# Spooky props/effects for a swimming pool?



## putrid (Aug 18, 2002)

Wow! Now there's a hard one to spook up and still make safe. A pool full of people. I guess the old 'heave the toaster' is out. LOL

Spray foam inslulation would make good floaties as long as you use good quality paint. Also you can add eyes by using battery powered L.E.D.s or leds for short. For something dead to float in the pool try getting a blow mold skeleton ( try Big Lots ) and use spray foam for guts. Paint this all up and you have an instant 'grody floaty'.

I've never used a fog machine but I have heard that to make it stay close to the ground you need a 'fog chiller'. If no one posts instructions go to the link below and check out all the how to's on this prop.

http://markbutler.8m.com/monsterlist.htm

Safety would be my concern with lighting around a pool. If you do plan on using colored lighting the best tip I can give you (from my old rock band days ). Keep one light white and all your colors will show up better. If everything is green your eyes will adjust and you'll lose the green look. But if one light is left white, even if it's dim, the green will stay green to your eyes. If you plan on changing your water color try fiber optics. Again I have to apologies because I can only make the suggestion without giving much help.



Personal hygiene 101 from your O.C.C.O.C.P. There's nothing in the air, that's me your smelling.


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## rweso (Jul 25, 2003)

Make a dummy and stick a boogie board in it's chest, instant floating dead guy. Dry ice won't work in water what happens is the water that surrounds it will freeze creating an ice shell around the dry ice sealing it from giving off it's foggy effect. Instead of fogging you will just have an ice ball that mysteriously keeps getting bigger. Now if you have a hot tub, that's a different story.


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## rod spain (Aug 27, 2002)

How about fake body parts and red food coloring in the water(mixed with leaves & other debris).A couple of severed heads bobbing up and down("Hi,I'm Bob and this is my girlfriend.Ilean"LOL)

rod spain


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## Victoria (Aug 11, 2003)

Thanks for the great ideas, especially keeping one light white. I've always used red lights indoors for previous parties, which freaks folks out at first, but everyone adapts without realizing it. But keeping a light white might create a different effect.

Somehow, I'm really intrigued by the ever-enlarging iceball. Kinda like Kurt Vonnegut's Ice-9 story...Cat's Cradle?

I'm not planning on folks swimming...but I'm guessing there's a good chance if the weather isn't freezing. Even if the weather is freezing, and the punch is good. So safety is definately a factor.

Victoria


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## Spooky Chuck (Jun 14, 2003)

Giant rubber snakes!!!! I also like Rods idea of red food coloring. But I think you'd need about a gallon! How about a largemouth bass with a little Creature from the black lagoon costume! Hehe... Ok I'll shutup now.


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## Atomic Mystery Monster (Jul 29, 2003)

How about using sharks or an underwater Nessie-type monster with glowing eyes?


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## rod spain (Aug 27, 2002)

Hey Spooky,don't shut up,I like those ideas,keep em coming!

rod spain


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## phantom (Aug 7, 2003)

get a couple ultrasonic foggers/mist makers and float them in the pool. you can get the floating rings online.

sincerly, 
Phantom.


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## sheepies666 (Sep 22, 2003)

You can make the pool look "swampy" by putting camo netting over part of it. Use some floats to keep parts up here and there and the rest will bob around. Add in some rubber snakes and voila! The red food coloring's a good idea, but it might stain the pool. 
You can get floating candles in all sorts of shapes now. A place by my house has ones that look like blood-shot eyes. They're white on the outside, but when you burn them, they form puddles of red wax. I can't find them on-line, but you might be able to get something similar. Or just buy red floating candles, dip them in white wax and paint eyes on the outside!

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-7/103670/GothSheep.jpg


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## rod spain (Aug 27, 2002)

how about a couple of fake skeletons dressed in old clothes floating in the pool?

rod spain


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## sprfly (Oct 19, 2002)

*To expand on your idea a little Rod...how about a skeleton hanging on a bouy, like some kind of shark victim.

-fly*


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## Misfit (Sep 25, 2003)

they make colored plastic wrap. you can put it over the pool light somehow. If you apply the red it would make the water look like blood. and u can experiment by using differnt layers of the wrap.

All is done


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## Liemavick (Sep 23, 2003)

Victoria, I have a pool prop pic i want you to see. I have no idea how to get a photo account here so if you email me Ill attach the pic in reply.
[email protected]
If by chance you can enlighten me on obtaining a photo account ill be more then happy to post it here.
Brian Liem(avick)

Evil is, is what Evil does!


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## Sirus (Sep 17, 2003)

Won't epson salts or something cloud up the water??
This sounds like it will be Really cool

-Sirus Squire, the Vampire Hunter


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## greasemonkey (Sep 15, 2005)

you might want to be carful with a fog machine .I believe they are oil based and you don't want an oil slick in your pool.

I like the idea of the camo net.

is this an in ground pool or above ???


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## Hobgoblin (Sep 18, 2005)

How about a blow mold skeleton handcuffed and chained to the bottom. 


