This year I was a fortune teller and my husband was the disembodied head inside my crystal ball. I did not get any video of us in action, but I did post some pics in an album here:
Halloween Forum - Saffyre's Album: Halloween 2009

I did get video of the house and walking into the garage (it is pretty dark and hard to see, but it gives you the idea of what we did)

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I wear Halloween socks all year long

Congrats... on the success. I saw your album earlier and knew that your TOTs would love the fortune teller act....

Since you weren't able to post video..... I am begging for some details about what you did and said.

Were any of the TOTs scared?

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Darkness has a hunger that's insatiable
And lightness has a call that's hard to hear- E.A. Saliers

The set up: the kids could peek in and see me standing behind my crystal ball. My friend's dad was slumped in a chair in the front right corner dressed as a skeleton zombie, most people didn't see him or just didn't pay attention to him. To my left was the scarecrow that we set up every year to throw the kids off. My husband was in the costume one year to scare the kids so now they always ask if someone is in there or they insist they know someone is in there. If they just stood in the doorway, I would tell them to come in. As they came to the table I would run my hands over the ball and ask them if they knew the magic words to get candy on Halloween (it is amazing how many kids do not know to say trick-or-treat). We got some that would say trick-or-treat, abracadabra, hocus pocus or I don't know. If they said trick-or-treat I tapped once on the ball, if they didn't say it I tapped twice. I then pulled the ball off of my husband's head and he would yell out, "Yes you can have some candy" or "No candy for you until you say the magic words".

The TOTs were definitely scared, for some reason the teenagers more than the younger ones. And while they were being scared by the yelling head, my friend's dad (was sitting still in front corner while kids entered) would get up and stand behind the TOTs so when they turned he would yell Happy Halloween and the kids would scream and run.

The best was a group of kids that came in and my hubby in the table scared them so bad I didn't have time to give them candy and my friend's dad didn't have time to get up and yell Happy Halloween. The second best was a group of teenage girls that screamed so loud and went running they tore the tarp down. All that was left of them was the smell of their perfume.

The weather was cruddy and turned to worse...it was pouring and major gusts of wind, but all in all we had a blast doing it.

For anyone that was too afraid or too young to enter, my friend stood outside with what we like to call baby candy (animal crackers, ritz bits).

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I wear Halloween socks all year long

Looks like it was fun.. was he hot under that bubble?? DId it fog up??
I am looking for a similar bubble.. where did you get that one?
Was it one of the ones that come with the crystal ball props?

Thanks

It was a blast! It did get warm under the ball. He could get fresh air under the table when he needed to(the hole in the table was large enough to do this), plus I was pulling the ball off often enough he could get fresh air. It did fog up...it actually helped though so the TOTs couldn't tell it was a real person inside. I also had the "back" part of the ball facing the TOTs because that was more of a translucent grey and the front was clear.

We contemplated drilling holes around the bottom for air, but we ended up leaving it alone.

The ball itself was a 14" Gemmy Spirit Ball. It had the witch inside. We just removed one screw and gave it a twist and it came right off. I ordered mine off of Ebay because we could not find one anywhere around here. It was a little beat up but it served it's purpose.

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I wear Halloween socks all year long

If anyone needs instant gratification and does not want to look at album following are pictures of my wonderful husband that agreed to sit under (?) a table for hours just to scare kids...

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I wear Halloween socks all year long

I love the pictures. Great job. What is the 'ball' made of?

great pictures.. Love the crystal ball. Props to your husband.

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"Stand up for what you believe in... Even if you stand alone..."

Well done! You guys do atmosphere really well. And that is truly what it is all about. You get the lighting, sound, plus all those other minor details right you can make people believe anything!

Wow looks great and a big pat on the back for sitting under that ball to bring joy to the kids!

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"Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too"- John Keats "To Autumn"