Thread: bottomless grave??

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I have a mirror that we took out of one of our bathrooms that is roughly 4 x 5 foot. I hadn't been able to come up with anything really great for it...

Please tell me this is stupid. I have no idea how to ask Dh to dig up our front yard. he already thinks I have too many ideas and need to be "reined in."

If I cut the mirror in half lengthwise, I'd have two 2 x 5 foot mirrors. One of them would have the backing scraped off, and put on the mirrored window stuff that does the 2 way mirror effect, and then I could rig up a box and do the bottomless pit thing (earthy with worms and bones sticking out), but bury it about a foot or so into the yard and mound over mulch or dirt over the edges of the box to get the effect of a bottomless grave. Stick a tombstone at the head of it, and an old shovel in the dirt, and you've got a nice scene.

I'm sure there are some details I'm forgetting, but it would be a cool effect and something sort of different than the regular pits.

Don't forget a border or railing of some sort so you don't end up having a cut up tot under your lawn.

Good thought - our graveyard is completely enclosed with a fence (about 3 foot high). BUT it's something to think about if we get a kid that falls in towards the effect. Glass + hurt kid + godawful mess on the lawn... hmmmm.

To really see the effect for a 'bottomless pit' you do have to almost be on top of it, and it needs to be darker outside of it than inside.

Originally Posted by Frankie's Girl

Good thought - our graveyard is completely enclosed with a fence (about 3 foot high). BUT it's something to think about if we get a kid that falls in towards the effect. Glass + hurt kid + godawful mess on the lawn... hmmmm.

But at that point you could just fill it in

Come on...tell me no one else was thinking it

I really like the idea. It would be really cool to incorparate in into a grave yard. But it would be a good idea to put up somthing arounf it so know one can fall on it.

its a great idea... really it is - but think of it in terms of risk/reward...

worst possible risk - mortally wounded child in your yard (and no - not the good kind).
best possible reward - a stellar, cool effect that people will notice if they look down, while in the dark, while looking for the front porch for candy.

I wouldn't - sorry. the probability is low that anything bad will happen, but if that 1% chance happens - at that point, it will be bad.
really, really bad.
how would you feel running out into your yard after hearing "crash!"...


how about applying it to a crypt FCG... put the mirrors horizontal, instead of vertical.

A safer way might be to have a fullsize coffin on top of the grave with the lid open. Have the bottomless effect at the bottom of the coffin. Make the bottom broken looking, like the bottom fell out (along with the corpse) into the dark abyss.
Just a thought.

There is a haunt I went to last year, and they used a bottomless pit idea that was very good. I am certain there was thick Plexiglas over the "pit"... you could almost see it as you approached the scene. There was a narrow ledge and you had to scoot along the wall sideways. From that angle it looked like a deep pit. The best little detail they added was that the "ledge" where people were sidling by was just a bit higher than the "pit." Everyone in our group of 10 admitted to putting their foot at the edge to feel what they expected was a level surface, even with the floor. Having the changed level gave a real feeling of a ledge. If you tried to do something more along these lines, you might even be able to create the pit in a box type prop complete with a ledge, and that it could be stored and used again. One note about the mirror; one that large might be tempered and I don't think you'll be able to cut it if it is. I really like the bottomless pit idea, it's something I hope to add in the future. I sure you can figure out a way to have a pit of some sort.

Great idea, but I hate to think of you scraping off all that mirror stuff off the glass and ruining a perfectly good mirror (for another effect) in the process. I'd price plexiglass (safer) and window glass (to save work and mirror) before you start scraping.