The Haunted Mill

Spring Grove, PA -- My sister, bro-in-law, and I went to The Haunted Mill tonight (Sat night; I took the night off from Illusions). It was spoooooooooky & fun: I love haunted house events. I haven't been there in a couple of years. We used to go with our cousins for a few years in a row, cause the 4 of us are/were big into Halloweenishness. B-)
On the drive up to my sister's place the already-set sun cast an orange glow on the horizon, and the trees in the distance were silhouetted black against the orange sky... spooooooky [again with the Vasquez references, sheesh].
Took about an hour from Reisterstown to get there via the dark winding roads of hills with open sky (bright moon in it). It was nice and cool, 50-some degrees out -- I love Fall. =)
The lines for each event were not bad at all. We did the Haunted Mill (of course) and the Dark Zone (in a barn, kind of a smaller Haunted Mill experience, and they go well back-to-back), and the Terror Trail.

Things I realized:
* The scariest position is as the leader of the group -- you're the one going into the darkness & unknown.
* The best spoooky [I resisted using too many O's that time] atmosphere is when there are few people around, so your group of friends is well spaced from any group ahead of you (so surprises & the mystery aren't spoiled). So go *early*.
* My brain is so design-oriented that I can't help but to look at how things are created & laid out [Sylar?! No...].
* I miss designing the haunted garaaaage at Steve & Christine's old place.
* I miss scaring people on Halloween. >:-]
* This was totally worth it! =)

No pix tonight, because of this equation which you should be able to fathom:
Darkness times (cell phone camera minus flash) equals black photos