Sunday, August 31, 2008

Halloween Aliens

Looking through flickr photos from a previous entry, I saw a bunch of alien Halloween decorations and it made me wonder about the origins of the UFO/Alien theme in yard haunting. I wouldn't have thought that aliens were universally frightening enough to feature in a haunt (I should add that they are to ME - especially those ugly ones with the giant eyes).

I can remember being on a haunted hayride in the middle of nowhere a long time ago and it ended with an insanely massive UFO with a very creepy humming sound that you could feel in your chest. No aliens, just laser lights and the giant dark ship (it was back-lit and I recall being creeped out by the size). I think I would have had some of the hayride actors dress and act like the Military giving us a foot escort through the last part of the hayride. We would have gotten a cheap speech about how a ship was seen landing in this area and we needed to be escorted out so the military could move in. Then I'd have those laser lights start shooting around the wagons and the actors would scream and fall away and leave us alone with that giant humming craft.

So maybe aliens ARE creepy enough for a haunt. A human vivisection might be a nice part of a display. Dark and organic like in that movie FIRE IN THE SKY (creeped me out something awful). A human corpse flowered open and hollow. But bloody and brightly lit. But only one point of light from above, creating shadows on the motionless aliens standing around the human body. It'd probably work best in a garage where you could control the light. Even better if it could be visible through a window or small opening...then you could have someone in an alien mask pop up from below while the people are straining to let their eyes adjust to the poorly-lit autopsy.

Anyways, here's one of those pics that got me thinking about this stuff. I love the chilled fog.


Image source.



Here's a decoration (in a different photo set) that would freak me out to the point of throwing it in the trash.
Image source.

5 comments:

where's Donnie? said...

I really never associated aliens with yard haunts. But, the alien..or "being"...or"thing" standing in the background of any photo is creepy. I think of the part in Signs, where the alien thing briefly walks by in the found footage video of a birthday party. CREEPY. I think they can be used well in a haunt if they seem to sneak up on you. But the typical alien itself just doesn't say Halloween for me. One guys opinion.

Dave Lowe said...

One of the most fun "alien" haunt ideas I've ever seen, was back in the '90's when X files was huge. For the trick or treaters the homeowners placed a laboratory table with an alien body on their front porch. It's stomach was cut open full of candy. One of the homeowners stood by dressed as Scully passing out the treats to those kids too afraid or too small to reach the body. They had fog and dry ice billowing everywhere lit in blue light as the theme music played.

Tisha Leigh said...

Wow. That first pic with the aliens surrounding the house is super creepy, especially with the green light and fog. That little guy in the house, though...no way could I handle that thing standing there like that! I have a very strange memory from when I was three years old, and believe I may have seen one. Maybe that's why it affects me like this.

Grim said...

Aliens or the thought of aliens have always scared me. At the same time I would like to know if they are real or not and would love to meet one. I think what scares me most is when people on t.v. talk about being abducted, and they have absolutely no control over what is going on. It always seems to be some crazy person that got picked up anyway, so who knows if it's true.

They would probably be more afraid of us I would think.

I've often thought that an alien crash scene would be cool for a yard haunt, but when I think about all the work involved I try to forget about it. How about a u.f.o. crashing into a graveyard which somehow caused the dead to start busting out of their graves.

Tisha Leigh said...

Grim..hehe. That would be cool. The dead come out and start to battle with the aliens. Who would win, I wonder?? Hmmm...