the pixel graves use 50, 5V DC pixels, capable of each individually producing red, green, and blue colors (and color mixing) on every individual LED.

A reused pallet with recycled fog juice bottles filled with mysterious green juice with GHS stickers of course... uplit from the bottom to make the toxic juice glow... and our friend mr skeleton underneath the sign he must not have read before drinking! This prop also has a pump as you can see the juice pouring out of the bottle and spout. 3 zones of DMX control

This prop was made using a wood frame from a recycled pallet, and EMT conduit painted black for the bars. The sign was 3D printed and has LEDs wired behind the letters, each being wired separately for control. the LEDs on top are connected with an RJ45 jack and ethernet cable (since it has enough pins to support the 4 letters), which makes it easy to remove the sign for storage or fixing it without having to remove the entire prop. 

This prop was created using our old, rusty, non-functional lawn mower. The lawn mower uses a linear actuator, which is similar to a piston, but it uses an electric motor to push the shaft, in turn moving the skeleton; it is quite slow, but it eliminates the need for an air compressor - I plan to change it to a piston once I have more air-operated props. The noises from the lawn mover come from an MP3 player that has a built-in amplifier. In 2022, LED pixels were added underneath, giving a rotating red ring of light.

1 pallet, 5 12vdc motors, green LEDs and a 6ch DMX dimmer pack make this skeleton spin! all of the different 'zones' of motors can be controlled seperately

Various cutouts were made in each LED grave stone to account for 3 seperate zones of control, the baase light that illuminates the grave - then the 2 internal effect lights that control things like eyes and a mouth or lighted backdrop in the grave. these are controlled using a 12V dimmer pack

These all use purple mini-lights (christmas lights basically) that I put into foam graves by using a soldering iron to put holes or cut the foam and then hot glue to hold in the lights. most of the lights have them poking through a hole, but I do have some large cut out sections that I put white foam behind and many of the mini lights around the outside to light it up in that area as you can see in the last 2 graves on the right.

This prop uses a small l pump to pump out UV paint infused water out of the skeletons mouth, the grave also has UV paint on it. a small 10W UV outdoor light is shining on this constantly. The tank is a sterilite bin that I cut a hole in with a hole saw to put in the connector that the pump uses. the grave is held in the middle of the tank via a wood frame around the bin and a post that attaches so the wood is vertical where it is attached to the grave via screws and large washers.  

This prop was made using a cheap foam grave from the dollar tree and 2 different soldering kits, one that does a chase (looks like the spiders falling down) and the other is a web design (also chases, technically) these run on a 5VDC power supply since they can both use USB voltage. 

Constructed on an wood pallet, I used left over 1 1/2in PVC conduit in unison with a heat gun to melt the plastic and make the bursted look - the pipes are attached to the pallet with the screws going through the elbows on the end and were spray painted with a hammered metallic paint; a green LED strip was used to illuminate the inside. The steam effect is from a fog machine (of course) which shoots into a conduit elbow and then a LB conduit body to make it disperse, and with the help of a small computer fan inside the fitting, the fog is blown into the red PEX pipe that I molded to fit into holes in the back that lead into the elbows on the front to disperse the fog. one last thing is the LED wash light on the back that gives some backlighting, and also shoots through the cracks so it looks cool through the fog with the beams. the LED strips are controlled with a 4 channel 12V dimmer pack, there are 8 different LED strips so there are 2 per channel; the dimmer is DMX so I will be using DMX through Light O Rama to control the patterns

This just uses an ultrasonic mister you can get at any spirit halloween or online, there is a pot inside the ground to hold tap water.

This just uses a bat on a string connected to a synchronous motor and the centripetal force makes the bat fly around 

This is a real exit sign, one you would install by code in a commercial space, they use 120VAC but the LEDs on this one just happen to use 9VDC, so I took the power supply out and connected a 9V battery to the LEDs directly, I had to do this because otherwise the wires would get tangled or I would have to make a ring that would keep constant contact with the base and it would be a mess. It spins via a synchronous motor. 

The witch is a pre-made prop from Big Lots, the cauldron is one from walmart which I cut a hole in for a fog machine nozzle to poke out and shoot out like a geyser. The fogger is suspended by multiple things inside the box the cauldron is on, there's access panels for the timer remote and also the tank for the fog juice (which was removed from the machine itself because otherwise  it would just spill out. 

This uses a 12v cassette mech motor to turn, they are set to pulse using a 12v dmx decoder

Utilizing an old, broken, and rusty popcorn machine. Let's start off with the electrical; 120VAC comes in from the plug that came with the mmachine, it is all controlled through the switch on the side, that splices into an IEC cable for the 12V 1amp power supply for all the leds, some are directly hooked to 12V and the one in the top is on a controller (the green PCB) there is also a 3 outlet splitter so that a transformer can plug in that powers the synchronous motor (because I didn't want 120VAC on the outside of this enclosure) and finally the pump for the "blood" water is connectected directly into this splice. The pump pumps water into the kettle (not on) from a reservoir and the motor lifts the flap to let the "blood" trickle down onto the skulls. the bottom half is a large skull surrounded by dirt and broken mirrors. Spray paint was used to cover the old words and some white acrylic paint as well. all the lights are old RGB LED strips I took from my deck since now we have addressable leds. 

This prop was made using 2 baskets, a plastic chain, and a rat skeleton all from the Dollar Tree. The baskets are zip-tied together and rat is tied down also with zip ties. A hole was cut in the bottom of the top basket to allow the large chain to hook on. total cost - $4.28 

This prop was made simply by using a skeleton and covering it with spider webs and various spiders, the large one was from a Spirit Halloween 'Jumping Spider' prop that had broke.

This prop is 2 skeletons having some beer and playing cards, both are wearing jackets from Blackstone High (Mass), with the names Pearl and Pam stitched on them. 

This prop has a large "X-RAY IN USE" sign, the 'X-RAY' is an ADJ Ricochet laser simulator, which uses a high-power LED with a tight beam angle. There is a tiny skeleton who is cutting off his leg with a knife, this uses a spring with a small 12v cassette mech motor in order to move the knife up and down, in a motion similar to the wheel drive of a train.  there are biohazard bags with 12V LEDs inside scattered throughout the area around the prop, easily connected for setup since they use XLR connectors to connect to the prop's 12V, 6 channel dimmer pack. there are also blood bags around the prop. 

leftover pallet wood was used to create mini pallets with large cracks where bones peek through. 3 of the bones on each pallet are illuminated using LED strips inside, the bottom is under lighted with white LEDs and red theatrical gel, which stays constantly lit. Both props have a box underneath with a keystone jack, and are driven by an external 6ch dimmer pack, connected by a CAT5e cable (carrying power, not data)

A DIY fence made out of 1 1/2in PVC and 1/2in PVC spindles with caps. A heat gun was used to melt and bend the PVC to give the fence a worn appearance. The main frame uses a dark grey metallic paint, the caps use silver metallic paint and the spindles use a rust-colored textured paint. 

The infamous 12ft skeleton from Home Depot

The 9.5ft Werewolf from Home Depot

The 12ft witch from Home Depot

The new cauldron from Home Depot to accompany the 12ft Witch

The brand new Skull Stack from Home Depot

New for 2023, these old CRT monitors were being thrown out, so I repurposed them by using the large ones as a mouth, and the smaller ones as eyes. The videos are played by media players, which use an SD card to playback videos. I have modified them in order to trigger the video to play at the start of the sequence so it is in sync with the audio of the show. 

More to come!

Our garage hologram is a simple setup of a plastic drop cloth and a projector in the rear playing an old ATMOS FX DVD