Entry 165: I would use my ActiveHome kit to scare all of the trick or treaters. Of course I would have the classic eerie music but I have a covered walkway going up to the front door of my house and it is made of old creepy wood anyways. I would incorporate this into my night of horror. I would cover it in fake vines and put fake bugs and snake all intertwined in the vines. I would then have a sensor that activated a hissing sound when the children first entered the tunnel. Using liquid tide I would write all trick or treaters are forbidden to pass on the wall. When the snakes started hissing I would have the blacklight come on and reveal the message. There would be a dead body a few feet after the sign with a sensor hidden in it. When the children dared to move further, the ActiveHome kit would activate the bodies voice to say "Sick em" a loud and vicious bark would be herd and I would have a crate start to shake as if some unholy beast was trying to get out and eat the children. After a few seconds of that the man would warn them to "Go back" "Go back" Speaking from experience, children are greedy for candy and would continue on. As they creeped past the body I would have a strobe light activated. With bugs tied to strings dangling in the air, a fan would be activated that would cause them to sway and strands of fake spider webs would flutter in the wind. As the walked passed the now quiet crate, the would be entering the last section of the corridor. The crate would have a motion sensor in it that when the children passed, it activated a delayed jolt and growl. The delay would be set for five seconds so the children would have time to pass the box. The Children would then be in the final part which would be completely covered in spider webs. All around them there would be small spider clinging to the walls. As they get closer I would have the ActiveHome system increase the volume of the eerie music. The kids could then see the candy. I would have the best candy there. Snicker, 3-musketeers, butterfingers, etc. I would then have a motion sensor place direct over the table of candy. The candy is laying in what appears to be blood but is really elmer's glue with red food coloring added to it. The candy would be stuck to the table so the kids couldn't take it and run. With a vibrations sensor from the ActiveHome kit it would detect when the table shook. A voice would ring out, "Leave now while you still can. Don't eat my Candy." If the children were not scared yet and tried to pull a different pieced or the same piece a gain, the computer system would drop a cage door with foam spikes at the entrance and a loud boom would radiate from the speakers at the entrance to the walkway. The children would be trapped. Five seconds later they would here and evil laugh, "Ha Ha Ha Ha" and "Your mine now" While panicking and surrounded by all the horror of the spider webs, a giant spider would drop down from the top landing on the candy and squirting fake mucous out of it's mouth. I would jolt out from the door to my house with a chainsaw and screaming dinner time! Using my remote to the ActiveHome kit I would hit the button and the gate at the entrance would open and I would chase the children out. If they did stick around then I would reward them with candy outside, although I don't think they would. The best part about my plan is that I would be peeping through the door the whole time watching them jump and scream. --Derrick Powell

Entry 167: How I use the ActiveHome system for Halloween, is to run a series light and appliance control boxes from the garage out into the yard via extension cords. These terminate in trees and bushes throughout the yard. I attach mini tape recorders and floodlights to these. As a Trick or Treater approaches I use the remote control to trigger the first unit depending on which way they are coming from. Usually the first device is a recorder saying "Hey you, over here" in an appropriately scary voice. As they turn to see what is there, I trigger a second recorder in an opposite direction saying "No, over here". Of course all recordings are looped so they can be repeated. Usually with two phrases so I can send them back and forth. In addition, I have light controls which are triggered by remote to reveal skeletons and other monsters. Many of these are light sensitive and are then triggered into shaking, talking or lighting up themselves. I use X10 floodlights to illuminate the entire area in green lights. They're set to reset in 15 second intervals. Other decorations are sound sensitive so I use either the X10 chime unit to set them off or rely on one of the tape recorders with screams and sounds to do the job. Light controllers also turn on outdoor illuminated figures. Overall, I use approximately 4-6 appliance controllers for the recorders or other devices, up to 20 light controllers for various lights and figures, 1 or 2 chime units and three mounted floodlight units. It can require two individuals working with separate remotes for large displays, but with the versatility of the unit it is easy for even one to scare the wits out of people on Halloween. By using ActiveHome, I turned my house into a haunted home. The units work equally effective for indoor parties or at the office by using the computer interface to set off recorders with various noise, bumps and creaks or a hand massager vibrating in the ceiling or behind furniture will startle employees or guests alike. Dimming lights work well too, especially when no one can see a remote control device or any buttons pushed. I am pleased to see others utilizing the ActiveHome system for Halloween. I have always believed that one of the most fun and interesting aspects of the ActiveHome and X10 units is entertaining for the holidays. Thanks for the platform! -- Harry Wilson

