HAUNTED HOUSE PUMPKINS
Haunted house pumpkin carving ideas and free stencils
A haunted house pumpkin works like a real house at night: the house is dark and the windows glow. Leave the house as uncut pumpkin, cut the windows and door so light comes through, and cut a moon or sky behind the roofline. A crooked roof, a tower and a few bare trees are enough to set the scene.
Free stencils to print
Each one prints at actual size on Letter or A4 and passed our carving checks, so every piece stays attached. Black areas are cut away and glow.
Ideas
Lit windows only
Etch the outline of a house and cut just the windows and an open door. Lit, the house seems to have its lights on inside. Leave window frames and crossbars as pumpkin so each window looks like four panes.
House against the moon
Cut a large moon behind the house so the roof, chimney and tower stand out as a dark silhouette. Cut the windows too, and they glow inside the dark shape.
Crooked tower
Draw a narrow tower with a pointed roof leaning slightly to one side. A tilt sells the haunted look better than adding detail.
Bare tree and house
Put a twisted bare tree beside the house, with a few thick branches reaching over the roof. Leave the tree as uncut pumpkin in front of a cut sky, and keep each branch a finger wide.
Ghost in the window
Cut one large window and leave a small ghost shape inside it, joined to the frame at its head. The ghost shows dark against the glow, like a figure looking out.
Bats over the roof
Add three or four small bats flying above the roofline. Cut them so they glow in the sky, or leave them dark if the sky is cut.
Gate and graveyard
Add a fence of tall pickets along the bottom and a few rounded headstones in front of the house. Leave the pickets as pumpkin and cut the gaps between them, and cut the headstones so they glow.
Wraparound village
Carve a row of houses around the whole pumpkin, each with one or two glowing windows. Turned slowly or seen from different sides, it looks like a street at night.
Carving tips
- Decide first whether the house is dark against a cut sky or glowing on its own. Mixing the two on one roofline makes it hard to read.
- Every window crossbar and frame is a bridge. Keep them at least a finger wide, or the panes merge into one hole.
- Cut the windows before the sky or moon, while the house still has plenty of wall supporting it.
- Chimneys, spires and fence pickets are thin upright pieces. Draw them wider than you think you need.
- Use a large, smooth-sided pumpkin. A scene with many small windows needs a flat area to fit the pattern.
- Place the pumpkin where people see it at night. The glowing windows are the point, and they don't show in daylight.
More help: Photograph a jack-o'-lantern at night.
Carve something that's yours
CarveKin also makes a pattern from your own photo: your dog, your cat, your kid. We draw a few designs, repair them so every piece stays attached, and you print the one you like at the size you choose. One pattern is $4.99.
Make a pattern from your photo
More pumpkin carving ideas
Stencils were drawn from AI-made sample images and illustrations. Glowing views are digital previews, not photos of carved pumpkins.