Are those ghosts real?

We get a lot of questions when we are standing outside the Graveyard on nights when all the effects are running.....that is one of my favorites....and a surprisingly common question....from 6-10 year olds :D

Okay people, the ghost effects in the Graveyard are good (puffs up feathers) but they are no where near that good :D

My favorite answer to that is that real ghosts are too unreliable, so we make our own. :)

Anyway, to dispel a bit of the magic, here is how the screen for the ghosts in the crypt goes together.

We built a wood frame about 8 feet tall and 4 feet wide.

Since this effect is projected from the back of the crypt, we use rear projection screen material from Rose brand to avoid a hot spot from the light in the projector.

We store the screens in the basement to keep them safe (It gets hot in the upstairs of the shop in the summer) and then we unroll them - supervised by Hal, of course, and tape them with black gaffers tape to the wooden frame.

I tack all the edges down and then go around and pull it tight and tape completely around all the edges.

Pulling it tight and taping it removes the wrinkles and helps keep it from sagging during the season.

It then is tacked into the inside of the crypt along the support piece at the top. (not the best picture, sorry.)

The back of the crypt is missing so that the projection is shown through it on to the screen.

That is how you we get the eerie ghost in the crypt effect.