Halloween Home Haunt

Many of the home haunt props are made with foam. Have you ever tried to cut foam? Using a pair of scissors or an electric carving knife doesn't make the cut and can end up looking like a hack job. The foam-cutting pioneers who operate the Hot Wire Foam Factory sell the tools of the trade and are "literally reshaping our world."

Headquartered in Lompoc, California, Hot Wire Foam Factory is pretty much the go-to place for home haunt foam and sells ready-to-carve foam, foam kits, carving tools and DVDs (pictured). In addition to home haunts, uses for Hot Wire foam products include:

• Theater and stage props and backdrops
• Movie and photo studios
• Theme park props
• Haunted house and Halloween props
• Architectural models
• Holiday and craft projects
• Signs and displays

Authors, artists and home haunt celebrities Shawn and Lynne Mitchell have been scaring up Halloween yard prop ideas and instructions for several years at their Pensacola, Florida, home. Their style is sophisticated, macabre, and features many projects for beginners. Check out their recipe for faux moss, which can be applied to tombstones, pillars and other Halloween yard props.

Instructables is a website chock full o' clever and crazy DIY projects. So, it only makes sense that they'd have a Halloween version of Instructables. Projects are submitted by DIYers, and include a hall of fame, props, haunted houses and an annual Halloween contest with several prizes awarded in a multitude of categories.

Pumpkinrot is a website that chronicles the annual Halloween yard haunts created by a talented prop maker and photographer. While some of their magical creations are available to buy on an Etsy shop -- the Rot Shoppe -- it's the photos that are the draw -- hundreds of photos and several videos to admire and inspire. Pumpkinrot has been decorating his yard since the mid-1980s, and -- like most home haunters -- adds more to the display each year.

Characters include a fascinating group of scarecrows, The Tinies and some amazingly expressive jack-o-lanterns. Check it out.

Stolloween does things with papier mache that we never did in elementary school. Based in Midland, Michigan, Stolloween mastermind Scott A. Stoll teaches papier mache pumpkin-making classes that give DIYers and yard haunters a variety of techniques to build their own unique jack-o-lantern designs. He describes his approach as: "the dark side of papier mache. Join me and come play with some past to create something truly sinister."

If you don't happen to live near Midland, Michigan, Stolloween's site provides project tutorials and information on their papier mache paste, clay and weatherproofing methods.

Other Stolloween creations include:

• Haunted busts
• Tree faces
• Dungeon rats
• Serpent gargoyle
• Zombies