# Your cheapest/most basic decoration that unexpectedly receives the most attention?



## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

What is your cheapest/most basic decoration that unexpectedly receives the most attention/use from your Trick or Treaters/guests? Something that year after year everyone looks forward to? For instance, I have a sound activated Bunjee Jumping Spider of Doom that fascinates kids (and some adults) for some unknown reason. They will clap and activate it over and over and OVER again. None of my other light/sound activated items receive so much attention. I'm supposed to put it up every year so it seems. I don't really see the endless appeal-they know how to trigger it so it's not startling. Am curious if anyone else has something that is unexpectedly targeted?


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## creepymagic (Apr 16, 2012)

Our refrigerator cover, we buy these the day after Halloween so they are even cheaper, probably a couple bucks. We do outline it with black electric tape which probably adds 50 cents more to the cost. It really sets off the kitchen chop shop theme and people always comment on it. 









Another one we like is the skeleton feet, these are also available after Halloween but usually a dollar or two more. Still usually under $5 and people comment how creepy it looks on a floor.


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## ooojen (Sep 4, 2014)

I haven't had it long, so I don't know whether the appeal (?) will last, but I did get an unexpectedly enthusiastic response for one prop. It's a rather disgusting rubber rat with a big bloated belly, lying on his back. He's motion activated, and says a few phrases, like commenting on how good the buffet food is-- he says he has sampled every dish. He belches, and is just overall pretty awful--- and yet, hugely popular. I'm not sure what prompted me to get him-- just appealed to a little quirk in my sense of humor. I'm not that sort of over-the-top decorator, and I don't use much cheesy or cutsie. I think maybe the fact that it was such an unexpected contrast is what made it so popular.


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## jdubbya (Oct 4, 2003)

Many years ago when we first started decorating the front yard, I picked up this severed hand from Spirit. We ended up putting it in our mailbox just for a little laugh. Every year people who come to the house notice it and the repeat visitors always point it out and still get a chuckle out of it. It's become a staple of our Halloween display.


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## dawnski (Jun 16, 2012)

I made three "stained glass" panels for our window wells, back lit. Huge hit with everyone at our Universal Monster party. Just black poster board and printed out images from the Internet. You can see all three on the link. http://www.halloweenforum.com/party...ssic-universal-monster-party.html#post1465192


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## Hilda (Jul 31, 2011)

I have to laugh at the concept of this thread... because I can answer YES!
I do a lot in my yard. I mean A LOT!!!!

And these stinking 5 minute thrown-together 'witch under the house' feet get all sorts of attention. I almost want to say 'REALLY?' All those other props and this is what you guys think is so amazing? hahahahahaha But kids love it. So in the end, it's all good.


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## nosefuratyou (Jan 11, 2016)

Hilda
Why are you surprised? What is more iconic than ruby slippers on shriveling witch legs?


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## WickedWino (Aug 19, 2012)

For me it seems to be the Chromadepth floor in the black light "cave." I spend hours building and setting up the cemetery and pneumatic props, but it's always the 3-D, floating feeling people get from the cave floor that is a hit. I didn't even use expensive fluorescent paint on it. It's planks painted on a big sheet of cardboard. And I buy the cheap paper chromadepth glasses that get reused throughout the night. The cave is just our front porch walled off with painted black fabric panels. Honestly, the black light cave is my least favorite part of my haunt. But I can't get rid of it because it gets so many positive comments each year. I guess I just need to remember the first time I walked over the floor and how cool I thought it was. I think I've seen it too much now and the thrill has worn off  To make it more exciting, last year I put a jumping spider trigger pad under one of the floor planks. That did bring a smile to my face each time I heard it - and the people in the cave - go off.


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## Saki.Girl (Aug 22, 2012)

I have two the dancing witches from garbage bags 


And the flooring witch hats


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

OH, your kitchen is fabulous! So weird about the fridge cover! I guess you can never have a plain fridge again. Love the foot prints! I had bloody hand prints on the bathroom mirror and tub. Not much reaction. I'm always baffled by what people focus on!


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

Oh, well obviously you ALL have done some spectacular things that may be not so pricey but the effects are GREAT! Each one of your details I would notice! HA! It's interesting to me how there are some adults and kids who study details and others who don't focus! But to watch guests focus on one seemingly insignificant decoration amidst rooms/yards full of decorations boggles my mind! I'm sorting my decorations now and thinking on it- there is nothing that comes close to the dropping spider. Even against Donna the Dead and a Gemmy Reaper.


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## LairMistress (Jul 31, 2009)

It wasn't the cheapest item that I've ever bought, but it is cheesy! I paid $20 for a blow-mold skeleton years ago (not a Blucky exactly, this is a Mr. Bones, sold at Osco Drugs circa 1998, but essentially it's a Blucky with an even less realistic skull).

His first year in the haunt, I was renting an old house with double front doors--two sets enclosing a foyer, and each had big single pane windows in them. I propped the interior doors open, and ran a zipline of fishing line to the front door, so he would answer the door when someone rang the bell. I had to let him down the line of course, but I kept the house dark inside, so you couldn't see that. 

That was my favorite incarnation of him, honestly. It was more worthy of praise than the others, but he's really quite the hit no matter what he's doing.

The next place that I lived in had low, scraggly bushes next to the front door. So I put the fog machine in the bush with him appearing to crawl out. We had a lot of kids who didn't want to go to the door those two years.

