# Over-sized costumes that sit on shoulders???



## Rania (Oct 27, 2011)

Hi guys. I am trying to find (or make) but prefer to find, costumes that actors could wear in my haunt that would give the look of 8' -9' ghouls walking around. Now I know I saw something like this in the Transworld footage from 2012 and I am only assuming a costume like this has a specific name, but I can't seem to find anything like I am imagining online anywhere! 

Does anyone know what I am talking about? The costume would have some form of a shoulder harness on the inside that would sit on the actor's shoulders.

Help? I desperately want enormous creatures walking around freaking everyone out.


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## GobbyGruesome (Sep 14, 2005)

I know nothing, but I think the term you're looking for is stalkabout or stalk around. Maybe?

Here's the search results for it here...
http://www.halloweenforum.com/search.php?searchid=728603


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## Wolfbeard (Sep 22, 2008)

This is a work in progress shot of the stalk about I made for our Lion's Club Haunted Hayride and Barn last year. I'll try to find one with the final costume and 3-D flourescent paint. I do not have any photos of the frame, but it is an easy and fairly inexpensive build. The oversized masks are the biggest expense.

It was made with a pvc pipe frame that sits on my shoulders. I am 6'4" and the final height was 9'. My wife is 5'8" tall for reference.

Eric


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## Wolfbeard (Sep 22, 2008)

Here's my first attempt at building a stalk about. It was for an Egyptian theme for our Hayride a few years ago. This one was only 8'6" tall, since my ceilings are 9'










Eric


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## HallowSusieBoo (Aug 11, 2009)

These are super cool and truly do a fantastic job of scaring the bajee-bees out of anyone - young or old! I have heard of a build technique that seems inexpensive and easy-breezy. Start scanning yard sales for camping gear - specifically look for the back pack shoulder frames that are designed to hold both sleeping bag and a ton of hiking gear. The top extends over the shoulder. I have found these usually end up in thrift stores and garage sales after overly ambitious hiker wanna-bees find the challenge to climb Mount Everest was a bit too much. lol Here are some examples:

http://www.amazon.com/Internal-Frame-Backpacks-Camping-Hiking/b?ie=UTF8&node=3400491

Then, theoretically, you can build up from the frame of the back pack. The lighter the better. I searched with lengthy descriptive terms and came up with many links to other variations. I used search phrases like "How to build a stalk-about." Or "Ideas for creature reacher costumes." That sort of thing. 


Plus - this helpful method by a fellow HF member may get your brain cells firing: 


http://www.halloweenforum.com/hallo...2403-my-stalkabout-lurker-costume-2012-a.html

Good luck and let's see some pics as you progress!


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## HallowSusieBoo (Aug 11, 2009)

And this one using the back-pack frame:

http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-costume-ideas/87040-11-foot-grim-reaper-experiment.html


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## piraticalstyle (Sep 1, 2009)

This Grim Reaper was homemade out of PVC. We built a rig out of the pipes to sit on my father's shoulders, and the arms are puppeted like Kermit the Frog. Even with the over-sized skull we bought and modified, I think the total cost came out to be less than $45.


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## Rania (Oct 27, 2011)

Can I just say how much I love you people?


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## Wolfbeard (Sep 22, 2008)

Rania said:


> Can I just say how much I love you people?


Yes, yes you can. 

This type of thread is what's so great about this forum. We all have different experience levels, interests, skills and talents, but we all are willing to help each other out.

It is nice to be able to ask questions without getting bashed or flamed.

Eric


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## Rania (Oct 27, 2011)

Wolfbeard said:


> Yes, yes you can.
> 
> This type of thread is what's so great about this forum. We all have different experience levels, interests, skills and talents, but we all are willing to help each other out.
> 
> ...


Just the fact that I knew it had a name and you guys knew exactly what it was. Not to mention how skilled everyone is in actually building this kind of stuff. It is just....so awesome. 

Thanks for all your guys help! You guys made such great ones!


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## Abunai (Jan 28, 2008)

Here is a link to the company that was at Transworld this year (and probably in the footage from last year.)

http://massivemascot.com/about.php

The company president was the one wearing the costume at Transworld and said that it was incredibly light and easy to wear. He had video of himself snowboarding in the 13' tall costume.

The price is up there, though.


