Project: That Boy’s Got Some Stones!

Howdy everybody. This year’s haunt projects are starting to heat up in preparation for the annual Haunted Trail event. Due to my current medical condition, the event has been pushed back into October to give me time to at least get out of the boot phase of the ankle recovery. Even with the extra month, still going to be a push to get everything done in time..as they say…”the usual” ha. While tossing ideas around about this year’s batch of new tombstones, it occurred to me that I had not featured last year’s set. So, without further delay, here were the 2024 Haunted Trail tombstones courtesy of the Intrigued Haunt Department (link here).

Hit the jump to get a behind the scenes look on how we created these new Trail of Fears Cemetery additions.

The 2024 stones were created using our custom illuminated tombstone process we developed for our 2023 trail. For the detailed look at that process, please check out the previous post (link here). I’ll touch on some of those key steps here, but mainly focus on the new features for the 2024 offerings. Like most of our custom props at Intrigued, we start with foam – specifically EPS foam insulation sheets. Our tombstones utilize 1/2 inch for the fronts and back and 1″ for the interior edges. First task is to design the tombstone shapes. For the most part, I simply use examples from my many visits to cemeteries and web references to come up with a general look and shape.

From there I simply start adding geometric shapes to enhance them – paint can outlines for the clover on the left, pillar (Roman) concepts for the one in the middle and I wanted to try a top ledge on the one on the right to increase the depth. Using butcher paper, I transferred the shapes onto the 1/2 inch foam board.

The 1/2″ boards are double stacked allowing me to cut out both the top and bottom rough shapes at the same time with a hot knife and my custom foam cutters (link here).

Using the process outlined in the previous tombstone post, I put a roughly 2″ wide band of 1″ foam along the inside of the tombstone profile. These stones have interior cutouts which required the additional foam coverage on those areas – like the top of the stone in the middle below

Now off to think up some clever epitaphs. Always the funnest part of the process as I want our guests to have to think a little bit before the joke hits them. Admittedly, there have been times in the past where it goes completely over their heads and they need a little assistance getting the obscure references. This is a multi-month process in itself as you want it to be worth the time investment you are going to put into each stone.

Once the inscriptions are finalized, time to bring out Linda’s Cricut to create the transfer patterns. Used to have to do this by hand with an Xacto Knife – so much easier with the newer technologies.

One thing, the size of the tombstones dictate the size of the letterings. As a general rule, we want the lettering to be as big as possible to allow for more light to get through for better viewing in the dark. Paper copies of the templates are laid out on the backs of the stones to determine what that maximum size is taking into account the 2″ edging on all sides – letters must fit completely inside that edging which is why we lay out the letters on the back side.

Once the lines are figured out, just a matter of transferring the patterns to the 1/2″ thick fronts of the tombstones (the side with the edging). It does help to put a centerline on the face to help both center and level the letters.

Only able to find the paper printouts of the Helen Tombstone used for sizing everything. Note, you can see the columns I added to the sides and the extra depth added to the triangle at the top.

…and now the Walter version. I have already put the depth stacking shelf at the top of this stone.

All the lettering was cut out using a single hot wire cutting tool that allows me to simply trace the outline of the letters. Warning! be sure you leave material for any inner letter gaps like Os, Rs, A’s etc. or the entire letter will fall through and you do not want that to happen. Here are all the stones with the epitaphs cut in and the added structural design elements added.

The distressing process is detail in the previous tombstone link, but I did want to mention I added a “wave” detail on the top ledge of the Walter stone to give it more of a nautical theme. This was done with a Dremel and a carving ball bit. The template is in blue – just kept putting the pattern on the end of the previous one until I reached the end.

Now for the cherries on top of the ice cream! Each tombstone is given a unique embellishment to help drive home the theme or in some cases aid in deciphering the pun itself. Clearly we needed “Green Eggs” on the Dr. Seuss stones. I also wanted them to glow prominently in the night. Leveraging a technique we used for our giant spiders (link here), we found some clear Christmas ornaments (craft ones that come apart) and sprayed the inside with fluorescent green paint.

By spraying the inside only, we keep that shiny clear look on the front.

Next up was the egg whites for each of the yokes. Fired up the trusty 3D printer and did some quick design sketches for each one. Although likely never noticed, each of the white outlines are slightly different as you would expect with real fried eggs. Not shown is I used the exact same process to attach the green yokes to the whites that was used to attach the eyes onto our spider bodies (see link above).

Of course we wired in a green LED into each one – the camera turned the color turquoisish – it was definitely green thanks to the green light and the green fluorescent coating on the yoke.