Now I live in a house that has a raised front porch that is over a crawl space. The crawl space is enclosed with trellis work, which was broken when we bought the house, and we haven't gotten around to fixing it yet. So now he appears to be crawling out from under the porch, where the trellis is broken.

They love him. I guess after all this time, he's been worth the $20.


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

My entire year-round Haunted House is mostly (ONLY) full of my own home-- made very cheap things I have created here..
Last week five men in a row stepped up to buy a ticket and I scared each of them, one person at a time!.. with a small puppet!
My Mail box "Moves" scares people greatly, often times. (I think it is a release of built up tension from just anticipating coming in the house that plays a major factor in this) This is an actual old house( 1870 ) with an actual and active on-going supernatural history
Last night I forgot the hand attachment I reach around a corner with, so I removed my stocking cap (Light brown in color) put my hand inside of it, made it sort of have a "Mouth" and used that, and it worked very well! (But once again the anticipation factor created by the rest of the old house plays a major part in the success of these simple things.
I had a small cage with a lump of black material in it tied to a piece of fish line running up to the ceiling, looped here and there so the "Bat" in the cage could be made to "Jump" and smack the top of the cage, just yank the fish line from across the room. Very effective.
I also have gotten extreme reactions from a garbage bag used as the thing I scare them with.
Many years ago an East Coast haunter woke up his Trans World room mate saying:"And then.. he scared us.. with a GARBAGE BAG!"
The room mate replied with "It's 3AM, I have to give a seminar tomorrow morning at 9 O'clock! "
(Maybe the Real Seminar was given the night before?") hahahah!


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## BlueFrog (Oct 20, 2009)

The Grim Peddler. OMG, I grew to hate how popular he was and when he didn't sell, I finally gave him away to get him out of my yard. 

Just a cheap skull reaper, an even cheaper plastic scythe, a CurbMart bicycle, some old belts, and a couple of shepherd's hooks. Everyone loves that thing. Everyone. Didn't matter how nice or expensive or creative or rare my other props were, HE was the one everyone wanted to talk about.

Good riddance!


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

Saki.Girl said:


> I have two the dancing witches from garbage bags
> 
> 
> And the flooring witch hats


A bit off topic but I like your witch hats!








HA! Last year-didn't have much time to decorate so I put the hats up. I can't decorate my yard like others here. I live on a very dangerous hill/curve-we have accidents every year-so I can't put anything out that's too distracting! HA! I like your green hats-they really POP!


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## DaveintheGrave (Feb 12, 2004)

Mine would be this guy. I bought this prop on sale at Walgreen's about 10 years ago for around $8.00. It's called "Benny Bones" and consists of a cloaked skull head and two hands. The lights in him slowly fade on, then fade off and he's meant to be staked in the ground.
We had just moved to a new house and I had the idea to mount him looking out of a top, round attic window. I ran some wire across the window to be able to mount his hands like he's right up against the window, trying to get out.
It's probably the easiest prop I have to set up, but the neighbors and TOTs go crazy over it every year. Sometimes totally ignoring my more elaborate props that took many hours to build. Go figure......



Oh, I love those garbage bag witches, Saki Girl !


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## Hilda (Jul 31, 2011)

Tremblin'Toad said:


> HA! Last year-didn't have much time to decorate so I put the hats up. I can't decorate my yard like others here. I live on a very dangerous hill/curve-we have accidents every year-so I can't put anything out that's too distracting!


Oh my gosh. What a beautiful gnarly tree to put the hats on! Now that is a vision!!


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## Wolfbeard (Sep 22, 2008)

Wow, there are some great props posted already. Awesome work everyone.

I have posted this one before. It cost me less than $20 to build. It started with a $2 kiddie car from a tag sale, a $10 clearance child's clown costume from K-Mart, $1 gloves from Dollar Tree, an old wig head, plus some scrap pvc pipe and chicken wire for the body. I turned it all into my Creepy Clown Car, in a few hours.



















He definitely gets a lot of comments.

Eric


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## Paint It Black (Sep 15, 2011)

I am loving this thread! 

I have a neighbor who looks for this cardboard vampire head in one of our windows every year. He won't let me rest until he sees it.


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## RCIAG (Jul 19, 2010)

Every year I put little floating eyeballs in our little pond & the kids love it.


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## Trex (Nov 6, 2010)

Last season we had a room with a bunch of shrouded bodies, it is kind of cliché, basically bed sheet ghosts. Our inspiration came from Insidious 2, one of them was a live actor, and 2 of the shrouds were automated. This room scared so many people, most people hated walking through it! Simple set up with high creep factor!


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## kuroneko (Mar 31, 2011)

My "Creepy Guy" is definitely one of the most unexpected props I've "created" out of free stuff. The head I got through FreeCycle, the male mannequin torso was from a co-worker, and I stole the hoodie from my husband. The first year he totally freaked out my neighbors in my first apartment (he was set up in their sun porch). He had made an appearance every year since (except Sandy), and continues to freak out people in my neighborhood...









Creepy Guy, up close and personal.









His first year.









Creepy Guy keeping watch over the cemetery.


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## WickedWino (Aug 19, 2012)

This thread is so fun! Thanks for starting it, Tremblin Toad! It's been a good reminder that sometimes the quick and dirty props can get just as good a response as those we put so much work and detail into. 

PIB - your neighbor's obsession with that vampire is too funny!


