The short film opens with Mater playing pranks on the other residents of Radiator Springs: moving Red's flowers, bursting out from a pile of tires to scare Guido and Luigi, dressing up as a cone vampire to scare Sally, attempting to scare Lizzie while she's sleeping (which is unsuccessful), moving Fillmore's gas cans back outside while he takes them in, and jumpscaring Lightning McQueen when he believes Mater is hiding behind a pile of cans ready to jump out (what was really behind the pile of cans is one of Mater's signs). This sequence culminates with Mater teasing McQueen as if he had seen "the Spooklight," a U.S. Route 66 legend recounted to Pixar by Dean Walker of the Route 66 association Kansas Historic Route 66 Association.