Entry 159:  It's a rainy night, the night when the dead come up from their musty tombs. The past 11 months I've spent toiling over my black caldron preparing for this special night. My brew includes many special and secret ingredients to produce the magical feelings which must bring terror into the hearts of those who approach our home on this given night. It is of course Halloween night, the night which my bag of X10 tricks has been waiting for. It all starts before even the most suspicious goblin knows they are even approaching the forbidden gates of the X10 man gone mad. The approach to the house would have been missed except for the friendly smiles from the carved pumpkin sitting to the right of the rusting gates. As the first little troll turns toward the gate to enter, the first of the X10 motion detectors is triggered, which sets off the first of the macros on the ActiveHome, and this little troll is about to see how active this home is. It starts out so sweet, the first macro starts a recording with just a bit of rain and a light breeze and only a distant barking dog, nothing which would stop the unsuspecting victim from stepping through the waiting gates. The little troll proudly and without hesitation proceeds to open the gates which will bring him up to the front door. The little troll is almost humored by the hint of what is beyond these rusting iron gates. The gates open. Yet another macro is triggered by the PowerFlash Module which is connected to this entry. The little troll steps back at the start of the next macro which turns what was a light breeze into a burst of wind which comes with the sounds of pounding rain and the terrifying bursts of thunder and lighting (the wind is triggered by the macro activating the appliance module which turns on a high power five foot shop fan, the pounding rain and thunder are produced by the next activation of another recording and the lightning is produced by the random activation of a strobe light for a 3 to 5 second time frame).  Not even half way to the front door the little troll (and his dad) looks to be considering the option of turning back. But of course it is to late, the second macro was not finished. The gate which was opened, triggering the second macro ends with time a delayed signal to release the magnetic latch which once held it open. The rusty iron gate slams shut capturing the little troll within what is now known as the X10 Zone! With the rain and thunder subsiding the little troll looks to move forward. Of course this triggers the next macro bringing them to the front door. Another burst of thunder & lighting brings them closer to the apparent safety of the front door which triggers the sudden opening of the door and the token deployment of the Halloween skeleton. As the last macro concludes the all clear light is triggered in the family room and that signals my wife to greet our little troll and apologize for her over zealous X10 husband which their children have been subjected to. The children are swished through the house and given the abundance of Halloween treats which have earned by their experience. They exit through the side of the house which triggers the "Next Victim" macro, the house resets and is now ready for the next troll. -- Gary Stefan

Entry 139: My family enjoy making Halloween Night as much fun for the kids as we can and our ActiveHome helps to make this possible. Our wide front porch which extends over 20 feet towards the street from the house down the side of our garage attached to the front of the house provides an adequate space to prepare the kids for what's coming before they reach the front door. A large cardboard wall is constructed across the front to block a direct view by the kids of what's waiting for them by forcing them to enter from the side and then turn a corner. As they walk the length of the porch and approach the front door, the porch lights grow dimmer and dimmer using our X10 dimming wall switch to do this. When the kids are about half way to the door, a large, very noisy, glowing ghost suddenly rises out of the bushes beside them. The ghost is made from an old sheet and lined on the inside with pieces from the very thin plastic bags found on clothes returned from the cleaners to reduce the loss of air through the sheet/ghost as it is being inflated. The ghost is attached to the top of a very noisy wet/dry shop vacuum with a flood light mounted inside to provide the illumination or glow and the exhaust of the vacuum providing the air to inflate the ghost. Of course the power to the vacuum is controlled by an X10 appliance module connected to an outside wall outlet. After the power to vacuum is turned off and the ghost deflates back into the bushes, the kids continue on to the front door except by the time they reach it, the porch lights are completely out and it is pitch dark. Following a short delay after the kids knock on the front door, a red flood light aimed at the door comes on at the same time the door is yanked open to reveal a person standing there with their face made up to look badly disfigured by ugly scars and sutures except with the red light, these features can't be seen. While this person is standing there talking to the little goblins, the red light is slowly dimmed and a green flood light comes up to replace it. This change in color of the light makes all the red make up change to black while the goblins are talking to you and having a very dramatic affect as the scars and sutures become visible while they talk to you and perform their trick to get their treat. Of course the flood lights are controlled by a couple of lamp modules plugged into wall outlets. On occasion with all this, some of the goblins never make it to the front door but head for the high country, sometimes not even making the turn at the end but plowing right through the cardboard wall. Naturally, these are the ones that come back later with their friends to send them into the "CAVE". Each year, as Halloween approaches, the kids that came here in previous years begin to ask if the haunted house will be ready for them again this year. -- H.B. Corcorran