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

OK, this is not Halloween related but it was a very unforgettable prop placed rather well.
Our old neighbor left his boy's basket ball hoop up in front of his garage. Right next to the backboard was a small attic window and that was where he put his Taxidermied Red Fox !
It was in a half-crouch position looking intently, straight ahead, might have had one paw raised slightly?
People wouldn't notice it for quite awhile, but when they finally saw it WOW!
The Foxe's window faced South so natural light would help with his discovery.
A fairly busy city street was just maybe 40 feet from foxy.


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## TheHalloweenGuru (Sep 17, 2015)

I have this really junky animated pirate groundbreaker prop that everyone seems amazed by

Just ignore everything else in my haunt and look straight at the Walmart brand prop? That's cool


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

Then there was the "Display" that wasn't there.
I built large wooden "Boxes" around my tall 1880 windows facing the two parking lots. i did have a sort of a dummy with a dress in the one box, but the window to the East had no dummy or mannequin and no "Box" but was very hard to get to inside of the house.
Around 2AM a woman and her Daughter were "calling it a night" across the alley from me, they had spent hours cleaning their new Restaurant and were headed home.
As they rolled down our common alley they said they saw a young man in that empty window, he was waving to them, he was said to be "Thin" and dressed in dark clothing.
They also said he was smiling.
They drove about four blocks when their brand new Cadillac SUV made some severe knocking sensations as if someone was in the back seat kicking the backs of their two seats!
Some other strange mechanical thing happened , then everything returned to normal and remained uneventful all the way home.
No display in that window, none, and the next window had a poor-looking dummy wearing a dress with no movement machinery at all in it.
They were very frightened after I told them what Wasn't happening in that window!
After she closed her business there she put nice tables, chairs and displays in there and her women's Church organization meets there sometimes, but two psychics said they got really bad feelings from HER Place ?
It was originally a cigar factory employing mostly women to make the cigars.
Then it was a pool hall, then an A&P, then a hardware store, then a Shrimp restaurant, then her place.


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

Gym Whourlfeld said:


> Then there was the "Display" that wasn't there.
> I built large wooden "Boxes" around my tall 1880 windows facing the two parking lots. i did have a sort of a dummy with a dress in the one box, but the window to the East had no dummy or mannequin and no "Box" but was very hard to get to inside of the house.
> Around 2AM a woman and her Daughter were "calling it a night" across the alley from me, they had spent hours cleaning their new Restaurant and were headed home.
> As they rolled down our common alley they said they saw a young man in that empty window, he was waving to them, he was said to be "Thin" and dressed in dark clothing.
> ...


For some reason I'm still getting a kick out of the bat cage and the garbage bag in your last post here. After I read about the garbage bag all I could think of was David Steinberg going, "Booga! Booga!". HA! It's true-people are keyed up around Halloween-the power of suggestion is quite the weapon!


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## tomanderson (Dec 6, 2007)

Funny stories all! A few years ago I was haunting the front of a house, with a friend. We had set up lights and sound and skeleton figures of different sizes and a couple of plastic spiders. On the front porch near a table with the "CANDY BOWL," my friend had made a dummy, out of old clothes stuffed also with old clothes. It sat in a lawn chair, sort of slumped over. For a head, we took a mannequin foam head, put a rubber skull mask on it, and buttoned it up inside the top of the shirt. It didn't look very much like a "real person" to me, but it spooked a lot of people and no one would go near the thing. TOTers would dare each other to go over to the dummy, and this would cause screams and shrieking. The rubber skull mask was old and almost ready for the garbage. This dummy took 20 minutes to make and cost zero $ because it was almost entirely made of lying-around old clothing! I loved watching people get scared by this thing...


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

Paint It Black said:


> I am loving this thread!
> 
> I have a neighbor who looks for this cardboard vampire head in one of our windows every year. He won't let me rest until he sees it.


I'm still laughing about this one! I know cut-outs well-I collect a lot and USE them! (Die cuts for the Vintage crowd.) I'm thinking you should pull a "Where's Waldo" with the Drac cut out on your neighbor. At least it would make it more entertaining for you!


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

tomanderson said:


> Funny stories all! A few years ago I was haunting the front of a house, with a friend. We had set up lights and sound and skeleton figures of different sizes and a couple of plastic spiders. On the front porch near a table with the "CANDY BOWL," my friend had made a dummy, out of old clothes stuffed also with old clothes. It sat in a lawn chair, sort of slumped over. For a head, we took a mannequin foam head, put a rubber skull mask on it, and buttoned it up inside the top of the shirt. It didn't look very much like a "real person" to me, but it spooked a lot of people and no one would go near the thing. TOTers would dare each other to go over to the dummy, and this would cause screams and shrieking. The rubber skull mask was old and almost ready for the garbage. This dummy took 20 minutes to make and cost zero $ because it was almost entirely made of lying-around old clothing! I loved watching people get scared by this thing...


As with TREX above-something SO simple can be super scary-it's classic. See, I would hesitate if I saw that on your porch. To me, their reaction is understandable-it's creepy AND you don't know if it's a real person in costume or if it will react to you in some way. That kind of stuff gets to me. It's the TRICKS part of the Trick or Treating.


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

Trex said:


> Last season we had a room with a bunch of shrouded bodies, it is kind of cliché, basically bed sheet ghosts. Our inspiration came from Insidious 2, one of them was a live actor, and 2 of the shrouds were automated. This room scared so many people, most people hated walking through it! Simple set up with high creep factor!


This stuff gets to me. I would KNOW something is going on. I would probably be sooo suspicious that I would steer clear of it! I would wait until OTHER people went first. HA! It's perfect and it's only a sheet.


