This is a hobby that I enjoy that allows me to channel some of my creative energy. I’ve always loved Halloween and I’ve always loved building stuff. I enjoy the actual process of designing and building of props. It’s an excuse to use power tools and construction materials that I wouldn’t normally often get to use. I get a sense of accomplishment when something is finally finished. It makes me happy when others tell me that they really enjoyed my display, and that’s the big thing that makes it all worth it. I honestly never expected to go this “crazy” with Halloween – it’s just something that has grown year after year.

My first actual Halloween yard display was in 2006 in Lake In The Hills. This was the first time I actually had a yard of my own because I had just become a first-time home owner. My display was pretty meager back then, but one thing I did have was home-grown computerized lighting. More about that later.

I think most of my neighbors are pretty interested in what new things I am working on for each year's yard display. I have received a lot of compliments and thanks from our neighbors who all seem to appreciate the effort that I put into the display. I also try to be respectful of my neighbors by not running the volume too loud on the sound effects and by shutting everything down at a reasonable time, especially on work/school nights.

The answer to this question becomes a little more complicated each year as I build new stuff. I do have to think about storage whenever I'm building new things. I try to design my props so that they can usually be broken down into smaller sections for easier storage. The mausoleum, for example, comes apart into 8 sections. The roof comes off, the 4 walls are connected together by 8 bolts, the columns are removable, and the front base is a separate piece. Anyway, I store some of my stuff in a shed and the rest is stored in my attic. It's possible that I may run out of room in the future and may have to consider off-site storage.

I have learned most of what I know from others on the Internet. Places like http://www.halloweenforum.com and http://www.monsterlist.com are great places to learn about prop building.

I use a variety of building materials depending on what I'm building. Most commonly I use wood, construction styrofoam, pvc, chicken wire, wood glue, liquid nail, Great Stuff, aluminum bars, & Monster Mud.

I don't buy animatronics. All of my animatronics are hand-made by me. The store bought animatronics tend to be very cheap quality and rarely last more than 1 season of use, if even that long. If you look at the construction, you will see that they use the cheapest plastics, motors, and wire they can find at the time. Some people get lucky and their store-bought props last year after year, but that is becoming more and more of a rarity. Since I build all of my animatronics, I know exactly how to fix them if something goes wrong, and I can use stronger materials and better motors from the get-go.

I use 2 types of motors most often: windshield wiper motors and car vent motors. I usually buy my wiper motors from www.monsterguts.com and my vent motors from Surplus Center.

Unfortunately, yes! I try to keep spare parts on hand and am usually able to repair anything within minutes. As I have gained more experience, I have been able to design the mechanics better to make breakdowns less frequent.

I didn't. I built it from the ground up. You can see construction pictures of my witch under the Projects section of this website. The stirring motion is created from a windshield wiper motor that is in the bottom of the cauldron that moves the stick in a circle. The arms on the witch are just along for the ride. The 5+ servo motors in the witch's head are all computer controlled by my computer in my office. The witch's voice is also coming from my computer. I use a software product called VSA by Brookshire Software to script the servo movements to the sound track.

Our witch was voiced by our friend, Monika, reading from a script that I wrote for her.