Halloween automation

[Marc Fuller <groups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Guys,

I need you electronic experts help please !

Let me explain. I had a blast last night scaring the local kids to tears
(literally in some cases). I have a small porch on the front of my house
which I decorated with the usual spiders, skeletons etc and then filled
the room with smoke from a smoke machine. I put a red light on the floor
pointing up to give an eerie glow and sat there with a camera flash for
lightening. I also had a CD playing with scary music and thunder.
Watching a small tv though the main front door I could see approaching
victims and just as they were about to know I'd jump out and scare em
silly.

All good fun.

Now to my question. There has to be an easier way to duplicate thunder
and lightning. I see there are loads of pre-made thunder and lightning
machines in the US but obviously costs and voltage difference is a
problem. I've searched high and low for sources in the UK with very
little luck.

So, bearing in mind my total lack of electronics knowhow can anyone
think of a good way to achieve this ? Ideally a controller that uses
sound (e.g a CD playing random thunder)  to control a photoflood or
strobe light.

Any ideas ? Anyone done anything similar

Cheers

Marc