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

WickedWino said:


> This thread is so fun! Thanks for starting it, Tremblin Toad! It's been a good reminder that sometimes the quick and dirty props can get just as good a response as those we put so much work and detail into.
> 
> PIB - your neighbor's obsession with that vampire is too funny!


You're right! The most interesting thing to me is WHY they choose WHAT they choose. I suspect many of us are Halloween Uber Decorators so when you see that ONE thing that you picked up at a resale shop or cost $4.00 or were just about to throw away or donate become something that people fixate upon it's CRAZY! It's even more baffling when there are OTHER more expensive, better quality, seemingly more interesting things surrounding them. Then to be required to put it up year after year. I am quite big on Halloween tradition-I've accumulated the stuff and add NEW to it-I don't start from scratch each year. I guess we are seeing origins of traditions? It does make me laugh.


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

From a Good Will shop I bought( $3.00) a brand new Wagoner paint scraper, a hand-held steel blade that goes back and forth, via electric motor, very quickly for a distance of about a 1/4 of an inch. I added a small strobe light to it's circuit, but it all inside of a metal box and it's effect fools many "knowledgeable" People into thinking that abrupt, quick "Show" that just startled them was an actual high voltage electrical discharge! (Like 240 Volts!)
What makes it work and sound so good is the thick piece of steel hanging in front of the "business-end" of the paint scrapper, it adds a little "Something" to the sound ?
It is all safely enclosed in a steel box, but the strobe is not in the steel box.
People who been it's "Victim" several times will still be "Got" by this.


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## Mapleton Manor (Aug 2, 2014)

Took an old pair of jeans a couple 4" PVC pipes a pair of old boots. Total cost? FREE! place them under our garage door so it looks like the door came down on someone. ToTer's have to come up the driveway and into the garage from the side door for treats. Year after Year I still have kids and Adults looking on the floor near the door inside to see if the rest of the person is there. Which it isnt but still alot of fun seeing people look.


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## chachabella (Jul 3, 2013)

https://www.facebook.com/larinda/videos/10153702487606719/
This clown outfit is rather famous around my town. I usually go out on Oct 1st and start waving to the cars to signal that our yard haunt is getting ready to happen. People literally drive by all day long and bring car loads back with them.


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## LairMistress (Jul 31, 2009)

tomanderson said:


> Funny stories all! A few years ago I was haunting the front of a house, with a friend. We had set up lights and sound and skeleton figures of different sizes and a couple of plastic spiders. On the front porch near a table with the "CANDY BOWL," my friend had made a dummy, out of old clothes stuffed also with old clothes. It sat in a lawn chair, sort of slumped over. For a head, we took a mannequin foam head, put a rubber skull mask on it, and buttoned it up inside the top of the shirt. It didn't look very much like a "real person" to me, but it spooked a lot of people and no one would go near the thing. TOTers would dare each other to go over to the dummy, and this would cause screams and shrieking. The rubber skull mask was old and almost ready for the garbage. This dummy took 20 minutes to make and cost zero $ because it was almost entirely made of lying-around old clothing! I loved watching people get scared by this thing...


I did this as a kid, one of my first props! We lived near a fire station, which had a Salvation Army drop box outside of it. That thing would just get packed full of stuff, and people would start stacking stuff outside of it. So I happened to see a black fencing mask with its hood intact, and I swiped it. (Bad kid! I didn't realize that it was actually stealing, I was probably 9-10 years old)

I stuffed a pair of my dad's work coveralls with other old clothes, and placed the fencing mask on the shoulders. There were so many kids who would not set foot on our porch! Even when I'd go outside to show them that it wasn't real, they'd shriek and run for the sidewalk. Our cat had kittens a couple of months before Halloween one year, and they all curled up in the dummy's lap. Kids still avoided it!


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## Mr Grimsley (May 8, 2008)

So I have this cat... you know the one from Walmart (and other places I'm sure). Bought him at Walmart in 2007 I think it was. He appears in various different parts of my cemetery each year. Every year without fail, people always ask about the cat. I've lost track of how many times I've been asked if it was a real cat that I had stuffed and placed in my haunt. 

Oddly enough, I've never named him. I may have to change that this year. And for no particular reason, he's been riding around in the trunk of my car since October! He's also getting a little scraggly from being packed up into storage every year but he'll be part of Grimsley Cemetery to the end.... and then I'll make him a tombstone!


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## lisa48317 (Jul 23, 2010)

I'm loving these stories! I had to go grab my notebook to jot down ideas......


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

During the local pick-up day i saw a really nice pair of knee-length woman's leather boots, not a thing wrong with them. I was just finishing a gargoyle and those boots fit him just perfectly!
Years later the woman who was getting rid of those boots recognized them on the Gargoyle!
A nice couple needed a new toilet, I picked up their old one and installed it upside down on the ceiling ("Downstairs basement "Bat"-room! )
They took the tour of my house, and they recognized their old toilet! (Maybe it spoke to them?) ("Hi you a-h's! ) ?


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## 66539 (Feb 20, 2016)

It always amazes us that with all the things the kids in our neighborhood seem to enjoy, the one thing they will actually stand and watch us set up is the dorky Dollar Tree rubber bats we hang from our tree with fishing line. They barely move in the wind, they look absolutely fake, the fishing line is easy to see, and the kids love them. (Most of the kids on our block are under the age of 14, so that probably helps.)


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

chubstuff said:


> It always amazes us that with all the things the kids in our neighborhood seem to enjoy, the one thing they will actually stand and watch us set up is the dorky Dollar Tree rubber bats we hang from our tree with fishing line. They barely move in the wind, they look absolutely fake, the fishing line is easy to see, and the kids love them. (Most of the kids on our block are under the age of 14, so that probably helps.)