Entry 42: I was working in the lab late one night.
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
For my lights from the lab began to rise
And suddenly, to my surprise

He did the mash. He did the ActiveHome Mash
The ActiveHome Mash. It was a graveyard smash
He did the mash. Lights came on in a flash
He did the mash. He did the ActiveHome Mash

From my laboratory in the Castle East
To the Master Bedroom where the vampires feast
The ghouls all came from their humble abode
To get a jolt from my X10 electrode

He did the mash. He did the ActiveHome Mash
The ActiveHome Mash. It was a graveyard smash
He did the mash. Lights came on in a flash
He did the mash. He did the ActiveHome Mash

-- Thomas Meade

Entry 146: Ok, here is my idea for the ActiveHome house of horror... First, at the end of my walk I have a motion dectector which trips when trick or treaters come up the walk and activates a tape player. The tape player contains a continuous loop tape (really short) which proclaims "come into the house of horror, if you dare!" or something else equally scary. The house is also surrounded by decorations, ghosts, mummies and such. Other than that, however, it will look relatively tame as the little kiddies come up the walk. However, I will have a door switch that will activate a macro which turns on a strobe light, scary music, and other effects, while it turns off the porch light. I will keep my wireless remote in my pocket so that I can turn all of the effects back off, and the porch light back on. This will allow me to quickly reset for the next victims, or in case small children are at the door and I want to override it immediatly. I am guarunteed to have a fun Halloween, and all of the trick or treaters in my neighborhood are going to get hair raising ActiveHome trick.  -- Gearry Judkins

Entry 2: An ActiveHome on fright night is an active home indeed. Now, let me tell you about its plight the raven said. Mischief was in the air as the moons hue glimmered upon the trees whisking in the wind. For weeks the woman of the house prepared for the night. "I'll get him this Halloween" she said "to herself and all because I have an ActiveHome." She planned and plotted and finally the night was here.  Sound a sleep in his bed he lay snoring away. First he hears a crash. Rolling over he nudges her saying "dear will you go see what that is?" She just grunts. Then he hears an eerie sound which sends shivers down his spine. A low voice softly calls and says "children of the night I come calling in search of your soul." The man's eyes are wide open now as he tries to assess the situation in still somewhat of a sluggish state. Unknown to him his dear has the UltimateREMOTE that goes to their ActiveHome under the covers. Were she is controlling everything that happens on this fright night. She says, "honey what do you think that is?"
"I don't know I think you should go check it out". All of a sudden he hears another sound in the background balbak, balbak. By darn he says it sounds like there is a chicken in our bedroom. "Yea, I know" she whispers. The door then slowly opens with just the slight sound of a few creaks. Early in the day the sweet loveable woman of the house had attached a device to it so, her and her UltimateREMOTE could rule the night. Geebeavers, he said where is my remote. I need my remote. He finds his remote he goes to turn on the light it flickers. Yes, the slick women changed the light bulb while he was sleeping and all the rest she changed to black lights. Now, she presses the button and a shadow appears with her dead grandfather's face. It screams, "You married my little girl, you married my little girl I will get you my pretty" and he bellows a laugh. Of course the saintly woman knows that this is just a program she made and activated with their ActiveHome system. The man jumps out of the bed shaking so, badly you can hear his bones rattling. The curtains then start to flap around. I love this remote she thinks to herself she knows it is only the fan she placed behind the curtains. Yes, her and her ActiveHome rule the night.  Gulping, he gathers all his courage and walks to the curtains. He hears this pop pop pop. Suddenly, something is flying threw the air. From all ends he is being pelted, but from what he does not know. She laughs thinking to herself why does he think I bought all those popcorn poppers. Suddenly he hears deep breathing, screams, footsteps and a haunting music. She knew someday that CD with vampire songs would come in handy, oh yes, I love my ActiveHome. He screams and jumps back in the bed his little white legs flying as fast as they can go. She can take no more she busts up laughing and now he knew. It was his queen and her ActiveHome that ruled the night. He looked at her and said, nevermore, nevermore now give me your remote. Forever more they will be all mine. -- Tracy Griffith

