THE DO-IT-YOURSELF GUIDE TO HALLOWEEN HAUNTING

What haunt would be complete without a spooky cemetary full of scattered tombstones marking the graves of previous unfortunate visitors?

For the best results, you'll need the most realistic tombstones possible. The Halloween Connection offers a complete line of high quality tombstones and monuments to fit every budget starting at just $11.95.

For those of you who prefer the hands-on approach, you can also make your own tombstones at home. This will allow you have control over the design, the epitaph and the shape and size of the tombstones.


Materials:
The most common materials used in making tombstones are plywood and styrofoam. Styrofoam is a good medium because it can be purchased at just about any local craft store or home store and is fairly inexpensive. It also has a texture and thickness that more closely resembles a tombstone from the start. Plywood is more durable, however it may be more costly unless you happen to have scrap pieces on hand.

Design:
Determine the size and design of your tombstone and trace it out on your styrofoam or plywood. Be sure to make the stone large enough for your epitaph.

Carve:
Use a jigsaw or utility knife to cut out your stone. If using styrofoam, carve the epitaph and design elements into the foam before beginning the paint process.

Paint:
Start with a grey basecoat, the shade can be determined by the desired darkness of the finished tombstone. Applying a coat of stone texture spray paint will give it a more realistic appearance. Once the stone is dry, use a brush to paint on the epitaph and any other designs.

Final touches:
Attach mounting stakes to your tombstones. Plant stakes can be pushed into the bottom of styrofoam stones. For plywood stones, screw shelf brackets into the back and use tent stakes to secure into the ground. Draping spanish moss over the tombstones adds a great effect for that abandoned, overgrown graveyard feel. Vines growing over the your tombstones is also a nice touch. Be careful not to over do it!

Any good haunt is never lacking a couple of creepy skeletons hanging around. Halloween is one of the best times to investigate the secrets of special effects and learn some new tricks for yourself. Put your knowledge to good use and create corpse that will terrify neighbors and friends!

My favorite how-to corpse prop is the "Boneyard BBQ" from The Brewster Yard Haunt. By far one of the most original ideas I have found on the net! Stir yourself up some culinary magic by building a human rotisserie!

For an excellent tutorial on Bucky corpsing, visit SkullandBone.com and check out the results they will help you to achieve while still staying within your budget!

If you want to pull off a horrific haunt this Halloween season, cobwebs are a must have. Adorning your graveyard in cobwebs is one of the most subtle, yet important details in acheiving that "un-welcoming" look.

Packaged Cobwebs:
White cottony spider webbing is a Halloween standard. This bag of stretchy stuff is enough to create arachnophobia in an instant. Classic wicked white webs.

Cobwebs in a Can:
A convenient and realistic way to create authentic looking spider webs. These are 12-ounce cans of aerosol webbing ideal for adding web accents to tabletop displays, graveyard scenes, and more. Cured product is off-white and stringy, just like the real thing. Once dry, this material is non-flammable. How much area one can will cover depends on how thick you like your webbing, start out with one can per display to test. Be careful! - this material residue may be permanent to some surfaces!

Cobweb Spinners:
As used in Hollywood for large areas to be covered with webs. Includes an attachment for your drill, a pint of fluid, and solvent. Webs not to be used on clothing, furniture, or in your house. Intended for temporary set designs. The amount of coverage one pint of fluid will provide varies based on how thick you want your webs. Test out the pint included with the machine, reorder the Extra Cobweb Fluid pints as you need them.

Cobweb Shooters:
Hot Glue Cobwebbers run airlines internally to provide air flow and volume. The gun's tip then funnels webbing material into an intergrated compressed air stream, resulting in precise application of webbing material. Apply webbing within inchs of your scenery or blow webs up to 40 feet away - you have control over direction, amount and density of webs.

At the end of a yard haunt is typically the entrance to your home. This is where you pass out treats or invite your guests in. The entrance to your home will set the mood for what lays beyond. Door decorations can cost anywhere from $10 up to hundreds for impressive, full sized door-frames. Below are some of the best ways to let your trick or treaters, party guests and other victims know that they are about to meet their doom when they enter!

What is a Scareactor? Just what it sounds like, a name for the actors who will lurk around scaring your guests. Killer props make a great haunt, but it's the Scareactors that will really bring it to life. Look at your yard haunt as a movie and yourself as the director.

Just about anyone can be a Scareactor - family, friends, neighbors and anyone else who loves the holiday and wants to be part of your spooky production. Ask your Scareactors if they have costumes of their own they might want to wear. Halloween make-up and facial appliances are plentiful at this time of year. You can find inexpensive Halloween make-up kits just about anywhere.

Each Scareactor should have a zone of operation. Some might stand at the entrance to the haunt beckoning visitors in, others might be roaming the graveyard. Sneaking up behind people and rattling a shaker can is a simple, but very effective scare tactic. Some of the biggest commercial haunts use this trick with much success. Placing a person in a dark costume in a dark corner works well. The Scareactor can't be seen until the visitor is right on them, allowing them to jump out and scare the guests.

Now that you have the main components for putting together a great yard haunt, here are some finishing touches that will really make the most of all you've done!

There's nothing like a layer of foreboding fog hanging in the night air to really add a scare to your yard haunt. Things could be lurking inside unseen, adding the element of the unknown for your trick or treaters. You can also use a fog chiller to keep the fog low, allowing the mist to slowly drift over the ground, around tombstones and over burial mounds.

For all the information you could ever ask for including basic ideas and tips for using a fog machine on Halloween, visit GotFog.com.

Lighting techniques are important when adding to the ambience of your haunt. Done properly, lighting can greatly improve the scene, while poor implementation can ruin it. For example, if you under-light your graveyard it can nearly dissapear into a dark corner of your yard and have little to no impact on your visitors. Conversely, if you over-light the area you can ruin the effect by over exposing it.

For a complete yard haunt lighting tutorial, visit SkullandBone.com.

Adding eerie music and sound effects to your Halloween haunt can be used to heighten the overall effect and stimulate your guests. Much like lighting however, sound effects must be used sparingly! Too many sounds may be overwhelming, distracting and actually take away from your scene.

There are literaly hundreds of Halloween music and sound effects CD's out there to choose from. Midnight Syndicate has defined the gothic/horror soundscape genre and redefined the Halloween music industry with their unique blend of dark, orchestral movie-style instrumental music and carefully crafted sound effects. Over the last eight years, they have gained a worldwide following in the Halloween, horror music, and haunted attraction industries. Click here to sample a clip from "The 13th Hour."