# Make a Full Size Sleeping Skeleton



## Scary Papa (Jan 31, 2012)

My Sleeping Skeleton Pirate

Last Halloween my wife, Wicked Grandma, saw this sleeping skeleton in a Lakeside Collections catalog. 









This was a sound activated, sleeping skeleton with a chest that would rise and fall in sync with a snoring sound effect. Thinking it would be a great addition to our haunted forest she bought it. Sticking to our long standing principle of why take the time to read the description when there is a nice photo to look at you can imaging our disappointment when it arrived and we found it was not a “real” skeleton at all but a miniature house decoration of only about 30” tall. However, the hammock was a nice, respectable size of about 8’ long…which made the little skeleton seem even smaller in comparison. 









Since we do not have anything in the Haunted Forest that is not “life size” this decoration was not acceptable for our haunt. So I decided to make it an organ donor by simply putting the working part of the sleeping skeleton into a more appropriate, life size recipient. This is how I did it.

First I separated the small skeleton from the cloth shroud and working mechanism of the decoration. The skeleton was glued to the shroud so I just cut the cloth away.









Next I separated the cloth shroud and working mechanism from the hammock. Again, just cutting the cloth from the hammock.









I then painted the cloth of the shroud with flat black paint. I did not use fabric paint since this is just to cover the cloth with a flat black color so I used cheap Wal-Mart spray paint. The working mechanism is inside the shroud. I decided to keep the mechanism in the shroud to help hide and camouflage the mechanical mechanism when it is inside the chest of the skeleton.









Now it is time to prepare the new skeleton. I used a more realistic Wal-Mart skeleton for this. The first thing to do is to make the chest so it will rise and fall with the snoring action of the mechanism. The front of the skeleton chest is attached to the back of the chest with staples. Using a pair of wire cutter or regular pliers simply pull out the staples holding the ribs together.









The upper ribs are attached to the collar bone with two plastic ties. Cut these plastic ties to completely separate the front and rear halves of the rib cage.















Then I clipped a little off the ends of each of the ribs so when rib cage is reattached to the collar bone there was some room for the chest to rise and fall and not get caught on the fabric of the shroud that contained the movement. 









The movement mechanism was on a cardboard base so to secure it to the skeleton I glued two wooden blocks on the skeletons back ribs with hot glue. These wooden blocks were about the same thickness as the skeleton’s spine so the mechanism had a solid and fairly level base to rest on.









Once the wooden blocks were in place I then reattached the ribs to the collar bone using new plastic ties. I did not tighten the plastic ties because I wanted the ribs to be held loosely in place and be able to rise and fall smoothly with no binding.









Then I transplanted the movement mechanism into the skeleton’s chest. Again using hot glue I secured the shroud and mechanism to the wood blocks with just a dab of glue to hold it in place in the chest. After that another small dab of hot glue secured the sternum to the shroud containing the movement mechanism.









I wanted the mechanism to activate remotely. It has been my experience that sound sensors in Halloween decorations do not work very well so I replaced the sound sensor with a driveway alert trigger system. Here is the link to the forum thread that describes how use driveway alerts for prop triggers.
http://www.halloweenforum.com/tutor...120923-extremely-simply-pir-prop-trigger.html









Now all that is left is to dress the skeleton appropriately. Since I wanted a sleeping pirate I put pirate duds on him.









The hammock is next. The original skeleton was glued to the hammock but I decided this was not necessary. I just added a wooden 3/4" dowel to support each end of the hammock and the skeleton just lays in the hammock. The dowels were the same width as the hammock and I painted them brown. They were attached to the hammock with plastic ties and glue. 









All done. And after Halloween the prop can be folded up and stored in a plastic tub until next year.









Here is my sleeping pirate in action. I think he is going to be pretty cool in the cabin of our pirate ship this Halloween.

http://s1051.photobucket.com/user/s...bum/SnoringSkeleton_xvid_zps841c78f3.mp4.html

http://s1051.photobucket.com/user/s...ringSkeletonCloseup_xvid_zps25a9e539.mp4.html


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## pumpkinpie (Jul 9, 2011)

Great job and great tutorial!!!! I too always liked the concept of this prop but I just couldn't get past the size...great idea!!!!


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## xxScorpion64xx (Oct 15, 2011)

Nicely done Scary Papa


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## DaveintheGrave (Feb 12, 2004)

Great idea on making that little skelly life-size, Scary Papa! Nice tutorial, too!


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## PirateDex (Jun 25, 2014)

Superb job. Maybe put a rum bottle in his lap as in what do you do with a drunken sailor.


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## Scary Papa (Jan 31, 2012)

Thanks everyone. Yeah the rum bottle is a good idea Pirate Dex. I have a drunken skeleton sailor on the Pirate ship dock drinking from a big rum barrel but this might be a good bit of additional decoration for the sleeper.


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## CreepyCreations (Oct 16, 2011)

Great job, Scary Papa!!! He looks awesome... I might consider doing something like this next year, as it looks like a small enough build that Mrs. Creepy won't object!


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## Scary Papa (Jan 31, 2012)

Thanks CreepyCreations. You are definitely the pirate king so I really appreciate your comment.


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## Evil Elf (Jun 16, 2013)

I wanted to do this when I first saw the skeleton, but never got around to it. But since seeing your tutorial, my skeleton is on his way now! Can't wait for it to arrive.


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