HEDZ Background

When I was casting about for a name for my grisly-looking horror props in 1995 as I made my first foray into the commercial side of Hallowe'en prop production, I settled on the name 'HEDZ.'It was edgy, the Z gave it a sharpness (or so I thought) and, best of all, no one else was using it according to my search through the trademark book at the Detroit Public Library. Even though the company never really took off, I still like to refer to them as HEDZ. It doesn't sound quite as edgy as it used to for some reason, but over a decade of calling them that has cemented it in my mind. So what they heck are these HEDZ? At left, you can see a bunch of them from the flyer that I used at the 1996 Halloween Show in Chicago. They are basically bodyless props that are designed to be used in haunted houses and at regular houses where people go all out for Hallowe'en. When we were tossing around ideas for new props, we'd inevitably come up with an idea that was more than a head. We considered expanding into a "BODYZ" line, although even I admit it isn't quite as catchy. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point-of-view), we never got that far.

You may notice by comparing the photos in the flyer above to the images from the 1994 Wyandotte, Michigan Jaycee movie-themed haunted house below that some of the HEDZ underwent quite a bit of change from one stage of existance to the next. A lot of this had to do with the process of making them easier to product, which you'll learn about as you delve into the depths of this site.

Of course, they were always meant to be props for haunted houses. They appeared in several from 1991 through 2000. I did tend to be a bit over-protective of the things because I had so much time and effort invested in them. In fact, I usually preferred to have them used in protected displays as you can see in the left photo or in haunts were I was actually working so that I could keep an eye on them as you can see in the right. (Well, you don't see me in that one. Check out the About the 'Artist' page if you want to see that. I had a reason to be protective, though. As I discovered in one particularly unfortunate case, not everyone else appreciated how much time and effort I had put into the things.

For the most part, they survived haunted houses as well as many other things including being turned into commercial props, being rejected as commercial props, getting stuck in storage containers and boxes in attics, basements of garages - sometimes for years on end. They also made it through various re-fittings, remodelings and other re-s. Some of them even survived mold attacks!

If that all sounds the least ibt interesting, feel free to peruse the rest of this site. There you'll learn about all the things I've mentioned so far as well as other curious things that happened to these 20-odd (very odd) props.