Buckle up - this is a long one!
A wee bit of backstory - I volunteer on a search & rescue team. Each year, another team hosts a "Halloween Camp" and people representing SAR teams from all over Michigan (and sometimes out of state) come for the weekend. It's a combination of training, learning, networking and ridiculous fun. This was my 5th year of attending and I will always make sure to keep my October weekends free until I hear when this is. It was this past weekend.
Each year is a different theme, and we'll get "briefed" via email and in person when we get there.
This year was Twilight.
I have seen the movies, but it was literally when each one came out in theaters and not since. The Spawn has the books, but I haven't read them. I bet they're less painful, tho.
Here's the initial emails....
Creature Cash is fake money that we earn during games & challenges & even finding it in random places around the camp. The team with the most cash at the end of the weekend "wins".
Whenever Pat (the lady in charge) said the name of a team - we had to acknowledge. When she said something about the Cullens, they had to hiss. The Pack had to howl, and the Coven had to cackle, but none of us could cackle so it sounded more like a weird giggle - at least mine did!
Pulling into the camp....
Chuck is always expected. He even gets his own name tag.
Pat and her 2 helpers were the Volturi and even the K9s were included.
Tangent - Finn here is gorgeous!
She's part Irish Setter & part boxer.
She's definitely got the boxer 'judging you' face.
First event was team building - we had a design a family crest and come up with a backstory for it.
I don't have pics, but we did an obstacle course - geared toward K9s, but it entertains Pat to no end that I take Chuck thru it. I went last in my team, since I needed time to wrap Chuck and myself in TP like mummies (I volunteered since I thought it was easier to wrap up Chuck than a dog!). I had to throw Chuck thru some tires that were up on end, then go over the top of them myself. Then he walked across a bridge made with 2 2x8 boards end to end. He weaved thru some cones. Then he had to sit in a hula hoop for 5 seconds, ignoring the pieces of hot dog scattered all around it (Chuck is a pro at sit & stay!). However he did NOT eat any hot dog pieces at the next hula hoop and he also did NOT get a ball out of the kiddie pool at the end.
So even tho I had to throw Chuck thru the tires 3 times of Pat could get a picture, my team still won!
If you don't have a K9, you get to hide in the woods to be found by one!
Playing Musical Hula Hoops. I did NOT have to play this one!
Most people think of bloodhounds when they think of search dogs - but I personally only know of 1 in any of the teams I've interacted with. There's a surprising number of border collies, labs, retrievers (both labrador and Chesapeake Bay varieties), Malinois, German Shepherds, and even a Doberman and a brown Dalmation (who wasn't there this time, but I've shared a cabin with him & his Mom several times)
So the story was... Renesmee was out playing in the cemetery and went missing, leaving her creepy white bunny behind. Our mission for the weekend was to find her.
Creepy bunny shown above - it would randomly start to move, too!
This was the Feeding Station. One of the IV bags is real blood - the rest are fake. The dogs (at least the HRD / Human Remains Detection dogs anyway) had to find the real one.
We also played Jeopardy with topics like search management, initial actions, K9 scent theory (which I know nothing about but is fascinating), first aid, maps, etc.
I wish someone got pics, since this is hard to describe. Each team had a set of 2x4 boards with ropes threaded thru holes drilled along them. Each person had to stand with one foot on each board and hold onto a corresponding rope with each hand. The front person basically called a cadence - left, right, left, right and we walked the boards a certain distance. We learned that this is easier with fewer people, since my team only had 2 at that moment and the other team had 4 and we cruised! Then we hopped off and had to search a small area in the woods for "ghosts & goblins" aka DumDum suckers with tissue paper tied around them. Not easy in the woods with fallen leaves!
I stopped by the feeding wall after dark because my flashlight has a UV setting...
Fake blood
Real blood
That surprised me.
Fun fact. People who train HRD dogs are very creative when it comes to getting "source" for training. One lady knows a midwife, so she can get placenta whenever she needs. Someone else works in a dentist office, so they can get teeth and bloody gauze. Some people are affiliated with law enforcement and can get items from accident scenes, but that requires paperwork.
Moving on. Once it gets dark, kids from the local high school (getting volunteer hours that are needed for graduation) are hidden out in the woods to be found a K9. Usually they're told what the scenario is and a story they need to tell whoever finds them about what they had been doing out in the woods, and how many kids were with them and what they saw that caused them to scatter, etc. I believe they had 7 kids out there this time.
I was support for one of the ladies on my own SAR team. She had brought 2 of her dogs with her and took her younger one, who has just recently been certified as a trailing dog - meaning she sniffs something belonging to a person and finds them (aka one of the high school kids). Area search dogs range free and just look for a person, any person. She wanted to see how Phoebe did out in the dark. She did really good! When we got to the building where we were told a H'ween prop was that made noise, I saw the extension cord going around the corner, so had her hang back so I'd set it off and not scare the dog. We actually found our subject right there, too.