We tested out a new foam fabrication technique with these stones. Picked up a silicon/rubber cake mold in the shape of 6 skulls that Michael’s had on sale on one of our many visits there leading up to the event. Thought I would try and use it for spray foam molds. Misted the inside of each skull with water and then sprayed in LocTite insulation foam to the top of each mold. Once it skinned, I started pushing the excess down into the mold making sure I got a good fit around the eyes etc. without deforming the mold on the outside. Absolutely amazed at how well these turned out once they dried and popped them out of the mold.

The Walter tombstone needed something to pair with the double top ledge and these would be the perfect addition. Cut two strips of 1/2″ foam to fit under the first ledge on each side. Attached 4 skulls on each strip and then cut a “V” notch on the underside to accommodate wires for LEDs I wanted to put into the eye sockets.

An LED was inserted into each eye and wired in together on the back of the 1/2″ strip. I did not put them all the way in yet as I still needed to paint the exterior of the stones grey. Oh and a switch was added to each side so I could turn them on and off easily without having to open up the back of the tombstone.

Everything gets a coat of black acrylic spray using a car paint sprayer. Note, you might have to give multiple coats of the black if you have to thin it too much for your particular sprayer. Be sure and get the inside of all the lettering, spray from different angles to make sure you do not miss any.

After that dries, the outside side of all the foam pieces are covered with a grey tinted monster mud mixture (joint compound and latex paint). This will take two coats for proper coverage, but far less if you had not painted them first. For porous foam (expanded foam is used for the bases), simply go over it with a small roller being careful not to let the paint fill the porous holes. This will give a very nice weathered look. Do not paint the inside of the tombstones, we will be covering that with a white lining to help reflect the light.

Complete the wiring phase. Each egg gets a light, all the eyes in the skeleton are wired through the front of the tombstone (behind the 1/2″ backing boards) and the interior lighting is added to each tombstone – I’ll cover next.

The backs of each tombstone are covered with PVC sheeting. This gives me a good surface for putting the lights on and reflects as much light possible back to the front. The front lettering is backed with 3 to 4 sheets of diffuser paper to improve the glow of the lettering from the outside.

Based on the lettering pattern of the epitaph, LED strip lights are attached to the white PVC board. The line of LEDs essentially goes through the middle of every line of text.

You can see the button switch added for all additional lighting on the stone – these are usually place on the side at the bottom so they are not easily seen but easy to get to. The two battery packs for each stone (one being for the auxiliary LEDs and the other for the LED strips) are brought out underneath the back of the tombstone. Little pockets are cut into the base to insert these power packs into in order to keep them from getting cut or tangled as we build out the haunted trail.

That pretty much does it except for showing them off!!

Walter’s side skull eyes tend to overpower cell cameras as they are pretty intense. This is the best shot I had of this one where you can still see the epitaph

Even easier to see with all the skulls turned off – this isn’t a problem on the trail, just the camera sensors getting overloaded. This also gives a good look at how well the diffusers help even out the light.

Now for the third tombstone for 2024. This might be a bit unsettling for the squeamish – feel free to skip this one if you have a phobia for wood chippers – in my defense you should have seen this coming from the epitaph ha!

Helen A. Chipper on its own is probably pretty easy to decipher if you listen to the phonics as you say the name. Time to amp it up to our haunted trail standards. Let’s start with a rainbow like relief made from taking a toothpick covered with construction foam adhesive spray and dragging it across the inside of the top portion of the stone. Also added a glob of insulation spray foam that has the backside cut flat (see bottom right of shot). This shot also gives a good look at the three red LEDs put into the top of the cutout.

It will make more sense once you see the pieces put together. Do you need to refer back to the name of the tombstone?

… and now for those red LED lights added in to improve the macabre scene. The foam rainbow and glob were both painted blood red.

That got us to a 10, but we strive for the ELEVEN. I actually did a lot of searching for something to use for this extra amplification until I found a Minnie Mouse figurine as I was checking out of a craft store. Well, well, well, what do we have here… Sorry, Minnie, we just need your legs and hands. Look away kiddies!!!!

It might be a bit hard to see this from the shot, Minnie’s legs are in the front of the chipper and her hands are on the pile at the other end.

Here is Helen in her full gory…I mean glory!

That puts a wrap on the behinds the scenes look at our custom 2024 Haunted Trail tombstones. I know my fellow haunters out there are wondering if I put a wash coat on them to age them. I generally do not, but honestly, that is usually more due to running out of time before they have to head out to the trail vs a preferred style. Our cemetery is well maintained and therefore we do not get a lot of aging hahaha. For future ones we will likely add some black wash and add some fake moss to the bases to increase the realistic look. So much to do….so little time.

So, what do you think? In the end, they do take a bit of work, but we think the extra attention with the lights and embellishment really enhance the overall polished look of our cemetery scene. Thanks for checking us out and be sure and head over to our Haunt Channel (link here) for our new video tutorials.

Stay calm, haunt on!