Skeletons

There's just something creepy about skeletons that are hard to beat! You need some. You really do!

Here's the bones on skeletons...

What's available?
Comparison
Corpsification

What's available?

Going from cheesiest to best...

inflatable plastic - This is a plastic "balloon", vaguely skeleton in shape, and printed with a skeleton pattern. They cost just a couple of bucks, and are in no way convincing.
They actually have a haunt application, though: inflate them, and cover with a robe to make a quick dummy.
blow-molded plastic - These are sold around Halloween, as "lab skeletons", although they are nowhere detailed enough for any real scientific purpose. Costs range from $8 to $25 for identical skeletons. The bones have holes and molded bits that "pop" together.
Looks OK at a distance. Lightweight, it's good to use for fast animated creatures. Makes a good basis to corpsify.
molded rubber - We have seen some of these sold by Loftus. Detailed enough to get fairly close. Has a tendency for rib cage to collapse.
4th class Bucky - You can buy medical school quality plastic skeletons for hundreds of dollars. But what happens to the rejects - off-color plastic, stained, cracked, damaged in transport? You can buy them for $80. They are great for Halloween use, where the visitors will get close enough to see details. The Anatomical Chart Company sells them.
first-class artificial skeleton - Well, you could pay more for the perfect thing. But why bother if nobody will notice the imperfections?
the real thing - You don't want one of these. They are expensive and delicate.

The "4th class Bucky" is at the sweet spot - very realistic, and fairly inexpensive.

But before you rush out and buy any sort of skeleton, first ask yourself what you intend to do with it, because it makes a big difference.

The Bucky is realistic, but heavy. He's not a good choice for animated props unless the animation system is powerful. Even then, it's probably not a good idea to sling around any more mass than is strictly necessary - if there is a malfunction, you have all that inertia to deal with.

Loftus rubber skeleton

This is a rubber skeleton with an aged look, standing 5' tall.

As of May 1999, ordering information is as follows:

Loftus Intl. (800)453-4879
Prod # 13-0117
$32.00 each, no minimum - shipping extra

I have seen these mentioned on the mailing lists as "Mr. Floppy Bones". Some of the posters have said that the rib cage has a tendency to collapse, especially while in storage. This can be avoided by stuffing the rib cage with something bulky, like clean wadded up paper.

They are not quite as realistic as a Bucky, but only cost half as much.

Bucky

"Bucky" is becoming an important star of the haunt industry.

It all starts with the Anatomical Chart Company, an outfit that sells medical school quality plastic skeletons for hundreds of dollars. But what happens to the rejects - off-color plastic, stained, cracked, damaged in transport? Rather than grind them up and start again (everybody loses), they sell them through their "Halloween desk", to happy haunters like us! A full-size human skeleton goes for about $80. They are great for Halloween use, where the visitors will get close enough to see details.

The scare-grade skeletons are not available through the normal Anatomical Chart Company catalog. You start here: Boneyard Bargains.

I have five full Bucky skeletons, numerous skulls, some limbs, and assorted bones. I'm a very happy customer!

Some folks have asked why the standard haunt skeleton is called a "Bucky". Turns out that Anatomical Chart Company sells many different kinds of skeletons. In order to differentiate them and add a bit of splash, they were given names in the catalog, like "Petite Pete" (small) and "Budget Bucky" (inexpensive). Since the 4th class Budget Bucky is so useful in haunting, the term "Bucky" is often used as shorthand.

A Bucky from ACC weighs about 25 pounds, and is approximately 5'5" tall.

You might want to check out our Bucky skeleton stand project.

Cheap Blow Molded

These skeletons are blow-molded of hollow plastic, with bones that "pop" together like a baby's beads.

I have seen them at Pic-N-Save for about $8 (October 2001) and Target for around $20 (2002).

Comparison

Here we have a 4th class Bucky and a blow-molded plastic skeleton, as used in our popup skeleton.

Although we neglected to take a better shot of the blow-molded skeleton, you don't really need one to see how unconvincing it is.

Let's look a bit closer... [photo]
Here's a close-up of the two legs.

If your guests get close enough to look at the one-piece foot of the blow-molded skeleton, they won't be impressed. But the Bucky has fully articulated bones down through the toes.

Corpsification

For some haunters and effects, bones are too clean. They look like something that has been stripped of flush, boiled clean, and reassembled. And you might do that to a dead body.

But most dead bodies would probably go through another process, with the meat drying out and shrinking, and the skin drying and tightening. That's the difference between a skeleton and a corpse - the corpse looks like is withered, died, and dried.

See our page on corpses.

Thank you for visiting. Your comments are welcome.
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