10 Scary Pumpkin Faces That Are Straight Out of Your Spookiest Nightmare

In the month of October, pumpkins watch from the front porch as you pass by the house. The eyes seem to follow you wherever you go! In the darkness of night, their faces glow with mischievous delight. You never know what these pumpkins are thinking, but you hope that it involves Halloween fun and candy. Of course, despite their frightening faces, we know that these pumpkins are harmless.

There's more than one way to decorate your pumpkin with a scary face, and we have dozens of templates and clip-art to personify your pick of the patch. Try a villainous visage comes with slanted eyes full of rage, furrowed brows, and a menacing scowl. Try a toothy grin with slanted catlike eyes, or carve a werewolf (listen—and you can practically hear your jack-o'-lantern howling out to the full moon).

Another idea we love? Give your pumpkins the gift of shadow by darkening the rinds with black floral paint. (That way, passersby will only see their glowing faces during the witching hour.) Fanged pumpkins are more likely to get a few giggles, but you have to admit their menacing faces are rather cute. Friendly bat pumpkins—created by attaching black construction paper bat wings to the back—are the perfect companion to your vampire pumpkins. You also don't have to stick to typical faces for your Halloween pumpkins. Eerily etched silhouettes are perfect for a seasonal centerpiece decoration. No matter your style or vision from imagination, choose one of our ideas to conjure up a scary pumpkin face for spooking all of your family and friends.

Embrace the quirks of nature for your display: At the pumpkin patch, pass over perfect-looking globes and opt instead for those with lopsided shapes, cracks, and unusual shadings. Here, these green pumpkins were etched with scratchy facial expressions inspired by plant roots.

Bumpy, lumpy, and greenish gray Hubbard squashes have the perfect complexions for making warty witch jack-o'-lanterns. Print the template for their faces and hats, and then carve their gaping grins. A little, greenish gourd makes for a bent and bulbous witch nose, and a pointy black hat completes the Salem-ready look.

More cute than bloodcurdling, these petite Drac-o'-lanterns are brought to vampirical life with pointed plastic fangs and red pushpins as demonic red eyes. Arrange them with a few bat-wing Baby Boo pumpkins, and this makes a fun family activity for kids too.

Don't get too close—these zombies look hungry. Best rest assured, creating your own googly-eyed monsters has never been easier: Simply cut two cone-shaped holes into the pumpkin, sawing at an angle. (The diameter of the holes should be slightly smaller than the eyeballs' diameter.) Wedge a pair of eyeballs into the holes and add a squiggly mouth.

They look tough as nails, and rightfully so. After all, the hardware store provides plenty of inspiration for these pumpkins: thoughtfully placed nails, brads, wire, spikes, and safety pins become glinting mohawks and piercings.

Traditional bright-orange jack-o'-lanterns stand out under the veil of darkness, but not these puckish pumpkins. They blend seamlessly into the shadows with their black-painted rinds and glowing innards, observing unsuspecting trick-or-treaters who come knocking at your door.

In this elegant arrangement of rendered silhouettes stands a severed skull evocative of Edgar Allan Poe and his tales of horror. To render the glowing silhouettes, we used two techniques: The bright candelabrum and goblet are cut through the pumpkins' walls, while the textured skull is pared gently from the outer shells.

Our crafts department's signature style of carving pumpkins in relief—thinning the flesh so the design stands out clearly—makes for a dramatic jack-o'-lantern. Here, a snaggletoothed cat screeches to hair-raising effect.