Before I dive in, the objective of this article is more of a call to action and a lesson/tutorial of sorts. The prime years I believe for trick or treaters to have (fun) scary Halloween memories are ages 10-12. Unfortunately, over the past few years we have not really had the outdoor Halloween activities / opportunities for trick or treaters. Sure, you could have still watched a scary movie at home (recommendations later in the article). However, it’s tough to beat the outdoor scary memory on Halloween night. Before I provide some of my tips and techniques to become the Halloween Scariest House in the neighborhood, I will share my scariest Halloween memory.

During my best years of trick or treating, I would meet with my friends, dressed in our costumes, with pillow cases for candy sacks, and we would make our way through the neighborhood sure to hit every house. I remember the house that handed out the full-size candy bars, and the houses that let you have more than one treat. But the house I remember the most was that scary house.

The scary house was about two blocks away from where I lived. There was nothing particularly memorable about the house itself, but rather the task of actually getting candy. Imagine an empty 2 car garage, with the garage door open. As you approached the garage the only thing you could really see from a distance was the one hanging light pointing down at a small round table directly in the middle of the garage. There must have been a fog machine as you could start to make out fog rolling along the floor of the garage. You could hear very eerie music playing from within the garage. As you got closer you could visually make out a bowl of Halloween candy on top of the table. Just before you entered the garage you realized there was a lawn chair sitting near the table with something on it, but only dimly lit by the one light making it hard to see. As you entered the garage and made your way to the candy bowl you realized that the thing on the lawn chair was shaped like a person, but was dressed up in something. The closer you got you began to see it was a Mummy. Think of the best/scariest Mummy costume you can, and it was better. The Mummy was fully dressed and wore a pair of what looked to be sunglasses so there was no way to see its eyes. As you got closer to the table there was a sign in front of the bowl that said “Trick or Treat, please take a piece of Halloween candy.”

At this point the various personalities within your friend group began to come out. On one end of the spectrum, you had the confident “let’s grab some candy” friend, and on the other end of the spectrum, you had the “no way am I getting near that bowl, I am out” friend. You were required to battle through your fear using all the courage you could to make your way to the bowl if you wanted to get the prized Halloween candy. This is where I began to learn the tips and tricks on how to really scare a trick or treater using very limited noise or movement.

As the first confident friend made his way to the bowl and grabbed some Halloween candy, every other friend watched the Mummy. No movement. No movement at all. Was there really someone in there or was it a Dummy Mummy? This lack of movement eased the tension a bit for the rest of us. So much so that after about a minute we all began to make our way to the bowl. As we began to reach in the bowl to grab the prized candy, monitoring the Mummy with our peripheral vision, but looking at all the great candy options as well, that is when it happened. The Mummy moved its head. Yes, the Mummy moved its head with the sunglasses looking right at us. Needless to say, the first year, I ran out of that garage so fast, I grabbed no candy. Actually, the first year I think only my friend who was first to the bowl got candy at that house. Through the years we all learned to work through our fear and actually walk away with some candy from the scary house.

So now, the call to action and lesson portion of the article. Let’s give those trick or treaters who have missed out the last few years a real (fun) scare this Halloween. As I mentioned earlier, I learned a key step to really scaring a trick or treater may have less to do with loud noises and large motions, but more about all the details of setting the stage / mood, and making minimal movement at just the right time.

Your mission if you choose to accept it is to reach one of the below levels towards becoming the Halloween Scariest House in the neighborhood.

1. Beginner Level – The trick or treater will jump in fright and/or make a loud scream
2. Intermediate Level – The trick or treater will be too scared to take candy
3. Advanced Level – The trick or treater (a teenager who lives across the street in my case) will go home and get a parent to come with them back to the house to get candy for them.
4. Master Class Level – You can hear a group of trick or treaters pass your house and say “no way am I going to that house it is too scary. (Yes, I did make Master Class Level one time).

Please let us know if you are successful at reaching one of the levels above this Halloween and you may be featured in a future Solve Article!!! (Please Send Photo’s)

My journey to becoming the Halloween Scariest House in the neighborhood took many years.

