Something that always scared me as a kid were silhouettes. There something about knowing someone is just on the other side of a curtain but not being able to tell who it is that was always unnerving to me. Maybe that comes from having watching Psycho one too many times as a kid.

Hallowindow is a series of Halloween videos that are designed to be projected on to a sheet-covered window in your home on Halloween night. The videos come in both “normal” and “mirror-imaged” formats, so if you’re projecting from the rear, the words will not appear backwards when viewed from outside your home. Each video is only a few minutes long, but they’re long enough that the average trick-or-treater will not see the same thing twice.

Again to clarify; the projector is inside the house, projecting the videos on to a sheet which is also hung inside the house, covering the window. This footage (courtesy of Youtube’s alsautoandappliance) was shot from outside the home, as it would appear to trick-or-treaters.

The videos are available on physical DVDs, or as direct digital downloads. Last year, I bought all four downloadable packages (Hallowindow I-IV), set them up as a playlist on my laptop, connected my laptop to my projector, and let them run in a loop all night long. We also cracked open our window and put a pair of computer speakers up to the screen, to play the spooky soundtrack as well.

As a result, this is what my front yard looked like last Halloween, all night long:

Hallowindow was a huge success! Kids were frightened by it (in a good way — there’s nothing too scary or gory in the videos), and adults absolutely loved it! Every time I checked, parents were outside (usually in the street) watching the entire video loop.

We’ll definitely have the Hallowindow video loops running again this Halloween. In a time where fewer and fewer people each year seem to participate in trick-or-treating, I love adding something to my neighborhood and giving the visiting kids (and adults!) something to remember.