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## Rania (Oct 27, 2011)

Abunai said:


> Here is a link to the company that was at Transworld this year (and probably in the footage from last year.)
> 
> http://massivemascot.com/about.php
> 
> ...


I love their motto. MAKE IT BIG. Right the F on.

yeah the prices are no joke. Looks like I will be building these suckers myself. THANK YOU EVERYONE!


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## Pumpkinhead625 (Oct 12, 2009)

Hi Rania. One of the projects I want to do is a grim reaper stalkabout. Here are some other HF threads related to it. The second one has a good video of his frame/mechanism.

http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-costume-ideas/124438-looking-stalk-about-owners-builders.html

http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-costume-ideas/106661-stalkaround-costume.html

http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-costume-ideas/79656-ive-started-my-stalkabout.html


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## Rania (Oct 27, 2011)

Thanks Pumpkinhead! I actually stumbled across that second one on you tube yesterday. Great stuff there. Hey if you make one, you should come by The Haunted Garden one night and walk around for a little bit. 

If I were to choose what I want mine to look like, it would closely resemble this:







d closely resemble this:


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## Pumpkinhead625 (Oct 12, 2009)

Rania said:


> Thanks Pumpkinhead! I actually stumbled across that second one on you tube yesterday. Great stuff there. Hey if you make one, you should come by The Haunted Garden one night and walk around for a little bit.


If I get it finished in time, that sounds like it'd be fun. I've already bought the Marcus giant skull for it, and I bought a bunch of lightweight aluminum tubing. I also have a design for fully articulated hands. My only problem is I have no workspace with high ceilings, so I may have to do some of the work on it outside. 




Rania said:


> If I were to choose what I want mine to look like, it would closely resemble this:
> 
> View attachment 151230
> d closely resemble this:


OMG, that is one BIG stalkabout reaper!


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## Grimmer (Apr 25, 2012)

Looking to build one tooo. What are your ideas for the fully articulated hands?


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## Midnite Spookshow (Jan 25, 2012)

Someday I am going to build one of these, they are truly amazing as well as all of the people here willing to help out  It's so nice having a variety of diffrerent artists, builders, and creators that we are able to bounce our ideas off of. 

Rania- It's a shame we don't live closer, our haunt styles and ideas are so similar and we would have a blast haunting together!


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## Rania (Oct 27, 2011)

Jody! I was just talking about how much i wish i had a girlfriend local that I could hang out and build with. It really bums me out actually! We should try to get together sometime though cause we really aren't that far apart. And you should DEFINITELY come to MHC next year! As for the stalkabout, I really really still want to build one. I am in full blown panic mode because of the amount of time left to make a bazillion props in the next 2.5 months.


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## awokennightmare (Jan 17, 2013)

They are awesome! They were so cool to see at Transworld. I could never afford them but I do hope to build one someday.


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## Ugly Joe (Jan 13, 2004)

Just a helpful idea if you're going to make your own - start with a hiking pack frame to build upon...the kind that have a big belt that puts all the weight of the pack on your hips.

Reason being: you'll be wearing this for a while, and it won't take a whole lot to wear out your back muscles if you make it to ride on your shoulders (unless you have a really strong back). Transferring the load to your hips will make it possible to wear it all night without wrecking yourself for days afterward.

I wore a ghost costume that sat on my shoulders for a couple of hours - it was pretty light, considering - and my back hurt like I'd been hit with a flying tackle for 3 days afterward.
I'll be making myself a stalk-around eventually, and the foundation will be a hiking pack frame.


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## Vilessence (Nov 3, 2012)

My builds are heavy with built in sound system my new build that I am adding moving hands will add even more to it so the best thing is simple with not to many parts. This build in the video is about 80 pounds and I was in it for 6 hours at fandom fest. Last Halloween I did 8 hours in it.


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## Kev730 (Feb 25, 2012)

I have heard about the stalk around costumes but the more common term i hear is creature reacher. Here are some costumes but idk if they sit on the shoulder.


http://www.halloweenasylum.com/creature_reacher_costumes.html


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## Screaming Demons (Sep 15, 2008)

If you really want to take it a level (or three) take a look at Gore Galore's stuff: http://gore-galore.com/products.php


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## DeadMeat (Aug 12, 2010)

I stumbled across this thread and figured I would throw in my recent Stalkabout. I wore it on Saturday and it was a crowd favorite. I'll be putting up more pics from Halloween this weekend.


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