How to Set Up a Haunted Graveyard

Set up a haunted graveyard on your lawn for Halloween.

Whether you're hosting a haunted house or just want to get in the Halloween spirit, a haunted graveyard will make any yard spooky. Creepy decorations are the key to setting up a haunted graveyard. Fake tombstones, spider webs, ghosts and other decorations can really help set the mood. To create your own haunted graveyard, you can either buy the supplies at a store, or make them yourself at home.

Things You'll Need

• Fence pieces
• Hammer
• Styrofoam sheets
• Cardboard
• Plywood
• Carving knife
• Styrofoam-safe paint
• Textured paint
• Paintbrush
• Stakes
• Stokes
• Leafs
• Branches
• Dried moss
• Fake spider webs
• Plastic bugs
• Shovel
• Fake bones
• Dirt
• White cloth
• Styrofoam ball
• Wire
• Scrap wood
• Nails
• Pumpkins
• Candles
• Fog machine
• Zombie or ghoul costumes

Instructions

1. Fence-in the graveyard area. Use old, mismatched fence pieces or create your own fence with splintered, weathered wood. Hammer the fence stakes into the ground, but don't worry if parts of the fence fall over or break.

2. Set up handmade or purchased headstones in the graveyard area. They can be made from Styrofoam, plywood or cardboard. Carve out the desired shape of the tombstone and add a base coat of grey paint. Apply a stone-textured paint as the top coat. Paint the name of the deceased, date of death and epitaph on the gravestone. Secure the gravestones in the ground with stakes and surround with stones for added support.

3. Collect fallen leafs and branches and spread them around the area.

4. Place dried moss and fake spider webs on the headstones and fence posts. Add plastic bugs to the webs.

5. Dig shallow indentations in the ground in front of the gravestones. Place fake hand and skull bones in the indentations so that they appear to be coming out from the grave. Cover any visible indentations with grass or leaves.

6. Place a mound of dirt a few inches high in front of a gravestone to imply a freshly dug grave. Lean a shovel against the tombstone for an added effect.

7. Hang handmade or purchased ghosts from trees. Ghosts can be made from white drop cloths, sheets or gauzy material. Pierce a Styrofoam ball with a piece of wire and bend the wire to form the arms of the ghost. The Styrofoam ball with form the head of the ghost. Drape desired material over the Styrofoam ball and wire arms.

8. Create or purchase an entrance sign for the graveyard. Use a thin piece of scrap wood and paint "Beware," "Danger" or "Keep Out" on the wood in messy lettering. Hang the sign from a fencepost, nail it to a tree or attach it to its own post and hammer it into the ground near the graveyard's entrance.

9. Carve scary faces in pumpkins and place them around the graveyard. At night, place lit candles in the pumpkins.

10. Hide a fog machine behind a tree or bush and turn it on after dark to create a spooky atmosphere.

11. Dress up volunteers as zombies or ghouls and have them roam around the graveyard.

Tips & Warnings

• Use Styrofoam-safe paint on Styrofoam headstones.

• Place headstones in rows with each stone at least four feet from the other.

References

• The Yard Haunter: The Graveyard