I, too, have the cheesy rubber bats. I hang mine over the kitchen sink (fishing line, of course.) I love them! It's those tiny white fangs. If I saw your bats I'd get a giggle out of them! I used to hang a bunch of cardboard bats from the front tree, too. Impressive when you have a lot of them. You can't go wrong with bats!


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## BlueFrog (Oct 20, 2009)

I have staked thousands of dollars on getting that same effect with a variety of animals I'm learning to taxidermy myself. I'm going for a wax museum type vibe in the whole display - no animatronics of any kind - and aiming for unsettling/creepy/eerie, with hopes that people will jump out of their skin when they encounter some half-hidden mounts in the yard. 

One other thing: I sometimes wonder if the reason some of these cheap items are so effective is precisely because they aren't so realistic as to cause people to shut down. I used to pile up latex severed limbs to the degree they were almost comical. Do that with my ultra-realistic silicone parts and it's almost stomach-churning. Anyone else have thoughts or experiences along these lines?

Mind you, I'm continuing on my path to ultra realism because my haunt is for me, and anyone else's enjoyment is a bonus, but I do sometimes wonder if I took the wrong fork in the road. 



Gym Whourlfeld said:


> OK, this is not Halloween related but it was a very unforgettable prop placed rather well.
> Our old neighbor left his boy's basket ball hoop up in front of his garage. Right next to the backboard was a small attic window and that was where he put his Taxidermied Red Fox !
> It was in a half-crouch position looking intently, straight ahead, might have had one paw raised slightly?
> People wouldn't notice it for quite awhile, but when they finally saw it WOW!
> ...


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

I once had a flying Bat prop, made by somebody? Not me. I hung it on a long pole and I would "Fly" it over in a room as they sat watching a television.people would scream, flinch, carry on fearfully.
It broke, the wings no long flapped.
I still swung it over their heads, they still screamed! 
I stopped swinging it, I just held it over their heads, .. they still screamed. It wasn't lit up, it did nothing. The Perfect Prop!


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## RCIAG (Jul 19, 2010)

I love this thread!!

I guess it's just proof that, while we may spend tons of $$$ on props, hours putting details into props & stuff in general, we may be better off hanging up rubber bats & cardboard vampires.


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

RCIAG said:


> I love this thread!!
> 
> I guess it's just proof that, while we may spend tons of $$$ on props, hours putting details into props & stuff in general, we may be better off hanging up rubber bats & cardboard vampires.


Ha! I think there's a place for BOTH kinds-actually, there are many different kinds of themes, I think. Runs the gamut-I appreciate people who make an effort (a GOOD effort!) I like the variety-from blow molds and bunting to homemade coffins with an undead occupant. Where I live there is nothing spectacular, though. People don't really decorate-I would love to do a big yard set up but it could cause accidents on my curve. It does amaze me just from reading everyone's posts how effective something inexpensive can be.


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## Jenn&MattFromPA (Sep 4, 2013)

Fun thread! I would say that it's a guarantee that every year, we will get a ton of comments & scares from our favorite treat bowl. It's a skull with a hidden hand that pops out from along the edge of the bowl. We bought it years ago, I think from Target, and I've been unable to find another one. This one is at least 5 years old & everyone touches the little skeleton hand so much that we're always holding our breath that it will break!

This is not my video but it shows the bowl & what it does - 






Also, although I've only had it out 2 years now (I don't think 3, but maybe?), the chattering teeth under the dome from CVS is like catnip for everyone who sees it! LOL! No one can stop themselves from pushing the button, and my kids & those in the neighborhood almost actually fight over who gets to hold it. 

PS - if anyone has that bowl, finds that bowl, wants to sell that bowl - I will probably pay way too much for it!


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## punkineater (Apr 26, 2014)

This is a great thread..and goes to show you don't always have to spend a ton of $$ to achieve a desired effect! 

Our cheapest prop effect is hanging fine monofilament fishing line in the trees where the spider's lair is...apparently, even though people
know the 6' spider and friends aren't real, the effect of walking through spider webs triggers that 'flailing' instinct.


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## Kelloween (Jun 8, 2012)

Mine has to be the flea market find pumpkin blow molds that I turned around and cut new faces and painted..I have had more people ask me where I got the silly things!


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

I was told many years ago about two brothers in the next town over who lived in an old house that had the common old porch roof.
When Trick-or-treaters would walk up to the door, the brothers would come out onto the porch roof right above them and stomp around in heavy work boots!
I guess the old porch survived this?

I used to have a 4 by 8 sign in my parking lot for my house, it was the first thing people would see from a block away as they would turn the corner to come down here. I had painted the entire 4 by 8 white, then painted some lettering on it in Black. then I painted a life-size image of a person wearing a full length black cape/hood with a white oval for a face.
I would sometimes wear the same black garment. I cut out a white piece of cardboard, oval shaped, put two pin holes in it so I could see .
I would stand motionless in front of my "Twin" I had painted.
They would see me, but assume it was the sign.
They would park fairly close to me, walk up to my front door then i would suddenly seem to appear right behind them, after I had walked across the parking lot as they were looking at the house.
It can be Very Rewarding, hiding in plain sight!
I have almost always had bountiful amounts of patience to hide, wait,do whatever was required to make the fun happen.


