Jeep From Hell

Need a lift?

History
Setup
Result
Meaning
The Next Level

History

David has been wanting to do this ever since Pollogeist demonstrated how easy it was to build a silk flame at Ron Tye's gathering.

"I'd like to build some of those", he would say. That was OK by me. And when I asked him what he intended to do with them, he said "Put them in the Jeep, parked outside your house, and make it look like it's on fire."

David soon tried his hand at making a silk flame, but he wasn't satisfied with the results. But every time I mentioned silk flames he would say, "I'd like to build some of those, put them in the Jeep, parked outside your house, and make it look like it's on fire."

A couple of years passed, with the price of commercial silk flame units dropping like a stone. And whenever I would consider getting one, David would say "I'd like to buy some of those, put them in the Jeep, parked outside your house, and make it look like it's on fire."

Then, in late October of 2002, I scored four commercially made silk flame cauldrons for $6 each on sale at Jo Ann. I didn't have a specific purpose for them. At that price, the parts alone were worth the money.

Of course, David said, "I'd like to borrow some of those, put them in the Jeep, parked outside your house, and make it look like it's on fire."

So I said "Help yourself!"

Setup

The setup is so simple that I don't even have to write anything, but I'll mumble a bit anyway...

Get the vehicle of your choice and park it near your haunt.
Put a skeleton at the steering wheel.
Get some silk flame units - any kind will do.
Put them in the vehicle and turn them on.

[photo] We used three of these silk flame cauldrons from Gemmy.

The included AC adapter is rated: 12V, 1.5A. We hooked one up with the supplied AC adapter and measured power consumption with the cauldron running: 12.5V, 1.06A.

Assorted tips:

Silk flame units look a lot better if you can't see into the mechanism. Mount them as high as possible, ideally with the rim of the unit slightly above eye level.

You can run an extension cord (protected by a cord-runner) out to the vehicle and power things from that.
David didn't do it that way. He had a big honking 12 Volt battery and an old inverter that he wanted to try. He used that combo to make 110 VAC to run the flames, which themselves used little wall warts to crank the power down to 12 Volts to run the lights and fans. This is technically known as "12 Volts the hard way."
The silk flame units can be any size, but bigger is better. We suggest at least 6" in diameter.
You can use any number of silk flame units, but more is better. David used three, which is probably the bare minimum.
People will come up the vehicle and peer inside for a long time. Don't leave any gagetry exposed.

Result

Be nice to the haunters, or the Flaming Jeep of Doom will follow you home!

[photo] He's just having a good old time.

[photo] I swear he's laughing!

The Jeep From Hell was well received. Lots of people looked at it, including some who stared at it for a long time. Little kids ran up to it to look inside. Home owners from three blocks down the street walked down to take a look at it.

Meaning

A lot of people looked at the result and thought "crashed Jeep, dead driver still at the wheel." Even Diana thought this.

But Dennis didn't see it that way. "The Jeep isn't crashed, it's doing just fine. It's merely on fire, and the driver is a skeleton. It's the Jeep from Hell! What do you expect? Maybe he's waiting for passengers."

So we asked David. Oddly enough, he had wanted to do this for three years and hadn't thought about the meaning of the thing. He had been operating on instinct all along. David decided that it wasn't a crash case, and that "Jeep From Hell" was a more the intended theme.

The Next Level

Since many people look into the vehicle, this is an opportunity to add interior details.

You might consider filling the vehicle with interesting props, like the album "Highway To Hell", strange road maps, or other curious items. Perhaps a gun-rack with a scythe or pitchfork in it.

This is also an opportunity to add exterior details.

Consider sinister bumper stickers, antenna balls, and other decorations.

This would be great with a sound track and a talking skeleton, perhaps as a shrubbing device. He can honk the horn and yell "Hurry up! I can't wait forever!"

Thank you for visiting. Your comments are welcome.
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