It is easier to make a talking monster if you start with something that already talks. But beware - commercial Halloween products have a short sales cycle and are often discontinued by the manufacturer after only a couple of years.

This page surveys commercial decorations that take an audio stream and move a mouth mechanism to match.

• Boris
• Douglas Fir
• Skull in lantern

• Related Pages

We made a talking skeleton out of a customized Boris

As of 2002, Douglas Fir seems to be discontinued, and only available from those who have a stash.

We used Douglas Fir for an enchanted shrub in 1997.

Skull in lantern

The "Skull in Lantern" is a plastic skull with a microphone. When you speak into the microphone, the skull moves his jaw bone and lights flash in his eye sockets. Here's a skull, new in the box.

This item seems to have disappeared from the stores in 1998.

We used the "Skull in Lantern" for our mad monk.

• Hacking existing products with animated mouths [this page]
• commercial mouth animation
• make your own mouth animation
• our singing pumpkin guts

• multichannel audio player
• Talking Points - Our Standard For Talking Props

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