Pumpkin Ghouls
Each year you enter awe-inspiring pumpkin carvings in the pumpkin contest. We gathered up the scariest and most villainous here.
Still haven’t entered this year’s jack-o’-lantern carving? Enter our Pumpkin-Carving Contest today!
Freddy Krueger
“This pumpkin was inspired by the movie Nightmare on Elm Street and was carved using an X-Acto knife and dental tools. The entire carving took about 8 hours to complete.”
Evan B.
Rochester, NY
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Freddy vs. Jason
“I used a Pumpkin Masters carving set and a small kitchen knife to create this Freddy vs. Jason pumpkin.”
Jennifer M
Shapleigh, ME
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Jason Vorhees
“This Jason Vorhees pattern was purchased from stoneykins.com. The carve was completed using a foam pumpkin, a Dremel, and various drill bits and diamond burr bits.”
Bryan M.
Kansas City, MO
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Halloween Movie Poster
“Poster and cover art for the 1978 John Carpenter classic horror movie Halloween. Normal carving knives and chisels.”
Jason Kodani
Orangevale, CA
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Thriller
Enter the TOH Pumpkin Carving Contest!
See more on Pumpkin Carving:
• Dremels and Other Pumpkin-Carving Tools
• Create Beautiful Pumpkin Luminaries
See more on Halloween:
• Protect Your Home in a Zombie Invasion
• Easy Salvage-Style Halloween Decorations
Joker
“This pumpkin took me 3 days to do, and I stayed up the last 36 hours straight to finish it in time for Halloween. I used a Dremel, conventional pumpkin saws, and scrapers that I made out of old wire hangers.”
Steven N.
Bakersfield, CA
Enter our Pumpkin-Carving Contest today!
Chinese Dragon
“I used clay ribbon tools and a box cutter on this pumpkin. It took eight hours to carve and weighed 65 pounds before I started cutting into it. It is not hollowed out. It is a Chinese dragon.”
Aaron R.
South Jordan, UT
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Inside of Alien Egg
“I’ve been pumpkin carving since ’98, and started making my own patterns in 2003. I use various wood working tools (“V” wedges), little pumpkin carving saws, and clay loop tools for my carvings, and flat chisels for sculpts. All my patterns are designed in photoshop. My carvings can be found at fantasypumpkins.com.”
Noel D.
Centreville, VA
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Dragon
“This year I wanted to do a 3D dragon so using carving knives, a drill, and a jigsaw, I cut out sections and built on to create a snout and tongue using scraps attached with wooden skewers for cooking. I wanted to preserve it in our hot South Florida climate so in the evenings (except Halloween itself) I submerged it in our swimming pool to keep the gills from ‘curling.'”
Steven H.
Pembroke Pines, FL
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Boris Karloff as Frankenstein
“It wasn’t until 2001 that I realized I could combine my love of art and pumpkins by creating my own pumpkin patterns.”
Ryan W.
New Haven, CT
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Electric Frankenstein
“I used a Dremel, rotary tools with diamond burs, stone grinding bits, and small drill bits. Pattern obtained from stoneykins.com.”
Jeff O.
North Logan, UT
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Creepy Frankenstein
“I use a number of clay and wood working tools. Anything with a sharp edge or pint is also a great help.”
1. X-Acto Knives
2. Razor blades
3. Kitchen knives
4. Chisels
Michael Wallo
Edmond, OK
Enter our Pumpkin-Carving Contest today!
Jack Torrance, The Shining
“From The Shining: Heeere’s Johnny! I used Photoshop to convert the image to a pattern and carved with a Dremel. It took 6 hours to complete.”
Robert P.
Wakeman, OH
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Ghost Pirates
“I carved this ship of ghouls from a Funkin and used X-Acto knives/saws and several other pumpkin carving tools.”
Roy G.
Pembroke Pines, FL
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It
“Drew Pennywise on the pumpkin with a sharpie and went to town with a razor blade wrapped in electrical tape and sometimes in the utility knife.”
Clarice B.
Westland, MI
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Regan, The Exorcist
“This is Linda Blair from The Exorcist. The eyes turned out surprisingly realistic. I used a Dremel, X-Acto knife, and some scrapers I made out of a clothes hanger.”
Steven N.
Bakersfield, CA
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The Exorcist Movie Poster
“This is a carving based on the movie poster for The Exorcist.I started by creating a template of the poster. I then taped the template to the pumpkin and transferred it using a safety pin. Then, using a Dremel tool and X-Acto knife I slowly chipped away at it until I reached the finished product. Because of the time it takes to complete I use foam pumpkins so I can keep them and use them again year after year. I have about 14 very detailed pumpkins that are a big hit with my neighbors.”
John M.
Quincy, MA
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Scary Go Round
“I did an all around design with the theme of spooky characters on a “scary” go round. I used an X-Acto and Dremel. I display it by hanging it from a disco ball spinner to complete the effect.”
John M.
Quincy, MA
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Terminator
“Terminator pattern from Stoneykins.com on a foam pumpkin.”
Bryan M.
