Looking for a way to turn some of those smart home gadgets in your life into something a touch spooky for Halloween? Don’t freak out, we’ve got you covered.
Halloween is on the weekend, which makes it a great time to scare a visitor or two, or even some of the family members with it.
While you could always take a visit to the nearby shops to find some spare fake spiderwebs and a random hand or two, depending on what you’ve got in your life already, you might be able to spook out your house for would-be trick-or-treaters, or even someone else who lives there.
Friends, family, and folks from the neighbourhood can have a few scary pranks tried on them with the help of some tech, and it might already be something you own.
From lights to sounds to setting the mood of your very own haunted home, here are five ways to make some of the tech you might have in your life helpful this Halloween, or even the next one, as well.
1. Speakers for the scary sounds
Almost everyone has a speaker or two in their lives, and if you have one doing nothing on Halloween, why not set it up nearby to play spooky ambient sounds.
While you can always keep things fun with Halloween music, an ambient type of soundtrack with gurgles and whispers and freaky sounds might be the way to go to draw the sound of Halloween. If your speaker has lighting, even better.
Back to the music world, because clearly, you need to find a playlist to play. To find something, consider search for “spooky ambient” or “dark ambient” on your streaming service of choice, though we’d make sure to have a paid account, because nothing disrupts the mood quite like an advertisement on one of those free accounts.
2. Setting the mood with WiFi lighting
Next up is the lighting, which is clearly something we can wield a little more than simply turning the porch light on and hoping for the best.
Considering using a few smart light bulbs for the occasion, such as from the Philips Hue range or even smart light bulbs from Australia’s own Lifx.
You can equip these either on the porch light or with a downlight, and set the colours to be something a little more appropriate for Halloween. An orange light might be an option, given it’s the colour of the pumpkins that need carving, or you can trigger one of the special modes that responds like candle light, flickering in a warm light as if the flame was unsteady inside your bulb of choice.
Run that as folks come a knocking alongside your haunted soundtrack, and you’re sure to set a mood that will begin to have people a little freaked out for the occasion.
3. A smoke machine can make your home extra haunted
While not everyone will have one of these, if you’re looking to drive that experience in the front of your home to the extra degree, you might want to consider a smoke machine.
Smoke machines apply a smooth layer of fog over everything, and while they won’t work for everyone’s homes — clearly, they’re not a terrific example of what to use if you have stairs — it’s a cute idea to make your home appear just that extra bit spooky for Halloween.
4. Haunted movies on the inside
A great way to keep that scare factor going while you wait for people to knock on your door is to run some scary movies yourself, and turn the sound up. Let the audio of horror movie night reach the outside where the speaker is already playing, and those sounds will sink into folks who manage to knock on your door.
These days, finding a horror movie isn’t hard, what with all the titles on the abundance of streaming services available to you. Whether you’re connecting with Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime, Binge, or something else, finding a movie to scare the living daylights out of you shouldn’t be difficult, and could be fun.
5. Attach a scary mask to a mini drone
Want a touch to scare whatever’s left living in whoever’s coming around? Grab a small drone that won’t get you into trouble for using it where you live, and see if you can attach a small scary mask or something similar to it, and then fly it in the background.
Even if they don’t believe in ghosts, there’s always a chance that seeing something rather unexpected hovering rather curiously out of the corner of their eyes is going to have them a touch bit concerned that the haunted house they’re at is real and legit.
