10 Spooky Raspberry Pi Halloween Projects You Can Make

Ever wondered what it's like to actually live in a haunted house? With this Halloween themed smart mirror programmed with a Raspberry Pi, all you have to do is ask Alexa to tell me a ghost story, and then look out!

This one come courtesy of Ben Eagan, who has documented lots of fun projects on his Youtube channel. The Halloween smart mirror was made using Alexa Skill for running scripts on a Raspberry Pi, a DIY Alexa smart mirror, and some Phillips hue lights. He documents the entire Halloween smart mirror project here.

If you'd like to try your own version of this project, we've made two guides to get you started on your smart mirror: a voice-controlled DIY smart mirror with Jasper and a Google Home-enabled smart mirror.

We're going to apologize for this one upfront because this creepy desktop buddy will definitely stay with you for a while. But that's also why we love it and why it's the perfect kind of project for the Halloween season!

What makes this Raspberry Pi-powered robot baby even creepier is that it seconds as a home security device. The baby uses face detection and tracking software to track you and take photos of you as you move around the room. I imagine any burglar confronted with this creepy robot might think twice about their life path.

Henry Stafford shares this project with us, citing the fact that he had to "hack together" certain parts to make his Pi-Pan tilt camera work.

What a great idea, Jasdoge! This slot machine game feels very much in the spirit of using the Raspberry Pi to create a rich and entertaining experience for kids.

How you play it

Essentially, a trick-or-treater pushes the button and spins the wheel in the monitor. Whatever it lands on determines the type and number of candies. If it lands on a Raspberry Pi (a rare occurrence), then they get a whole bag of raspberry candy. See the video below to get a better idea of the gameplay.

While you will have to program the game, the hardware required to make it is generally minimal. It's made with a Raspberry Pi, speakers, and an Adafruit arcade button. See the original Reddit post for more details.

The only thing we're missing is the look on the kids' faces as they play the machine!

Whenever someone approaches the screen, it lights up and plays some scary sounds. Spooky! And a fun way to greet (and scare) trick-or-treaters who show up at your door.

We love the simplicity of this project. We wanted to highlight this spooky automated Halloween setup for those who are looking for something that won't require too many things to get going. All you'll need to make something similar is a Raspberry Pi, a PIR sensor, a Bluetooth speaker, and a relay powering a light bulb.

MEHColeman, the creator of this project, provides full details, including the code, on his Halloween witch Github project page.

If you're looking to increase the authenticity and overall scariness of your Halloween costume this year, then try out this voice changer made using a Raspberry Pi Zero and an Audio DAC HAT.

While people have been making voice-changers for quite a while, we're highlighting this version for its simplicity. The Pi Zero's compactness makes it so you have space to store the Pi somewhere in the mask. We actually recommend that you find a place to put the voice changer that's not directly in front of your mouth, if possible.

So what voices can we expect this year? Mandolorian...likely. Kylo Ren...sure. Politicians...we can't wait. Jason Vorhees...always a classic (but no need for a voice changer in that one). Joe Exotic...now we're talking!

Oliver Ros provided the build and video for this project. See more of his projects over on his Instructables page.

Speaking of masks...here's one you're unlikely to anticipate showing up at your door this Halloween. Anyone knocking on your door wearing one of these masks pretty much deserves the entire candy bowl.

This robot mask uses an accelerometer to level the eyes and a joystick to control their movement and blinks. What a great simple design with endless possibilities for further tinkering!

Like what if you slapped one of those voice changers with a great robot voice into this?

Vancouver-based web developer, Greg Thomas, provides the build for this robot mask. For more information and details, check out his Github guide.

If you're looking to make something really cool for your kid to be this Halloween, maybe this Disco ball costume powered by a Raspberry Pi and a Drone battery will inspire you? (Heck, you could even make a larger version of this for an adult costume!)

The light sequencing is done using a free program from the nonprofit, xLights and the lights themselves are 5v LEDs.

Project creator, Wolfie, notes that this project is not designed for a beginner, but for a more advanced maker. It will require some skills soldering and welding. It will also be pretty costly at around $500 for all the parts. But we're wondering how this will inspire makers to do something all of their own and within their own budget range.

We also love this project because it reminds of us our compact-disc LED disco ball!

Grab your 3D printer to print your inspirations this Halloween season! This case is designed to house the Adafruit animated eyes bonnet for the Rasberry Pi with the addition of lenses. The finished product has the perfect blend of creepy and cute!

The case houses either a Raspberry Pi Zero or a full-sized Pi, and is programmed with a "wake-up effect" when the sensor detects movement in a given distance.

What we love about this project are the possibilities for maker customization in terms of the 3D printed housing. We'd love to see even more done with this eye bonnet!

This case comes courtesy of Patrick Lavelle. To see the complete build, check out his guide on Thingiverse.

Meet Meredith, the face tracking robot who loves to follow you around the house making sure you do your chores. Sounds terrifying, right?!

We're imagining Meredith greeting the kids who show up at her door with a bag full of candy. We could also imagine a redesigned version of this robot as a classic horror-movie character like Frankenstein's monster or Dracula. Even just a classic mannequin face would be pretty scary on this thing!

This robot is made using a Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and OpenCV for the facial recognition programming.

What Raspberry Pi robots will you come up with to greet your trick-or-treaters this year?

If a Raspberry Pi asked you for some candy, would you refuse it? I know I wouldn't!

Seriously, we give big props to anyone who makes their own Raspberry Pi costume and tags us on Facebook. Take some inspiration from Middle-school teacher, eddiethesecond, who gets even bigger props for wearing this into school and making some kids smile!

Well, that's it for this year.

Have we missed anything? Did you make something awesome that you want to share with us? Use the comment section below to let us know. If it's cool enough, we might even add it to this list!