While we had a few things in the yard last year, 2003 was the first year we really went, um, a bit overboard with our decorations.  Discussions and planning started in April, and weekend construction began in late summer.  I'm really pleased with how everything turned out, since it involved the first time I've worked with electrical and mechanical projects. 

Our theme was the Ghoulish Graveyard, and at the last minute it almost never happened.  After our usual hot summer and an unusually hot Halloween week, we got rain on the day itself.  The weather forecast was iffy until the mid-afternoon, when it finally looked like we'd have dry skies.  With a speed born of desperation we hurried in our 2-hour task of setting up the yard, knowing our party guests would be arriving shortly afterward.  My goal of having plenty of time to shoot pictures evaporated, so I wasn't able to get quite as many as I'd hoped.

Nevertheless, it was a success.  We had four main props.  

First, was a welcoming sign that directed people up the stairs.  Our corpsed skeleton's outstretched hand held a lantern, lighting the way.  Blacklight illuminated the sign, providing a glow.

Second was the graveyard itself.  Eight tombstones spelled out various chilling or humorous messages to the living.  They were illuminated by a combination of blue floodlights and lightning flashes from our thunder/lightning machine.

Third was our flickering cauldron.  Red, yellow, and green party lights set into a plastic cauldron flickered to simulate fire.  Two skeletons joined hands to peer into the flames, while a caged skeleton with glowing eyes watched from above.

Lastly was our monster chef.  As the lightning flashed, his arm chopped down upon the body parts strewn on the table in front of him.  As I'm a southpaw, so is he. :)

Keeping everything safe from curious fingers was our cemetery fence, complete with gold skull finials.  A boombox provided suitable mood music.

  1"x2" lumber and 1/2" PVC combine to make our fence.  Plastic fleur-de-lys cap the PVC, with gold metallic paint making the plastic skulls stand out.

  We made the sign last year, but wanted to add to it somewhat this year.  Corpsing our skeleton seemed like the right idea, and the lantern helped make him stand out.  We had a green party light at the base to illuminate him, and a blacklight fixture helped the sign to glow.

  This front-on view lets you see him in all his rotten glory.

  Our tombstones were 2" foam sheet insulation.  Carved to shape, with epitaphs done with our Dremel router, and paint effects to get them looking like weathered stone.  Keeba's instructions were invaluable to making these come out so great.

  Each one we carved had a different pattern -- this was one of the more elaborate ones.  We hid the two light fixtures for our lightning behind the tombstones, so they'd be out of sight.

  A couple of them were made from last year's Spirit Halloween Store 75% off sale.  Those instructions said to paint on the epitaph, but the Dremel worked fine.

  Blue floodlights illuminated most of the tombstones, making them visible from the sidewalk.

  We kept some in darkness.  Only their outlines were visible, until the lightning went off to make the epitaphs appear.

  Our caged skeleton was from last year, so we needed to do something new this time.  For this prop I got inspired by a fellow haunter's prop.  Whereas that used sheet ghosts around a tree, I decided to get some skeletons since I knew we'd be using them next year as well.

  The flickering cauldron turned out very well, although in retrospect some crackling fire sounds would probably improve this.  I braced the skeletons with painted dowels -- they show up easily in the photos, but weren't as apparent in the darkness of night.

  Our monster chef was inspired by a prop I ran across earlier in the year.  Whenever the lightning flashed he'd be illuminated by a red floodlight, and come to life.  One thing I'd like to improve in the future is provide an elbow so his arm moves a bit more, and come up with some sounds he can make.  

  The chef's at rest, reviewing the body parts he's already prepared.  People really seemed to like him -- they'd stop and watch whenever the lightning kicked in and he started chopping.

  Jack Skellington beckons TOTs (trick-or-treaters) up the stairs to our front door.  We don't get many kids in the neighborhood -- last year we saw about 10, and there were maybe 15 this year.  But all the foot traffic going by, and especially the neighbors, seemed to appreciate the effort we made.  All that, and especially the person who knocked on the door to just say how great everything was, made things well worth it.

We can now hardly wait for next year -- look for lots of neat things in 2004 at the Haunted Nursery!