Miss Slighted, high-minded, I’m stuck in the rain

Oh, excuse me, the title is actually Summit Nights and HALLOWEEN HAUNTED HOUSE! BOO! There you go. The description states:

Summit Nights: A unique "night garden" themed dance club playing great music from all genres.

Come and see our creepy haunted mansion, guaranteed to give you a good scare! Ghosts, ghouls, skeletons and zombies, oh my!

So...dance club, but also haunt? Or haunted dance club? I have no idea.



Well, it has rules.



And they've definitely worked to set a particular mood.



Because of course they have game rips, why wouldn't they? Cue massive facepalming.



This was a neat effect. Two of the four paintings moved up and down on the wall. Simple, but effective. This was the second wall with the effect--the first one seemed to be in more shadow--but there didn't seem to be repetition, which is my other bane--the earlier four paintings were different.



The game rips are getting on my nerves...



Really? Okay, it's possible this is not a direct game rip, even though Ju-On had a video game released for the Wii. (And yes, the little meowing boy? He is in that game.) But one way or another, this was my "I'm done here" note.

Haunts are an odd thing--they rely on two key principles, and they are opposing: originality and creativity on the one side, and tradition and established settings on the other. But it is far from impossible to play to both things, and make a haunt work, without involving game properties or established media properties.

That is, if the designer cares at all.

And...that's it. I'll make one more correction to the list of all the haunts, and then I'll start working on old pictures for the haunts, but this is my last haunted house for the year. Blessings of the season to you all!

carved by the waves, our sacred temple

Why am I even here? You know what, I don't even care how I got this landmark. I'm leaving. There's nothing here I want to see if that's the first thing that rezzes in.



Some days, it's just not worth the effort crawling out of the grave.



I don't know which of us was more surprised, honestly.

Meanwhile, seen at the Salem event...



I am stll not used to avatars being openly used as sim decoration. I mean, I've seen bots as models, I've seen bots behind reception desks at stores, but as haunters or, in this case, just...there...as sort of thematic additions...that, I'm not used to yet. I'm not sure I'm going to get used to that, either.

and as I watch you disappear into my head, well, there's a man who's telling me I might be dead (part two)

(Continued from part one.)



On the second floor I found mostly empty rooms, with a pinball-bouncing Chucky doll triggering every time I came out to the center area that all the rooms open onto. That...was annoying. But of the two rooms that had anything, this was definitely the more visually interesting--the other being the same bed with a bloodied red blanket, a cut-out wavery butler, nine feet tall, and a floor candlestick.



There's very little on the second floor, and very little in the attic. But the attic is confusing: rip clown, devil's head, the Jigsaw puppet, and Tiffany in a T pose. Why?



The last structure I found before I left was a barn, complete with jumpscare clown, drifting spectre, and hanging man.



And there's nothing upstairs in the barn loft.

All in all, this isn't terrible. It's sufficiently atmospheric. I'd honestly give it a solid three skulls if not for the fact I had to open the map and peer at a poster to get the correct coordinates for the haunt. It wasn't arduous, in the sense of having to move a car or anything, but it was irritating, and it didn't need to be.



In the meantime, I'm just not getting used to this new let's-rearrange-all-the-things style of logout screen. (The red arrow is due to my using a screencap service to grab this, and it grabbed where my mouse cursor was, too.)

and as I watch you disappear into my head, well, there's a man who's telling me I might be dead (part one)

This one is deeply weird. Their blurb:

SG Restaurant,grocery store,groceries, produce,fruit,free food court,buttermilk,wood,logs,lumber,power,energy,friendly,ice,water,wellness,center,herbs,medical,rice,craft,supermarket rentals,social,fun,music,market,vegetables,Haunted House

So...nothing at all to do with anything seasonal, but oh-wait-Haunted-House. I haz a confuse.

So...where's the haunt?



Wandering a short distance discovered this jumpscare clown. I wasn't interested in jumping into him repeated times to get everything to rez in, but...this is suitably creepy, I feel, on its own.

