As a child, I had a love/hate relationship with the Haunted Mansion at the Happiest Place on Earth.
I was obsessed with the idea of visiting a giant old mansion, yet terrified of being scared and maybe even haunted. Maybe I was scared of getting stuck there. Who knows? As home interior obsessed I was, I really wanted to go SEE the mansion, though. I was sure it was filled with cool stuff. It completely spooked me in the very best way.
That weird-cool-spookiness is my inspiration for our Halloween decorations this year.
I had seen an installation of chicken wire ghost-like forms at Franklin Park Conservatory last year that gave me that same feeling, and I knew I wanted to do my own version in our front yard someday.
Last weekend, not knowing how long it would take, I put my family to work. We made two men, two women, and a dog. I hung up the chandelier that I made last year out of a thrifted light fixture and some orange twinkle lights.
We sprayed the bottoms of the forms with green spray paint so they would look to be floating
We added some ambient lighting, some leftover gravestones, faux webbing, and a fog machine.
Each of the ghosts holds a weatherproof battery powered black taper candle that comes on automatically at night. Three shepherd’s hooks hold black lanterns with similar 3″ flickering pillar candles.
Guys. It’s really, really cool. We added a fog machine and are having way too much fun delighting the people who pass by.
I posted a reel on my Instagram account. You can see how the fog makes it even better!
As impressive as they are — There are several searchable tutorials online, so I won’t go in to details. They are all basically the same.
I will recommend having good wire cutters for everyone involved, thick gloves, and long sleeves. We also sprayed the bottom of our ghosts with some flat green paint, so they look to be floating, even during the day!
Four of us spent about 4 hours on the first two and 3 on the next. And I think we would have been faster if we had more cutters. There were several times when we were just waiting for Jay to finish up with a strip for us to mold
The first time I saw the Haunted Mansion I was about 13 years old. Thirty seven years later I am still trying to capture that creepy cool feeling. THAT is what I call inspiration.
Let me know if you are going to try and make any of these ghosts of your own. I would love to see different versions!
Happy Halloweening, friends —
Christina Carleton 
Girl you have seriously outdone yourself!! Wish we still lived closer to be able to see it in person. So, so cool and creepy in the most creatively amazing way! 🧡🖤🧡
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