Entry 124: My Halloween Scarily Theme will be simple. I'll decorate the front of my house to make it look like an old barn yard -- I mean lot's of dry corns, hay stacks, scarecrows, pumpkins, and of course lots of spider. I'll use two X10 motion detectors. The first one will be set it above my garage door. As soon as this one senses something, even a cat walking by, it'll flash a couple of spot lights that I'll attach on the roof. At the same time the light flashes, it'll play a croovy song that has a booming sound, blowing wind, and a lot of people laughing and screaming in the background. A second sensor will be set to active any motion for about 15 feet from the front door. This one will chime in the house to let me know that there are trick-or-treaters coming. As it chimes it'll also active the dim light in the house and play a thunder storm sound. Spooky so far? I'll change the door bell to chime to play a tape that record the theme of people arguing in the house, screaming and shouting and finally a blasting sound of another machine guns as if it were actually killing somebody in the house (just like the Home Alone - Part 1).  I'll dress myself with rag just like the poor old farmer. I'll put some make up to make it looks like I'm an old ugly old mam -- how about with a lot of blood veins showing on my arms and face. I'll answer the door may squeaky door then say, "Oh! the last trick-or-treater refused to drink the blood we offered her, so we just killed her. Would you like to come in? I'llll treat youuu........" With the X10 remote control in my hand, I'll set my computer to play any wild and scarily music and ending up with a howling and screaming at the end. -- Therapong Numavong

Entry 4: ActiveHome would allow me to do everything I want on Halloween! Since my son is now old enough to go trick-or-treating I want to take him, but that means I'm not home to scare the neighbors and give out candy to them. This year I can set up all the ActiveHome components to help me out.  You have to start out scaring them as soon as they come up the sidewalk so I'd have to have a motion sensor to activate a ghost and a dummy falling out of the tree, and of course don't forget the sound effects of screams! Then we can also use ActiveHome to light the sidewalk as the kids walk up (safety is important you know). Once up to the door we can have a voice recording asking to hear their joke or show their trick, of course in a spooky voice, then maybe have a fake arm/hand slide out from a hidden area after a certain amount of time has passed (using the ActiveHome timer) to hand out the treat. Of course, to make sure the kids didn't just stand there and wait for more and more candy to be handed out, after the arm we would set ActiveHome to fling out a really scary monster and lots of loud noise all at once to make the kids scream and run back down the sidewalk! Now - so I don't miss all of this, I think I'll set ActiveHome to start the video camera every time activity is monitored, that way when we get back with my son we can watch the video and see how everyone reacted! Thanks to ActiveHome we can have the perfect Halloween! -- Robyn Wright