Later, I found a port pad. It was...confusing. It had these options: "Bowling Alley", "Education Par", Entertainmen", Supermarket", "clinic", and five completely empty buttons. I still haz a confuse.



I wandered into the courtyard area and finally saw this sign. Oh, so I have to get there on my own, there's no direct port? That's annoying.



That's...not a sign style you see every day.



There's a tricky, but doable, corn maze that's fun to go through.

However, I got lost out the other side. I pretty much had to go back to the beginning and take a couple different paths before I cound the house.



Warning: the house is not for arachnophobes, so do be aware.



This was an interesting thing--one of the outdoor wandering spirits has apparently been given the house to patrol. Which means he randomly floats through rooms, through walls, circles back, and wanders through again.

And this is verging on long, so I'm splitting it in half. Continued in part two!

the sky is trembling and I must leave

I went to scope out the Spookzilla event--it's not like I have the funds now to buy a bunch of L$25 ghosts even if I find them, but I wanted to know about about the layout. And now...I rather wish I hadn't.



Case in point. I have become accustomed to porting to a high-traffic event, and dealing with nude people just wandering around. I only get concerned when it seems like the nudity persists for more than ten minutes--which, in these shots, it had.



Okay, but it's just nudity, right? Nothing that out of the ordinary. The mesh will rez, the clothes will come...right?



Well...not exactly. This was a bit more unnerving, seeing naked and headless people wandering around. Usually if it's just the mesh not rezzed in yet, I'll see the head floating nearby, in those rare cases where head and body are detached. In this case? No. Ten minutes of headlessness.



And it had been so long since I'd seen non-mesh feet on any avatar that I was almost disturbed by how distorted and...well, just plain wrong some of the feet looked.



And the hair never draped itself across scalps and shoulders. The bodies never got random items of clothing hovering near them, or suddenly snapping into place. Shoes never appeared next to ankles, or attached to right hands. Minutes of just...waiting...for attire, and never seeing it.



FINALLY, I found someone with an outfit! I was so overjoyed until I realized everyone behind her was still naked. And headless at that! What was going on?!



And then, a head rezzed in. But...just a head. No body. No hair. NO EYES. And, if you look closely, you can see that in the distance, in the tunnel leading to Spookzilla, are a pair of floating eyes.

Hers? Someone else's? I didn't know, I didn't care, I just left.

inside my mind, shades of visions, fading photographs of you, of me

Evolving Images apparently has a haunt this year. Their description states:

Visit the dining room for Halloween treats, and the kitchen for beanie and snake stew. Most Halloween décor is set for sale, but explore the grounds for some hidden free Halloween décor. Be careful going upstairs, it is called a haunted house! mwahaha

Okay. Let's check it out.



Who puts a haunt on a bright sunny beach? I'm at least setting the day cycle to midnight.



The ripped clown does not fill me with confidence. But I will say, the rest of the downstairs being decorated for a party doesn't hurt--Halloween house-party nostalgia is strong this year.



That's clever, and it's apparently made by Evolving Images.



I'm not sure which disturbs me more: that the presence of toys suggests this is a child's bedroom; that it's the only bedroom in the house; that this bedroom seems to be doing double duty as body storage; or that the storm seems to be coming from inside the house.

Overall, this isn't terrible. I found it laggy, but that could be me right now--Windows updated on my comp and everything has been as slow as molasses since. I will add, though, that everything in the house seems to be purchasable, so...there's that.

you committed, I'm your crime, push my button anytime

This next link involves quite a bit of NSFW language, and also reveals yet another massive flaw in Bethesda's perceptions, both of their own company and their players: they completely and utterly failed to register the domain "falloutfirst". They have only themselves to blame.

And the list of all haunts for this year has been tweaked, corrected, and updated with visible graphics.

Oh, and there is a phenomenal video on YouTube about the history of Hocus Pocus--why it flopped originally, how it was made in the first place, and why it's such a Halloween classic today.

Now, then. There's a haunt on Etienne Island that sounds intriguing:

A little creepy, a lots spooky... tons of those things that go bump in the night. The 2019 edition of Daddy's Girl Oasis Haunted house. Please turn sound on, set to night for the best experience.

