Pallet Halloween Props

Give a man a couple chisels, the back side of a hammer, and two old wood pallets and in no time at all you can have a spooky fence for Halloween.

You wanted a spooky fence right?

I did.  I needed it for a haunted trail.

Now don't judge most of these photos too harshly.  When they were taken, I didn't know I was ever going to have a blog and show them to people.

Nor did I know that using old wood pallets was going to become all the rage 10 years later.

This is the tale of pallets and days gone by many Octobers ago.

We have friends that use to own a cookie company and they were happy to relocate as many pallets as we wanted to our yard.

I wouldn't of minded relocating cookies as well.

I didn't want to seem greedy, for cookies or pallets, but looking back I wish I would of accepted more of them both.

Pallets are the perfect Halloween prop, especially when they don't cost anything.

At night in the glow of candles and the moon, it really didn't matter what they looked like.  We just needed to put creepy thoughts in peoples minds to distract them from the human haunters about to jump out at them.

When we had our whole gaggle of kids at home, we hosted a haunted trail each October.

It was a 1/2 mile long walk that went over the river and through the woods.

Opps, wrong holiday.

I meant the trail twisted through the deep dark forest where anywhere from 25 to 40 of our friends and fellow parents,  helped haunt the way.

At night in the dark.

That was about the time I learned there is nothing I like more than scaring the crap out of people.

*Disclaimer*  I however, do NOT like to be scared!

I also learned that pallet wood is ugly and spooky at night and that you could use full pallets as a wall so people didn't wander off the path.

Nothing more than plops of black spray paint were needed for night.  In fact, fine details get lost in the dark so can be a waste of precious time.

We didn't have much blood and gore on our trail, that's not scarey, just gross.

We played on the usual fears that people have.

Spiders.

Snakes.  (The snake pit was a real scream inducer!)

Wild animals.

Witches.

Monsters.

Illusions.

And clowns.

I had no idea how many people were afraid of clowns.  But seriously, who expects to see a clown in the woods at night?  A talking deer or crazy chainsaw man maybe, but not a clown.

This is one of my friends who helped haunt each year.  
 

If it was cold out, the hauntsters would wear lots of layers underneath their costume.

The clown had a certain area to wander and held a creepy looking box from which people were offered to help themselves to some candy.  When the brave ones reached in, the clowns' other hand was inside the box and grabbed theirs.

People screamed, and scary clowns happily laughed. 

One of my favorite scares didn't involve clowns or pallets.

All over the path we had corn stalk decorations,  you know the kind, where you gather the stalks all together like this.....

Brawn made me a custom one with stalks around chicken wire but hollow on the inside.

Then it was lifted over me, and I was inside it.  I looked just like a harmless decoration.

All I had to do to make people scream was shake my stalks and lunge toward them in the dark as they passed by.

Really, who expects the decorations to move?  Worked every time.

My stalk had handles inside so I could pick it up a few inches off the ground and follow people down the path. 

When the trail was over, our haunter friends came in the house for a pot luck where we swapped stories of the terror and havoc that had ensued the previous three hours.

11 months out of the year I was/am a normal bleacher sitting, car pooling, church going, baby loving mom.

But when October arrived I was possessed/obsessed with thinking up new ideas to scare people.

I haven't really changed much.

Next up for Halloween around the Ranch are Quick Set Concrete Pumpkins.

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