Kansas City, MO
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Predator
“Pattern downloaded from stoneykins.com. Carve was completed using a foam pumpkin, a Dremel and various drill bits, and diamond burr bits.”
Bryan M.
Kansas City, MO
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Ghostbusters
“6 hours of work. I had to blow the pattern up by 50% to ensure I could carefully carve the small detail. There is no scrapping, it’s all carved straight through. Tools I used Pumpkin Masters brand carving kit and custom fine tip saw blades.”
Matthew Q.
East Aurora, NY
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Lily Munster
“I am a huge The Munsters fan and last year I was looking all over the place for a Lily Munster pumpkin stencil and I could not find one anywhere. Being an artist myself I took a photo of Lily and attempted my own stencil. I was quite impressed with my results.”
Nicole G.
Park Forest, IL
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Zombie
“I used store bought pumpkin carving tools and wood carving tools for the shading. I wanted to do something scary and we got a lot of good comments!”
Kelleah Moon
Scotia, NY
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The Phantom
“This is a carving of the Phantom using a stoneykins.com pattern with a Dremel.”
Ken K.
Farmington, UT
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Vlad Dracula
“This is a completely original pattern inspired by Vlad Dracula (although significantly more scary than his 15th-century portrait). It was carved with a homemade carving tool (made from coping saw blades), an X-Acto knife, a drill bit, and some basic sculpting tools. Overall, it took between 6-7 hours.”
Antonette P.
Spring Lake Park, MN
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Godzilla
“This design pays tribute to one of the greatest movie monsters ever…Godzilla. I created the template and then transferred it using a safety pin. I carved it out with an X-Acto knife and used the Dremel tool to thin out the shell to give his scales that glow effect. I used a foam pumpkin so I can display it year after year.”
John M.
Quincy, MA
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Satyr, Pan’s Labrynth
“This is the satyr from the movie Pan’s Labyrinth. I used mostly clay carving tools and a pumpkin saw for the eyes.”
Nicole A.
Coventry, CT
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Ghosts in Graveyard
“The ghosts are carved from a white pumpkin. It appears they are rising from their graves. This was free-hand.”
Jennifer K.
Independence, KY
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Eyeball Monster
“I used a knife to create this.”
Jen J.
Durham, NC
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Dracula
“To carve my pumpkin I used a utility razor blade and a serrated paring knife. Took a little bit more time than normal, but I achieved the desired affect by doing so.”
Deborah L.
Catawissa, PA
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Brain Child
“A different approach to the position of the pumpkin i trying to stay with the historical beliefs of a Jackolantern to ward off evil spirits using this positions I achieve natural facial lines and his eyes and brain are all of the same pumpkin with the use of only a perry knife and a teaspoon oh and candle wax hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it by the way it is illuminated internally with a red glow stick.”
Neill U.
Wautoma, WI
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Pumpkin Lobotomy
“X-Acto knives, wood carving tools, clay files and a paring knife.”
John C.
Bronxville, NY
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Boris Karloff as The Mummy
“I like to keep it simple, drawing on the pumpkin freehand while looking at a photo (as I did for Boris here). After cutting into the top and cleaning out the pumpkin, I then used a pushpin to mark the main figure outline in dots, then began to carve, using an X-Acto knife and some basic wood-carving tools—even a small tool used to carve linoleum blocks for the smaller areas. I don’t want to ‘break through’; the pumpkin flesh, just make it thin enough to create a 3D image of the character I’m carving. Boris took me about an hour and a half to carve, including cleaning.”
Elaine W.
Kalamazoo, MI
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Mummy
“This was made from the skin of three pumpkins. First, we cut the pumpkins in a spiral with a saber saw and then cut the skin off in long strips. Then, we pinned them to a frame made from some conduit and 2×4 that was covered with newspaper.”
Eric B.
Grand Rapids, MI
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Man-Eating Pumpkin
“This only took about 30 minutes to complete with very basic cuts that any pumpkin carving kit can handle. The main idea behind this one was to find a use for leftover humming bird syrup.”
Steven K.
Anderson, IN
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Headless Horseman
“Made my own template in Photoshop and carved with regular kitchen knives, X-Acto knife and used pushpins to trace pattern.”
Megan E.
Los Angeles, CA
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You Rang
“I designed and carved this pumpkin for my pumpkin display this year. I used Warren Pro Pumpkin tools and an X-Acto knife to carve this pumpkin.”
Blake A.
West Jordan, UT
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The Queen of Hearts
“I carved this as a tribute to one of my favorite movies of 2010, Alice in Wonderland. I used a Dremel 300 variable speed and used various bits for carving and shading effects. I also modified the carving depth to enhance the lighting effects. Overall, the project took approximately 6 hours.”
Jim L.
Wildomar, CA
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The Birds
“For this pumpkin, I did Hitchcock’s The Birds. The pattern itself was fairly simple but the detail nearly made my hand fall off! I used the simple tools that you can get at any grocery store, along with some wood carving tools.”
Karyn T
Saginaw, TX
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Gollum
“I used chisels and clay modeling tools.”
Brian B.
Clifton Park, NY