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## A Little Odd (Jul 19, 2015)

The little bat that flaps it's wings and hangs from a fishing line on the front porch. People scream when they first see it and ask me if it is real. I have always wanted to say "yes, I trained it myself"


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## bayoubrigh (Jan 12, 2007)

Great thread! Love hearing the simple and fun scares - brings back some great feelings  The only thing I can think of in our haunt is the simple sheet of plastic drop cloth that usually separates two of our rooms. We've had groups spend up to a minute too scared to go through that part but barely flinch to the animatronics and scare-actors.


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

bayoubrigh said:


> Great thread! Love hearing the simple and fun scares - brings back some great feelings  The only thing I can think of in our haunt is the simple sheet of plastic drop cloth that usually separates two of our rooms. We've had groups spend up to a minute too scared to go through that part but barely flinch to the animatronics and scare-actors.


Yes! Exactly what I mean! I used black plastic table covers to make a mini-maze in my hallway-kids were petrified. They were daring each other to take that first step through! (I don't terrify the kids-they do it to themselves.) They were all excited and actually formed a line and would shove each other toward the black plastic table covers. Of course, I didn't do that hallway all the time. It's the fuzzy black spider they all look for...


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

punkineater said:


> This is a great thread..and goes to show you don't always have to spend a ton of $$ to achieve a desired effect!
> 
> Our cheapest prop effect is hanging fine monofilament fishing line in the trees where the spider's lair is...apparently, even though people
> know the 6' spider and friends aren't real, the effect of walking through spider webs triggers that 'flailing' instinct.


Excellent! (I love fishing line-can't get through Halloween without it!)


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

Jenn&MattFromPA said:


> Fun thread! I would say that it's a guarantee that every year, we will get a ton of comments & scares from our favorite treat bowl. It's a skull with a hidden hand that pops out from along the edge of the bowl. We bought it years ago, I think from Target, and I've been unable to find another one. This one is at least 5 years old & everyone touches the little skeleton hand so much that we're always holding our breath that it will break!
> 
> This is not my video but it shows the bowl & what it does -
> 
> ...


For some reason the scrawny hand reminds me of the alien baby in Alien! I have never seen that treat bowl! I know what you mean when you worry about it being broken. My silly Gemmy candy bowl with the monster hand no longer flips over-it still senses but doesn't move. I'm thinking I'll be performing surgery on it. And the chattering teeth-it is so funny to me what people zoom in on! (Once again, I suspect most of us have a lot of Halloween stuff and to have people focus on just one basic thing mixed in with other seemingly more impressive things is mind boggling!)


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## texmaster (Aug 25, 2008)

without a doubt the fog bubble machine.


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## thumpingmoonlight (Jun 28, 2014)

Ooh, I've got a few good ones!

About 7 or 8 years ago I got this little doorman guy from Zellers for like 10 bucks. He's maybe 2 feet tall, says a couple phrases and the punchline is that he pulls his face off and underneath is a skull with glowing eyes. Since he's motion activated I usually put him at the top of the steps so the TOTs will set him off when they come up on the porch. Kids LOSE THEIR MINDS over this guy. Some of them are so scared they won't come up the steps, but most of them get their candy and then spend 5 minutes setting him off over and over. By the end of the night we're all glad to put him away for the year.

Then last year on a trip to the states I got a little plastic crow/raven on a log that repeats whatever you say to it in a high pitched little voice. Again, maybe 10 bucks. The kids like it well enough. My dad is _obsessed_ with it. The first thing he did when I showed it to him was make it tell his boss off. I ending up having to hide it from him so he would stop wandering around the house with this damn bird repeating everything he said.

The last one... I have a few old dolls that my friends and I goth-ed or sliced up. About 6 years ago I made nooses for all of them out of twine and started hanging them from the trees in our yard. Well, a few years ago I did Halloween in my best friends garage instead, since she lives on a busier street than I do. We hung the dolls from either side of the open door. Most people were creeped out by it, but this one little kid, maybe 3, looked at them and asked solemnly, "Why dead baby?". I didn't have an answer for him.


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## LairMistress (Jul 31, 2009)

A Little Odd said:


> The little bat that flaps it's wings and hangs from a fishing line on the front porch. People scream when they first see it and ask me if it is real. I have always wanted to say "yes, I trained it myself"


I used to have several of those bats. I took a fishing rod, tied a length of line to it, and tied the line around the center of a dowel rod. Then I tied a flying bat to each end of the dowel, and the two of them circled, chasing each other. I stuck the fishing rod out of one of the upstairs windows, so that the bats were visible, but far enough above heads that they couldn't be reached.

I probably got the idea from someone on Halloween-L back in the old days. I can't remember. They loved that, too!



texmaster said:


> without a doubt the fog bubble machine.


I want a bubble fog machine for this very reason! I know that the kids here would think that the "spirit bubbles" were cool.


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## Stringy_Jack (Oct 28, 2011)

I redid a Santa a few years back as a simple animated prop for the graveyard. I change his mask every year and for some reason everyone loves him. He moves side to side and his candle glows, not a big prop but one everyone seems to love.


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## A Little Odd (Jul 19, 2015)

What a great idea Stringy_Jack! I love it 

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk


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## A Little Odd (Jul 19, 2015)

LairMistress said:


> I used to have several of those bats. I took a fishing rod, tied a length of line to it, and tied the line around the center of a dowel rod. Then I tied a flying bat to each end of the dowel, and the two of them circled, chasing each other. I stuck the fishing rod out of one of the upstairs windows, so that the bats were visible, but far enough above heads that they couldn't be reached.
> 
> I probably got the idea from someone on Halloween-L back in the old days. I can't remember. They loved that, too!
> 
> ...


