This was SUPPOSED to be 2004's decorations.  But, well, see, we got married and came back from the honeymoon a week before Halloween.  So, alas, zero time for new props.  The haunted nursery rolled over to 2005 and is presented below.

The weather cooperated so there was plenty of time to set up without fear of rain.  As we live in an area where hooligans can run loose, we only put things up the day of Halloween and take them down that night.  We do get lots of foot traffic to a nearby transit station, so in addition to the 40 TOTs that night we probably had an equal number of pedestrians/adults who came by.

Our theme was the Haunted Nursery and gave me a chance to do more work with mechanical props and introduce our first pneumatic(!).  Although our turnout was small compared to many on the list, we got lots of praise from everyone.  We just seem to be the "Halloween" folks in our immediate area, and people appreciate a good scare/haunt that avoids the gore-factor.

The daylight photos don't do these too much justice, as wires/cords/etc. are easily visible.  Take it for granted that spookiness increased when nighttime arrived.

  Our front yard isn’t too wide, so we’ve got a bunch of props going on.  From left-to-right, a “monster-in-the-box”, doll with spinning head, jack-in-the-box, and rocking-chair skeleton and stroller.  Floodlights illuminated everything at night.  Our black fence with gold skull finials kept folks a safe distance away.

  A miniature skeleton, cradling a doll, covered in cobwebs and spiders.  “Itsy bitsy spider” played at the same time.  In the back on the left is our stroller, moving back-and-forth by itself, a headless doll illuminated within, while sounds of crying were heard.

  The head just keeps spinning ‘round and round.  In the back, a sweet kids picture turns ominous when a blacklight turns on.

  The toy chest lid would gradually lift up, then suddenly come crashing down; inside, a spooky doll’s head peered out.

  An innocent-looking (though suspiciously large) box…

  …triggered when someone walks in front…

  …setting off a “sproing!” spring sound complete with evil laugh, as the clown head pops up.

A boombox provided suitable mood music.  I found a bunch of eerie kids tracks, or took some nursery rhymes and modified the pitch on them to make them seem a bit odd.

Hope you enjoyed seeing these!