The Mausoleum with a Bang

In 2005 we built a mausoleum simply to accommodate the Blaze light projector used to light up the flying witches. A fog machine, red lighting from inside, and a pair of torches burning nearby gave it a pretty gloomy effect. This year the mausoleum also gets an extreme makeover - turning it into something that'll REALLY grab 'em.

Here's what it looked like last year:

Creepy and nice... But this year we wanted MORE.

Here's the daylight view of this year's banging mausoleum:

Here's a short video segment of the completed prop in action!

We start with another EFX-TEK PROP1 controller and motion detector, add a box-pusher pneumatic, and a Rogue Robotics uMP3 sound card. Wrap with some new (real metal) chains, and equip the PROP-1 with a short program that bangs the door randomly when a TOT approaches, and we think we've found the recipe for potential golden salutes.

First Christopher, our chief of haunted construction, gives the old place a little curb appeal. It took quite a bit of punishment since last Halloween, and needed some sprucing up anyway:

Last year one of the doors was propped open, while the other was bolted shut. This year the door on the right will get animated. First we lined up a box pusher pneumatic cylinder just right. It's angled to help it push the door out (as the wheel is pushed out and down by the cylinder). The solenoid for the cylinder is mounted on the same 2x4 we used to mount the cylinder. The bungee in these pictures was later replaced by a (weaker) spring, since the bungee gave too much resistance and the pusher had difficulty rattling the door.

Next the PROP1 and uMP3 needed to be mounted. A small piece of plywood did nicely and was mounted on the inside wall in the upper right. The motion detector (PIR) was cleverly hidden inside the small appliqué glued to the front of the mausoleum (you can see the appliqué in some of the pictures at the top of this page). A hole was drilled through the bump out just below the cross and the piece was hollowed out from behind before being glued to the front of the mausoleum. The cable was then run through a hole behind the appliqué to the PROP1 board inside. Here's the source code for the PROP1 program we used to control the mausoleum.

Here's a look in the front of the mausoleum before we fastened the doors. A pair of speakers have been installed on either side to project the agonizing screams that will emanate from within...

The mausoleum got a new coat of paint, having its new chains attached across the front, and some other small touches. Final touches included fine tuning the sound effects (courtesy of a Rogue Robotics uMP3 sound card inside) and the mounting of the PIR (motion detector) inside the small cross mounted on the front. Now when TOTs approach, the door starts banging, rattling the chains, and a creepy voice emanates from within...