How-To: The Crypt of the Phantasm

A lonely girl long ago From this world was ripped Now her floating ghostly form Haunts her lonely crypt This project creates a spooky crypt for your graveyard scene, where you can house the ethereal, floating form of a ghost. We introduced this prop to our haunt in 2004, and it was a great success. We had a steady stream of gawkers coming to check out our animated ghost, and she served as a considerable draw for our other attractions. As always, unless you want to be the ghost haunting the crypt, make sure you take all necessary safety precautions.

Materials

The total cost of this project runs in the $350 range, although there are several opportunities for cost savings, depending on what you're willing to sacrifice, or what you might have lying around your home. If the price is too steep for you, you can also spread the cost of this project over two years by having a static ghost the first year and adding the motorized puppet platform the following year.

The Ghost

You have two options for creating your ghost:

Option One: Motorized "Flying Crank" Ghost - $180 or less
First, you will need to build a Flying Crank Ghost. The people who originally created this effect, the good folks at Phantasmechanics and assemble it, provide full instructions on creating the ghost, and require only a moderate skill level. You can also purchase kits online (although, sadly, Phantasmechanics no longer sells them). You can reduce the cost of this option dramatically if you can scavenge a motor that turns at about 3-5 rpm.

Option Two: Static Ghost - About $10
If you don't want a motorized ghost, you can simply fabricate the puppet from the aforementioned Flying Crank Ghost instructions, and leaving out the motor assembly. If you want a little motion, you can use an oscillating fan. Note that you can use a static ghost your first year and add the motor platform the following year.

Just to help you make up your mind, here is some video of our "Flying Crank Ghost" in action. This should give you an idea of the sort of motion you can achieve with the motor platform.

The Crypt

To build the crypt, you will need:

• 18 1"x4"x8' wood boards
• 2 1"x1"x8' wood board
• Two large garden gate hinges
• 2 .5" PVC tubes
• 1 1" PVC tube
• Lots of wood screws, long enough to go through one and a half boards
• Lots of flat-head nails
• Twelve L-braces (a flat rectangle of metal bent to a 90° angle)
• Four flat L-braces (a flat "L" shaped piece of metal with four screw holes)
• Saw (a chop-saw is handy if you have one)
• 5 4'x8' sheets of pink insulating foam
• 1 gallon can flat black latex paint
• 1 29oz. can medium gray flat latex paint
• Large paint brushes
• Drop cloth
• Duct tape
• Utility razor or X-acto knife
• Dremel router (preferred) or soldering iron
• Fluorescent black light fixture
• Power strip and extension cord(s)
• CD player (optional)

These materials create a crypt that is about 7'6" tall and has a footprint of about 4'4" square. The roof is wider than the footprint, and is about seven feet from end to end.

The foam we use comes from Home Depot. We were unable to find it at our local Lowe's.

Note that a real crypt wouldn't only be four feet deep, unless it was for a very short person or a child. Since our visitors would only see the crypt from the front, this wasn't deemed a problem, but if you need a more realistic adult-size crypt, use these instructions and plan ahead to make a double-deep crypt.