# FistJr's Halloween 2016



## FistJr (Nov 11, 2014)

Well, we had a great time this Halloween season. I'd estimate over 200 ToTs and adults came by on Halloween night, and hundreds more in the week before Halloween. We live right on a major walking path, and the daily foot traffic right by our house is great. My wife is in the Idaho legislature, so we have a little fun and combine the Halloween decorations with some "creative campaigning".

The props are a mix of new custom props for this year (the Skeleton Pirate/Horse/"Parrot", the Skeleton Stockade, and the Monster Box) and a collection of commercial props (mostly Spirit), some hacked, many not. The commercial props are set up on a Light-o-Rama computer control system to sequence their operation and to control lights and smoke machines.

Here are some pictures of the setup and Halloween:


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## FistJr (Nov 11, 2014)

The pride and joy of this year was the three character Skeleton Horse/Pirate/Parrot (really a crow) prop. This prop was fueled by three Banshee control boards, each controlling a separate character. Major thanks to Scarylane aka Steve B. over at Haunt Hackers not only for the great board and design, but also for a new software version that allowed all three boards to be triggered simultaneously.

The horse was a Home Depot skelly that was modified to have a moving head and talking jaw; the Pirate was a traditional three-axis skull on top of a skelly body; and the crow was a custom-built skeleton crow -- a $6 Target skeleton crow modified to have a talking jaw, a moving head, flapping wings, and LED eyes.

Here's some video of the prop in action (my apologies for the poor sound)...

- Traditional Yo Ho Yo Ho song...






- A special campaign message version...






- And a prediction for the Cubs...






The next custom prop was The Skeleton Stockade. Again, a traditional 3-axis skull setup powered by a Banshee board. Here's a video on the Stockade that I posted before on this site:






And finally, there is the Monster Box. This one was fueled by mikkojay's Four Button Banger. It was set up right on the walking path, and caught many walkers (and their dogs) by surprise when it sprang to life. Here it is before we put the finishing chains and padlock on it:






Once again, thank you so much to all of the contributors on Haunt Forum, to Scarylane for his great Banshee board and wonderful support, and to mikkojay for the easy-to-use Four Button Banger. This was a turning point year where I was finally able to start putting my own props together, and I had a blast.

-- Fist


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## FistJr (Nov 11, 2014)

Lastly, a poorly edit video of most of the works in action. Again my apologies for the terrible sound...


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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

What a fantastic group of props. The box came up so well and I love the girl on the swing but there are too many favourites for me to mention! Great job!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

The horse/pirate skellie/crow combination turned out beautifully. Nick job with the hacking and upgrades!

And yeah, that girl on the swing is spooky. Children just seem to be inherently creepy that way - outwardly apparently innocent but inwardly - who knows?:jol:


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

Holy Buckets, that is quite the set up, well done


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## sreynolds (Aug 3, 2015)

Great job


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:Very smart to have your wife's campaign stuff sprinkled in. I like the clever ways you swayed voters with each of your haunt scenes. You have some really terrific props and some super nice lighting. I get what you mean about all the voices and soundtracks playing on top of each other, that was a problem for me as well this year. I think you should be well pleased with your Halloween yard, seems like all of your TOT's were.


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