I, Igor

I have been remiss. I have been reminded that I have neglected to post an After Action Report for the Cub Scout Halloween party. While I was quick to post my unhappiness with the actions of a small few at the overnight, I should have been equally quick to post my supreme delight at how wonderfully the Halloween party went.

First off, a little background. The person who had been in charge of the "Haunted Hallway" portion of the Halloween party had been doing it for several years, but this was her last year with the Cub Scouts as her youngest son is moving on to Boy Scouts. She had declined to run the Hallway this year, but graciously offered to give me pointers and left a good chunk of decorations for us.

I, as is my natural state of things, obsessed and fretted until near-panic. I had a few ideas of what we could do, but no one to help me put things into action. That is, until about a week before the party. Then I got lists and names and did a little cajoling of my own to put together a band of witches, ghosts, ghouls, zombies, and other assorted terrors-of-the-night.

We arrived at the church (yes, the celebration of a pagan ritual was taking place in a church basement. Go figure) around 3 PM to set things up (the party started at 6PM and was scheduled to go to 8PM). It took about an hour to get all the decorations up in the hallway (which, BTW, was the church's Sunday School classroom area). It took another hour to set up each station (we had three total, more below), which left about an hour to get people into costume, get positions figured out, etc.

There were three stops on the "Haunted Hallway" tour. The first station was a coven of witches brewing up their foul potions in the "Roadkill Cafe". We had a bubbling cauldron (thank gaia for dry ice...), recitation of Shakespeare's "bubble-bubble" dialog, and assorted witchy hi-jinks. The witches were perfect; bringing a blend of humor, fright, and engaging dialog for the hallway.

The next station was a ghost room, staffed by a few zombies, ghouls, and other frights. This was a more "in your face" room, with older scouts in costume jumping out of doorways and popping up from under tables to make a scary good time.

The graveyard, though, was the indisputable main attraction. The boiler room for the church has an old metal door at the back, complete with a single, stark industrial light fixture. We covered the door with "Caution" tape, and went to work transforming the storage area behind the boiler room into a creepy graveyard. It was a perfect setting, as the church's stone basement walls and rough-hewn support beams added a touch of verisimilitude that couldn't have been more perfect.

Dispersed throughout the graveyard were human sacrifices, zombies, a "coffin" complete with disembodied hand, and even the Grim Reaper himself. We had at least a half-dozen Scouts (and several of the leaders) dressed up in their scariest to make the graveyard a frighteningly good time.

And me? I was the tour guide. I opted for "Igor, the hunchback" as my costume, using an amalgam of Ren Hoek, Gollum, Igor from "Young Frankenstein", and Renfield for my inspiration. I set the stage for each station, giving the attendees a quick scary story to set the stage for what they would be viewing. Given the most of the parents were of my generation, I made sure to insert references from my inspirational characters throughout (like correcting people with "That's [pause] EYE-gore" a la Young Frankenstein or giving a curt "You eeeeediot" from Ren & Stimpy).

From the reviews at the various den meetings as well as what the kidz were sayin' in school the next day, it appears that the Halloween party, and especially the Haunted Hallway, were a rousing success. I'm already planning ways to improve (read: MORE SCARY!) next year, and now that I've BTDT, will be able to much better plan.

And I couldn't have done it without everyone that helped me. For that I am eternally grateful. Thank you each and every one!

That is all.