A Haunted Workplace

While it is no secret Halloween is a big deal at Southwest Headquarters, this year my co-workers and I got into the spooky spirit a little early with lots of decorations. For a couple of weeks, visitors to our corner of the building were ushered into a cobwebby graveyard, complete with larger than your head spiders - one of which rose and fell with the opening of the door.

For the area around my workspace, I decided to recreate The Haunted Mansion, from Disney's themeparks.

The Entry
The Inside
When I first started decorating, I was afraid all the black would be too gloomy, not to mention the huge cobweb "ceiling" - pictures really can't give full effect of having that overhead. But it made for a fun environment and always a conversation point.

Careful observers will recognize a couple of these "works of art" as reproductions from the stretching elevator.


Finding the right chandelier from which to suspend the cobweb ceiling was the pivotal task. This was the inspiration for the whole idea. Gotta love Goodwill stores!
The Graveyard
Just like the real Haunted Mansion, my outside wall is lined with tombstones. Unlike their witty epitaphs, these memorials read the names of former SWA auditors. One of my co-workers let me borrow from her collection of nameplates for all of the Employees who've left our department over the past few years. Thus the sign "Graveyard of Departed Auditors."


Alas, Halloween has passed and the spooks and spiders have gone back into hiding... at least until next Hallows' Eve!