couchtripper

I had to redo this thread as it got lost in the mess-up...

It certainly beats a pumpkin...
Friday, October 20, 2006

For most people, a hollowed-out pumpkin with a candle inside is enough. Some might even go for a witch, a ghost or a warlock or two. But these traditional displays at Hallowe'en were not enough for Steve Chambers. Inspired by the TV series Lost*, the 25-year-old aviation mechanic has staged a fake plane crash in his front garden ? which is so realistic it even fooled the police. One officer who drove by was so taken in by the upside-down remains of a Gulfstream jet ? complete with fake legs sticking out of the bottom ? he nearly called for back-up. 'It really caught my eye and I thought maybe a plane had crashed,' officer Greg Andrachick said. 'But I spoke to the owner and he told me he was setting up a Hallowe'en display.'

Mr Chambers picked up the parts from scrap at Western Jet Aviation in Van Nuys, California, where he works. 'It's a G3 Gulfstream which we've made to look like it crash-landed in front of my house,' he explained. 'It's all fun for Hallowe'en.'

It is not the first time Mr Chambers has gone for a grand Halloween celebration. Previous displays have included The Grinch Steals Christmas and a Pirates of the Caribbean theme. This year's tableau is sealed off with yellow caution tape, while a sign reads 'Do not enter: Under investigation'.

His latest creation has drawn a mixed response: 'Lots of people give the thumbs up, and a few middle fingers have been put up as well,' he said. But plans are in hand for 2007 already. 'Next Hallowe'en it will be a 747 sitting on my lawn,' he vowed. *Though it seems a bit more Donnie Darko to us, frankly.

---------------

haha, good one. I read another story about this which said he'd put fake legs under the fuselage too - brilliant...

Pumpkin record? Boston wants to smash it
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | October 21, 2006

It will take 900 volunteers wielding plastic spoons and serrated knives, riding golf carts to speed around, and brandishing barbecue lighters for the final moment of truth. It will require the services of an accounting firm to certify the results. And it will require the help of hundreds of Bostonians, who have tried and failed for the last two years to make their mark in history, to break the world record for the most pumpkins lit in one place at one time.

The record of 28,952 glowing jack-o'-lanterns has been held since 2003 by the city's bucolic neighbor to the north, Keene, N.H. Today , Boston will try to smash that record by lighting 30,000 pumpkins at 5:45 p.m. on the Boston Common. If organizers succeed, the city's historic green will be transformed into a sea of glowing orange gourds, and bragging rights will be Boston's. But Keene, scrappy champion and self-professed underdog, will be trying to hold onto its record today by lighting 30,000 pumpkins along its Main Street.

No one knows until the last gourd is lit which city will tally the most jack-o'-lanterns, but both cities are cautiously predicting a victory, saying they have put in the long, hard hours of planning and mustered the necessary armies of volunteers. "We feel pretty confident that if we can get a little bit of help from the public, we can get there," said Jim Laughlin, a spokesman for Life is Good, the Boston-based clothing company that is sponsoring the city's pumpkin festival. "We've got a great shot to get 30,000 this year."

Boston's festival reached 16,000 two years ago and more than 24,500 last year. Organizers said they chose the goal of 30,000 as a way to rally volunteers. Suzanne Woodward -- an event coordinator for Center Stage Cheshire County, an event-planning company in Keene that is organizing that city's bid -- stressed that small-town pride is on the line. Keene has about 23,000 residents, a fraction of Boston's population of about 560,000, she said. "It's more of a challenge for us to try get to 30,000 than it would be for Boston, but we've got great spirit here, so I think we've got a shot at it," Woodward said in a telephone interview yesterday as she unloaded pumpkins in the rain.

About 20 other cities across the country also will take a run at the record this fall, including the first try by Bennington, Vt., next weekend.

--------------