Chuck Edens 1 of 4

These are my crank ghosts that I made. I origanally made two of them 3-4 years ago. I modified one to have wings this year. I found the FCG Builders Guild and decided I would send in my pics.

Chuck

Chuck Edens 2 of 4

Chuck Edens 3 of 4

Chuck Edens 4 of 4

Patrick Smith

I was amazed by your flying crank ghost several years ago when I ran across your web page. I immediately had to hit Home Depot & Grangers.

I work afternoon to about 2am nightly at a popular restaurant & tavern in my area. My fcg first appeared suspended in the dining room there that Halloween. She was a hit!

Since then we remodelled the restaurant and added some T.V.'s, so there was no where to hang her. I live across the street, so she found a new home in my front window, directly across from the parking lot.

Her body is aWallmart foam "grave popper" skeleton I picked up for about 15 bucks, then sponge painted with glowing latex. She's lit bytwo bulbs on either side of the window. I used unwashed veil fabric as a scrim, which yielded awsome results! You can see her bright and clear from the parking lot, but she disappears as soon as your headlights pass the window (except for the eyes).Thanks again for such an incredible invention!!!

Patrick Smith

Linda Greathouse

Just wanted to say that all you Haunt-imaginers are great!  I couldn't have done it without you!  This is my version of the FCG. Since my haunt is Pirates of the Caribbean themed,  all my characters are skeletons.  Therefore the FCS.   I used skeleton parts from 3 different skeletons to get the right weight combo without a counter weight.

Linda's Hitcher can be seen here: http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s202/buckaneerbabe/?action=view&current=b5774d15.flv

Steve 1 of 2

Here are some pics of my Ghost that uses nylon netting instead of cheese cloth. This has not been whitend at all. If you could add these to your site and a link to my site with the tutorial http://gothicnightmare.sc45.info it would be appreciated. I do have links back to the Phantasmechanics site.

Thanks

Steve

Steve 2 of 2

Jeffrey Sherrard

This is our FCG named Rose Vanderwail... She has been spooking the neighborhood kids for many seasons. We love it when folks ask about our "hologram" ghost!

 :)

 Jeffrey

JSSherrard@aol.com

Glenn Kaestner 1 of 2

Dear Pat,

I just wanted to let you know that my halloween display was simply AMAZING this year thanks to you and your great plans for the FCG. Everyyear I do a display in my garage in NJ and I have to say to say 350 kids all agree that this year kicked some ass. I wanted to shoot you a message and a pic of our own FCG as we named Shandi from the rock group KISS. Again thanks for all you have done truley a great web page!!!

Sincerly  Glenn Kaestner

Glenn Kaestner 2 of 2

Howard Bayne

Last year, Halloween 2000, my wife discovered the FCG plans by Doug Ferguson and decided this was something I could build. Not having a lot of money or time I used things I had around the house or could purchase cheaply. The effect was very spooky but I was not satisfied. This year I improved the crank shaft, bought a proper FLOURESCENT black light (incandescent bulbs DO NOT WORK), enclosed the ghost in a box to block out other light sources and did some flourescent painting. I also recorded a spooky ghost sound on a loop tape and put a speaker in front of the house behind some bushes.

-Howard Bayne (haard@home.com)

Courtice, Ontario, Canada

David Alma 1 of 2

"Attached is a picture of my FCG from a previous party. I hung it at the top of my stairs to block the second floor. Last year I had it hanging in my garage and this year I am

building a facade for the garage to be a Mausoleum.

The FCG remains one of the easiest yet most effective props."

David Alma 2 of 2

Paul Higginbotham 1 of 2

"I opted to forego the LEDs, I thought they looked a little too cartoony. I preferred the "deep, dark subtle eye socket" look, to me it looked more genuine. I focused on making the head as realistic as possible, which paid off.

