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Pulled Into Drain Pipe Kid $3480
‘Rain coat kid hangs out of giant sewer pipe then suddenly starts thrashing and screaming before he is pulled shrieking into the pipe followed by monstrous chewing and eating noises! What got him?!’
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The Sinister Stag $349.99
‘The Sinister Stag is 7 feet of antlered rot and burning red eyes. He’s the silhouette you see right before you convince yourself it was nothing. Once you meet him, you’ll see why some decorations become neighborhood legends.’
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Cremation Oven $3,449.00
‘Transform your haunted house with our Crematory Oven Model Animatronic . When triggered, a tray with feet slides into the oven, the door closes, and you witness a chilling fire effect through the window as the victim’s screams echo. Moments later, the door reopens and the feet emerge on the tray, kicking amid an eerie smoke effect. This high-quality prop guarantees an unforgettable scare, embodying the custom gore and immersive haunted house design we are renowned for.’
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Wheelchair Bound Male $3220
‘Male is chained to wheelchair, then torso spasms forward and back with multiple head movement. Very creepy torture prop.’
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Zombie Brain Smash Carnival Game $3,624.50
‘Based on the popular “Frog Launcher” carnival game, in our version players reach into a bucket of gooey brains and place them on the launcher. Players then use the mallet to attempt to launch the brain back into the skull cavity of the articulating Zombie chained in front of them. In multi-player mode, first player to land a brain in the Zombie Skull wins the game!
‘All electric Zombies feature two separate motorized movement systems allowing the entire character’s lower torso to sway/circle as the upper torso undulates in the opposite direction. Creepy and convincing Zombie movements make the characters a spectacle as it also poses a greater challenge to land the brains back into the moving character’s open skull cavity.’
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Body Lifted and Contorted $5160
‘Female character stands then lifts 12’ in the air before having arms and legs broken by an unseen force!’
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Rat Feast $1960
‘Giant rat sits atop a decaying head trying to yank an eyeball out of a socket and make a meal of it!’
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7ft Soul Harvester £499.95
‘Introducing the 7ft Soul Harvester Animated Prop! This bone-chilling addition to your Halloween display is a fusion of lights and fog, creating an eerie ambiance as it steals souls. Activated by sound, motion, and footpad (sold separately), it brings terror to life in your haunted scene. Standing at an imposing 7ft tall, it’s the perfect centerpiece for your spooky setup.’
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Gauge Panel $1,799.00
‘Gauge/Electrial themed panel. Comes with TV monitor. Can be used in a Zombie area, Alien area, Boiler room, Labratory.. THE SKY IS THE LIMIT!’
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Human Centipede $5890
‘Three tortured victims are sewn mouth to butt in a disgusting medical experiment! They thrash and undulate with muffled screams and flatulence noises.’
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Axe Me Something £289.95
‘It resembles a young girl with pigtails, wearing a yellow shirt with blue overalls, wielding a hatchet. Upon activation, the girl swings the hatchet downward and says one of two phrases.’
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MAN-IMATIONS $2199.99
‘These life-sized props feature projected, animated faces, making them seem to come alive before your eyes! We supply the head, body, projectors and the routine. Simply dress the character in your favorite costume and you have a state-of-the-art Halloween decoration that will be the talk of the town!’
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Conjoined Meat $4300
‘Male and female torsos stitched together and hanging from chains thrash violently!’
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Dead Squad Debbie the Zombie Cheerleader $229.99
‘The pep rally ended decades ago. The stadium lights went dark, the crowd went home, and somehow Debbie kept going. Now she’s back on the sidelines with her pom poms raised, her jaw dropped, and absolutely zero interest in retiring. The undead have school spirit too, and Debbie’s got it in spades. She doesn’t remember the final score. She doesn’t care. There’s a whistle blowing somewhere in the back of her rotting memory, and that’s all she needs to get moving again.’
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Thrashing Tentacles $3,678.99
‘A Halloween animated thrashing tentacle prop creates realistic, wild sea monster movements using mechanical cables, pneumatics, and motorized linkages. Uses air pressure for fast, aggressive whipping or thrashing motions common in professional haunts.’
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Gore Hallway $6230
‘Blood-drenched laboratory hallway seems abandoned when suddenly grotesque deformed mutations attack from all sides!’
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Evil Tree $6,700.00
‘Impressive giant Evil Tree talking animatronic for Halloween, haunt, and theme parks. This massive animatronic tree has scary glowing red eyes, moving limbs and talking mouth. This popular animated spooky tree has been used in haunted houses, dark attractions, theme parks and more! The height of our Evil Tree is 9′ 6″ tall, and from limp tip to limb tip it is 13′ wide.’
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Kid Desk Eye Stabber $2370
‘Insane kid sits at a desk then suddenly slams his face down impaling his eye on a bloody pencil! Super disturbing.’
