The Geek's Guide to a DIY Halloween

Get out your soldering guns and servo motors; it's Halloween.

For anyone who thinks do-it-yourselfers have no fun, read, and you'll see that some of the season's most creative offerings are garage grown.

Over at Scary Terry's you can create a coffin that shakes, groans, rises, and reveals a dead Elvis. Or you can learn how to install a servo motor into a skull to create that "talking heads" effect.

How about those 13-hour clocks that run backwards? Find out how to make one at HowlHaunter's place. And there are countless variations of instructions to create a flying ghost, but this one is inexpensive and relatively easy.

What do you get when you combine LED technology with taxidermy? You get the LED Throwie Rat. No kidding. Over at Instructables you'll find the step-by-step directions for rat taxidermy followed by a lesson in soldering the LED eyes into place.

Those who want the geek factor without the sweat equity can find gizmos like the Halloween Mist Maker. It gives you that dry ice effect with plain old tap water.

And those with $4,000 to spend on treats might look at White Box Robotics to serve up the Halloween treats. The 914 PC-BOT is made of common PC parts. The company calls it a PC that moves, talks, sees, hears, senses, and can physically react and respond to the environment it is placed in. Great for dishing out the treats.

For more ideas on Halloween props, you can make yourself check out the Halloween Monster Page.