Back Story
Here at Barnes Boneyard it all started in 2019 when we moved into our new-to-us house. Our first Halloween, we had built a couple of tombstones and a haunted shovel. It was a small start, but a promising one. We were starting from scratch and raring to go. Every year since, we have built more and more. From tombstones to animatronics, we continue to expand. And we can’t forget the re-purposed or acquired bits from other sources, but the vast majority of everything we do is by our own hands (well, we didn’t build the army of skeletons, but if someone is willing to donate molds and machines to make that happen, we’ll totally do it).
Granted, our eyes and imaginations are always bigger than what we are even remotely capable of building within just one year, but we keep trying. And yes, whenever Oct 1 rolls around, we always do an “oh, that sounds cool!” build that we rush through and put out just a few days before Halloween.
In the upcoming future, the hope is to change from a stand-on-the-sidewalk-and-look display to something that folks can actually walk through. It will take a bit of effort and a lot of time, but as long as the universe decides to stop hating us, we should be able to make it happen.
Your Hosts
John Wohlers
John has been making Halloween displays and props since he was around 5 years old. Granted those early “props” were ghosts and pumpkins drawn on paper using crayons and pencils, but it still counts right?
For nearly 30 years John put on a large display at the house he grew up in in Somonauk, IL. That display would go up the day of Halloween, and come down that night. Ahhh the energy and dare I say insanity of youth.
Now he and David work together to make a more lasting display in West Chicago, that people can enjoy for the entire month of October.
David Franks
Stuff about David here