John Gray Tombstone

Even with only minutes to spare until the big night, I was able to crank out one more tombstone prop for this year's yard display! An homage to Boris Karloff's third greatest screen character, cabman and grave robber John Gray from the 1945 film, The Body Snatcher!

"Here Lies Cabman John Gray. The Body Snatcher of Edinburgh. Died October 31, 1831 in The 56th Year of His Life."

I had revisited this underrated classic earlier this month and decided to do a quick tombstone prop for Karloff's character. While the name Karloff is quickly associated with the names "Frankenstein" and "Imhotep," I now add "John Gray" to my list! If you haven't seen the film yet, I highly recommend it!

I ended up making this prop in two separate sections, joining them together with dowel rods and adhesive. After everything was set up and carved, I did a quick three-step paint job: a full basecoat of black, followed by a full whitewash and then ending with a watered down green spritzing. 

Another quick turnaround on a uniquely shaped stone that will look great in my display!

  

Potter's Field Cross Props

The unfortunate, lost souls of Highbury Cemetery. Buried without identity or proper ceremony. Cast aside, relegated to the potter's field...

Prop making is underway for the 2011 season and I decided to whip out some quick and easy potter's field cross tombstones. They will be scattered in the neighbor's yard, on the other side of my driveway, so that when the trick-or-treaters walk up for their candy this year, they will find themselves within the cemetery. And its residents.

I lucked out in that all of the wood used for this project was from an old cedar fence that we had replaced last year. Luckily, the haunter in me wanted to keep all of the wood because it could be used for some kind of project in the future. And voila! I simply took a sawzall and cut the boards in differing sizes for the vertical and horizontal pieces. I then took some of the cut pieces and split them lengthwise so that each cross would have a different look (I did the first four using the full width of the board, and when they were next to each other, they began to take on an old western look, which I didn't want). I quickly screwed the boards together with some drywall screws to form the crosses and tied some old rope around the middle for some detail.

(For final detailing, I'll add some cobwebs, spanish moss and maybe a crow or two. Nothing too detailed, as these crosses will be on the outside of the main cemetery, simply adding some space filler and support for my tombstones. I will cast an orange light across the front of the crosses to give it a nice, dull highlight. Finally, I'll probably throw one of my old foggers and a chiller in the bushes to get some fog to roll across everything.)

I then attached 2 1/4" one-hole conduit straps on the back. These straps will simply slide over a 1/4" rebar post in the ground and hold the cross in place.

A quick start to this year's prop-making season! I knocked 12 crosses out in one evening and with the varying sizes and shapes, they will add more space and interest to the new potter's field in my cemetery haunt (while keeping any trick-or-treaters from cutting through the yard to get to my door). Plus, it means that the haunt is now overflowing into the neighbor's yard. All kinds of new space to incorporate!!