Pumpkin Chuckin’ Getting all medieval on Halloween

HALLOWEEN HOWITZER: Although not exactly falling into the “medieval” category, Russel Olmsted’s (at the helm) crowd-pleasing homemade “Halloween Howitzer” does fall into the “Efficiently Destructive” category as the compressed air can propel a 1000-caliber pumpkin out of its 10-inch barrel up to a distance of 400 yards. On this day, the target car at a distance of around 75 yards doesn’t stand a chance.

This year saw six machines of varying pumpkin-tossing design vying for the destruction of the target car, with all of the entries displaying a lot of engineering and construction talent: four trebuchets (“a medieval military engine for hurling missiles with great force”), a ballista (same purpose as a trebuchet only in a large crossbow design) and of course the non-medievalish crowd pleaser, the “Halloween Howitzer.”

But whether the destruction was done via the graceful and slow arc of a trebuchet-launched pumpkin or the straight, bullet-like suddenness of the Howitzer, any way you looked at it, fun was had by all.

“FIRE IN THE HOLE!” Wyatt Brown gets into the medieval spirit of the event with a warning shout as he prepares to launch another pumpkin from his trebuchet.

A car was demolished, the sights and sounds of dozens of exploding pumpkins, yells of “fire in the hole” peppering the crisp autumn air: Halloween just doesn’t get any better than this.