Plano Star-courier > News
Undead pirates descend on quiet neighborhood
By Lynn Proctor Windle, Staff Writer
Something creepy happens every Halloween on Michael Drive.
Pirates from the nether regions and ghastly creatures of the night converge on this quiet corner lot home.
And the humans that live there the rest of the year don’t seem to mind.
In fact, raising the spirits is the doing of Shaun Martin, resident make up artist and set designer. Martin has been dressing the family home for Halloween for more than a decade now.
“As soon as I stopped going trick or treating, I started scaring the trick or treaters,” said the 28-year-old computer programmer.
This year, the little neighborhood gremlins will be treated to a live action scene from the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, one of Martin’s favorite movies. It combines two of his favorite things: haunted houses and pirates.
Martin began the pirate theme three years ago, and it has grown from a few freaky dead sailors to a set complete with a wrecked ship. This year’s incarnation features an animated ghost captain steering the ship that has long since run aground.
Aided by a small mechanical engine hidden underneath the wheel, the red-coated skeleton appears to steers wrecked ship. Martin and a friend built the animated contraption from an old wagon wheels and parts from a home improvement store.
The captain is a full medical skeleton. No, it’s not real human bones, but it’s close enough one can’t readily tell the difference, particularly when illuminated with special effects lighting.
If you get too close, the ghosts let you know you’re in dangerous territory. A canon fires shots over your head n sort of. The cannon is hooked up to a motion sensor. When unsuspecting trick or treaters traipse by, the canon booms, red lights flash and smokes billows from the plastic and paper mache barrel.
Martin spends a lot of time in home improvements stores looking for bits and pieces that might suit his creative needs n regardless of what the manufacturer intended.
For example, he proves that PCV pipe has far more creative applications than just plumbing. Painted black and capped with uniform plastic skulls, also painted black, PCV pipe becomes a realistic rod iron fence for the cemetery.
On the other side of the yard, a skeleton hangs in a cage suspended from a tree. The rusty old cage along with many of the inanimate characters also began as PCV pipe.
“I use various odds and ends from Home Depot,” he said pointing to a thick round disk anchoring the bars of the cage. “I don’t know what that’s really for, but that’s how I’m using it.”
Plastic foam, spray paint and hot glue are his creative tools as well. Martin carved many of the tombstones in his garden of dead himself, sculpting out inscriptions with the paint.
“Spray paint melts Styrofoam. I made a stencil and spray painted the inscription,” he said.
The graveyard was his first project 15 years ago. Every year since, the graveyard expands a little more. Littered with bones, lit with eerie red lights, shrouded in fog and haunted by spine-chilling sound effects, little gremlins might think twice before entering.
Nancy Martin, Shaun’s mother, said a witch has been known to appear in the graveyard after sundown on All Hallow’s Eve.
If the trick or treaters are still brave enough to venture forward, talking pirate skulls warn them away. The talking skulls began as talking Christmas trees. Martin tore them apart and rebuilt them into less friendly creatures. When hooked up to a stereo, the skulls mouths move in time to what’s being played.
Martin begins working on the next year’s set the day after Halloween, hitting all the specialty and craft stores before they clear their shelves to make room for the next holiday. He tries to limit each year’s expansion to $100-200. However, he admits that’s hard to do most years.
He has a linen closet where he stores his props strobe lights, fog machines, and other special effects, attesting to his financial investment in his hobby. He houses the larger pieces in the garage, and his room is a special effects studio where he sculpts masks out of Latex and pieces together various costumes for himself and his cast of characters.
When he goes to haunted houses n and he has been to three or four already this season n he takes notes on props, special effects and animation, trying to figure out how it was done, and then trying to engineer a cheaper way to do it at home.
While pirates are his favorite theme, he branched out to a circus theme a few years back, complete with a carnival and cotton candy infested with spiders.
“People are terrified of clowns,” he said.
Since then, many of the clown characters have been made over into scary buccaneers.
Martin’s passion lies in make up and prosthetic effects. In January, he plans to move to California to study make up and prosthetic design with hopes of landing a job in the movie industry.
But this year, family and friends are his subjects. He and his actors will spend Halloween day downing masks and layers of make up to create a militia of zombies and monsters. Those who still dare to venture toward the door might find that a scary ghoul has snuck up from behind. Martins and friends will hide within the set to scare the brazen adventurers.
Martin’s own mask is a recreation of the “Bootstrap” Bill Turner character from the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, complete with barnacles and an embedded starfish.
Actual construction of this year’s scene began in April, when he began building parts of the ship. Once October rolls around, it takes him several days to assemble the scene. This year, he took a few days off from work so he could devote his full attention to his project.
“I have hundreds of hours into it,” he said.
Reaction to his work is mixed. Some think it’s cool. Others don’t dare enter. “It’s about 50-50,” Martin said.
Rarely do the little ones venture beyond the sidewalk. Sometime Martin has a friendly mermaid at the entrance to greet those who like to keep their distance. Or his plain-clothes mother will walk candy out to them.
“I don’t dress up,” Mrs. Martin said. “Somebody has to look normal.”
For Martin it’s all good fun. “I’m a huge horror fan. I grew up watching Nightmare on Elm Street. I love being scared.”
