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There are a
lot of things you can place in a coffin to make it even
creepier than it already is. All of the things below have
been used with the "Toe Pincher Coffin", but you can use just about any other coffin or casket.
Skeleton in
the Coffin
 Place
a full size skeleton such as a Bucky Skeleton inside the coffin.
Attach
fishing line to the outside edge of the coffin lid and run through one
or more eyelets screwed into the ceiling. When trick or treaters
approach, pull the line from a distance, and the coffin lid will open.
If you want the coffin standing up, instead of laying flat, you will
need to attach the skeleton to the back of the coffin so that it stands
up. We drilled two small holes about two inches apart in the back-board
where the top of the spinal column would be.
We then laid the skeleton
in the coffin and used a black colored zip-tie to attach it around the
spine and through the holes. Since the Bucky skeleton comes white in
color, you will probably want to "distress" it, so that it
looks old. Click
here for our article describing how to age/distress a
skeleton.
Corpse in
the Coffin
 Probably
the most common thing you would actually find in a coffin
would be a rotted or desiccated corpse. We made a bed of hay
on in the coffin and placed a homemade corpse on top of it.
Click here
to read the "How to Make a Corpse" article.
If you plan on
having the coffin in a standing up position, you will
need to skip the hay and attach the corpse to the back of the coffin so that it stands
up.
We drilled two small holes in the back-board
of the coffin where the top of the spinal column would be
and ran fishing line through and around the neck to hold it
in place.
The Vampire's Coffin
 Here's an old classic. With the coffin is laying on a flat, solid surface, or if the
coffin is standing up, place it against a wall for stability. Dress as a vampire and lay
or stand in the coffin. When
visitors approach, open the lid and greet them. Check out these
articles for
vampire costumes and
vampire makeup
ideas.
Or, you could
place a full size vampire prop like the one pictured to the
right, inside the coffin and use it as
a static Halloween prop.
For an added
touch, we set the coffin on top of two painted plaster
pedestals to act as a stand.
These can be bought in the Home
& Garden section in some department stores or at you local
nursery.
Coffin Full of
Bones
 Place the coffin on
a sturdy stand and partially fill with
Styrofoam chips or other suitable material to reduce the amount of bones you will need
to fill the coffin. Fill the Halloween coffin
up the rest of the way with skulls and bones.
Bulk bags of realistic skulls
and bones are available from
The Skeleton Store. If you want it to look particularly
gory, splatter and spray the bones with red paint.
Coffin Full of
Body Parts
 For
a really gruesome display, fill the coffin
up with an assortment of fake body parts such as severed arms, legs, torso's,
heads, etc. We were able to get one torso, four arms, four
legs, two heads and a couple of extra hands and feet inside
the coffin.
You can either leave the lid closed and
encourage visitors to look inside or securely prop the lid
open. We bought our body parts at a local Halloween store,
but you can also buy them
online.
The Mummy's Coffin
 With the coffin is laying on a flat, solid surface, or if the
coffin is standing up, place it against a wall for stability. Dress as a
mummy and lay
or stand in the coffin very still.
When
trick or treaters approach, open the lid and greet them.
You could also
place a mummy prop inside the coffin and lightly dust with
fullers earth.
Or, you could
place a full size mummy prop inside the coffin, add some cob
webs and use it as a static Halloween prop. We covered a
Bucky skeleton with strips of aged cloth for a great mummy
prop. Click here for some
Mummy
costume ideas.
Coffin Full of
Treats
 Set
the coffin on a stand and securely prop the lid open. Fill
with an assortment of Halloween treats.
We did this with the Toe Pincher coffin on our front porch,
yes we get a lot of trick or treaters. We bought a sheet of
four inch thick Styrofoam insulation and cut out two pieces
to fit inside the coffin to reduce the amount of candy we
would need to fill the coffin up.
We painted the top
of the visible piece of Styrofoam with flat black, water
based paint. To fill the coffin almost to the top with
candy, we bought twenty-four of the extra large bags of
assorted Halloween candy. It cost about two-hundred dollars,
but the kids loved reaching inside a coffin for their candy!
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