Entry 47: With ActiveHome, this year's Halloween Trickery will be even scarier than in the past. First, let me tell you what I've done in past years. On Halloween day, I set out a lawn chair on the front porch. In the lawn chair, I put a life size dummy made by stuffing newspaper wads inside a costume and using a balloon for a head and putting a mask over the balloon. I set this out fairly early in the day in hopes that some of the kids in the neighborhood will have a chance to see it sitting out there all day and get used to it being there. Then around dusk when nobody is looking I whisk the dummy away just long enough to slip myself into the costume. I plop down in the lawn chair and look as much like a dummy as I can (which isn't all that hard!) When the neighborhood kids come to the door to knock, they think I'm the same dummy they've seen sitting out for most of the day. I gauge my actions according to the age of the trick-or-treaters. With the little ones, ! I wave to them as they are coming down the sidewalk. But then there are the high school kids who come around with green hair and tattered clothes carrying a skateboard. In short, they have no costume at all, just their everyday garb. In exchange for mustering the gumption to walk around the neighborhood, these kids expect a whole pocketful of candy from every house on the street. Well, not at my house, they're gonna have to earn it there. They're gonna have to pay for it with a massive startle. You should see them as I suddenly begin to rise from the chair as they reach to ring the doorbell right next to me. I swear this one young lady jumped backward almost three feet.  But this year is going to be even better. First, I've moved to a new house so the kids won't have seen my trickery from last year. Second, my new house is an ActiveHome! This year, I'll set my decoy dummy out several days ahead so that more of the kids will see it sitting there and think nothing of it on the big day. With my new X10 motion sensors trained on the dummy, anybody who tries to mess with my dummy will trip my flood lights and ring a chime inside. On the big day when I take the dummy's place, I won't just be sitting. With my two remotes concealed within my costume, I'll be able to control lights and sound. I'm going to run speakers out to the front lawn and cue up my tape of, "The Haunting sounds of Halloween." I'll also have lights under my control. As the kids come up the driveway, I'll be able to turn on the tape. With the speakers in the bushes on the front lawn, they'll be distracted and be looking back for the source of the spooky sounds that just arose. As soon as their attention returns toward the front of the house, I'll be able to flip on the front lights. More distraction…One step closer… BOOOO!!!! Hahahaha. Trick or treat!!!! Now who's the dummy???? Not me, I've got an ActiveHome! -- Neill Thompson

Entry 14: I plan to make Trick-or-Treating at my house fun this year. I'll put 4 to 5 ReX10 Outdoor Motion Sensors in strategic positions on my driveway to be able to differentiate between when a Trick-or-Treater is approaching or is leaving the house by the order that they go off. When no-one is near the house, the porch light and one spotlight will be at 100%. My other spotlights will be off. As someone approaches, I'll use ActiveHome macros to dim all the lights down slowly until they're at about 20%, giving a nice spooky effect. An appliance module will turn on a tape player preloaded with haunting (moans and rattling chains) sounds. After they've rung the bell and received their treats, the ReX10 Outdoor motion sensors will go off in reverse order as they walk away from the house. ActiveHome will then suddenly snap all the lights (including several more spotlights) to 100% and (using an appliance module) set off the ReX10 Barking Dog Alarm hidden in the bushes, and coded to the nearest ReX10 Outdoor Motion Sensor. Watch 'em run! (I'll use a Palm-Pad to disable the dog when the Trick-or-Treaters are toddlers - don't want to scare them too bad!) Then the ActiveHome will reset all the lights and sounds to wait for the next hungry visitor. -- Ingo Dean

Entry 24: Costumed children arrive at the front door of a home with a large dimly lighted jack-o'-lantern. Suddenly, the light in the pumpkin greatly brightens as the motion sensors attached to the home's ActiveHome environmental control system detects the trick-or-treaters. "Helloooo! I'm the Great Pumpkin," says a mysterious voice from within the jack-o'-lantern. The brightening light and the mysterious voice are made possible by appliance modules connected to the jack-o'-lantern's light bulb and intercom through the ActiveHome unit. The chuckling home owner (the true source of the Great Pumpkin's voice) watches from his vantage point by a darkened window not far from the front door. An IBM compatible computer equipped with an X10 serial interface provides the home owner with control over the whole show. "What can I do for you?" inquiries the Great Pumpkin. The excited children laugh timidly, take a step back, and answer cautiously, "Trick or treat, please." "One moment please!" says the Great Pumpkin. "I will send out my faithful robot Hero to give you a treat." Once again, the ActiveHome system provides the means by which the home owner to remotely trigger the automated door opener from his computer console. The trick-or-treaters watch in amazement as the front door makes strange whirring noises while it slowly opens without benefit of human hands. From the dingy entrance yet another electric motor noise is heard as a small robot with a single arm emerges with a bag of treats. Unknown to the children, the little robot was dispatched remotely by the same ActiveHome system the delighted home owner operates from inside the house. The children giggle as they snatch their candy from the robot's yawning bag. They turn and run toward a parked car at the curb in front of the Great Pumpkin's home. "Mommy, mommy!" cried the children. "The pumpkin to talked to us, the door opened all by itself, and a little robot gave us candy!"  "My, my!" exclaimed the mother with a knowing grin. "That must be an active home!" -- Tim Kolb