It did indeed stop traffic: my neighbor told me that she saw cars that would stop and back up in front of my house. I had people arguing over whether it was a video or an actor, asking me how I did it or what it was made with, and one girl even claimed it was a hologram. Nobody had ever seen anything like it.

I named her Anastasia."

-Paul Higginbotham

http://www.phrets.com/anastasia/

Paul Higginbotham 2 of 2

I wanted to add two more pictures of my FCG, if possible, to my profile for "Anastasia".

They highlight her face much better, and display her realism... if you can call it that ..  ;-)

John Booker

Thanks for your wonderful instructions. I saw your web sight and had

to have an FCG and what do you know four days later.... this is on my front

porch ready for Halloween. I've included a short video and pictures.

Thanks,

John Booker (jbooker@cfl.rr.com)

Orlando, FL

Candi

" I just finished building my FCG. Here's a picture. It was difficult to stop watching my ghost long enough to send this message. All I can say is wow & thanks for the idea & plans :-)" What's neat here is that the magic of blacklight comes through well, though UV props are typically hard to photograph. Look what she did with the eyes, too!

Brandon Champlin

I re-did my FCG, and I was wondering if you would put it onto the FCG guild page. Her name is Horrortencia. My FCG's Animation comes from a simple ocillating fan and now can mimic the movement of the FCG. I think this version is safer for those who have no mechanical experience (like me). The light in the corner is a blacklight.

Brandon Champlin (bchampli@hotmail.com)

CC Chamberlin 1 of 2

"To showcase your awesome prop, we built a crypt out of wood and foam. It was a lot of work, but the resultant effect of the two combined was great - a real crowd-pleaser. We had people lined up on the sidewalk, just watching the ghost move.

Cheers, and thanks for the great prop. You helped make Halloween 2004 a lot of fun for a lot of people!"

CC Chamberlin cc@nmsu.edu

CC's Website: http://homepage.mac.com/nephilim/imagineerieing/2004/crypt.

CC Chamberlin 2 of 2

David Llewellyn

I completed a flying crank ghost for this years Halloween thanks to your wonderful plans. It is a terrific effect and one that will be the highlight of our yard haunt this year and many more to come. Your new marionette instructions are very helpful. The whole thing is a terrific design. We have named our ghost "Eleanor".

Thanks so much!

-David Llewellyn (DRLlewellyn@afstores.com) Salt Lake City, Utah

LadyDracul 1 of 2

LadyDracul (ladydracul@shaw.ca) submitted this terrifying creation named "Grigori".

LadyDracul 2 of 2

Frank

"Hi

I have two crank skeletons I made that I`ll like to add to your Builders page. You can check them out at

http://www.born2haunt.com/PROJECTH03.html

Under cranky and crooner. There's also a very short video clip of each.

Thank you

Frank

born2haunt.com"

Giovanni

"This is the spirit that haunts my front room .It is a very simple variation of the FCG with amazing results. A line attached to an oscillating fan makes it rise and fall about a foot and a half. When its in action thing stops traffic. Thanks for the inspiration."

Giovanni

gio69@rogers.com

Owen Gilbride

Owen Gilbride writes:

This is a ghost I made for 2003.Next year I plan on adding glowing eyes and a hood. Thanks for the idea!

Owen Gilbride.

Greg Orr 1 of 2

"Hi.. i built this one last september from doug's instructions. What a crowd pleaser!...it was fun watching the fathers trying to figure out how it worked! Here's on picture without the blacklight and another with.

My website is http://home.cogeco.ca/~gregger1/index.htm

and follow the links."

Thanks,

Greg Orr

Greg Orr 2 of 2

Jeff Baird

"Our version of the FCG. Definitely one of my favorite props!"

Jeff Baird (Jeff_Baird@sento.com)

www.my-mania.com

Jeff Baird

"I submitted one from my sister's house (Hallowbean), but now have my own house so here's our FCG".