I guess...good of them to warn me?

When I first landed, I couldn't see a way into the haunt. Then I walked around three buildings, and down the ramp, and found this sign. Then I had realized I'd taken off a rather signature tattoo for the Ursula outfit at the masquerade ball--pictures to come--so ported home to ink it proper. Then came back, and...right by the port point, there's a dark stone archway. Silly me.



What's a Snation?



Uh...you look...busy. I'll...I'll just come back later.



The asylum has seen better days. I wish it had also seen fewer game rips.



Case in point.

Which is really sad, to this point I was really liking the creativity. I'm very disappointed.

Okay. One more rip, and I'm gone.



One more rip.

I'm gone.

This isn't a straight zero haunt, I think, is the main problem. There's a lot of innovative ideas here. There's some really effective decoration. But the utter laziness, the callous uncaring in using known game rips...I can't give them points for that. I just can't.

So, I guess...overall, if you don't mind game rips, go, you could find some good photo ops. Otherwise, it just hit me as meh after all the copyright infringement.

and I don't know where I've been, and I don't know what I'm into (part two)

Picking up where we left off, there is a track section with spiderwebs. I didn't see any actual spiders, but there are webs.



I swear I've been here before. But I don't recognize the sim, or the house around the track. It's so odd.





This was also a neat effect. This was after the ride ended, and I went upstairs to explore the second level of the house. The kitchen had this, three slowly rotating chairs, with a ghost fading in and out.



Okay, but these twop rips I can't ignore. Time to go.

The ride part is fun? Even though it basically laps the lower house twice, it's still fun. The upstairs is sort of find-the-effect wandering, and that's about it. Plus game rips, so, y'know...either this haunt is another three-skull extravaganza or you may like it, who knows? All I know is copyright infringement when I see it.

and I don't know where I've been, and I don't know what I'm into (part one)

So I found a rock club that seems to have a haunt?

WHERE ROCK RULES!
Halloween,Haunted House,Costumes,Pumpkins,Ghosts,
Graveyard,Music,Shop,Date,Rock,Club,Biker,DJ,Host,Adult,
Amusement,Park,Rides,nude Beach,Dance,Friends,Romance,Forest,Derby,Party,Games,

Okay, "Haunted House" is in there, but there's so much else going on, I admit to some doubt.



I guess this is the haunt?



OH! It's a ride!



That is a very neat fence effect.



Game rip, the clown, but I'll allow it...for now. But this layout feels awfully familiar.



The car runs on a figure-eight track, I think? It's a straight chain ride, no water, no backing up and rotating. This was also a neat effect--as the car zips by, the skull spits blood particles.

I'll pick up the rest in the https://razorblade-cookies.blogspot.com/2019/10/doggers-den-rock-club-part-two.html.

so I'll waste my time and I'll burn my mind

I'm running out of days to get everything up before Halloween! So the next few days are going to be...crowded, for entries. Apologies if needed.

The blurb for says:

HAUNTED MANSION HAUNTED SEX HOUSE LATINOS PUERTO RICO ARGENTINA MEXICO VENEZUELA SEXO BDSM RESPECT OTHERS

Uhh...what?

Should I mention it's on Adult land? I mean "HAUNTED SEX HOUSE" pretty much gives it away, right?



So first off, the haunt has RLV traps. Doesn't matter for everyone, but I feel the caution is necessary.



Second haunt I've found this year with jail cells.



There's not a lot going on here, but there are some items that stand out. Like the bright pink inflatable mattress downstairs, or this very pink hairdressers' station, or behind me in the larger upstairs main room, the very shiny chrome and white fibreglass shower set.



Yep, I think I've seen all I need to.

It's not bad, is the thing. The wallpaper and the wall art and the beams of dim light? That all works really well. But it doesn't seem like more thought went into it than "let's do a haunted house we can have sex in". I mean, I guess maybe that is an end in itself, but...I want more. Maybe I'm overly picky, but give me a story. Give me clues. Intrigue me. Don't just drop me into a bare wood floor with a couple stained mattresses and poseballs. We can upscale things a bit at this point, can't we?