Tombstones

So, you've decided to add a little death to your haunt. What better way than a few stones?
There are many ways to go about this. If you've got a bottomless pocket, talk to your local headstone cutter. For the rest of us, take a trip to your local hardware store. The most popular method is to use foam insulating panels, but I have also been experimenting with concrete for the ultimate in realism.

Foam Stones:

Foam is the easiest way to build realistic tombstones. Unfortunately though, the level of difficulty can depend on your local climate. Here in PA, most major home improvement stores carry 2"x2'x8' or 2"x4'x8' extruded polystyrene panels for insulation. Further south, you might only find 1" thick sheets. That's ok if you only want 1” thick stones (which are not uncommon if you are emulating early 18th century cemeteries). However, thicker stones are easier to mount to the ground and generally easier to work with.

Foam can easily be cut with sharp power tools. Dull blades will tend to rip and burn the foam. Craft stores carry special foam cutters that use a hot wire to melt through the foam with ease. These are good for detailing the edges after rough cutting your shape but do not give you enough depth to actually cut out your stones. Epitaphs can be engraved using exact-o knives, dremmel tools or routers, or melted in using soldering irons. Some have hade success engraving pictures and the like using the corrosive properties of spray-paints but I do not suggest you attempt this for your first stone. My personal preference is rough-cutting with a router and detailing with either a dremmel tool or knife.

Concrete Stones:

I have recently begun converting my foam stones to concrete. Why? Realism. My goal is to make my entire display a walk-through and would like my guests to be able to touch the stones. This could be possible with special paints over the foam, but the effect is not very convincing and the paints cost as much as if not more than a 40lb bag of concrete. And that leads to benefit #2. No punk kid is going to do a snatch-and-dash with a 40 lb stone...

Obviously there are trade-offs. Fist, you cannot easily engrave epitaphs into concrete. Yeah, you could scratch them in like writing your name on a freshly poured sidewalk, but when was the last time you saw a stone that looked like that? To solve this I am working on transferring my already cut epitaphs to my new stones. I've also devised a way of using clay and foam letters for creating stones with new epitaphs.

Secondly, there is the weight of the stone to contend with. If you are doing a walk-through haunt and your guests will have access to your stones, they MUST be secured to the ground in such a way that they cannot fall over! 40 lbs dropped on a foot will break it. 40 lbs falling on a toddler can seriously injure him/her. So, additional bracing must be put in place and a large base created and used with each stone. I used 2 4' sections of rebar hammered 2' into the ground to hold my first 40 lb stone in place. The larger stones that I am planning on making will use 1" thick steel ground spikes to hold them up.