The cemetery has a place in everyone's mind, all of us are frail in our mortality and The Cemetery is a reminder of how mortal we really are. Because of this relationship, I try to use my cemetery as a lighter side of death and always place it outside.
First I establish that, no matter how good it looks, it is not a real cemetery. I do this with artwork, silly signs, absurd tombstone captions and even a tombstone for the Disney Mouse with a cartoon hand reaching out of the grave. Some of the tombstones have coffins bursting out of the ground and their occupants bursting out of the coffins. I use arms, legs and an occasional head. Complete coffins are cut in half at an angle. This way I get two coffin scenes for the price of one coffin. Air rams made from tire pumps or door closers are used to pop body parts out of coffins close to the customer path area. A technician manually operates these. The cemetery is a set. I do not believe that it should try to a part of reality; instead it is a major distraction for the customers. After the customer has been "entertained" I set out to scare the bee gee gees out of him. The distraction is the absurd cemetery. The prelude to fright is the specters that roam the grounds. I use lovely young ladies in white gowns, some with basic white face and others with horror faces. The cemetery spirits take turns between harmlessly roaming and providing startles for the customers. Fog pours into the area. I paint the fog with colored lights; control its direction and density. Mixing my own fog juice from the base chemicals gives me control over its hang time in varying weather conditions. Yes, wind sucks my fog out like it would for anyone else, but when the cemetery is right the effect is awesome and this happens most of the time. Hanging from trees are dummies in assorted states of decomposition. As they travel the path around one corner a dummy swings very close to the customers, passing over their heads. Another corner and a dummy swings low, in front of them, briefly blocking the path, providing a fair scare. Half way through the cemetery customers view a crude autopsy. A specter may be playing with body parts or continuing the butchery with an appropriate instrument. The finale to the 300-foot trek through the cemetery is a visit by a Leatherface type creature. Leatherface needs a chainsaw, a real chainsaw with a blade. Too dangerous you say, of course it is, anyone using a real blade is a fool. You will be amazed at how many customers do not know that. I gave my chainsaw a blade with illusion. Near the exit we have a very large tombstone, about four feet high. Concealed in the tombstone is a motorized grinding wheel. The chainsaw starts as our creature walks towards the customers. You always have a customer that says, "There is no blade, it can't hurt you." Well, well, my actor approaches the tombstone with the hidden grinder, he steps on a platform switch and the grinder spins up to speed (you don't want it making noise till the chainsaw sound can drown it). He then takes the chainsaw blade and grinds it. From the customers point of view it appears that the chainsaw is cutting stone. The sparks fly, the customers react, the creature chases the customers as they run for their lives. When the actor leaves the platform switch, the grinder spins down and stops. The chainsaw blade is not the original. I have a sheet metal shop make several blanks and while I am at it, I make them longer. The cemetery requires three actors for normal operation. The central corridor design allows me to dedicate only one actor during slow operational hours because I can rotate additional actors according to customer flow. During peak operation I use up to six actors and two chainsaws. The chainsaws take turns, each working a different group of customers. The second group feels safe as the creature chases the first, turns off his chainsaw and wanders away. Until they hear the second chainsaw start-up… The tombstone with the grinder has a limited viewing area, customers can hear the chainsaw as they enter the cemetery, but they cannot see it or the tombstone with grinder. My cemetery designs take advantage of the site. I include any spooky looking trees, mild variations in elevation and shrubs. The ground is covered with mulch, because October is a rainy month. I enclose the area with 4x8' wall units and the internal path with a combination of 4x8' panels and 4x3' picket fence sections. The internal 4x8' units shield areas of the cemetery and provide hiding spots for actors. The fence sections reveal areas of the cemetery for customer viewing. The path must have many changes in direction. This helps to disorientate customers and provides many opportunities for scaring them. The largest opened area will be the finale. A cemetery of this type could be constructed in a fenced in backyard. Sheets (muslin) stretched over 4x8' 1x2" frames would work. Panels made this way provide an additional scare potential. The translucent quality of sheets works with misdirection. Place several 4x8' muslin panels together, leading to a fence. An actor's shadow is projected onto the muslin. The actor's shadow moves as if it is about to scare the customers. The customers see the shadow and believe they know where the actor is, they come to the end of the muslin wall section, expecting a scare and find nothing. The actual scare should come from above and the opposite side. The shadow can be created by a cut out or shadow puppet with movable limbs and operated by the air ram technician. Other images can be projected onto the muslin. The main advantage to a projected image, and even sound, is that each customer uses his imagination to fill in the blanks. The customer draws from his own nightmares to scare himself.JB Corn
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