Halloween Technology Roadmap

Tips for beginning haunters.
- Making a cheap black light fixture.
- Consider subscribing to e-mailing lists
  - archives
- Instant Halloween Kit
- My First Fog Machine
Traditions, history, folklore:
- A short history of Halloween.
- Why we haunt.
- Back-story and theme of the Wolfstone haunt.
Pointers to commercial equipment:
- Contact information: sources for equipment, supplies, and information.
- commercial flicker
  - commercial fake candles
  - commercial electronic flicker circuits
- commercial fake lightning
- commercial foam-carving tools
- commercial strobes and kits
- commercial crystal balls
- commercial gargoyles
- commercial dimmer boxes
- commercial cross-faders
- commercial plasma lamps
- commercial LED creature eyes
- commercial power sequencers
- commercial flashers
We do a lot with lighting at Wolfstone.
- light sources:
- optical fibers and light pipes
- Dynamic lighting effects:
  - color organ info
  - commercial color organs and kits
- Lighting with an attitude: strobes
  - introduction to strobes
  - commercial strobes and kits
  - debugging strobes
  - Triggering DJ Strobes (remote control)
  - haunting with strobes
  - The terrible twofer: black light strobes.
- Your haunt wouldn't be the same without black light.
  - Making black light:
    - generating and projecting black light
    - compact fluorescent black light
    - black light LEDs.
    - The terrible twofer: black light strobes.
    - Making a cheap black light fixture.
  - materials that react to black light
- Flashing Light
  - Intro to flashing lights.
  - commercial flashers
- Flickering light
- Dimming the lights
  - build a dimmer box
  - commercial dimmer boxes
- outdoor stake-lights
- lighting use
How do you intend to control those fancy automated props?
- Will your props be run by remote control from a central location?
  - X-10
    - Haunting with X-10.
    - an Intro to X-10.
  - Or perhaps you would prefer DMX.
- Or perhaps run your props by local control.
  - Detect TOTs with a PIR sensor.
  - Trigger props in sequence with our power sequencer.
- Intelligent controllers
  - intro to controllers
  - choosing a haunt controller
  - Controller Input/Output Overview
  - BASIC Stamp-based controllers
  - Writing programs for controllers
- Extending the scope of your control system
  - Synchronize sound with an air switch.
  - Fan out your control with a trigger relay.
  - Control low-voltage props with a line voltage switch.
Put a little life in your zombies:
- Coarse animation
  - Bring those animated figures to life with compressed air
    - compressor
    - Turn the pressure on and off with solenoid valves.
    - Turn pressure into motion with pneumatic cylinders.
  - electric motors
  - intro to DC Electric Motors
    - Commercial DC Electric Motor Drivers
  - intro to AC Electric Motors
Precision animation
- RC servos
  - Commercial RC servo drivers
- stepper motors
  - Commercial stepper motor drivers
Talking and singing props
- animated mouths
- systems for managing talking and singing props
Scream with terror - add a sound system:
- connecting audio systems
- With multiple speakers, you have to worry about speaker impedance matching.
- You can avoid a lot of trouble with a 70-Volt speaker system.
- scream box
- generic recordable sound box
- Recorded Sound Using MP3 Players
  - A-MP016 MP3 Player
- amplified speakers
- Terror Tone
- remote volume control
Specific construction projects:
- The Crate Beast!
  - Effects and controller.
  - The crate itself.
  - Pneumatics.
  - The Software.
- Jeep From Hell!
- popup skeleton
- pumpkin popup
- FCG stand
- mad monk
- mad monk2 - updated prop
- Slide Trombone Of Doom
- Twisting Scarecrow
- modified gargoyles
  - commercial gargoyles
  - Main gargoyle page
  - Gargoyle internal skeleton
  - Painting
  - Flickering eyes
  - Flap those wings!
  - Make a gargoyle breathe smoke
  - Making them talk
  - Mounting gargoyles on fence columns
  - Lighting up the finished gargoyles
- LED creature eyes
  - Making basic LED eyes
  - Flickering gargoyle eyes
  - commercial LED eyes
  - using LED creature eyes
- Spooky Clock
- Spooky Clock 2
- Harbingers: Signs of things to come
- Skeletons and skulls
  - Getting a skeleton
  - Bucky skeleton stand
  - modified Boris
  - Talking Skeleton 1
- molding and casting
  - Making cast plaster skulls
  - cast bat plaque
- Build a corpse.
- Giant spider...