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Corn Stalker $2130
‘Appears to be a normal corn stalk, then suddenly lunges forward and reaches out to grab you!’
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Ceiling Headbanger $2440
‘Crazed maniac is holding onto the ceiling, banging his head against the ceiling over an over, creating a very disturbing effect.’
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Pretty Woman Leatherface Texas Chainsaw Massacre Animatronic $349.99
‘It resembles the Pretty Woman version of Leatherface, as seen in the 1974 film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. When activated, his torso rotates while the chainsaw spins, accompanied by chainsaw noises and grunting.’
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COVID Cougher $3050
‘Infected patient stands with snotty rag covering face, then suddenly lifts up and starts hacking and coughing like crazy spraying droplets everywhere.’
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Santa Tangled in Lights $3070
‘Santa hangs by lights, then wiggles up and down while head lifts and turns side to side. Hangs from chain with Christmas lights.’
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Boars Ripping Apart Zombie $12,371.65
‘A pair of enormous squealing wild pigs rip and thrash apart a zombie victim suspended above them, hung by his foot. Hillbilly handler lowers and raises rope suspending Zombie victim as jaw movement allows you to add synched dialogue to the character.’
*
p.s. Hey. ** Dominik, Hi!!! And boo!!! I’ve just started reading the new SCAB , and it’s great so far, no surprise whatsoever. Love buying me ‘Kid Desk Eye Stabber’ as a very early birthday gift, G. ** _Black_Acrylic, You friend performed ‘It’s Gonna Rain’ live? What a great, crazy idea. ** Bill, Psst, I could barely make heads or tails of that stuff, but of course I like being vexed. I haven’t seen ‘Mysterious Skin’ in yonks. I saw that Scott and Gregg were traveling around with it. All the best stuff gets scattered applause. Wait, that makes no sense. I don’t know why I said that. Paris is starting to get its September packed, a little late but … ** Tosh Berman, Yes, RIP Catherine Ringer. It’s a big deal over here. She was on the cover of most of the newspapers yesterday. I remember that Les Rita Mitsouko never really caught on in the States. The only song of theirs I remember getting airplay is ‘Andy’. And the only US remembrances I’ve seen this far was Sparks’ tribute. Yeah, she was special, big agreement. ** Mario, Hi, Mario! Haha, great story. They don’t really have trucks over here. True, at fun fairs, but they mostly only offer churros. I miss them (I’m from LA). There’s this truck in East Hollywood that sells cheese gorditas that illustrate the word godhead. Anyway, blabla, thank you. Good to see you. What else is going on? ** laura w, I feel like I think or say ‘who is the audience for this’ about a hundred times a day. Way to know one is a weirdo. Marlon James has been building up to being a lit superstar for a while now. I’ve never read him because I suspect his stuff is a little too conventionally laid out for me, but he’s a nice dude. Cosmic horror … the mind boggles. Wait, are you on vacation yet? ** Carsten, The first couple of Rob Zombie films are so cool, and then he started wanting to have a hit, and that was mostly that. Also I swear by his song ‘Superbeast’. What a song. ** Steve, Haha, yeah, that was kind of the intention. Bad unlistenable, you mean? You saw ‘NAZA’. I really want and need to see that, obviously. Talk about an important film. ** HaRpEr //, Cool, thanks. I’ll def. get the Bambi Lake book. Oops, Springer was an Spellcheck mistake that I didn’t catch. Sorry. Would never intentionally deprive you of such a great name/word as Stringer. Did you ever think of using Harper Dee Ruscombe Stringer as your author name? I guess it might be hard to fit comfortably on a book cover? But it’s sure catchy. ** Laura, Hi, Laura! Wow, you know a billion time more about that topic than I do. I was mostly a bedazzled looky-loo. Everyone, Laura has another no doubt excellent musical example of verbal transformation effect to share: Scarce ‘All Sideways’. I’ll hit it. I wish I could go back and put your comment directly into the post. Huh, maybe I could. The posts are eternal after all. I played guitar as a teen, but I can’t say that I ever knew it. Writing in short bursts of activity can work, you know. Poets do it all the time. I suspect there’ll be more selling point-type texts I’ll need to write in the near future, but I have a break for a little while. My dreams are just withholding, but I guess that makes them mysterious. Great to see you! Keep spiralling upwards. ** ⋆˚꩜｡darbbzz⋆˚꩜｡, Oh, you’re sick or congested at least. Ugh. Sorry, but those states are usually quickies at least? Great about the pasta job. Good pasta? I’ve been jonesing lately for fettuccini alfredo, which is hard to find over here. I’m okay. The insomnia was just for one night, and it was a fear of going broke one. I’m okay now, or dealing with the problem with more mellowness. I hope your head goes clear in one quick, spectacular snot avalanche. ** Nicholas., Zac makes great cold sesame noodle, so his kitchen is the best spot. There’s a tiny, 5-seater restaurant over near Buttes Charmant that has the finest ones in Paris. There was a place in midtown NYC that served great ones, but it closed down last year. Hot buttered noodles would more than do. I’m not secretly writing a book right now. I just want to make films. But a book of some sort will reappear in my interests one of these days. What’s Backstage? Excuse my ignorance. Paths are underrated. Yay! ** Uday, Ouch. But at least the pain has good visuals? That’s not always the case, obviously. ** Thom, Hi. Glad it sort of sunk in. Cool about the Dark Ride music growth. I’ve always wanted to go to Lagoon. I like Utah. But the southern part more. Well, ‘RT’ will start streaming and be purchasable on BluRay and DVD on November 10th. The discs have some pretty cool extras, if I don’t say so myself, if you’re into discs. The little summer spurt is gone! But only until next week, so say the forecasters. ** Okay. So I guess today officially begins the annual Halloween season here on DC’s, which means you will be seeing spooky or thematically related posts more frequently than usual for the next while. But, for now, check out the exciting and often expensive props. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
Hi!!
