Voorhees

Before this post I was thinking about where the flames came out of the lantern, but I was unable to determine this on my own. Given JWFearman's high-tech ability, it is obvious that the icons' presence in both the flames and their respective frames of the lantern is not a coincidence. I am not one who regularly tries to see things on HHN websites, but there is clearly something to be said about this lantern and its contents. The only icon that I could not recognize in the frame was the Director, but as gwarfan points out, you can see a profile of a person, but it doesn't look like our good friend Paolo. However, it must be. Then, thinking of "wasted space," I started looking at the other frames and noticed some things. The bottom frame (opposite the flashlight) appears to have a bow, which has been pointed out before. It was said to be Cindy's bow, and is appropriately placed over what appears to be a "C" in the lantern's frame. Also, to the left of the bow appears another side profile: could this be the Nightmare Man either hunting Cindy or being called by Cindy? Then, in the upper, right frame (above the flashlight) I see another face, but only one eye, part of the mouth, and a finger pointing upwards. I noticed this about a week ago, but thought nothing of it. Who is this? It looks like the Caretaker, but of course this is left up to your imagination. The only remaining frame appears to contain letters and I have fully exhausted myself from figuring it out. But it appears to be QGLC, which leads to one dead end after another. I even held a mirror up to the computer screen (as a tribute to Bloody Mary) and the reflection doesn't appear to yield anything besides "Jer," or something like that. I wanted to post this to see if anyone else is as crazy as I am and sees these other things (again, a habit in which I don't often partake) and to figure out if there are indeed other things in the three remaining frames of the lantern. In the picture below, I did my technological best to highlight the features as best as I could. The red resembles the five icons, the blue are the two images that I mentioned above, and the green encompasses the "letters." I also circled mouths and eyes to make skeptics (some of whom are my own friends) see the figures a little better. Again, sorry for the bad quality (I would compare the image to JWFearman's original one) and remember, I'm not really that crazy.

I've been gone for a couple of days and just saw the updates and the pictures in the flames of the lantern. When I first saw the fourth picture, I immediately thought of Billy. I think the white face, the square mouth, the red on the upper side of the mouth, and the shape of the eyes kind of gives this one away. It is kind of odd to have Billy as one of the flames in the lantern, but maybe this is just the beginning of what the lantern is going to show us. Or . . . maybe it is just a really bad image of the Caretaker (the only one of the "five" icons that is not shown here). I still think that the Caretaker and Cindy will be a key part to the event (as I have said before . . . maybe Albert is carrying the lantern), which is why his image may not be in the flames.

I was there this past weekend as well and I can confirm the "forest" inside the JAWS queue house. It appeared to be a tunnel with branches coming off the sides and leaves attached to the top and sides. I didn't take any pictures, but you can go see for yourself. This new addition to our speculation on the theming of this house is very confusing, but hopefully we'll find out soon enough how all of this fits together.

I've been really thinking about The_Insider's post about "I'll be home for Christmas. You can count on me." I don't think we will see a return of HFTH, but maybe he/she is trying to tell us that all of our former icons will be returning home, whether than be Carey, Ohio or Hell itself, since they have completed their job of instilling fear in us. This would also go along with Charles' idea of out with the old and in with the new. For example, some of the houses can focus on the return of each icon to their proper "home" (Carey or Hell - maybe even both(?)). For example we will see what happend to Albert and Cindy Caine following the Scream House saga and we can see how Jack has brought back the mental patients from Shady Brook asylum. The Storyteller can be telling her last tale while the Director is making his last film. After all they already have an Usher in place in Carey to usher them back to their proper place geographically (Carey) and historically in the HHN books. Part of me thinks that Universal is playing with us until we get closer to their storyline - after all . . . isn't Legendary Truth all about us figuring out the answers before they are given to us?

And your basis for this is what?

