Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Life size skeleton



So anyone who knows me knows that Halloween is my favorite holiday.
Although I love the fall and people who decorate their houses with fall colors and leaves and such for Halloween... I myself, like the creepy decorating.




Although I was way too lazy last year to decorate the outside, ha... didn't even do the inside. I did decorate the year before.


 
We made a cemetery in the yard... even a archway for the cemetery. My husband bought wood and made me a gallow's. 
I found old clothes and filled it with newspaper and bought a styrofoam head and covered it with a pillow case, since I could not find burlap. 
 
But this year I would like to pull the gallows back out, now that the wood is seasoned and dirty and old looking.... but don't want a lame looking body hanging from it. I would love to buy a skeleton and put ragged, torn, old, dirty clothes on it, to hang off the gallows.


As I was looking around for the price on a full size skeleton, I came across a blog that someon asked about making a skeleton rather then buying one. 

I found this one answer quite amusing and wanted to share.


Cheapest way to make a good quality skeleton is to hunt around you neighborhood looking for somebody the approximate size of the skeleton you need. Ask 'em over for a drink/house warming party or whatever works for you. As soon as they're comfortable you slip the poison into their drink.


I can't stress this enough...Poison, Poison, Poison. Do NOT make the novice mistake of trying to crack them over the skull. It's WAY more difficult to get clean kill with a blunt object and the more resistance you encounter the more chance of damaging the skeleton you're trying to harvest. Drain cleaner works fine, but don't be afraid of the classics. You really can't go wrong with cyanide or arsnic. I personally use over the counter sleeping pills, but I've got issues of my own. As soon as your donor is out cold, feel free to finish him/her off in any manner you like just be careful not to damage the all important skeleton.

Now I know what you're thinking. "Sure, I've got a body but how the Hell do I get the skeleton out of there?" Not a problem. Depending on time and space constraints you've got a couple of options. First don't be afraid of the bath tub. VERY useful for draining the body out and you can use it later for bone clean-up. Personally I use an abandoned house for this part of the process as it eliminates the problems of any unwanted smells and stains where I live.

Anyway, depending on time you can either use a good butcher set to clean the bones, just be VERY careful not to damage anything, or go with my preferred method and just dump the body into a tub full of Hydrochloric Acid for about a month. Hydrochloric is easily attainable from most hardware stores as a drain cleaner...just don't make the rookie mistake of buying it all at once. Spread your purchases around...different stores, different times.

Once the flesh has dissolved you're gonna need some chemical resistant gloves. I get mine from Harbor Freight, but whatever works for you. Pull out ALL of the bones. There are a lot of small bones in the human body and you don't want to accidentally send any down the drain. There's nothing more annoying than a missing finger on your skeleton.

After you've harvested all the bones, drain the tub, scoop out all the excess goo and dispose of it properly. Remember this stuff is a serious bio-hazard and you don't want any innocent animals getting into it. Just don't try to send it all down the drain. Nothing more annoying than a slow moving or clogged bathtub drain.

Anyway, give the bones a good rinse, to get the acid off then start dropping them into a pot of boiling water. This is CRUCIAL. YOU MUST BOIL THE BONES FOR 10 TO 15 MINUTES TO DESTROY THE MARROW. If you don't boil your bones you'll end up with a greasy, stinky skeleton that will simply draw attention away from the rest of your haunt.

That's pretty much it. Just re-assemble the skeleton using lightweight wire and display as desired.OR you could just buy a Bucky skeleton from the Anatomical Chart Company. Your call. 

http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-props/64385-how-do-you-make-cheap-skeletons.html

1 comment:

Laura said...

hahah that is effin awesome! I have a few people I could donate to the cause to see if it really works!!!