketful of weird shit!" And with that, he snatched my basket. Not familiar with the dolls, he asked "And what was your inspiration for this costume?" In response, I reached into my basket (full of weird shit) and pulled out my mini Eggy. "This doll..." Which cracked Brian up and still does to this day. The clip can be seen on the site....    Poor Kim was next, and her trip on stage was just as funny. Completely shy, being the center of attention was just a little slice of hell and she didn't make it easy for Bruce with her very short and to the point answers.    That done, the contestees met up with Carolyn who had been keeping Dean company as Brian and Vince were off filming the contest and taking photos. Flopping on the couch, we were kept entertained by one of the maniacal brothers who could not seem to walk by without playing with my ears. We finally got a chance to see some of the other costumes and some were just amazing. There was the "Dead Rat Pack" who moved about the room with deadly charm, the "Forest Giant" (whom I had seen enter the building, his boots were mounted to 5 gallon pails for height), "Too Hot," a zombie burn victim and a girl who was a dead ringer for Stephen King's "Carrie."    We had run into Rob and John from Frightland, Rob dressed once again in his impressive Jackal costume and John the stilt-walker scarecrow. The torture of standing in those stilts for that extended period of time must have been ungodly.... both would later win, John taking the grand prize (and perhaps alleviating a little of the pain). We ran into a "Lenore" that night who knew who I was and was just as thrilled that I reciprocated by recogninzing her costume. Apparently she had been having the same issue! (People got it immediately, or had no clue.... she had a great dead cat that she had sewn herself...).    We ran into Michael Berryman who attended the contest and again, was most gracious, stopping to take pictures with guests (without that $10 co-pay!) and I was able to get my picture taken with him in costume. We were happy that Brian had filmed the entire contest, as it was so entertaining and Kim & I had missed it all from our position in line. From Doug Bradlee asking the Linda Blair look-a-like to say "Your mother cooks socks in hell," to Bruce's appreciation of the "well-endowed vampiress," to "Obsessed Fan-Boy," to Rob's leap up on the judges table as the Jackal. It was a blast!    Things wound down at the conclusion of the event, we spent a few minutes checking out the Black Sabbath tribute band, and headed back to our hotel.    The following morning, it was breakfast again and back to the convention where we made a final run thru and met up with a few more people, like the crew from Kim's Krypt. We did a few T-shirt exchanges and said we'd be in touch (and we were, we found out that Kim had been closed down and arrested by her municipality at the beginning of the haunt season). All loaded up with new contacts, we headed home to Jersey where we would get 3 weeks rest before the season officially began. Horrorfind was a fun time and a great jump start to the Halloween Season. We look forward to the event to just continue improving in the years to come....
Photo Gallery	Video 1 Eggzorcist 3meg file	Video 2 The Jackal 4meg file	Video 3 Scarecrow 4meg file
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