Oh yeah right. My mistake - he was on the place holder site before the most recent update. As JWFearman said, there are so many ideas that are being thrown out there that I think we all get a little confused somtimes. I knew I saw him recently, but was mistaken as to where. -- Voorhees

Two options: 1) We may be taking a trip through a story. Or, more likely . . . 2) If Carey is the root of all evil, then it may be possible that it is the doorway to hell itself. Maybe there is no tie to the Storyteller, maybe Nightmare will lead us through this area/house. After all, he was there in the Shadows from the Past scarezone. -- Voorhees

I was at Universal this past weekend and not much has changed with regards to visable construction. The only addition to the picture above, which I posted last week, is that the two doorways actually have two afixed doors now. Both doors open outward (maybe inward too, but they were facing out) and they were painted a solid color - I think one was dark blue and the other was dark green. Isn't it odd to have to doors here? Could we be walking out of the house and then back in? Or are these just used by scareactors? In either case, wouldn't they have to build another wall around this area to block the light and backstage areas when being viewed from inside the house? The planks were not there when I was there, but I don't think it is a fence as is. As someone else pointed out, the planks don't seem to be attached to the cross beams and they were probably just drying after a paint job. Other than that, I have no idea what they are planning to do with them. Also, the interior of the garage is looking nice. I didn't take any pictures because they wouldn't have been much different than Cavalry's pictures. I'll check again this weekend. -- Voorhees

It's really funny that you wrote this as I was going to write something very similar. I wrote the following in this thread on May 5: "As I said on the other site's forum before it went down, I can really see the Skoolhouse being very central to this year's event. It was a key part of the storyline in 2008 and all of Dr. Agana's patients were connected to it through family ties. I think our icons are tied to this very important location as well although I'm not entirely sure how. I think the Skoolhouse will return as it has been one of the most revered scarezones of all time (well at least since my first HHN in 2002) and I really did miss seeing it in its full glory last year. I love the "tree" theories that have been rooted into the many ideas of what this year's event has in store for us. I can easily see a large tree across from Mel's (hopefully accompanied by the Skoolhouse) that plays a major role in the overall story of HHN past. Carey, Ohio will most definitely return since its true inception into the main storyline in 2008 and the many references that A&D has made towards the mystical town in Nowhere, USA." In addition to this post, it makes perfect sense for us to visit the root of all evil that arose from Carey, Ohio since it has been such a focus of the event over the past few years (maybe even since the early days of HHN). Besides the places already mentioned by Charles, we might be visiting and/or re-visiting places in Carey. Also, remember that Elm Street is in Springwood, Ohio and the Crazies was based in a small town in Iowa (close enough, right?). Besides, the Disaster queue house seems to be a model of a suburban house/town as others have mentioned. We might be literally taken through Carey, Ohio at this year's event. Based on some reliable information posted on here, we have heard that it is not going to be as much of a reunion year as we originally thought. But, I still like the idea I posted a few weeks ago about Albert Caine looking for a soul for Cindy. Maybe he has returned to Ohio (from Georgia, right?) to look for a proper soul for his daughter. dante asked a question that I never answered. Based on the Shadows from the Past scarezone, Albert and Cindy were roaming the ground, while Jack and Julian were searching the crowd from above. It is possible that, while not being a rehash year, such icons will help Albert Caine search Carey for the perfect soul for Cindy's resurrection. An example . . . the Storyteller could search through her books on Greek Mythology, the Director could search Elm Street (while not mentioning Freddy by name, of course), Julian could search his theater and the rest of the town, etc. And who knows, a carnival may be in town (as in Midway of the Bizarre in Amity) and we know who would search that area. I'm just trying to put some ideas together with what I really would like to see and that is just called speculation, right? -- Voorhees

No, there was definitely a platform structure at the base of the upper walls. Also, they didn't extend all the way across the top of the structure. I'm sure that this does not indicate a two-story house, nor was I ever intending to mean this; I believe it is just a platform for a scareactor that will be placed above the maze. I did not notice any jagged edges, nor do I know what this could mean. I'm going back for the Rob Thomas and Counting Crows concerts and will try to take more pictures if anything has changed. And don't worry . . . I would NEVER go where guests are not allowed.