Oh and be careful if you use the netting, it would be awfully easy for someone to fall into it and become tangled. If you are going to use it put it in the shallow area.


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## HibLaGrande (Aug 6, 2005)

you could throw large chunks of dry ice in a basket and have it hang in the pool in front of the spout where warm water comes out. you could sink some water proof flashlights


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## Scooty (Sep 1, 2005)

Do you have a diving board????

How about a skelly kneeling on the end of the diving board, hands on the board, throwing up into the pool...maybe sit a few empty beer cans beside him? Do you have one of those automatic pool cleaners? If so, disconnect the water supply line, use a reducer to switch over to 1/2" or 3/4" clear tubing. Route the tubing through the skelly or dummy, exiting about a 1/2" out of his mouth. Turn on the pump for spewage. You could diffuse the flow somehow to get a more random spewage spray. The beauty is...recycled pool water, no electricity concerns. You could let the spewage shoot down, hit the diving board, splattering back into the pool. No big investment and the prop can be reengineered into something else next season. 

Now.........if it was MY shindig...I'd rig up a standing bucky or blucky, on the edge of the pool, back to the partygoers, front towards the pool, hands appropriately placed holding the tubing...well, you know. Let's just say, he had enough beer he felt the need to relieve himself. You could rotate his head to look back over his shoulder, jaw dropped in a partying grin. Again, a pile of beer cans at his feet to add to the scene.


Another scene...frozen lake, hockey accident....a dead body trapped under the ice...mouth gaping, hair undulating in the water, eyes wide open. Get a large piece of heavy mil translucent plastic cut to the shape of the pool...you are staging a frozen "pool". Somehow lay the plastic on the surface of the water...hopefully it will float. Air bubbles under the plastic would be good for appearance and to support the plastic. Scrounge up or make a couple hockey sticks and a puck, lay them on top of the plastic. Use lightweight materials for your props. You'll have to be creative with your dead body. You could use plastic soda bottles partially filled with water inside of the dummy to act as bouyancy chambers to hold the limbs, trunk and head next to the plastic but not so much it lifts the plastic off of the water surface. This is an ambitious prop, but would be cool to see.

Big warning though...that plastic on the pool surface could be a real killer. Watch the pool closely and pull the plastic off of the water as soon as the party is over.


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## Scary Barry (Oct 6, 2004)

A friend of mine, SabreCurt, has a pool he's used for his haunt in the past. He had his brother-in-law dress like the Creature from the Black Lagoon (a swimsuit, mask, and dive hands) . He would come out of the steps when the TOTer's would approach. Some fog, good lighting and music made for some good scares.


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## Rockerella (Aug 30, 2005)

I've seen some interesting ideas with a motorized decoy duck and glow sticks (check monster list for "swamp creature"), but you might wanna take advantage of the end-of-the season sales on the self swimming fish and turtles that are meant for the pool and bathtub that run on batteries. (i'm using a fish in a "haunted aquarium" - painted black overpainted with white 'bones' swimming over sculpey-sculpted tombsontes, skulls, etc.) I bought a turtle (with "bobbing head action"!!!) that will be painted black and adorned with some sort of glow-stick eyes and thrown in the pool. Haven't quite gotten it figured out yet. Anyone with ideas for my as-yet out-of-work turtle?


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## Sabre Curt (Nov 9, 2004)

Other ideas, if you have a Polaris pool cleaner, detach the cleaner and leave the first section of hose, this will whip around. Or attach a couple of small chem lights to the polaris and he will do his own traveling spook show. The pool light will probably need to be off for this.

Weighted chem lights (various color, various depth) or spookies of any description will keep them where you want them. If weighted a Blucky's feet he might float upright and stare up at your guests. 

We steer clear of floating candles. We almost burnt our pool down one night when one parked in a skimmer. Explain that one to the insurance guy.

Pirate ships (playmobil) crewed by skeletons? Somewhere I saw battery powered shark fins... 

My pirate queen makes me cover the pool by Halloween, but I will still use it as a fog spreader, by piping it under the permeable cover.

The pool has a lot of potential, but you have to watch the safety issues. When we did the black lagoon creachter we used a wet suit with plastic vines wrapped around him, a gas mask (remove the filters) and some tree linbs near the steps. Our monster did complain of hypothermia after a few hours. He did nail some ToT's though.


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## barefootcountrygirl (Oct 1, 2003)

Hey, could you put Koolaid powder in the pool for color? (without the sugar, of course)? After a year of spending a fortune on food coloring for my fountain, I realized that red koolaid was the solution, and it's so cheap, and without the sugar, it doesn't get sticky. How awesome would it be if the whole pool water was red like a blood bath, with skeletons floating in it? You'd better take pictures! For a swamp, make the water green. You could float some dead branches with dead leaves on, that way, maybe you could hook some eyes to the branch, like they're peeking up out of the water between the leaves. You could even get some real lily pads to float in it.


