These Halloween houses are perfect for spooky season.

When you get right down to it, Halloween is all about the mystery of what lies inside other people’s houses. Sometimes it’s investigating what is causing the strange events connected to that spooky house on the hill. Sometimes it’s just a question of finding out which house on the block is handing out the best candy. Thomas Gion and his partner have built an ode to both situations with these seasonal microscale vignettes.

Happy Halloween: Haunted House & Trick-Or-Treat

There’s something definitely amiss at this haunted house. You can never trust a neighbor with a trio of gravestones in their front yard. I’m not even sure that’s legal. And that gnarled tree looks like its branches could reach down and snatch up any intruders to the yard. (But that might just be because the branches are droid arms.) This all too spooky. The trio of bats flying away from the house has the right idea, let’s get out of here!

Happy Halloween: Haunted House

Now this suburban Craftsman-style home is a little more my speed. Giant spider on the tree, ghosts dancing near the window, a jack-o-lantern – this is the kind of yard décor that says, “We take the holiday seriously and we’re handing out the good chocolate.” But they’ve left their candy out in an “honor system” bowl. Unusual choice. This could be a trap. We walk up to get some candy and a man in a werewolf mask jumps out at us. I’m not falling for that. This house might look straightforward but there’s a lot of deceptively complex technique at work, like those stairs made from stacked sideways panels. Yeah, these people can’t be trusted. Let’s get out of here, too!

Happy Halloween: Trick-Or-Treat