Family makes cool Stranger Things Halloween decoration, has to fight to display it
An Illinois family decorated their house with a "floating" version of Stranger Things' Max and the crowds of admirers bugged a neighbor
TV Features halloween
The kind of people who spend hours upon hours of their lives creating elaborate Halloween outdoor displays are treasures. Driven by the simple desire to spread joy throughout a neighborhood, these people put their time and money into a public good as basic as making holidays more fun for others.
And yet, a family in Illinois who made a great Stranger Things decoration as part of their Halloween display has had to argue with local authorities to be able to show off their work.
Aubrey and Dave Appel, who make lots of spooky stuff as HorrorProps on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube, recently unveiled their Plainfield home’s Halloween decorations. Among their work is a mannequin dressed like Max, rigged up to float in mid-air and replicate those scenes from the show where only the power of Kate Bush can save the teenager’s soul from a goopy-faced monster man.
Because the display is really neat, it drew plenty of attention, including some from a killjoy neighbor. As described in a CBS Chicago article, the Appels received complaints from another resident who was annoyed by the crowds of people stopping by the house to admire the display. Last Sunday, the Appels “decided to take down the levitating Max and the rest of the decorations” after having shown it for only two nights because of this complaint.
@horrorprops The Reveal. Why? Because it’s still better in person. HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE, WE HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON! #horrorprops #thereveal #daveandaubrey #fyp #bluetick #halloween #transworldhauntshow #strangerthings #strangerthings4 #maxmayfield #OverwatchMe #diy
After receiving a lot of support from other, non-wet blankets, though, the Appels started “talking with local police and other neighbors, as well as the homeowners’ association” in order to avoid having someone “ruin the fun” and to figure out how to get their decorations up again. They’ve since gotten the go-ahead and wrote in a Facebook post that the display will be open to visitors (along with “lights, music, fog, etc.”) on weekends going forward.
Quite reasonably, Dave Appel said that he “can sympathize that if you’re not comfortable with a lot of people, or a lot of people around your home at all times, it could be overwhelming” and that “if someone’s having trouble with our display, we want to make sure that we can adjust our hours down.”
This is a very considerate and thoughtful response. We only hope the Appels have a similarly kind plan to help everyone who gets “Running Up That Hill” stuck in their heads after checking out the display as well.
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81 Comments
That is fucking cool. How in the hell did they do that?
Everyone wants to know. They’re not saying.
The real reason the neighbors demanded it be taken down is the witchcraft powering the display was draining every neighbors life force one year per day
“Listen, I’ve got the HOA bylaws in my hand right here, I don’t see a single statute against arcane hex magic”
That’s how the bylaws are enforced, they can’t have a rule against it. At least that’s what I was led to believe by The X-Files.
Page 73…about half way down…
That was also the climax of WandaVision.
You joke but of course an HOA would not have any rules against arcane hexes because everyone on an HOA board is a witch or warlock
There’s only so much sour milk you’ll accept your Jersey heifer giving you every morning before you start looking for someone to blame.
You can see the wires anchoring it between the pole and house in the video above
It’s in the included video…
Now I see it. I’m at home now, before the browser I was using did not show the other embedded video.
Now I see it. I’m at home now, before the browser I was using did not show the other embedded video.
Maybe a drone (if the dummy is light enough). I suppose people seeing it person could probably tell if that’s the case by its noise though.
It’s string. The linked video reveals how it’s done.
WHY WONT THEY REVEAL HOW ITS DONE
IT’S ON A STRING
I suppose people seeing it person could probably tell if that’s the case by its noise thoughOr, you know, they could see a flying drone above the dummy.
Yeah, as a drone owner, I can safely say it’s not a drone
If the dummy is a dirigible of sort the fan to keep it stable on a calm day might be quieter than you think. Otherwise I was thinking it is just a balloon tethered with thin fishing line. Also, if the display had sound effects/music it might drown out the motor.
My guess: Helium. In the Tiktok video you can see it’s tethered to the light pole on the sidewalk and the line (probably high-test fishing line) is angled upward toward the prop. There’s probably two other such lines to keep it positioned, and you can see it twisting in the breeze slightly in a way that indicates that it’s very light.
Fuckin’ helium, how does it work?
The video in the article shows that it’s being held up by string attached to the light pole/house.
I can’t see it.
The string is admittedly hard to see, but it’s there. You can see the light reflecting off of it right before the video ends.
Is there another string on the other side of the dummy? I’m having trouble understanding how a single string tied between a pole and a dummy could hold the dummy up at that angle and distance. (Edit: I see it now.)
There’s literally no string there. Your eyes deceive you. How did they do this? Back to the drawing board, I guess.
…there’s definitely a string there.
This reminds me of The Prestige when Cain’s character keeps insisting Bale’s is using a double and Jackman’s character just won’t accept that it’s that simple.
There’s a wire running through the Max effigy’s head that goes from the house to a streetlight that’s behind the camera in all of the shots.
The tiktok video embedded in this article literally shows you.
I can’t see it. Maybe I need to get my eyes checked.
There’s a streetlight pole by the street; there’s a line running between it and the house. Max is on that line.
Hidden wire coming down from the peak of the roof (to the mailbox or another decoration)? EDIT: Seeing more comments now that show that’s what they’re doing.
I remember seeing somewhere that she’s made out of pool noodles. Whether they bought these pool noodles from a goblin market was suspiciously absent from the conversation.
Personally, I’d be THRILLED to have these folks as neighbors. My current neighbor to the south is a drug dealer. There is a consistent stream of “clients” throughout the day (at least at the weekend, when I’m home all day), and evening. Noisy cars, noisy people, verbal arguments, an exchange of gunfire this past August. What, the police, you say? BWAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Yeah, Floating Max is cool.
