13 (or So) of This Year’s Most Spooktacular Halloween Projects

Enhanced “Yorick,” my AlexaPi-driven talking skull, to respond in two voices, depending on the trigger word used when asking a question.

DIY jump scare portrait from scratch using Raspberry Pi 3 B, Python and AtmosFX Videos unliving portraits.

I wanted to animate a doll to look like something left by a child on a porch. As someone approaches, it would slowly stand up. Guaranteed to freak everyone out.

Everything is driven by ESPixelSticks running the serial firmware and fed through RS485 modules. The main windows have homemade washer bars made out of RGB strip and DM-103 DMX modules. FPP runs the show on a Raspberry Pi and a Ubiquiti NanoStation loco M2 takes care of the WiFi while an EdgeRouter X handles all the routing. All sequencing is done in either Vixen 3 or xLights.

A remote-controlled Billy from Saw.

Scare your guests by flickering Hue lights and playing a scary movie. Couple with smart mirror and Alexa for full effect.

An autonomous jack in the box using a Raspberry Pi and a Pi Camera to detect when it’s being looked at, or not.

To get into the spirit we’re setting out to see if any spirits live within our walls. Enter Project DeepWhisper — an experiment utilizing machine learning to listen to ghost conversations.

I carved the four small pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns and fitted them with different color LEDs. Adding a few wires and bat-shaped foil contacts gave each one a button on top. Guests simply had to memorize the sequence of lights and tap the pumpkins in the correct order to collect their treats.

Listen to the Ghostbusters theme played by a computer hardware orchestra.

A 3D-printed pumpkin featuring a 7" touchscreen and Raspberry Pi.

I found these lovely little guys at the dollar store and rigged them up with some LEDs and servos. I’m running all of this though an Arduino using Vixen 3 software for the input.

Halloween Pumpkinstein/PodPi Arduino board with Adafruit NeoPixel Rings and a Meccano MeccaSpider Body.

Just realized that I have so many horror books. Yes, I love R.L. Stine so much. Being left by my wife and kids at weekend, I dream of these Nightmare Room series keep falling from the shelf. Are these books really haunted? Or is it the room?

The decorations of the Poplawski’s Holiday Frights are controlled by a Raspberry Pi which, in turn, takes input from a website.

Mod a Halloween strobe light to show hidden messages written in UV ink!