The creepy lady below was part of a graveyard scene along with our weeping bride (who got a remake this year) and the mourning child. She (creepy lady) is a PVC frame standing in a 5lb bucket of rocks. The hanging gentleman must have gotten on someone's bad side; you'll find him hanging on a tree at the end of the graveyard. He's a plastic-wrap and packing tape body dressed in one of our costumes and masks.

Here's Tesla and another lurker. They are both PVC frames with foam pool "noodles" used around the shoulders, arms, and legs to "beef" them up. Old clothes, a mask, and a fake hand or two round them out. Note that we use real shoes with these guys as well; holes are drilled through the heels for the PVC pipes to fit through. If you do this, be VERY CAREFUL; steel and/or hard plastic insets in the soles of most shoes and boots will grab a drill bit violently. We seriously twisted some shoes up trying to drill through them. Done right it can be a base sufficient for them to stand if they're not in the elements or getting bumped; we still pound rebar into the ground and run it up into the legs of any character we put outside though.

Our new "machete" guy started life as a simple PVC frame as well. Dressed up with a zombie-style chest piece, some old clothes, a mask and a machete. The only tricky thing here was the hand holding the machete; Will fabricated this out of 12 gauge electrical wire duct taped inside a work glove. It was flexible enough to pose and strong enough to hold the machete in place; with a wire stub that inserted into the end of his PVC arm.

Our standup guy with the pole through his gut is our "greeter" (recycled several times over the years) in a new mask and costume. Mike (the guy mis-working the circular saw) is another PVC frame (top only) inserted into the top of a steel frame popup mechanism.

The "pointer" was an all new creation for this year. Another simple PVC frame with one arm straight, beefed up with pool noodles on the arms and shoulders, and dressed in a costume and mask from our collection. He points the way out of the back yard of terror...

The lady in red was a store bought head/shoulder/arms figure (no body) the we re-dressed in a red robe and gave her a creepy foam skull to wield. Hanging from above so she rides just above the ground, the lack of a body under there wasn't noticeable and her swaying in the breeze added a cool effect.

The little witch was an old 1960s-era free-standing prop that got a complete makeover. Catherine gave her a new face and dress, but left the tiny hands showing.

This was another store-bought prop (head/shoulders/arms but no body) that Catherine made over into a with hanging by the neck inside our large mausoleum.

The mine cart rider was a store bought skeleton/torso that I mounted onto the front of the mine cart. His hands got screwed down onto the frame as well; and one hand hid the motion sensor that triggered the entire prop. The old miner sitting in the corner of the mine shaft was a makeover of our wagon driver from many years ago; a plastic sheet and packing tape body mold stuffed with bubble wrap and dressed up in a period costume and old-man mask.

Since we completely changed up the light show theme this year (the Yard Wide Web) we needed a completely new cast of characters to sit in the front yard/spider web all month for the nightly computer controlled music and light show. Spiderman was a star of the web; caught up in the web and about to be eaten by a distant relative. Spidey was an inflatable body dressed in a spiderman costume - though we stuck a more realistic head under the mask (the eyes really made it pop). Joining spidey in the web was Mary Jane; a store bought torso we built out with a PVC frame (including a 45 degree mounting pole that held her in place in the web. Blondie was a quick plastic bag stuffed body. All were thoroughly webbed with our Minions Web webbing gun.

Finally we added a few old buckys for effect. Posed in and around the web and thoroughly webbed with our webbing gun.