Very cool

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

The fence. 










I mean, It's a couple pumpkins. 










Every year, many comments, and someone is surprised having 'never seen pumpkins done like that'.


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## tomanderson (Dec 6, 2007)

bayoubrigh said:


> Great thread! Love hearing the simple and fun scares - brings back some great feelings  The only thing I can think of in our haunt is the simple sheet of plastic drop cloth that usually separates two of our rooms. We've had groups spend up to a minute too scared to go through that part but barely flinch to the animatronics and scare-actors.


There, now, we can see, it's one hundred percent true, one thousand percent true, what the scare-masters from all the famous horror movies tell us: What we actually see is far less scary than what we are imagining we MIGHT see.

Learning to get the effect out of the "anticipatory thrill" is the key to getting a lot.

Thrill 'em before they even see anything. Thrill 'em with the flimsy plastic sheet they have to go beyond before they see the real stuff.

That's scare economics, right there.


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## Mapleton Manor (Aug 2, 2014)

Wife and i have been through so many haunted attractions that most aren't that scarey anymore. Setup is the key and you can if you think about know exactly where something is going to come from. So we always watch.....(see something that grabs your attention you can bet something is coming from elsewhere) We have fun in them and most of the time we are just there to get different ideas LOL


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## stormygirl84 (Sep 4, 2009)

Each year we clear all the pictures off of one wall in the living room and put up our "spooky gallery" in its place. This consists of 20-25 framed pics. The frames are cheap, wooden frames I got at Michaels and painted gold, bronze, or silver. The pictures are weird photos or drawings that I've found online. EVERYONE loves the wall and will take time to gather around it to gaze at the pics.


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## LairMistress (Jul 31, 2009)

UnOrthodOx said:


> The fence.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


To YOU it's "a couple of pumpkins". I personally think that it looks really cool! I haven't seen it done before, either.


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

UnOrthodOx said:


> The fence.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I would look forward to seeing that! It's quintessentially Halloween-I have a thing for corn shocks (can't tell if you're using corn stalks) and pumpkins. The lighting is perfectly spooky!


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

thumpingmoonlight said:


> Ooh, I've got a few good ones!
> 
> About 7 or 8 years ago I got this little doorman guy from Zellers for like 10 bucks. He's maybe 2 feet tall, says a couple phrases and the punchline is that he pulls his face off and underneath is a skull with glowing eyes. Since he's motion activated I usually put him at the top of the steps so the TOTs will set him off when they come up on the porch. Kids LOSE THEIR MINDS over this guy. Some of them are so scared they won't come up the steps, but most of them get their candy and then spend 5 minutes setting him off over and over. By the end of the night we're all glad to put him away for the year.
> 
> ...


HEE! I can picture it so very well! It's interesting to watch how kids react to the decorations-they certainly have phases as they grow up. Very funny about your Dad latching onto the crow/raven!


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## 66539 (Feb 20, 2016)

Stringy_Jack said: "I redid a Santa a few years back as a simple animated prop for the graveyard. I change his mask every year and for some reason everyone loves him. He moves side to side and his candle glows, not a big prop but one everyone seems to love."


I collect Santa Clauses, and one year I got four of these little guys as gifts. But you can only put up so many of the same Santas before it looks weird. I now have a new way to put a few of them into service as Halloween decorations. They will be so happy to come out and play at a different time of year. 

Thanks bunches. )


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

After reading all your posts it suddenly reminded me of how this type of occurrence has affected me. I've felt the same thing over and over throughout my life. You go to your local park, art museum (or any museum you frequent), historic site, botanical garden-you know these places well, you visit often enough and you become familiar. SO when that one little thing that always caught your eye is moved (for restoration or rotating exhibits or whatever) you notice it. It may not have been the most spectacular thing but something that you always knew was there-a personal favorite-when it goes missing it can cause distress. I know I've had this happen at art museums, the zoo, the botanical garden, many places-and I kind of get upset if there has been a change-especially if something has been in place for years. (I remember getting upset about certain drinking fountains (a.k.a. bubblers) going missing, certain rocks, certain sculptures, and even a submarine.) I think this applies to everyone's Halloween decorations. Unless you change your decorations every year you might be starting a tradition-many people remember the previous seasonal set up quite well. I'll notice if someone isn't using something they used the year before-and it could be something mundane (but added to the display-more is always better on Halloween.) These displays are so similar to exhibits-good to have the basic, familiar stuff and add a new acquisition or special exhibit to the mix. I guess I'm guilty of the same thing. (Me-"Where's the ghost? They didn't use the ghost? They usually have the ghost. I always liked that ghost! I wonder why they didn't put up the ghost this year? On and on....) Something to keep in mind when dragging out the Halloween decorations.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Tremblin'Toad said:


> I would look forward to seeing that! It's quintessentially Halloween-I have a thing for corn shocks (can't tell if you're using corn stalks) and pumpkins. The lighting is perfectly spooky!


It's actually raven grass instead of corn stalks on the fence itself. http://hirts.com/northern-pampas-raven-grass-erianthus/


From there there's a row of corn on either side ("The corn tunnel") leading back to the monster in the back. 

I actually took pictures for a more detailed tutorial on how to set that up because of all the comments, I've just been a little lazy in getting it written.


