Halloween 2004, Volume 2004 Special Issue 2004 These pumpkin heads are from the wrong side of the patch: Other gourds greet the world with toothy smiles and innocent triangle-shaped eyes, but this frightful bunch does its best to make passersby wish they had stayed home baking pie. If, however, you're the sort of person who likes to keep strange company, you'll be pleased how easy it is to create these gawking heads. Draw faces you like, or print our templates to make the ones shown here. Then carve the pumpkins as you would for normal, well-adjusted gourds. If neighbors talk, just lean out the window, bare your teeth, and waggle your eyebrows in an alarming manner. Even though they're always disdainfully wrinkling their noses at you, this nosy family are smart to have around: They can smell danger from miles away. When carving, hollow them out from a hole in the bottom, and position their features on top so the stems can serve as noses. You can use the general directions for all these projects, except the narrow butternut squash. Tools and Materials A keyhole saw or serrated knife Plaster scraper or large spoon Black marker and white paper or our template Masking tape Needle tool (from an art-supply store) or awl Serrated utility knife Miniature flashlights, battery-powered candles, or light sticks -an apple corer Face How-To 1. Begin by cutting a large hole in the bottom of a pumpkin with a keyhole saw or serrated knife, and then scrape out the insides with a plaster scraper until pumpkin walls are 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. To make the face, you can draw your own using black marker on white paper, or download and print our templates; enlarge the template to the desired size on a photocopier. Next, affix the face to the pumpkin with masking tape. 2. With a needle tool or awl, poke holes around the outline of each feature. Remove the paper, and then cut out features with a serrated utility knife, using the holes you poked as a guide. To illuminate the carved pumpkins, use miniature flashlights, battery-powered candles, or light sticks. Birdbath Family Behold, the count and countess of Birdbath, and their three little countlings. They redid this abandoned two-story bath, carpeting it with Spanish moss, dead leaves, and branches. The gourds were carved from the bottom, like most other heads shown in our slide show, to keep stems intact. Welcoming Committee These greeters are trying to smile, but their true feelings are revealed in their maniacal grins and grimaces. Perhaps they're angry because someone took out their insides to make pie. Not to worry: They can't eat you, at least not before sunset. Choirboys Legend has it that the luckless souls who hear the Three Squashes' song of woe shall vanish into the nearest vegetable patch, never to be seen or heard from again. Since narrow squashes are easier to hollow out if you work from both ends, these guys had the tops of their heads cut off. Squash Face How-To 1. To hollow out a tall, skinny squash, scoop out the insides from the top and the bottom: Cut off the bottom with a keyhole saw, and use a plaster scraper to scoop out the wide bottom section until walls are 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Then cut off the top with the keyhole saw, and use an apple corer to remove the insides at that end. Carve features as you would for the other pumpkins; replace the top for display, if desired. Trick or Eat This ravenous pumpkin is cursed: He must offer up sweets to children all evening, yet he is not allowed to eat them (neither the sweets nor the children). A treat-filled bowl was placed in his cavernous mouth, and miniature flashlights were tucked on either side, against his jowls. Print the Template Dead Heads Don't be shy: Show off your top-notch collection of bodiless heads by placing them atop pedestals. You can put the display next to a stair railing or adjacent to a walkway outdoors -- in fact, anywhere you think a leering head would be a nice decorative touch. Morbid Multiples Not one but five apple gourds, which have an unpleasantly mottled hue, lie in wait on this sill. Their shifty glances and tormented frowns were carved to look similar -- yet not quite the same. A bed of dead branches ensures this vengeful band will get no sleep. Peekaboo Being trapped in a candy dish is vexing, to be sure. The mini pumpkin at right had his stem sliced off, then was placed in the bowl. His eyes and nose were penciled in; he was removed, carved, and cruelly confined again. The one at left was carved, then balanced on a teapot.