Thread: My planned 2009 tombstones... Tribute to the Haunted Mansion creators

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OK... so I've wanted to replace my old hokey original styrofoam tombstones for some time (seen here).



So, I saw Mr. Chicken's photos including his recreation of the "Master Gracey" tombstone. That led me to the decision to recreate all the tombstone found in the small cemetery that sits along the line-up queue at the Haunted Mansion!

I can't think of a better way to honour the Walt's "old men" who's famous dark ride attraction has (indirectly) influenced so much of my own haunt. I'm going to do these as realistic as possible using techniques learned from Terra and from the "Blackstone Cemetery" how-to's!

I so can't wait to get started! The following photos show what I plan to recreate for this halloween:

I should add, regarding the Madame Leota tombstone, I plan to have her eyes randomly flashing as if she's blinking! HA! I even already know how i'm going to do this! Am I excited or what? Sorry... I'll calm down now!

In fact someone's already done the lightup eyes that follow you. I plan to do the same but with the blinking as well.... hopefully... this is my plan.

YouTube - My Homemade Leota Tombstone

... And thank you Mr. Chicken for the inspiration!

Mr. Grimsley

Are you going to make a light inside the tomb stone flash for the blinking? very cool might i add.

Wow, I'm excited to see this as well. I did not know the Leota tombstone moved like that.

Originally Posted by Mr Grimsley

... And thank you Mr. Chicken for the inspiration!

Mr. Grimsley

Happy to inspire somebody!

I think that's going to be really cool to have all of them!

When I made Gracey's, I took a picture of it off the internet, brought it into Photoshop, reduced it to a black and white outline (I think with brightness/contrast), scaled it to full size, and printed it on a number of sheets of printer paper, which I taped together and then used as a template to carve out the letters like this: The Skeleton's Hand: 2008 Countdown #4

I didn't put a whole lot of time into it, but I think you can do some really amazing things if you do.

With the moving eyes you could use a gemmy talking candy dish and take the eyes
out with the controller.

Don't just toss your old stones, they might be able to be filled back in and then you can recarve on the backs. I know wood putty works to fill the cracks BEFORE they are painted...not sure if it would work on top of paint but caulk probably will.

Terra, I so agree!... I love the Leota Tombstone. It's so subtle. I've seen youtube videos where the kids are telling mom & dad that it moved and the parents are just thinking it's their kids' imaginations! LOL. Have never seen it in person but I hope to in the next few years.

My plan is fairly simple. Failing being able to hack the eyes from a Gemmy Talking Skull into my tombstone, I was thinking of making the eyes concave like the video above (the old following eyes trick). The face itself would be hollow of course. My thought was to place a very short christmas light string with only 2 white lights within the head. One of the lights would be a blinker (with the red tip) that normally blinks the entire string. I've tested them and found them to be random enough to look like blinking.

If I really get involved, I may even hack a PIR motion sensor into the whole thing so she only comes to life when people are near! Maybe even have the hollow sounds of her incantations heard floating through the air? WOW... and this is just one tombstone, but the possibilities are endless!

Muahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Calloween, I'm definitely going to check out the Gemmy Talking Skull for possibilities!

Mr. Chicken, I like your idea for scribing the epitaphs! Definitely going to try that... thank you once again!

PS. I noticed the youtube video of the real Leota Tombstone was "disabled by request" (who's request, I don't know). I hope I didn't step over the line in posting that. I will check with the rules again to make sure my posts abide by them. :OP I have since removed the link to that video.

A video's uploader has the option to make it not viewable if embedded. You did nothing wrong; in fact, you can put it back in your post. We can just click the link to watch it ourselves.