Entry 25: The first thing I would do would be to coordinate the "ActiveHome" system with all my Halloween props, such as the freaky guy I put out on my porch every year. A sensor would be placed 5 feet from my doorstep, and whenever a person crossed the sensor, a cassette player would be activated behind the freak on my doorstep. This could play anything from screams to dogs snarling. After that my porch light would turn off and a nearby back-light would turn on, revealing messages scrawled along my brick wall. If the trick or treaters are brave enough to continue and ring my doorbell they would be in for a huge surprise. My front door would open, revealing a large bucket full of candy. As the trick or treaters proceeded into my house to retrieve the candy, another sensor would be activated, causing an eerie whistling sound to come from another rigged tape player. As the tape player began playing, large fans would turn on, simulating a strong wind blowing towards the outside. I could go on and on describing what I would do with "ActiveHome," but I think you all get the idea. -- A.J. Timmcke

Entry 56: The children walk up to the house expecting a treat. A well lit walkway leads to an elaborately decorated porch with the obligatory jack-o-lantern, spider webs and, is that a stuffed body in the bushes?   When people go through all this trouble they always give out good treats. Little do the tykes realize that this an ActiveHome. As they near the door, giggling about the corny, scary decorations all of the lights suddenly go out. Their eyes adapted to the well lit walk they appear to have been plunged into total darkness. But, there are flashing lights from inside the house. The brief flickering from room to room is so quick that it may be only imagination. Is there a swelling noise, too? Is a stereo playing in the house or is that building rumbling something else? It is too dark to see the pathway home, the children can only cling to each other and giggle in order to hide their rising apprehension. Suddenly, the jack - o - lantern lights up and says "come in children" and the door opens slowly. But only a crack! What is that flickering light all about. Is there something in the shadows? With a shout the "stuffed" body jerks upwards behind the cowering group and they  lurch towards the door. Their movement triggers the ActiveHome to cut all lights and sound, again. But is that a deep breathing coming from -- behind the door? A loud band and the door swooshes inward. A dim light appears on the driveway and the children break and flee to the lights refuge. They have escaped the ActiveHome. -- Tony Randazzo

Entry 32: Halloween is a fun time for me. I set the mood with a motion detector far from the house that sets off a chime to warn me of approaching trick or treaters. This also dims the white lights in the front room of my home while brightening the red ones I have installed. Also, using and IR module, I bring up the thunderstorm and scary noises soundtrack that plays from the stone speakers placed in front of my porch. The front porch itself is decorated with an X10 controlled strobe light to simulate lightning that is synchronized with sampled thunder wav files played from the controlling computer. Lights are set up with motorized moving gels which project shadows moving across the porch. The speed of the shadows vary by using a dimmer module to control power to the motors. Also on the porch is an X10 controlled fan which blows across wind chimes and strips of paper which simulate the rustling of  leaves.   As the visitors near the house, climbing the steps in front of the porch, another motion detector catches them and starts up show on the small hill beside the steps. Using motors and universal modules, arms reach from the ground beneath headstones as groans of the undead filter from speakers hidden behind them. Finally, as they reach the porch, they step on a pressure mat that releases the electric door strike, allowing me to fling open the door and both scare and welcome them. Maybe I go a little overboard, but it's just so much fun! -- Steve Rauco

Entry 35: ActiveHome makes an ideal Halloween tool for entertaining trick or treaters from ages 3 through 18, but in different ways. Active Home's timers will turn on Halloween lamps placed in different windows at sunset, and switch on several cassette tape players loaded with scary music. The motion detector will be the best part, though. When little goblins come up the driveway, spotlights will point to the front door and the carved jack o'lantern. If a small fry is detected, we'll greet them at the door with plenty of candy. However, if the motion detector picks up the heavy feet of obnoxious teenagers in the neighborhood, the ActiveHome computer interface will turn on the underground sprinkler system. -- Gerry Cohen