As for the trick or treaters who pass by without stopping. Martin is fine with that too. “It just means more candy for me.”
Pirates from the nether regions and ghastly creatures of the night converge on this quiet corner lot home.
And the humans that live there the rest of the year don’t seem to mind.
In fact, raising the spirits is the doing of Shaun Martin, resident make up artist and set designer. Martin has been dressing the family home for Halloween for more than a decade now.
“As soon as I stopped going trick or treating, I started scaring the trick or treaters,” said the 28-year-old computer programmer.
This year, the little neighborhood gremlins will be treated to a live action scene from the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, one of Martin’s favorite movies. It combines two of his favorite things: haunted houses and pirates.
Martin began the pirate theme three years ago, and it has grown from a few freaky dead sailors to a set complete with a wrecked ship. This year’s incarnation features an animated ghost captain steering the ship that has long since run aground.
Aided by a small mechanical engine hidden underneath the wheel, the red-coated skeleton appears to steers wrecked ship. Martin and a friend built the animated contraption from an old wagon wheels and parts from a home improvement store.
The captain is a full medical skeleton. No, it’s not real human bones, but it’s close enough one can’t readily tell the difference, particularly when illuminated with special effects lighting.
If you get too close, the ghosts let you know you’re in dangerous territory. A canon fires shots over your head n sort of. The cannon is hooked up to a motion sensor. When unsuspecting trick or treaters traipse by, the canon booms, red lights flash and smokes billows from the plastic and paper mache barrel.
Martin spends a lot of time in home improvements stores looking for bits and pieces that might suit his creative needs n regardless of what the manufacturer intended.
For example, he proves that PCV pipe has far more creative applications than just plumbing. Painted black and capped with uniform plastic skulls, also painted black, PCV pipe becomes a realistic rod iron fence for the cemetery.
On the other side of the yard, a skeleton hangs in a cage suspended from a tree. The rusty old cage along with many of the inanimate characters also began as PCV pipe.
“I use various odds and ends from Home Depot,” he said pointing to a thick round disk anchoring the bars of the cage. “I don’t know what that’s really for, but that’s how I’m using it.”
Plastic foam, spray paint and hot glue are his creative tools as well. Martin carved many of the tombstones in his garden of dead himself, sculpting out inscriptions with the paint.
“Spray paint melts Styrofoam. I made a stencil and spray painted the inscription,” he said.
The graveyard was his first project 15 years ago. Every year since, the graveyard expands a little more. Littered with bones, lit with eerie red lights, shrouded in fog and haunted by spine-chilling sound effects, little gremlins might think twice before entering.
Nancy Martin, Shaun’s mother, said a witch has been known to appear in the graveyard after sundown on All Hallow’s Eve.
If the trick or treaters are still brave enough to venture forward, talking pirate skulls warn them away. The talking skulls began as talking Christmas trees. Martin tore them apart and rebuilt them into less friendly creatures. When hooked up to a stereo, the skulls mouths move in time to what’s being played.
Martin begins working on the next year’s set the day after Halloween, hitting all the specialty and craft stores before they clear their shelves to make room for the next holiday. He tries to limit each year’s expansion to $100-200. However, he admits that’s hard to do most years.
He has a linen closet where he stores his props strobe lights, fog machines, and other special effects, attesting to his financial investment in his hobby. He houses the larger pieces in the garage, and his room is a special effects studio where he sculpts masks out of Latex and pieces together various costumes for himself and his cast of characters.
When he goes to haunted houses n and he has been to three or four already this season n he takes notes on props, special effects and animation, trying to figure out how it was done, and then trying to engineer a cheaper way to do it at home.
While pirates are his favorite theme, he branched out to a circus theme a few years back, complete with a carnival and cotton candy infested with spiders.
“People are terrified of clowns,” he said.
Since then, many of the clown characters have been made over into scary buccaneers.
Martin’s passion lies in make up and prosthetic effects. In January, he plans to move to California to study make up and prosthetic design with hopes of landing a job in the movie industry.
But this year, family and friends are his subjects. He and his actors will spend Halloween day downing masks and layers of make up to create a militia of zombies and monsters. Those who still dare to venture toward the door might find that a scary ghoul has snuck up from behind. Martins and friends will hide within the set to scare the brazen adventurers.
Martin’s own mask is a recreation of the “Bootstrap” Bill Turner character from the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, complete with barnacles and an embedded starfish.
Actual construction of this year’s scene began in April, when he began building parts of the ship. Once October rolls around, it takes him several days to assemble the scene. This year, he took a few days off from work so he could devote his full attention to his project.
“I have hundreds of hours into it,” he said.
Reaction to his work is mixed. Some think it’s cool. Others don’t dare enter. “It’s about 50-50,” Martin said.
Rarely do the little ones venture beyond the sidewalk. Sometime Martin has a friendly mermaid at the entrance to greet those who like to keep their distance. Or his plain-clothes mother will walk candy out to them.
“I don’t dress up,” Mrs. Martin said. “Somebody has to look normal.”
For Martin it’s all good fun. “I’m a huge horror fan. I grew up watching Nightmare on Elm Street. I love being scared.”
As for the trick or treaters who pass by without stopping. Martin is fine with that too. “It just means more candy for me.”
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