Our very first year. We were located over on North Monroe street back then and called The Mystery Playhouse. The artist was Paul Wolak, a talented photoshop magician in Chicago. Only 300 were made (11 x 17") with off set printing. We also photocopied a rather generic mini poster (8 x 10") made up from old spook show clip art (of the classic Phillip Morris variety). Below is one of our original tickets (art by Hal Robins).
Our 2nd year of operation. The artist was Bill Fogg, an art instructor from the San Francisco bay area, and a talented illustrator as well. Only 300 (11 x 17") posters were made with off set printing.
Our 3rd year of operation. Once again, the artist was Bill Fogg, an art instructor. Only 300 (11 x 17") were made with off set printing.
Our 4th year. The artist was Kurt Kuersteiner, one of the two original Mystery Playhouse founders. About 200 (11 x 17") were photocopied. We also photocopied another mini-poster (8x10") using different spook art.
Click above image to see Garijo's pencil version, or click here to see Kuersteiner's original thumbnail sketch.
Our 5th year. At this point, the Monroe Steet location was demolished and we moved to 826 West Gaines and renamed the place Terror Of Tallahassee. (It was originally named Nightmares from 2000 - 2001, and Bloodlines in 2002). Our floor space was suddenly doubled from our previous location of 6,000 square feet to 12,000!
The artist for 2003 was Ricardo Garijo from Argentina. He's a professional comic book illustrator and painter of trading cards. About 300 were photocopied (some at 11 x 17" size, others at 8 x 10" size) and smaller color coupons (4.25 x 5.5") were also created on slick card stock.
Our 6th year. The artist was Strephon Taylor from El Cerritro, CA. He does a lot of spook show art. About two dozen were made as large (24 x 36") posters, and 100 medium sized (11 x 17") posters were made, along with another 200 regular (8 x 10") photocopies.
Both 11 x 17 and 8 x 10" glossy posters made for our sixth year. The artist was Scott Jackson of Chicago who paints the oversized Monster Masterpieces trading cards. He also organizes Halloween Art Exhibits. About 500 of each were size poster were made. Plus, full color coupons (4.25 x 5.5") on slick cardboardd stock were also distributed (see below).
Click above image to see Kuersteiner's original thumbnail sketch.
The artist was Ricardo Garijo from Argentina, who also did our poster in 2003. This time, it was a pencil drawing. Only about 100 (8 x 10") posters were made on yellow paper. There were also smaller color coupons printed on slick cardboard stock (shown below). The front art was The Mask of the Red Death was painted by David King. The sewing corpse image is by an unknown artist. They measure 4.25 x 5.5".
2007
(Click image to see Kuersteiner's original thumbnail sketch.)
Our 8th year poster was drawn by Ricardo Garijo. We made both large 11 x 17" and regular 8 x 10" black and white sizes, plus a few 24 x 36" movie posters.
There were also smaller (4.25 x 5.5") color coupons printed on slick cardboard. The back features a Time Machine image of the Morlocks menacing a human, painted by David King.
A hearty thanks to all our previous year's artists for their great work. It's just one of the creative details that makes us look forward each year for another fun & fear-filled fall.
You can also check out our Haunted House comic tract (by artist Emby Quinn). They were handed out as mini 5" x 7" comics in 2007. All the illusions pictured have actually been featured in the our haunt.
ev. 12.24.07
