Christopher Cartwright.
Not many high school students have a crypt in their front yard but Christopher Cartwright does. He also has a cemetery, ghosts and a few skulls that are anything but out-of-place in the Casa Linda Estates neighborhood.
No, the creepy collection isn’t just a run-of-the-mill Halloween setup, it’s an interactive haunted yard that Cartwright heads up each year at his house. The elaborate display, known as El Campo Crypt, is now in its tenth year and, from the sneak peek the senior gave Advocate Magazine, this year is going to top the rest when the sun goes down on Halloween.
“It started very simple,” Cartwright says. “Looking back on it now it’s very basic compared to what we do now.”
He’s right.
The crypt, named after El Camp Drive where Cartwright lives, incorporates live actors, video projection effects and an automated light show synchronized to music to entertain the more than 300 neighbors that visit on Halloween. And the process to get all of this running smoothly is no easy task. Cartwright’s friend, Beckham Myers, coded the software and helped wire the circuit boards while Cartwright choreographed the show to various songs.
As for the organization process, Cartwright, along with friends and family, starts planning how the yard will be set up during the summer and once October hits, every weekend is spent working on the Halloween project.
It’s a large project for someone still in school but Cartwright points out it’s more than just scaring the neighbors.
“I’m interested in filmmaking so this is kind of similar,” Cartwright says. “It’s like putting on a show.”
But this year will be Cartwright’s last time putting the haunted yard together. He’ll be graduating from high school and hopes to hand the annual task to his younger brother Jonathan, a freshman.
Until then, Cartwright has a few more ghosts to conjure and a few teenagers to scare.
“In the past nine years it’s basically been the same thing where you walk through the yard,” Cartwright says. “This year it’s something totally new, its like a different challenge…I’m going to miss it.”
