7 unique Alexa Halloween automations for your haunted smart house

Unleash the power of Alexa and Voice Monkey this Halloween with spine-tingling automations and Alexa Routines that’ll make your haunted house the talk of the ghost town.

Warning: some of these automations could be quite scary, particularly for younger folk — be sensible and respect others around you.

Before you start

Every automation below is a Voice Monkey Flow: a sequence of steps you build in the console. You’ll need:

1. The Voice Monkey skill enabled and a free account. Get started if you haven’t already.
2. A Speaker for each Echo you want to haunt. Follow Add a device to create one and connect it to your Echo with an Alexa Routine.

Starting a Flow from an Alexa Routine. Several of these ideas start when a motion sensor trips or the doorbell rings. Every Flow has a 4-digit request reference, such as 1234, shown on the Flows list. In the Alexa app, create a Routine with your sensor or doorbell under When this happens, add a Custom action, type ask voice monkey to start flow 1234 (using your reference), and pick the Echo to launch it from. The Flow then plays on the Speakers you chose in its nodes. See Triggering Flows for other languages.

You can also start any Flow with the Trigger button in the console, on a schedule (Hobby and Ultimate plans), from the API or from an inbound webhook.

Picking media. Every media field in a Flow node has a Browse button. The Library tab holds Voice Monkey’s Halloween portraits and soundscapes, free on every plan. My Media and Upload are for your own files, which need the Hobby or Ultimate plan. On the free plan you can still use Paste URL to play a file hosted anywhere else.

#1 — Moving Halloween portraits

Voice Monkey’s Halloween Portraits are spooky animated characters who stare into your home with creepy Harry Potter vibes.

Choose from Frank, the Skeleton, the Devil, the Ghost and the Witch. They look best on an Echo Show 15 in portrait mode, but work on landscape Echo Shows too.

How to set up

1. Create a new Flow and add a Video node. Pick the Speaker for your Echo Show.
2. Next to Video URL, click Browse, open the Library tab and search for “portrait”. Pick your character.
3. Set Repeat count to -1 so the portrait keeps looping.
4. Save, then start the Flow from the console, a schedule or an Alexa Routine.

Tips

• To stop after a while, add a Wait node and then a Stop Media node.
• Want them silent? Create a Screen with the Full screen layout and a Video block (it loops and is muted by default), pick the portrait from the Library, and show it with a Screen node instead.
• Start a portrait when someone walks past for an extra jump, using a motion sensor as in #2.

#2 — Motion-sensor scare

Use a motion sensor, or an Echo that can detect people nearby, to play a sound and show a scary image when a guest walks into your “terror zone”.

How to set up

1. Create a new Flow and add an Audio node for your Speaker.
2. On the Audio File tab, click Browse and choose your scariest sound, either uploaded to My Media or pasted as a link.
3. If the Speaker is an Echo Show, set Background display to Custom image and pick a scary picture.
4. Save, and note the Flow’s request reference.
5. In the Alexa app, create a Routine with your motion sensor under When this happens and a Custom action: ask voice monkey to start flow 1234.

Tips

• Limit the Routine to certain times of day so you don’t scare yourself.
• For extra volume, create a separate Halloween Speaker for that Echo and add a Volume action before “open Voice Monkey” in its Routine. Only your scares will be loud, not your everyday announcements.

#3 — Possessed Echo Dot with Clock

Pull a quick prank by displaying an eerie message on an Echo Dot with Clock.

How to set up

1. Create a Speaker for your Echo Dot with Clock.
2. Create a Flow with a Character Display node, pick that Speaker, and type your message in Characters, for example HELP ME. Longer messages scroll.
3. Start it from the console, a schedule or an Alexa Routine.

Tips

• It’s a 7-segment display, so some letters look odd. Test your message first.
• You can also send a message straight from the Announcement API with the character_display parameter.

#4 — Haunted house ambience

Fill different rooms with the looping Witches Kitchen and Bedroom of Horrors soundscapes.

How to set up

1. Create a new Flow and add an Audio node for the first room’s Speaker.
2. On the Audio File tab, click Browse, open the Library tab and pick a soundscape from Halloween Soundscapes.
3. Add another Audio node for each room, with its own Speaker and sound.

Tips

• Soundscapes keep playing until you stop them or something else plays on that Echo. Add a Wait node, then a Stop Media node for each Speaker, to set how long the haunting lasts.
• Using your own long recordings? Add them on the Audio node’s Audio Tracks tab, which has no length limit.

#5 — Terrifying sound bomb

Suddenly every speaker erupts in screams, wails, rattling chains and ominous growls.

How to set up

1. Grab a handful of scary sounds. Upload them to My Media or host them elsewhere.
2. Create a Flow with one Audio node per Speaker, each playing a different sound.
3. Start it whenever you’re ready to cause chaos.

Tips

• For the same sound on every Echo at exactly the same moment, use a multi-room Speaker: one Speaker connected to several Echos. It also counts as one request, rather than one per Echo.
• Use free software like Audacity or GarageBand to craft your own sounds. Export them as MP3 and keep each clip under four minutes.

#6 — Trick or Treat?

Alexa asks “Trick or treat?” and does something different depending on the answer.

How to set up

1. Hide an Echo near the front door and create a Speaker for it.
2. Create a Flow with a Question node for that Speaker.
3. For the question, try: “Welcome, brave soul. Would you like a treat? Say yes for a treat, or no if you dare to be tricked.”
4. Set the answer type to Yes / No.
5. Add nodes to the Yes branch for the treat, the No branch for the trick, and the No answer branch for guests too scared to speak.
6. Start the Flow from a motion sensor or doorbell with an Alexa Routine.

Tips

• On an Echo Show, the answers appear as buttons guests can tap. For “Trick” and “Treat” buttons, use the First Name answer type with those two answers. Spoken answers are more reliable with Yes / No, because Alexa is listening for real first names.
• Give the question a sinister edge with the node’s Voice setting. On the Hobby and Ultimate plans you can use your own ElevenLabs voices, and newer ElevenLabs models follow cues like [whispers] and [laughs].
• Hide the speaker inside a pumpkin. Trick ideas: terrible music, a loud sound, smart sprinklers. Treat ideas: a smart pet feeder dispensing candy (wired up with a Routine Trigger node), or a friendly announcement.

#7 — Devilish doorbell

Replace your doorbell chime with a blood-curdling scream or a ghostly “Who’s there?”

How to set up

1. Switch off your current doorbell chime.
2. Create a Flow with an Audio node for the Echo nearest your door, and choose a suitably scary sound.
3. For a spoken “Who’s there?”, add a Speech node after it and pick a creepy voice.
4. Save, and note the Flow’s request reference.
5. In the Alexa app, create a Routine with your doorbell press under When this happens and a Custom action: ask voice monkey to start flow 1234.

Tip: the Halloween Speaker trick from #2 lets you turn this Echo right up without making every other announcement loud.

Bonus — countdown to the party

Hosting a Halloween party? A reminder can announce lead-ups like “One hour until the haunting begins” on up to 10 Speakers, then finish with a spoken countdown that hits zero right on time.

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As the witching hour approaches, you’re armed with Alexa’s most ghoulish automations. Have fun and stay safe.