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## 66539 (Feb 20, 2016)

Kelloween said:


> Mine has to be the flea market find pumpkin blow molds that I turned around and cut new faces and painted..I have had more people ask me where I got the silly things!
> 
> 
> View attachment 275885


I found one of these for a couple of bucks at a Thrift Store two years ago and kept thinking there had to be something I could do to make it look worth putting out on Halloween night. But up until now, I had no idea. Time to break out the paints and the Dremel tool and have a bit of fun. 

Thanks for your post.


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## zombiesrule (Dec 6, 2010)

At our previous house, we had two ceiling fans on the front porch. I hung $1 bats from the fan blades with fishing line and turned on the fans so the bats would fly in circles. Adults and kids were amazed by these bats and it was so easy!


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

Many years ago I bought a "Flying" Bat. Batteries made it's wings slowly move in a bat-like fashion.
I hung it on a tether on the end of a long pole. I would fly it over my customer's heads as they sat in my first room watching what i had put on my TV.
Some people reacted to this "Flying" Bat.
Then it quit running. I "Flew" it over them anyway. Same reactions ensued!
I was always afraid that the battery might fall out and clobber someone!
How much injury, pain and suffering might be found if that huge 12 volt truck battery fell on someone?
(Attempted.. joke.)


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

zombiesrule said:


> At our previous house, we had two ceiling fans on the front porch. I hung $1 bats from the fan blades with fishing line and turned on the fans so the bats would fly in circles. Adults and kids were amazed by these bats and it was so easy!


I'm laughing! I would be HYPNOTIZED! HA!


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

Gym Whourlfeld said:


> Many years ago I bought a "Flying" Bat. Batteries made it's wings slowly move in a bat-like fashion.
> I hung it on a tether on the end of a long pole. I would fly it over my customer's heads as they sat in my first room watching what i had put on my TV.
> Some people reacted to this "Flying" Bat.
> Then it quit running. I "Flew" it over them anyway. Same reactions ensued!
> ...


 You know, I think I might have two of the older battery powered bats that never really flew properly-little red eyes. I KNOW what you mean about the battery beaning someone in the head! (Had one fall when changing the smoke detector and it shattered the display case glass! They're like a brick HA!) Good to know they are still effective even if they dont work. I need to think about that. Gosh, I don't think I've unpacked them since I returned to this state. Your comment makes me want to go check on them! Oh, and I think I have a molded plastic flying ghoul with a propeller sticking out from it's feet-I don't think that worked properly-yard sale stuff, you know. Have the urge to find that box...


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

This "Cheapest" thread began before I did the following: Imagine that you are in an actual haunted house. you have already seen and experienced many different sensations and oddities, the last time you saw your tour guide was just a few moments ago as he opened the back end of a 1965 Cadillac hearse and ran away through a coffin-shaped never-ending hallway which twists and turns, all the while dim, small lights sort of guide you. 
you are proceeding carefully... then it happens! "POP! " "POP!-POP!"
("What in the world? gunfire? something breaking? Did i just do this?")
In the semi-lit odd world of Ravens Grin , you were just "Victim" to an unusual set of circumstances, you unknowingly stepped upon ... evil...

Bubble Wrap! It arrived free in a package my Wife had delivered recently.
Some have done quite a "Fear-Dance!" (Swearing too!)HAHAHAHAA!


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## MamaGrizzly (Feb 24, 2013)

A T.V. with the static on and a rocking chair sitting in front of it. Just stuff from my house used differently. But that dead T.V and an empty chair freaked out everyone.


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

And then.. tonight....a family was seated in our first room. I had just turned the bright light on. A small boy pointed and asked me:"What is underneath that blanket?"
(The "Blanket" is actually a towel with a large full-color image of a Tiger on it.) It was across the room from him, and there might have been someone hiding under it on that couch? (A lone shoe, a "Toe" shoe, was protruding from under the huge towel
"Well, it only comes out after dark (Which it already was), and it might swallow you "whole?"
I slowly began to peel back the covering towel.......
"It is a rolled-up Sleeping Bag!"
I have this where it is because if an actual person would be seated there, they would be looking sort of at my back, or up my nose as I am performing , not really a spot I ever want someone to be located.
But this little thrown-together "display" has caused quite a few people undue consternation , and even scared at least one Haunt Owner!


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## Shebear1 (Jul 22, 2008)

5 or 6 years ago, I bought a 6 foot mummy at a yard sale for $5. It's only made of Styrofoam with gauze wrapped around it (very lightweight), but it's still very creepy and always gets a lot of attention when displayed. Never knew if the old owners made it themselves or if they bought it until 3 years ago when I saw the very same figure in the Grandin Road catalog for $99. Could not be happier with my purchase.


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## mariem (Oct 7, 2012)

I have a jar in my potion collection that I fill with watered down tea or coffee and put In a n old head of cauliflower and it garners more attention than anything. The jar is labeled a brains and it is creepy how much it really does look like brains. More people comments on it than almost anything else.


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## printersdevil (Sep 7, 2009)

Awesome idea, mariem, thanks for sharing.


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## Tremblin'Toad (Feb 9, 2016)

mariem said:


> I have a jar in my potion collection that I fill with watered down tea or coffee and put In a n old head of cauliflower and it garners more attention than anything. The jar is labeled a brains and it is creepy how much it really does look like brains. More people comments on it than almost anything else.


Hee! Good thinking!


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

The old Prize fighters would have long, violent careers, their ears would take a beating and swell up (Lack of circulation?) they were known as "Cauliflower Ears"
To go with the cauliflower .. brain.


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## HalloweenJokes (Jul 26, 2013)

The dead guy in the front yard.


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