The last event of the night is the haunted house / building search. This is a group favorite and happens every year. Last year, I set it up (and here's the post about 2024 camp). This year, 2 ladies that came to Michigan from North Carolina to learn about establishing their own team down there set it up and they did an awesome job! Everyone said mine was really good, but it was nothing compared to what they came up with!
It's a relay race of sorts. Each team got a list of 12 items we had to find in this room. It was FILLED with smoke and fake spider webs and strobe lights and red lasers. Each team could only have 1 red light (it cut thru the strobes so we could see) and one person at a time went in with it. We basically had to memorize the list since we couldn't take it in with us. Thankfully it was almost a full moon so we could still see the list while waiting our turn (rules are very fluid in all events). All the camps I've been to in the past have had 8 items on the list, but they had 12, and one was actually a puzzle. We had to find a box. Then find a key to open said box. And another item on the list was in the box.
We were also told to take gloves in. When asked why, we were told we'd know it when we saw it. Mildly concerning! One of the items on our list was a "wolf eye". We found a large plastic eyeball and were told that was correct. Then we heard one of the NC girls tell one of the other teams that it wasn't! We'd already found everything on our list, but someone had to go back in. She also said something that I don't remember now but it made a lightbulb go off! I'd already taken my gloves off, so I told a teammate that had her's on where I thought it might be. There was a small-ish aquarium in there filled partway with some sort of goo with random items suspended in it. But in the middle was a critter in a jar, I thought maybe that was the "wolf"! Come to find out, it was a preserved fetal pig but the "wolf eye" was underneath of it!
We actually had to keep a couple of the items that we found to use them Sunday!
A silver bullet, holy water and a vial of blood
But... we never did anything with them. The thought was to use the silver bullet to protect one person on the team from a werewolf, the holy water to protect one person from the vampires and we never did get a good reason for the vial of blood.....
The crazy amount of smoke was getting to some people so they opened the door to let it out.
This is just a cool pic!
Another thing - there are a lot of things planned but not all of the games / challenges / events actually happen. Sometimes you just run out of time. It happens. One must be flexible and open to all sorts of insanity at Halloween Camp!
Fuzzies on my pant leg showing up in UV light.
Chuck on the werewolf.
We were convinced that Renesmee didn't go missing - someone got rid of her on purpose, since that's just CREEPY!
So on Sunday, we have to leave the camp by 8am and not return until 10am. We go have breakfast in town. When we were allowed back in, we treated what's going on as a drill. We got a scenario, and were assigned teams and sectors and had to go search the camp! We were looking for I think 6 high school kids this time, Renesmee, and Victoria's father (or grandfather?) who had been killed by wolves. However the vampires were thought to be baiting wolves by hanging dead animals in trees (relevant later).
So all the area search and trailing dogs were sent out looking for kids. I was assigned to be support for an HRD dog - my first time doing such a thing.
Gilly is a Doberman with natural ears. He's such a love bug!
We got to pile in a 4 wheeler to be taken to our sector.
He wasn't a fan but did good riding in the back.
Random carved tree stump.
So we went out to search our 10 acre sector. Soon after, we saw this structure thru the trees, down a side trail. We went to check it out. It's a climbing wall
with a very real, very smelly, dead possum hanging from it.
And a noose was nearby.
I called it in on the radio and marked it on the GPS and off we went.
After a while, Gilly started acting weird. Not like he found scent, but something else. He'd go a little ways, stop, and then stare off into the distance. He'd go a little farther, stop & stare. He actually made a live find! One of the high school girls was sitting out there. Our sector slightly overlapped another dog's and we accidentally found her before they did. Ooops! I called it in, and someone came to get her in the 4 wheeler. Then we were told maybe we'd want to check out the wall a little more...?
We talked about it and I wondered if the stench of the possum could be covering up something else...?
She thought that it was likely, so she said we should start at the wall and start spiraling out away from it, looking for clues.
Gilly making his find!
I'd gone behind the wall when we were first there and I saw a fake skeleton leg hanging off the back part of the wall, but didn't think anything about it. This time I looked closer and called over to the handler who was following Gilly - I asked if I should tell her when I find something or did she want to find it on her own?
I'm not entirely certain what tissue was in the cage, probably don't want to know, but it was stinky!
Another fun fact - a gross one. After maggots are on a body, they eventually pupate / create a casing of sorts then come out as flies or whatever. When they emerge, one of those tiny little leftover casings is actually enough for a K9 to detect.
So anyway, to finish up the weekend, we had a debriefing once all the kids were found and sent home. We each got to talk about what we did/saw/screwed up during the searches and anything else we wanted to say. Then we helped clean up since we don't want to tick off the owners of the camp! I was sort of bummed that I didn't get a chance to go see the cemetery where Renesmee disappeared from - oh, she was found on the lifeguard tower by the beach - Pat couldn't decide what kind of dog to have look for her - is she alive (half human) or dead (half vampire)? So it was up to a human with eyes to find her.
My green team ended up winning. We got a basket with all sorts of Halloween goodies in it, like little toys and candy and dog biscuits, etc.
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Me & Sis1 waiting for the day's adventures to begin....
I'll be ready to go again next year!
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