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| Wooden Coffin Prop 2009 |
2023 Baron Samedi Prop
Our Baron Samedi mannequin prop design for this year’s “Haunted Bayou” theme was quite an organic process. We purchased the “Diane of the Dead” zombie doll at a local arts festival last fall. We just couldn’t resist buying her because the paint and detail work were phenomenal, but we also had no clue how exactly the doll could be used in this year’s haunt. She was too tall to go on our porch bookcase prop. But we still had the small wooden coffin prop that Mr. Haunted Eve built in 2009 to go out in our graveyard at our prior home for Halloween. She was a tad too short for the coffin, so we made her a “booster” shelf to raise her up enough to be centered in the coffin. But where would the coffin be displayed in the haunt so it made some sort of logical sense? Then the idea came to us that since we already knew we were going to have a life sized Baron Samedi standing mannequin prop in this year’s haunt, and Baron Samedi is the Loa of the Dead/Resurrection, it would make sense that “Diane of the Dead” would be in his charge. The small wooden coffin worked perfectly standing up on the mannequin’s base stand in front of Baron Samedi. The space under the “booster” shelf also gives us a place to hide our small portable outdoor speaker for playing an ambient backing soundtrack for the haunt on Halloween night (we used to hide the speaker up in the ceiling of our now retired mini-mausoleum). Baron Samedi will get a full dress rehearsal with his attire after he’s moved from our basement and into our garage later in October (a black duster coat over a burgundy robe). We really do put a lot of thought and effort into the details in our annual haunt themes!