Here is one of the first successful scares I accomplished and didn’t even realize it at the time. As you can see, although my son knows it’s his dad in that Star Wars Emperor costume, he wanted to keep an eye on me just to make sure.

As I began my journey to climb the ranks to become the Halloween Scariest House in the neighborhood, I used the Star Wars Emperor costume a few times. At my last house we had a full glass storm door. I would leave the front door open with the lights on outside and inside the front hall to give trick or treaters high confidence that this house was open for business and should have good candy. As they approached, they could see clearly into the front hall of the house through the storm door, increasing their confidence even more. I would be on one side of the hallway not initially visible through the storm door and have the candy bowl on the other side. When the trick or treaters rang the doorbell, I would walk through the front hall very slowly so they could clearly see me and I would just tilt my head and stare at the trick or treaters as I walked out of sight for a brief few seconds while I grabbed the candy bowl. That was my first Intermediate Level Success. She was a family friend from the neighborhood who had been to our house many times to play with my kids. However, on that night, she turned around and did not take any candy. The next day I was out in my yard as she rode by the house on her bike with a big smile and said “I knew it was you”. I just smiled back realizing I was climbing the ranks of Halloween Scariest House in the neighborhood.

As I looked to continue my climb, I used what I had learned in my childhood Mummy experience. I set out a bowl on my front porch, with some fog, some eerie music, a strobe light, and sat next to it in a costume. Look really closely. Was that me? Was it real? That was my first Advanced Level Success. Yes, it did happen. The teenager who lives across the street came trick or treating with friends and decided to go home to get their parent to come get candy for them.

Some years I recruited my son, daughter, and their friends to help. Below is my son in his scary clown costume. He would stand still not moving by one of the front porch posts while trick or treaters would come to the door. Also below, my daughter and her friend who dressed up in scary doll costumes and sat still, looking forward and straight faced together on the front porch swing only a few steps from the front door as trick or treaters arrived. Again, all it took was for them to just turn their heads and look toward the trick or treaters to get the desired scare result.

You may be asking yourself, but how did you reach Master Class Level. It took years for word to spread through the neighborhood. If you haven’t figured it out yet, the image above in the rocking chair was not real. I would sit inside, have my phone connected to an outdoor Bluetooth speaker and play some scary audio soundbite just as trick or treaters walked up to the candy bowl. I would continue to employ the fog machine, eerie sounds/music, and the strobe light. After years of these variations above I had to double down, literally.

The year I reached Master Class Level followed the year I introduced an additional rocking chair. At that point I had two rocking chairs that flanked the candy bowl one on each side. I sat in one chair with a costume and mask, and put the dummy from above in the other chair. As the trick or treaters came toward the bowl, they really were not sure if one was real, both were real, or none were real. Sometimes I would just move my eyes, and that was enough to trigger the desired scare result. It was the year after that when I did the same setup with the two chairs that I saw a group of boys walk by the house and heard one of them say “no way am I going to that house it is too scary.” I had finally reached the pinnacle, Master Class Level and Halloween Scariest House in the neighborhood! I think dentists around the world rejoiced & celebrated my success!

In the immortal words of Elliot Ness (played by Kevin Costner) in the movie The Untouchables, “Here Endeth The Lesson.” Speaking of movies, I have listed some of my favorite scary movie recommendations below.

Recommended Scary Movies

1. Scariest Movie – The Ring (2002)

2. Scariest Halloween Movie – Halloween (1978)

3. Other Notable Scary Movie – The Sixth Sense (1999)

4. Scary but more appropriate for younger audiences – The Women in Black (2012)

Disclaimer: Please watch these movies prior to your kids to make your own determination on appropriate viewing age for each movie.

Other Fun Activities to do this Halloween

https://thedeadendhayride.com

https://hauntingexperience.com

https://www.excelsiorlakeminnetonkachamber.com/halloween-in-excelsior/

https://mnzoo.org/jols-2022/

Consultant Photo of the Week

From left to right we have Bob Ross (Amanda), our Bee (Kristine), Star Wars Emperor (Charlie), and our Jamaican Bobsledder (BK – from Kentucky). Not pictured our Bee Keeper (Tyler).

I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween! Have Fun!

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