# Black lights - best way to get a good effect?



## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

To get that creepy effect with everything neon / white glowing under a black light, what's the best way to do it?

Have one on either side that people walk past? Have one or two ABOVE the people?
What's the best way?


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## MansionHaunter (Sep 20, 2006)

Get the right kind of black light, and have it set up with a reflector to flood the area intended with ultraviolet light, like you would a visible light. You'll need to experiment with the best placement, and you'll probably need more than one. I use three, but I have a fairly small front yard.

This is the one I like to use. They've started selling them at chain stores and Spirit Halloween stores as well, which is great.


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

We have a few of these types.
http://www.blacklight.com/items/CHNVASY-F48A

And our haunt isn't in our yard.
It's a long trail in the woods in this BIG haunt called The Spooky Walk.
We take over the woods and put our stuff in it.
So we have alot more space to fill haha.
But the spider area won't be too long so it will probably be similar.


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## widowsbluff (May 24, 2006)

I have struggled with this for a couple of years. I was using the spotlight like bulbs and not getting good results. This year I switched to two 4 foot tube black lights and it works much better. This is on a porch, I don't think they are weather proof so out in the yard I don't know what the best idea would be.


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## MansionHaunter (Sep 20, 2006)

http://www.horrorseek.com/halloween/csolsen/rpbl.html

Check that out, for weather-proof compact fluorescent black light floods.


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

MansionHaunter

What do you use or how is this done the reflector thing?


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## Brad Green (Jul 29, 2004)

The only problem I've ever had with blacklight tubes outside is trying to get them mounted where I want them to go. Spirit Halloween has come out with a product this year that seems to have solved some of my problems. It is a small tube black light (sorta like those "last forever" halogens they make for your inside lamps) that will screw into a clamp reflector (large aluminum reflector w/ a spring clamp) that you can find in any hardware store for about $10. I was skeptical, but I went ahead and bought one and was surprised to find out that it put out about the same amount of UV as a 14" tube light. I just spray paint the outside of the reflector flat black, and it's good to go. Here's the product link from Spirit.
http://www.spirithalloween.com/inde...oductID/8974fbef-860c-4fd7-93e3-b5f1c18b38a4/


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## MansionHaunter (Sep 20, 2006)

Lilly - I haven't actually built one of the reflectors, but I thought it was a good idea if you needed completely weather-proof lights. 

Here in Oregon, I've had success with the setup that Brad Green mentions above: a compact fluorescent black light screwed into a metal reflector clamp fixture. It's easy enough to clamp the light wherever you want, and the reflector keeps the output directed exactly where you need it to go.

In the woods, I'd suggest having the lamps clamped above, like on lower tree limbs if possible, to either side of the pathway. Use as many as you need along the path to be sure each prop or prop area is lit well. Each flood can cover about a twelve-foot wide area at a distance of about twelve feet.


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