One of the videos out there you can *very* briefly see soe light reflected on the line being used to hold up the dummy. It’s likely either a fine black thread (favorite of magicians everywhere) or sanded nylon (rough up the surface so you don’t catch glints)However they did it, it is, indeed, quite cool.
I originally read this article at work and for some reason I could only see one of the embedded videos. When I got home and read it again I saw the second tiktok video everybody was talking about.
I originally read this article at work and for some reason I could only see one of the embedded videos. When I got home and read it again I saw the second tiktok video everybody was talking about.
Buoyancy. It’s mostly balloons and foam pool noodles. You get the weight to helium balance just right and it will float in mid-air. If I were them I’d have a fishing line tether attached in case the wind picked up.The same basic principle is used in submarines to allow them to float up and down under water.
Like Trix, Halloween is for kids.
I got a load of “sexy halloween costume” bookmarks that says otherwise. They are for RESEARCH!!!
Interesting choice of words.
Uh, well…you’ve singlehandedly made my mom’s OnlyFans account profitable. Just sayin.
She does good work 🙂
At least this overly enthusiastic adult is being reasonable. Remember the article a few years ago about a childless man who made a gory death museum in front of his house and refused to take it down? When that article came out, I got into the most awesome argument with someone on this site, who said I was ignorant for calling Halloween a children’s holiday. They even sent me a Google link to “history of Halloween,” but they couldn’t actually point to any American Halloween tradition that wasn’t for children.
But, other than Trick or Treat, what about Halloween is exclusively for children?
“Exclusively” is your word, but Halloween is primarily a children’s holiday. To my knowledge there isn’t an American Halloween tradition besides Trick or Treating, which is a children’s activity. Adult-oriented Halloween activities, like costume parties and bar crawls, are just parodies of Trick or Treating with more cleavage and alcohol.
Devil’s Night has entered the chat….
Who gives a shit? Let people enjoy things.
Right? It’s a holiday about death where people go to parties and drink and dress up. I do far more as an adult for Halloween than I did as a child. Boring people gonna bore I guess.
What a sad, boring, worldview.
The only argument that other person needed to make was “Halloween is for whoever wants to celebrate it and nothing else matters,” so they shouldn’t have wasted their time with anything else.
I don’t remember that, but nor do I doubt it.
Man, it’s taking off here in Australia -wholly and solely because of fuckwits taking their cues from Seppo pop culture.But they like to point out that, ACK-SHYUALLY, Halloween is based on blah blah, Celtic tradition, blah-blah, they’re 1/64th Irish, they’re not celebrating the American version. Oh, really? So where’s you barmbrack? Where’s your carved turnip?So we gets loads of insufferable dipshits trying to defend a “tradition” that goes back to about 2005. And whinging about the cops who have to front TV cameras reminding everyone that yes, you can be arrested and charged for your “pranks”.
I’m technically an adult, and Trix is a great cereal and a healthy part of this complete breakfast. Halloween can go fuck itself. People with kids just call Halloween “work.”
So do people in retail.
I’m scared to ask what technically makes you an adult.
My penis can fill a whole tallboy, that’s why.
I wouldn’t brag about that. Those holes aren’t very wide.
I knew there was a retort in there somewhere
“The NRF estimates that of that $3.6 billion, $1.2 billion will go toward children’s costumes while $1.7 billion will be spent on adult costumes. The remaining $0.7 billion is earmarked for pet costumes.”https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/1012/how-much-americans-spend-on-halloween.aspx
Yeah, one of my co workers is dressing her male chihuahua as Wonder Woman.
-said the boring asshole. Adding my own hot take: literally every holiday is meaningless and shitty if you yourself don’t add meaning to it. Duh.
Somebody shit in your cereal? Miss?
https://theoatmeal.com/comics/halloween
“Cool Stranger Things decoration”Impossible.
I like the cut of your jib!
Try scraping off your thin veneer of edgelord and maybe then you can acknowledge that this would be cool even if it wasn’t branded in that way.
Yeah, isn’t it cool that someone copied something from TV? Sorry, I guess I’m an edgelord because I don’t appreciate blatant, unoriginal attempts to get attention.
Whaaaah bad internet man made fun of my processed cheese streaming show
Depending on how bad the traffic is, I can see why neighbors would get pissed but I hope they at least have a heart and let them do it again around Halloween. Maybe with some signs to tell people not to block drive ways and someone outside helping with traffic control. Plenty of houses in the burbs do haunted light shows and/or Christmas light shows and figure it out. Although the issue may be that Plainfield is sorta the far suburbs and people out that way think traffic is three cars on the road.
In Plainfield, a crowd is too big the instant it contains a Black person. I assume that’s what happened here.
As well as Plainfield being far enough out that it starts to tinge red and you’ll begin to find those weird people who genuinely fear “witchcraft.”
Yea if it suddenly took me another 20 minutes to get home I would be pissed too.
How much privacy can they actually want if they willingly are subjecting themselves to living under a homeowners association? “Oh, we want people constantly in our business but not in a potentially positive way. Ew.”
I will never, ever understand why Americans have HOAs.Why the fuck would you subject yourself to laws made by curtain-twitching Karens?
Yes and no. Imagine 300 cars with teenagers rotating hourly in front of your home. This display is better suited for more open spaces.
NIMBYs are the absolute worst people on the planet.
Homeowner associations suck so much ass. Also fuck the police since they exist to “protect” property on behalf of classist (and also most times racist) assholes. Capitalism is shit.
I’m surprised The A.V. Club hasn’t put out a review of Werewolf By Night yet. I wonder if they know it exists. Can we discuss it here or on another AV article?