I’m so glad you’re enjoying the new SCAB!
Kid Desk Eye Stabber is hands down the best choice. But I don’t want to be a copycat: love buying me the Human Centipede as a very, very, very early birthday gift (my birthday is in April), Od.
Those MAN-IMATIONS props would seem to encourage some kind of user-generated content, making them a truly Web 2.0-era Halloween accessory. Encourages neighbours to get in on the fun. It was only ever a matter of time.
Hi! Ahaha, I love the concept of this new post; it’s true that we tend to forget how much work goes into creating haunted houses. Reading your post immediately made me think of a gruesome story about a Santa Claus mannequin that caught fire in a French city (Dijon) and traumatized the local population. It wasn’t an accident: a religious man deliberately set it on fire to “counter the heresy of Santa Claus.” The story was so notorious that Claude Lévi-Strauss wrote about it!
Yes! I was lucky enough to get to talk to one of your fellow POL authors, Lucie Rico; the title of her new book is fantastic!
I hope a way to make the exhibition happen can be found! I’m not really sure what I might be able to do at the Centre in the near or distant future; everything is so compartmentalized that it makes things complicated… It’s difficult to get out of the box you’ve been put into by and within a place like this… But I also share that philosophy that if you really want something, you’ll find a way to make it happen!
Oh, great!! I had no idea it had crossed the borders: that’s crazy. I don’t know this show, I’m going to take a look. I learned a few months ago that Eva Bester’s show wasn’t being renewed… It’s sad to see these suspended moments dedicated to art and creation disappear. It’s brutal… Always keep the punkiness, especially in difficult times.
Hey Dennis! That 7ft Soul Harvester would be my pick for sure, but the footpad’s sold separately? Like, what am I supposed to do without it? Put it on a stick? Going on, not much, slobbing on corporate time, writing and reading, snooping on what other folks are doing online; I might move to Europe next year, do they have haunted attractions over there? That’s the thing I liked the most about the USA haha
I do appreciate the Soul Harvester, especially the notes on maintenance and spare parts. Never saw Human Centipede, but good to see there’s an animatronic version.
Just started a goodreads group read. We’re doing selections from https://www.ergot.press/ , an online experimental/innovative horror journal, edited by Sam Moss (whose first novel The Veldt Institute was one of my favorites last year). The three stories I’ve read so far are really good, all dark, slippery, and open-ended.
Bill
Morning Dennis,
Wow… quite the lineup. I now have an urge to refer to someone as the “7ft Soul Harvester.” If one of my friends ever shows up with a very tall and very boring boyfriend, I’ll be lying in wait. “Evil Tree” looks like he’s tired of being scary… it’s quite charming.
I found out today that I got an apartment! Needless to say I am unbelievably relieved. It’s a nice size and it’s in the 20th, so kind of perfect really. Whew… that was crazy though. I’m gonna be holding onto it for dear life as per your advice.
