'Happy Halloween' Google Doodle Features 1,000 Pound Pumpkins (VIDEO)

Google wished search engine users "Happy Halloween" today with a new video doodle that shows a team of crafty Googlers carving six enormous pumpkins to spell out the search engine's name.

The pumpkins are huge -- one weighed 1,298 pounds -- and the 41 second time-lapse video that serves as Google's Halloween themed doodle shows people passing back and forth in front of the evolving pumpkins, which are propped up on bales of hay. The video begins with six people, but the crowd grows and more people, some dressed in costume, begin to appear. A Santa makes a cameo, as does Google's green Android bot, (Check out the "Happy Halloween" doodle in the video above).

Google employees spent an entire day meticulously carving these huge but fragile gourds all the while hoping that they wouldn't collapse on top of them, according to a "behind the scenes" video Google released.

"A regular pumpkin is about human head size, and this is much much larger [...] [I]nstead of feeling in control you think that at any given time this could potentially consume you," one thoughtful doodler says of the process.

Some of the carvers had more basic problems. One said, "I spent the first part of the morning figuring out which side of the knife was sharp."

Since the first doodle in 1998, there have been over 1,000 different designs for Google homepages around the world. The company even has a whole design team specifically for choosing and creating the doodles. The selection process involves input from the general public, and people can even submit their own designs. Images of all of the doodles can be seen here.

The result of the doodler's work, which is lit by lightbulbs attached to a flicker box to simulate candlelight, can be seen in the video above. Also, check out the behind the scenes video below to see what goes into carving pumpkins that have a rind 6 inches thick.

Comments

[OhMyDog]

03:37 PM on 11/02/2011

Considering the size of the pumpkins and the available talen, I think their carving was pretty lame. They couldn't come up with something more artistic than some weakly carved letters. What a waste of those great pumpkins and potential resources. Did they all have hangovers or what?

[Marie Russell-Barker]

02:21 PM on 11/02/2011

Go Google You are the best!

[onasphere]

02:14 PM on 11/02/2011

I'd like to watch that frame by frame. They snuck some good stuff in there.

[shirleycox]

02:49 AM on 11/02/2011

It's a lovely logo, I am amazed at the size of your half moon bay pumpkins. How do you manage to grow them so big? Have you used Advanced Nutrients's ( http://bit.ly/voKv5k ) hydroponic nutrients for this bigger yields?

[kadellagroove]

11:38 PM on 11/01/2011

"L" is cute

[DaWahine]

04:47 PM on 11/01/2011

I thought it was awesome. Now I woulf like to see all the pies that were made from them, or watch the time lapse of the rotting pumpkins. (My kids enjoyed that as much as carving and lighting them.)

[LiberalGuyUSA]

12:40 PM on 11/01/2011

This is really cool. I like how Google comes up with great ideas for every holiday. I just made pumpkin puree for my 10 month old son. He loves it.

[MJinCanada]

08:11 PM on 10/31/2011

Very nice.

But I can't help wondering how many pumpkin pies and other pumpkin goodies you could get out of a 1,200 pounder. (You can use pumpkin as a veggie too -- cook it up with apples and butter, or add it to chicken or turkey soup with curry or applesauce.)

[ajwriter]

11:56 PM on 11/02/2011

I read an article about competitive giant pumpkin growing, and given what they feed 'em -- Dawn dish liquid? -- I wouldn't eat 'em.

[Al Schrader]

06:43 PM on 10/31/2011

So they wore their Google Goggles to Gouge a Gaggle of Gourds...ok....Al-

[wilray]

05:11 PM on 10/31/2011

When I first read the headlines, I thought that is a lot of pumpkins, then I realized that the pumpkins actually weighed more than a pound apiece.

[FDRinhell]

05:01 PM on 10/31/2011

Ahhh those silly Googlers... having a fun time while their corporation amasses all of our private information in their databases.

[kadellagroove]

11:32 PM on 11/01/2011

you have the option to sign off and un plug.

[quovadiszero]

01:40 PM on 10/31/2011

Would make nice pods for the homeless.

[Keith House]

02:15 PM on 10/31/2011

Food and shelter.

[emerson7]

11:51 PM on 10/31/2011

....and fuel.

[MechantPapi]

12:18 PM on 10/31/2011

E.T the extra-terrestrial Halloween special, what really happened!
http://bit.ly/vuIHo5

[Heidi Thornton]

11:55 AM on 10/31/2011

Where's the time lapse?

[Lyn Bartlett]

04:52 PM on 10/31/2011

www.google.com

[Moe Sislak]

11:50 AM on 10/31/2011

Glad no one's going to sleep hungry in America that some of that pumpkin could feed, oh wait, there are.

[nycbunny]

12:13 PM on 10/31/2011

Oh please not everything has to be soo awful, lighten up and TRY to have a nice Autumn day.

[mumtaz nepal]

01:07 PM on 10/31/2011

Giant pumpkins aren't edible, btw. They are bred only to be big.

[Al Schrader]

06:49 PM on 10/31/2011

Any pumpkin is edible. You have to pass the flesh through a seive then use it for pumpkin pie, etc....Alfred-