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## Hobgoblin (Sep 18, 2005)

barefootcountrygirl said:


> Hey, could you put Koolaid powder in the pool for color? (without the sugar, of course)? After a year of spending a fortune on food coloring for my fountain, I realized that red koolaid was the solution, and it's so cheap, and without the sugar, it doesn't get sticky. How awesome would it be if the whole pool water was red like a blood bath, with skeletons floating in it? You'd better take pictures! For a swamp, make the water green. You could float some dead branches with dead leaves on, that way, maybe you could hook some eyes to the branch, like they're peeking up out of the water between the leaves. You could even get some real lily pads to float in it.



You might want to experiment with a small batch of pool water first. I think the chlorine might have a bleaching out effect on the dye .


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## Deathtouch (Nov 19, 2004)

It is starting to get chilly here in Illinois. I had to close my pool. Any props for a closed pool?


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## Sabre Curt (Nov 9, 2004)

Depending on your pool cover, it would be a great place for a graveyard...plenty of space, nobody will be able to come and kick over tombstones...


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## Sabre Curt (Nov 9, 2004)

We put our cover on today. I just piped some fog underneath it for a few minutes. I also turned on the light. Interesting effect. The light of course, was subdued, but provided a greenish hue to the area. The fog could be seen filling up the space between the cover and the water. The fog eventually began to work its way through the permeable cover (kind of like a trampoline material). It really did spread out and come through the cover in an eerie, slow way. It seems to take a while for the fog to work its way out. So the space could be filled and it would provided a constant source of fog. I think I will dedicate a fogger to the pool. It does spread out very nicely which helps with coverage. I ran a 3 inch PVC section under the edge of the cover. So if your pool is covered, and you are using your backyard...don't discount its functionability, even in winter quarters.


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## Scary Barry (Oct 6, 2004)

Sabre Curt,

Did it chill the fog enough for it to hug the ground? If so you have a built in 30,000 gallon fog chiller. We could hook up the super fogger and give it a try.


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## drmort (Sep 30, 2004)

LED submersable lights I'm trying (submersible florallytes) along w/ swamp monsters I made w/ masks on wigforms held on w/ Great Stuff on foam floats and a boogy board we were throwing away. also a 3 piece 14.99$ floating gator, titanic life perserver (ring), "Acid pool" sign, plastic skeley's in floatation devices.
like the cameo netting idea.
Im anxious to hear more ideas also.


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## scaryguy (Sep 24, 2005)

you could try a couple of low vlotage pond lights they are enexpensive and are really safe they also come with light filters


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## Guest (Jul 29, 2006)

*pool cover*

well you guys have got all good ideas, but Please do not leave cover pool unattened, little ones still Love to try and kick over tombstone may not relize its a pool under there. and make sure there is enough light so no one falls one on top of cover, no mishaps PLEASE!!!


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## monstergramma (Jun 24, 2004)

OMG someone else who reads Vonnegut.....


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## Guest (Jul 30, 2006)

Reads what ? Have no idea what you are talking about????


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## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

If you had a bunch of bucky skeletons...

skeleton life guard (complete with sun glasses, shirt, & shorts)
a couple of skeletons with bathing suits gettin a moon tan wearing sun glasses
skeleton hanging on the edge of the pool looking around
two or three skeletons playing cards at a table wearing clothes & sunglasses
floating aligator in the pool

Don't forget blacklights around the area.


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## FontGeek (May 7, 2005)

Well, for a built in pool I would look at using black plastic to line the pool, the black makes the pool look bottomless, and makes the interior shape undiscernable, the unknown is always scarier for people. I would then use a green or red gel on the lights in the pool (if you decide that you want them on). I would put lilly pads and some vines floating in the water, and I know that there are sealed LED sets that are made to go into the pool, my neighbor bought a bunch of them. They work like the strings of Christmas lights with the timer/fader/chaser sequences. If you can have the pool cleaner that has the hose that whips around going, that might be an interesting effect. You can use dry ice in water, we have done it plenty of times, yes it will melt, but that is how you get the fog, if it chills enough water around it, it might form a block of ice, but that is very unlikely in a pool of water. There is just too much water to disapate the temperature. The warmer the water, the faster the dry ice will melt, and the more fog you will get. If you get one or two of the big bubblers made for a fish pond, you may find that having bubbles come up occasionally will help with the effects. I would also add some outdoor speakers hidden away, with some creepy sound effects and music going, maybe some swamp sound effects, there's tons of stuff out there, if you want more effect, add something that will give some odor or scent to the air, and maybe add some plant life that encroaches on the perimeter of the pool, kind of the bayou look.


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## Spectremaster (Oct 16, 2004)

Harbor Freight has a pond light with different color lens for about 8 to 10 dollars. i used on last year to make a rippling effect on a uplight to light my witches. Light was in a bucket of water with a fishtank air pump to make the water ripple. the light needs to stay under water to stay cool. i think i paid 7 ot 7.50 for mine.


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## Danilis (Feb 5, 2006)

*Pirates !!*

Dont forget Pirates & Krakens.!!


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