Solid-state Halloween controller and how to build a Haunted House

Step 10 Anecdote

While assembling an aluminum scaffold for my haunted porch just hours before sunset on Halloween 2001, a group of about six kids from the neighborhood formed wanting to catch of glimpse of what was in store for them. They also wanted to help, which really meant running circles around me while I tightened bolts and threaded cable ties. Eventually, all but one of the kids headed home to get into their costumes. The remaining boy said he wanted to stay as late as he could helping me setup because that was going to be his only Halloween activity. His mother had forbidden him from trick-or-treating this year because she had credible evidence that Osma Bin Laden would be kidnapping children from our home town. I gave him a big handful of candy when he left -- probably the only candy he got.

Halloween seems to be one of the few holidays when its OK to be the weird guy on the street. I met more of my neighbors on Halloween than I had in the previous six months. Even though we lived in different worlds, we now had an easy conversation starter: Have you started working on next years Halloween setup yet? After a few years of haunted porches, families who had moved away would even bring their kids back to the neighborhood on Halloween.