Have you seen any of the “Terrifier” movies? They’re on my list but I haven’t taken the plunge yet.
xo moi
Sometimes I wish I had the means to purchase these but then I remember my affinity for the tacky DIY approach and desist, and besides if I did ever have those means I’d probably spend that money on getting around a bit more, maybe returning home more frequently, and certainly on books, CDs and gifts for friends. But even so, imagine having the human centipede on my little balcony. Writing this from a break in class, which is unusual since I usually try to pay full attention so that I don’t have to study outside of class, but I’m catching drinks with a guy later so I don’t know whether I’d get time again before the blog has a new post. I doubt the night will go that late, but if it does then hopefully the walk back will resemble the dear Night post on the blog a few days ago.
not yet! tomorrow! tomorrow and then i come back on tuesday.
i wish i could say “who is this for” about a recent trailer i saw for a cameron winter concert film at carnegie hall directed by paul thomas anderson but unfortunately i know exactly who it’s for. i’ve never seen a pta film!
i confess to knowing very little about marlon james beyond his literary podcast which i think is very well regarded? if i were a podcast-y person maybe i would like it. the new novel might get me for its heady “best book of the century” framing but it’s very long. all “best books of the century” have to be at least 600 pages long, apparently. it lends the proclamation (literal) weight and gravity. i’m reading cast in doubt right now which is very refreshing. lynne tillman is such an effortless writer.
my favorite animatronic from this set is that eyepoppingly expensive crematorium one. there’s a delightfully evil waugh novel, the loved one, that climaxes in someone getting burned in a horse crematorium but i can’t remember if they were alive or not. the adaptation was written by isherwood iirc. happy halloween season!! favorite non scary halloween movie?
Re. Rob Zombie’s later work: I guess you’re referring to those damn “Halloween” remakes he got caught up in. Well from what I’ve heard he had a wretched experience making them, mostly due to Weinstein. But I just followed things up with “3 From Hell” (I guess I’m ready for Halloween too) & I gotta say, it’s my favorite of his. Looking online nobody seems to agree with me, but to me it looks like he realized that it’s the psycho family that makes it work & just crafted a kind of demented hangout movie around them. I mean they make “Devil’s Rejects” fun despite the fairly expectable revenge structure, but on this one they didn’t even bother with a plot, giving it a looseness I really dig. It’s joyfully go-for-broke & indulgent, with a garish Mexican finale that’s absurd & just right. Oh & his wife Sheri cranks the crazy up to a 100 & steals the show.
Is there a real market for the most expensive props? “boars ripping apart zombie” looks great, but $12,000 seems way beyond most haunt’s budgets.
Yeah, it was unlistenable in a bad way. I will return to that idea, but the song needs to be slower and the bpm changes much gentler.
So many good ones this year! The stag, the cremation oven, and the kid desk eye stabber are my favourites. The human centipede one isn’t shabby either if you remove it from the franchise connotations. The crossdressing so-called ‘pretty woman’ Leatherface is a bit of a head scratcher. I want to go back and rewatch ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ actually. I might have been, God, like 13 years old the last time I saw it, but I remember loving it.
Yeah, I’ve thought about using my full name, but it is pretty long, and Harper Stringer rolls off the tongue in its own way because both names end in ‘er’. I’ve actually dabbled with the mononymous ‘Harper’, and I still think about that a lot, though unless my brother decides to procreate, the Stringer name will die with us, so maybe it’ll be nice to give it a good send off into the abyss. But anyway, thoughts of going mononymous? I don’t know if my family will be sad or relieved if they see I’ve got a book out where our good, respectable name is void. Probably relieved.
The only shame I really have is that things outside of my construction/simulation/prediction ect. can effect/affect me its rather jarring. I can excavate the grey matter around a memory till its numb and plays back without color or sound I can rewrite a narrative through time or jump somewhere else but some things will always linger. I think the truth no one speaks about from your work is dual sided. One things end regardless of if you believe the story has more to it and two things are happening outside of whatever you are and think about. Want and will can intersect will they is the question forever. Sometimes waves of memory or just feeling typically misplaced will rise within me almost like a wave to crumble a kingdom not a castle and it’s coming from inside a push saying all the stories I want to end aren’t finished yet and all the stories I wish could continue we’re over when they began its something you just smile through after enough times of realizing its the price of a blurry faded thing making its known again.
Amazing stuff today, yes… the clips where the heavy metal starts blasting crack me up… kinda reminds me of Argento’s Opera, with the *almost* ill-fitting metal soundtrack. Love it. The cougher is great, love the first one too with the pipe!
Went into a Spirit Halloween store to window shop, and it was weirdly bright inside? I know they are pop up stores that live in gutted department husks, but ya could at least dim the lights? Still, I always love the animatronics etc, even if the IP based costumes get on my nerves a bit at times. Undecided on how much Art The Clown has infiltrated the typical lineup… hmm…
Anyway, Lagoon is actually a genuinely great spot. Good thrill rides, really great coaster lineup and TWO corny Dark Ride haunted houses. Good river raft ride as well! Funnily enough, although I was raised in PNW (and had a teenage stint in Scotland) I was born in Utah as much of my family is Mormon… certainly gave me an interesting perspective growing up I guess?
Rest of week should be chill, one more 13 hour day, but I’m seeing Croz Boyce (1/2 of Animal Collective) tommorow so that should be fun. And yes, I will happily get Room Temperature on that sweet Blu Ray disc… bye!!