Revised 12 Ft. Skeleton Prop

The revised 12-foot skeleton prop for 2025!

We're getting down to the wire, but I was still able to get one more prop off of the "to do" list! A few years ago, I picked up the popular 12-foot skeleton from Home Depot, as I needed to add some height to my display. I originally corpsed the head and added a full reaper's cloak made from a roll of black fabric and creepy cloth, ensuring that it looked different to all of the other 12 foot skeletons in all of the other yards. 

Halloween, 2024.

And while I liked that initial look, I didn't LOVE it. It always looked a little too "cartoon-y" and the proportions always looked off. And whenever it got wet from rain, it became very heavy and everything would sag. So after last year's incident where the base and head snapped and broke due to being blown over from high winds, I knew this was the year to completely revamp him...

High wind damage, Halloween, 2024.

I first secured a replacement base and a new head-to-neck junction to replace the broken pieces. After all of the replacement pieces were gathered and installed, I first went to work staining the entire skeleton. I wanted to get that darker, more aged and dried look. And while it took a bit for the stain to fully dry on a few of the pieces due to the nature of the smooth plastic, it immediately looked ten times better than the corpsed flesh treatment I had originally done.

Replacement head-to-neck junction from Frawsted Creations.

The next step was to add a new cloak. And based on a cool reference photo shared by Cemetery friend Brent Wilson, I wanted to add whisps of fabric to further the decayed look. This lighter treatment of fabric would also keep the entire skeleton lighter in weight overall, and less likely to catch and winds and possibly get blown over again.

I ended up using the original old black fabric, cut into long thin strips, and then loosely wrapped around the legs and arms, further adding larger tattered pieces for the waist and shoulders. I added a few pieces of tattered stretched creepy cloth as highlight accent pieces over that and called it done. A lot less fabric ended up looking way better!

For restraining the overall approach to detailing it, I couldn't be any happier with the final look. A quick turnaround and setup in a new location toward the back my display was just the refresh it needed. I added an off-white uplighting to add that extra bit of creepiness and attention at night and now it's once again a main focal point in the Cemetery, towering over the rest of the props in the display.