The screams of abject terror from small children are so... satisfying.
So many wouldn't get near the house. The first thing you notice is the entire front window appears to be a video screen, playing looping videos of eyes, ghosts, and other such things. Once you get bored of that you might notice the van is severely askew in the driveway. Perhaps you first notice the floating ghost driver, or the person lying still under the front tire with some dark liquid proceeding from their midsection. Those that brave the drive are rewarded with the sound of the air hammer just as they pass within feet of the deceased mechanic.
Of course, there is candy, so you might choose to continue to the front door, where you'll notice some drifting smoke, a colorful cauldron of misting, bubbling liquid, spider webs and so forth.
Just as you reach out to knock or ring the doorbell, the door violently opens inward, and a dorky guy bellows "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!"
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Last year I could count on one hand the number of kids who wouldn't approach the house. This year there were too many to count. Lots of positive comments from those that made it all the way through.
Behind the scenes:
I put boards inside the clothes for the dead mechanic, then stuffed them with leaves, including gloves, socks, and shoes. Driving the van on top of the portion with the boards lifted the van up several inches while twisting the body grotesquely. I added a hose from the other side of the car under the mechanic so there would be a constant trickle of water from below the mechanic. I added the air tool so in context people would think he was working on the car and something went wrong, but then I realized I could probably control the air tool remotely. It was an annoying amount of work to get it done right, but I ended up with a valve near the front door inside the house so I could turn the air tool on easily.
I didn't want to be visible, peering out at the people all the time, so I set up two cheap security cameras I had lying around for years and never used. From just inside the front door I could view the driveway leading up past the mechanic and van, and the front door. This allowed me to easily time the air tool and opening the front door. The cameras have audio, so the delicious screams were enjoyed by all in the house.
The front window was a bedsheet with a projector shining on it. The projector was connected to the computer, and was playing a loop of videos from hallowindow.com. They are actually very nice videos, and I'm happy to support the artists who created the animation and sound. We set some cheap computer speakers outside the front window.
We had a few other minor decorations, but we only had to purchase the animations, so the outlay for today's haunting was under $40.
Next year I need better cameras. I could only tell that people were approaching due to the combination of low light and the cheap security cameras. The cameras are night vision with infrared lights, but not bright enough to see the driveway easily. I would have liked to gauge the age of the approaching trick or treaters so I could avoid scaring the very small children, but the grainy black and white video, mostly pitch black, merely served to give me an idea that someone was near the right spot to be scared.
The very small children screamed the loudest.
It was the teenagers, though, that jumped and ran - boy can they move when properly motivated.
I might have some pictures and possibly video later. Next year I'll need to plan ahead and record the video cameras as well.