My little tombstones

Robyn's quick and dirty Halloween pics page

I joined the Halloween-l last year just before Halloween. I was looking for resources for a work-related project, but discovered that I was interested in what other list subscribers were doing.

I built a flying crank ghost last year and was so delighted, I decided to have a party so everyone could come see it. I made a few tombstones, too, and I was hooked.

Inspired by Bob Andrews' cemetery gate, and Wil's 'Schock Manor' entrance, I decided I wanted some sort of entrance, as well. I got my brother to weld me a sign. The rerod sign is 8' long and each letter is 1' high. I built the 6' plywood standards that anchor the sign, then covered the plywood with over 160 polystyrene "stones" carved and painted to look like the real limestone facade on my little tudor house. I even caulked the blasted things, then added two skulls I ordered from Stolleffects in Michigan. The skulls are set into a hole in the plywood, and a pvc pipe runs up from the ground, and into the skulls about three inches to secure them. I relize this doesn't not make them theft-proof, so there's one 1' by 3' panel on each standard that unscrews so I can get in and remove the skulls.

Finally, I used the little recordable digital playback unit from Terror by Design to "growl" at people as they cross by the skulls.

One thing I was totally unprepared for was the universally positive feedback I've gotten from neighbors. After hearing so many stories about neighbors complaining or harassing Halloween enthusiasts, I was prepared for some friction. However, this project has brought my neighbors out their doors to cheer me on. One day while I was applying the stones, a little old lady I'd never really spoken with came out her door and signalled for my attention. Here we go, I thought. Then she yelled across the street, "I can hardly wait for you to get finished! It looks so real!"

Here are more photos

Check out Hell's Half Acre, the Halloween content I created (with the help of lots of other talented folks, espeically our designers) on the Star Tribune's site. It includes some great collabrative stuff, including a great haunted house hide-and-seek game for kids, a morph of a couple of our staff members being turned into monsters by a professional make-up artist, live shots from Spooky World, and video and audio of our trek with a professonal ghost-buster to four sites in the Twin Cities said to be haunted.

Holler if you have questions or comments!

Robdoc@startribune.com