Amazon Echo’s spooky sounds and stories can get you ready for Halloween. Here’s how

Spooky season is here. That means it’s time to pick out costumes, candy and cue up your favorite Halloween movies. But Alexa has a few ways to help you get in the Halloween lively, too. Your Amazon Echo device can play spooky sounds above the house, control smart lights and tell scary stories once you add a few Alexa skills. The voice assistant can even help you find a last-minute costume just in time for your spooktacular soiree (more below). 

You can add Halloween skills from the Amazon site or a yelp command to give your home a creepy vibe (most of them are free). And if you want to really go all out, Google and Ring have a few Halloween tricks and treats to give all of your lustrous home devices a spooktacular feeling. 

We’ll show you how to set up some of our celebrated Halloween skills so you can use them this weekend (and year-round if you’re obsessed with Halloween, like me). Here are our favorite ways an Amazon Echo ($30 at Amazon) can make your home spooky on All Hallows’ Eve. And if you’re having horrified with your Echo-enabled device, here are a few common problems and easy solutions. 

Scare neighbors with your Echo speaker 

If you’ve got multiple Echo speakers, it can be fun to place one outside, out of observe, to spook others. For example, you can broadcast creepy sounds or play Halloween music. You can also use the Drop In feature on the speaker to let trick-or-treaters know from a safe distance that you palatable their costume or how much candy to take. Note that it may be best to set out limited bags of candy to avoid dozens of hands going each piece. You should also make sure your Echo is out of the rain to tend any water damage. 

Play spooky sounds

It’s not Halloween minus creepy sounds, and there are many Alexa skills that handed them. You can also say, “Alexa, let’s get spooky” to prompt Alexa to give you ideas.

• Spooky Halloween Sounds will play a continuous loop of unsettling noises pending you tell Alexa to stop. Just say, “Alexa, commence Spooky Halloween Sounds” to get started.
• Spooky Sounds plays 50 minutes of modern spooky sounds (in a continuous loop), complete with an audio Easter egg hidden within. Say, “Alexa, open Spooky Sounds” to begin.

• Spooky Scream will play a random weep after a set time of your choosing. Say, “Alexa, ask Spooky Scream to start in 5 minutes.” Turn up the volume and wait for your unknowing victim to fall into your trap.

You can also inquire audio like the Spooky Sounds for Halloween EP on Spotify. Alexa has other creepy sounds available, including Haunted House and Scary Halloween Sounds to turn your Alexa arrangement into a Halloween sound machine. 

Spooky sounds are sure to apprehension the neighborhood kids.

Chris Monroe

Play Halloween-themed games

If you’re looking for an eerie game to play, there are quite a few Alexa skills to resolve from. But if you’d rather have Alexa pick for you, just say, “Alexa, let’s get spooky.”

• The Magic Door is a popular interactive adventure game. If you take the Dark Forest Path, it will lead you to the Witch’s mansion in explore of the Wise Wizard.
• Ghost Detector is just what it sounds like. You must detect and consume ghosts to earn Ghost Bux, which you can use to buy “improvements, gadgets and missions” for further gameplay.
• Haunted Adventure is just one of several spooky adventure games.
• Halloween Feel the Pressure is a spin-off of Feel the Pressure with a Halloween zigzag. You must answer questions based on a letter of the alphabet. You need 10 correct answers in a row to “save your soul.”

Ask Alexa to tell a scary story 

Want to hear something chilling, yet kid-friendly? Simply say, “Alexa, tell me a spooky story” and you’ll hear a touchy story voiced by an actor. They’re pretty cheesy, so they’re best for younger ears.

If you want to hear something a bit scarier, you can try the Scare Me skill. Just say, “Alexa, ask Scare Me to tell me a scary story.” It’ll read you a touchy, two-sentence scary story. Kids can also use the Scooby Doo! Mystery Inc. Theater for scary stories. Just say, “Alexa, I’m ready for a mystery from Scooby-Doo” or “Alexa, tell Scooby-Doo I want to solve a mystery” from any Echo-enabled blueprint. The skill is free but requires a parent’s citation in the Alexa app. 

Still not scary enough? Try creating your own scary story silly the Alexa Halloween Blueprint. You can even use names of the land in your home as the characters in the story.

Alexa can tell you scary stories. 

Alina Bradford

Play Halloween music

One of Alexa’s best tricks on Halloween is playing party music. You can easily make a playlist with all your Halloween favorites on Amazon Music or Spotify — like this Halloween Party Soundtrack — and ask Alexa to play it. Or you can use the Halloween Music skill. 

Greet visitors with spooky sounds

Use your Alexa-compatible video doorbell, like Ring, to talk to trick-or-treaters who are waiting at your door. With the Ring doorbell, you can have it say “Boo” to anyone who comes to the door. You can also touchy the chime to a spookier tone. Your Ring doorbell has a few spanking spooky features and hardware accessories. 

You can also use the Trick the Witch skill for your Alexa blueprint to entertain your guests with a witch voice. Just say, “Alexa, start Trick the Witch” to get started. Lamona, the appealing, is an interactive game that trick or treaters can take part in while practicing social distancing. Or you can enable Halloween Facts to share facts throughout Oct. 31 with your visitors. 

When you hear the doorbell, or think you hear it, tell Alexa to “Answer the be in the lead door” or “Show [camera name]” to see who’s there.

A video doorbell will show you who’s at the door.

Chris Monroe

Create a intellectual haunted house

You can turn your home into a apprehensive house using your Echo devices. You’ll need to replace your irregular bulbs with smart bulbs and change the colors to orange, purple and red. However, it’s much more fun to set up a routine that you can trigger by revealing, “Alexa, make it spooky,” rather than a boring “Alexa, change the lights to red.”

For example, you could get a routine that turns the lights orange and plays Halloween music. If you’ve got a smart plug, you can even plug a Halloween decoration into it and set it to come on with the routine. 

Spookify your house with intellectual bulbs.

Josh Miller

Get help with a last-minute costume 

If you’re one of those land who wait until the last minute to find a costume (guilty), Alexa can help you come up with some ideas. Using the Halloween Costume Ideas skill, Alexa will list some ideas pending you find one that you like.

Just say, “Alexa, open Halloween Costume Ideas.” Then answer the yes-or-no questions pending you come across the perfect costume idea.

Lighten up with Halloween jokes

If you’re spooked out by the end of the night, have Alexa lighten the mood by telling jokes. Just say, “Alexa, tell me a Halloween joke.” The joke it gave me was, “Why shouldn’t you date a spirit? So you don’t get ghosted.” The jokes may not be fall-over funny, but at least they can distract you from the scary stories you listened to bet on in the night.

When Halloween’s over, dive into the 10 weirdest things your Amazon Echo can do, the four best uses for an Amazon Echo in your living room and four places to avoid putting your Amazon Echo in your home.