# Yaaar! Here thar be Pirates!



## DrUnK3n_PaNdA (Sep 17, 2009)

So this is my first year doing a real home-haunt with any sort of theme or direction... or any sort of halfway decent props. My roomate and I have decided on a Pirate theme. We have a front yard and a large porch to decorate. 

So far we have a number of things constructed and ready to go, but it turned out we've more or less finished the big stuff with time to spare. What we've got so far is something like this:

The porch will be separated from the street with hanging tarps. Last year we tried just doing an 'above average' decorating job and the street light across the street gave us hell with blacklights and any cool lighting effects. Hanging from the front porch and over our garden sort of area will be a blucky skeleton with a bandana over his head, trussed up on a stock of sorts with a sign hanging from his neck saying: "Ten Fathoms Deep on the Road to Hell." (The last line of The Derelict... better known as 'That Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum song' ) A line of Tiki torches will line both sides of the walk up to the stairs leading to the porch. There will be a sign by the stairs up to the porch that says: "Pirates be ye warned. Enter at yer own risk!" which I figure is kinda obligatory. I don't want any lawsuits on my hands. Leaning against the sign will be a passed out snoring pirate holding a bottle of rum. The snoring is achieved with a looping MP3 player safely zip-tied to the stake supporting the pirate and hidden under his clothes. Up the stairs there will be a pirate standing next to a cannon, holding a trembling sack (presumably holding a child). The pirate is static, but the sack is filled with stuffing, a fan with the blade removed in favor of a rod with a small weight at the end to make it vibrate, as well as a pair of speakers looping the sound of a child crying and calling for help. Nightmare fuel for the win! That scene will be lit with a blacklight, shared with the stairs up. At the far end of the porch closest the door will be a chest full of coins that sit over an orange light to provide spooky underlighting to contrast the blue light shined across a hanging ghost pirate prop (bought on the off-season for $20... just saw it in the costume shop yesterday for $79. W00t!) Rigged to the pirate is a power drill with an arm rather than a bit, with the trigger slightly depressed which will jiggle the pirate up and down when given current, also hidden behind the chest will be a strobe light and a pair of speakers with a looping MP3 player (With maniacal laughter) all attatched to an extension cord with a spliced motion sensor. So when the ToT's get close to the door, he starts moving and laughing, and a strobe goes on. Lastly hidden behind the chest is a fogger with a timer to provide ambiance for the whole setup.

Does anyone have an ideas on things I could add or improve? Keep in mind I live pretty much right next-door to an elementary school, so I can't put too much gore in my display, lest I invoke the wrath of some sheltered kid's parents.


----------

