An Adafruit MONSTER M4SK Makes a Ventriloquist Dummy Even More Terrifying

There are few things on this planet more terrifying than a ventriloquist’s dummy. Their lifeless, wooden bodies tread confidently through the uncanny valley, and then straight into our nightmares. The only consolation we have is that they can only move or speak with the help of a ventriloquist. Well, that would be a consolation if John Park hadn’t gone and shoved an Adafruit MONSTER M4SK into a ventriloquist’s dummy to make it even more terrifying than it already was.

This dummy started its life as a Goosebumps-branded toy Slappy, who was a character that originally appeared in 1993’s Night of the Living Dummy. Considering the fact that this toy was modeled after the antagonist from a horror novel, it was already very creepy in its own right. If you want to build your own, but actually want to be able to sleep at night, you can use any other ventriloquist dummy with a big enough head. If you really want to sell the effect, you’re going to need to perform some cranial surgery on that head in order to place an Adafruit MONSTER M4SK behind the eyes.

The MONSTER M4SK is a microcontroller development board that was created specifically for applications like this. It has two small TFT LCD displays on a PCB that can be snapped apart to position the screens however is need. In this case, you’re placing them where the dummy’s eyes are. A pair of convex lenses make the screens look more three-dimensional, like actual eyes. A LiPo battery can be plugged directly into the built-in port on the MONSTER M4SK, and Park has provided the code and files necessary for the eyes to look around on their own. If you’re looking for a prop to scare the neighborhood kids—and their parents—this Halloween, this is the perfect project for you.