A Spooky Halloween Tree

One of the spookiest trees out there, in my humble opinion, is the Black Locust tree (Robinia pseudoacacia).

It's trunk is covered in thick, deep furrows (grooves) making it look sinister to the touch.

In addition, the branches are gnarled and twisted, which can create an eerie silhouette on a leafless, winter evening.

The Black Locust tree can grow to a height of 50 feet if given the right amount of space.

A tree that large is too big for the inside of my house.

So instead, we decided to make our own spooky looking tree, complete with spiders and monsters:

I found some twigs in my yard and had my children paint them black. I stuck them into a pumpkin container filled with rocks and covered the base with artificial black leaves.
Then we created monster heads - some have five eyes, some only have one! The kids had a great time creating different monster variations. We added a few store bought spiders and cats to the tree as a finishing touch. I think it looks rather spooky, don't you?