  - construction
  - spider details
  - spider setup
  - spider spitter
  - spider spitter 2
  - friends of the giant spider
  - giant web construction
  - web setup
  - spider update after years
  - giant spider eggs
- Compressed-air
  - Control those compressed-air effects Haunt Air Manager (HAM).
  - converting an old propane tank for compressed air
  - Improvise a pneumatic cylinder from a screen door closer.
  - Improvise a pneumatic cylinder from a bicycle pump.
  - Connecting Solenoid Valve To Pneumatic Cylinders
  - Mounting pneumatic cylinders.
- Mount it all with rebar stakes.
- Got a hanging cauldron? Add a fake fire.
- skull fountain.
  - fake blood for fountains (non-edible)
  - collected fake blood recipes
- Thunder and lightning where and when you want it.
  - Incandescent lightning.
  - lightning with Diversitronics strobes
  - Cheap lightning box
  - Xenon lightning.
  - Throw together a lightning kit.
  - Commercial lightning boxes
  - Thunder on demand.
  - thunderstorm sound tracks
- Every haunt needs a graveyard!
  - Keep your little visitors out of your display with a graveyard fence.
    - Original graveyard fence.
    - 2001 update
  - Fence columns
  - Gargoyles
  - Where did we dig up those tombstones?
    - Gravestone details
    - update after years
    - Additional Styrofoam Gravestones for 2004
    - Wondering what to carve on your gravestones? Epitaphs!
Effects for atmosphere:
- It looks a lot spookier with fog.
  - Your best bet is probably a glycol fogger...
    - My First Fog Machine
    - Buying a glycol fogger.
    - ...which might require a chiller.
    - How not to make a chiller.
    - A lot of people are curious about making your own fog juice for glycol foggers.
    - We added X-10 to a fogger for remote control.
    - controller-driven fogger
    - fogger remotes
  - Buying a water hazer
  - Ultrasonic misters are good for little spots of fog.
  - Dry ice fog is not as good as you might think.
  - You should avoid oil crackers.
- A bubble machine isn't very spooky at all.
- A snow machine isn't very spooky either.
You can also spook things up with a hot glue web-making machine.
Haunt theme "skins":
- Pirates!
  - Twinkling Treasure Chest
  - Ship's Wheel
Our "Idea File" of things we haven't gotten around to doing yet:
- Moving Eye Statue
- Moving Flickering Shadows
- Moving Shadows
- Mummies
- Balloon Spider Eggs
- Cheap Lightning Box
- Mini Slave Strobe
- What Lurks In The Dark?
Spooky recipes:
- ginger bats
- gnarled finger pretzels
Decorating:
- witch centerpiece
- tiny Halloween town
- commercial crystal balls
Tools:
- Cutting and shaping plastic foam:
- compressors
electronic components
- relays
- transformers
- solenoids
- switches
- 555 timer calculator
mechanical components
- PVC pipe
- threaded pipe
- pipe connections
Materials
- glue
- hot-melt glue
Finishing
- paint
- applying finishes
Costumes:
- Silent screams with cosmetic contacts.
- There will be the Devil to pay when you wear horns.
- prosthetic adhesive
General techno-tips
- Electrical power
- Immortalize your creations in photographs.
  - We suggest digital photography.
  - Tips on buying a camera.
- problems with products and companies
  - Plenty of problems with X10.com
  - Short Life Lights Using Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
Logistical and Philosophical issues:
- Nobody said haunting was easy. There are deep philosophical issues you should consider.
  - Philosophical and Social Issues, such as "Should I buy one or build it from scratch?"
  - Concrete Design Issues, such as "I'm building one. What color should I paint it?"
- security
- purchasing electronic parts
- deployment and setup
- packing and storage
- standards for connectibility and interchangability
beware of stupid patents
Safety
- Safety Intro
- Welding Helmet
- Welding Gloves
- Spark Protection
- Eye Protection
- Ear Protection
Tools
- Angle Grinder
- Wire Welder
- Reciprocating Saw
Techniques
- Removing Zinc From Galvanized Metal
- Annealing To Soften Metal
- Drilling Metal
Moral and Ethical issues:
- Is haunting just for guys? Not hardly!
- Does it take an adult to pull off a great haunt? No way!
- Do you have to be rich to make a great haunt?
- Tips for beginning haunters.
- In general, we prefer to avoid using witches in our Halloween displays. Witchcraft is a minority religion that has suffered persecution for hundreds of years.
- It doesn't take much to become the target of persecution. The Burning Times are not over.
Housekeeping issues:
- Terms of service.
- You sure talk funny! What do those words mean?
- A word of thanks.
- Who is Wolfstone?