I was at Universal for the concerts this past Saturday and I took a few pictures of the Jaws and Disaster queues. It doesn't show too much, but there are two things that I noticed. First, there were clearly two stories of wood built in the Jaws queue (look to the right of the hammerhead shark). It doesn't appear to go very far, but the materials used near the ceiling of the building are definitely the same as the materials on the ground. Maybe, they will put a scareactor on the second story platform. Second, it looks like the mystery van is parked inside a garage and that we will be walking by the side of the van, through a door, and then behind it. Just something little to continue speculating about besides "Oh look at the van!" -- Voorhees

I don't post very often, but I've been trying to see how everything we "know" (or think we know) and the placeholder website might just be tied together. I'm going with the idea that Cindy is going to be a pivotal character in this year's event and that her father, Albert Caine, is trying to raise her (or has already risen her) from the dead. I'll try to keep this brief (I know it is hard for me), but I'm a person who likes to gather information and analyze it before just rambling about tons of ideas; I guess that's the science background talking. So . . . we know that Cindy is dead and that Albert has been investigating ways to find the souls of his poor victims, right? What if this year is all about Albert Caine searching through the years past of HHN to find a proper soul for his daughter. Think about it. Why did Universal give us those four specific pictures on the updated site? I really don't think it is random. Dr. Caine is searching places such as the Island of Immortal SOULS (Nightmare) and the Harvest of SOULS (Punpkin Head) as a starting point; it is also not a coincidence that these were represented in last year's Shadows of the Past scarezone. The next piece of the puzzle, how to make the sacrifice to bring Cindy back? Easy, use Eelmouth who welcomed people to the Terra Queen throne (part tree) to make sacrifices for her so that she can contine to live. It is also in the backstory that the Terra Queen comes back every five years, which would be very convenient since this marks the fifth year since 2005. Now, for the other characters in the scarezone last year . . . the gentleman, the skool kid, and the vampire are merely secondary characters whose souls can be used to make the sacrifice. It's not by chance that Albert and Cindy Caine were the only two main "icons" walking around on the ground; Albert as if he was looking for someone and Cindy as if she was just brought back from the dead to join the HHN party. He was literally searching through HHNs past to find the proper soul. It also makes sense that Jack led us into the scarezone as he was the first icon in the modern HHN timeframe and that Julian was ushering us out of the scarezone as he was the most recent icon. He also held a flashlight to help Albert find his soul from both the physical beings (scareactors in the scarezone) and the audio "beings" (the sounds from the audio track). I can see this year having Icon houses (reimmagined, of course) that represent us voyaging along with Dr. Caine on his quest. Screamhouse has been one of the best series of houses and I can see it, or the infamous tree that has been discussed time and again) being the (if not one of the) main "icons" this year. However, I am still going back on my hunch that I have posted before regarding the Skoolhouse. I really think it will make its reappearance this year given its significance in 2008. Sorry this was so long - I hope it made some sort of sense. -- Voorhees

As I said on the other site's forum before it went down, I can really see the Skoolhouse being very central to this year's event. It was a key part of the storyline in 2008 and all of Dr. Agana's patients were connected to it through family ties. I think our icons are tied to this very important location as well although I'm not entirely sure how. I think the Skoolhouse will return as it has been one of the most revered scarezones of all time (well at least since my first HHN in 2002) and I really did miss seeing it in its full glory last year. I love the "tree" theories that have been rooted into the many ideas of what this year's event has in store for us. I can easily see a large tree across from Mel's (hopefully accompanied by the Skoolhouse) that plays a major role in the overall story of HHN past. Carey, Ohio will most definitely return since its true inception into the main storyline in 2008 and the many references that A&D has made towards the mystical town in Nowhere, USA. I am very excited for this event (as we all are every year) and I am really looking forward to watching the surpringly good speculation continue on this site as the real hints begin being "leaked" or given to us fairly soon. Hauntcon looked pretty amazing and I'm glad that HHN had such a nice showing at the event - of course, it doesn't hurt that a few "clues" were passed our way.