The basic look of the Haunted Parlor is simple. All of the furniture is covered in sheets. The lights flicker spookily You can meke this up for just a few dollars. Here is a Youtube turorial. It is quite easy.

You can also create flickering and weird light effects in your smart home if you have Phillips Hue bulbs. This can be a little more involved, but there are lots of instructions you can Google.

Haunted Dolls

This year we did candles with a terrific set of candle holders Kris found at a garage sale. Some years we do flowers in vases. The flowers are fake flowers that have been sprayed with black paint to make them look dead and dying. The painting Kris literally found by the side of the road as is. From a short distance the vase part reveals a skull.

Our fireplace has no mantle so we built a temporary one to display the Haunted Dolls. Haunted dolls have become a big thing. Ours were all home made using dolls purchased at garage and estate sales. The first doll had with clothing that was originally bright and colorful had her clothing dyed to make it look old and dingy. Her face was painted white. You can also easily create a crackle effect on a doll’s face using crackle medium. Here is a Youtube video explaining how.

There were a couple of stand-out effects we purchased.  Spirit Halloween has a Haunted Lamp that is very cleverly designed. Motion triggered, what appears to be an ordinary table lamp flickers, then a projected ghostly face appears on the lampshade and talks. Here is a video. We also got a Haunted Telephone. It rings as you walk by, and the guy on the other end seems a little disturbed.

Really incredible effects are being done with video projectors and flat screen televisions, and there are lots of premade videos you can project. What did not seem to exist, though, was a naked ghost. So, we made one.  A flat screen t.v. was mounted sideways in a window frame. We thought we would need to mask the edges with black, but at night the t.v. could not be seen at all. Hanging in front of the t.v. was a set of old tattered white sheers. The ghost is seen through the sheers and it is quite dramatic. She appears to rise up, look around,  and then move towards the window with her arms forward, then she disappears. You can find the video on Youtube. You can stream it on repeat, and the ghost will pop up every five minutes.

Evilexa

This year, since we have completely Alexafied our house to create a fully automated smart house, we thought it might be fun to create an evil version of Alexa. We call her Evilexa.

Interestingly, Alexa responds to the name Evilexa. We just gave her some appropriate things to say, using routines. We introduce people to her. We say their names, then “Evilexa” and then the key phrase.

For example, if I say “This is Christina. Evilexa, say hello to her,” the response is “I can’t wait to watch you two literally bang each other to death.” If I say “This is Jim. Evilexa, say hello to him” she will respond with “Let’s go upstairs. I have killer looks and a discorporate body to die for.” If I say “Say hello to them” she responds with “You are a cute couple. I would love to fist you both and make you my personal muppets.”

This is followed up with asking Evilexa to reveal their future. She responds with “Foolish mortals, gaze into the mirror.” When they do, they see the Grim Reaper.

In our living room we have an open arch to the dining room. This makes the effect possible. You can see the arch from behind in the photo below.

We made a mirror with glass covered with reflective window film and placed in an old frame. It looks old, and the broken glass in the lower left corner showing the cardboard backing is intentional. The cardboard is just a tiny piece. The rest of glass you can see through when it is lit up from the back side.

When illuminated from behind, mirror gazers see the full sized grim reaper figure on the other side of the glass. We bought him years ago. Under slightly dim front lighting, it just looks like an old mirror from the front.

We have a smart plug we can plug in any kind of light. We chose an LED strip to get an eerie green color, but it could also be a strobe light or a regular colored light in a socket. We just hung heavy black material around the back of the Reaper to make sure that it was very dark behind the mirror.

Using a routine, Evilexa says her line, turns on the light for a few seconds, then turns it off. It gets a great reaction.