John Farrell

"Here is a picture of my first crank ghost. I used a glow-in-the-dark skull from spencer's, and double jointed arms. It was a huge hit at my town's haunted house this year, and at my house Halloween Night (as pictured). Thanks so much for the ideas and inspiration!

John Farrell (jfarrell8@cfl.rr.com)

Mike Johnson

My FCG was installed in my basement, set up to look like an outdoor cemetery. Visitors had to open a creepy door and descend into the basement; this is what they saw as they turned the corner.



Thanks again! -Mike Johnson (chthonik@hotmail.com)

Baltimore, MD

Jason Smith 1 of 2

"Betsy" as my kids called her, haunted the garage this year. I didn't want to go too scary, and I don't like cute, so I went with 'Winona Ryder' winsome. A number of the mom's really connected with her - weird. She was behind caution tape and seen through a fog filled garage."

Jason Smith (jason.smith@rbc.com)

Jason Smith 2 of 2

Kim Hooper 1 of 3

Images of the FCG marionette and motor platform. Note the use of the counterweight system, added to handle the added weight of the somewhat massive marionette. For more info, visit http://www.members.home.net/xfile/index.htm.

Kim Hooper 2 of 3

Kim Hooper 3 of 3

Kevin King 1 of 2

"Here are some pictures of my home from last year. It was my first year with a flying crank ghost. I was inspired to build one from your site. I too used a barbecue rotisserie motor to animate it.

The ghost was stopping traffic on my street."

Kevin King (kevjking@juno.com)

Kevin King 2 of 2

Sean Lavery

Sean Lavery writes:

"2002 saw her working great and drawing crowds from up and down the street. Even the teenagers out on the prowl for mischief stopped and complemented me.

Cheers"



Sean Lavery (slavery@attcanada.ca)

Delta, BC

Ken McGuire

"Here is my web page devoted to Maria [his ghost] (http://www.geocities.com/ken_mcguire/fcgbuilder.html) I mounted her on a PVC frame inside a window of our house. She looked really spooky."

Mark Mephisto 1 of 3

I attached a few pics of our current FCG - Emma, as she is affectionitely called. She has an audio circuit tied into her eyes and we play a custom loop welcoming/discouraging visitors to our home. Her eyes strobe with varying intensity depending on the audio level from very dimly lit when whispering to near blinding with higher audio levels. Always a hit every year.

Mark Mephisto (mephisto@mephistoshaunt.com)

http://mephistoshaunt.com

Mark Mephisto 2 of 3

Mark Mephisto 3 of 3

Mandy Barnes

Hi,

Here's our ghost 'Willow". She's the highlight of our haunt. It's fun to watch the kids try to figure out if she's real or not and to watch the Dad's try to figure out how she works. You can see her in motion on our website.

Mandy Barnes

www.barnesboneyardhaunt.com

British Columbia, Canada

Mark Lewis 1 of 2

"Here are some pictures of my FCG. This was my first attempt and I think it turned out pretty well. It certainly stopped traffic. I had it in the carport with two other static ghosts that looked similar. The three made a haunting trio. Thanks for all the great instructions from your kickthefog site. I don't think I could have done this without!"

Mark Lewis

Edinboro, PA

marklewis@state.pa.us

Mark Lewis 2 of 2

Mickey & Brad in Minneapolis 1 of 2

Thanks guys for posting such an awesome project! We had a blast making our FCG, Isabelle. Its also fun to know there are other people out there like us! Thanks for the great inspiration!

Thank you!

Mickey & Brad in Minneapolis

http://littlekeylime.com/isabelle/isabelle_index.htm

Mickey & Brad in Minneapolis 2 of 2

Bruce Mowatt 1 of 3

Bruce Mowatt writes:

"I used a BBQ rotissorie motor and turned the frame upside down!...It works great! The RPM's are just right for the ghost and their is very little noise!...I bought the motor at a 2nd hand / junk store for $ 2.00!



Bruce Mowatt (abmowatt@shaw.ca)

Nanaimo BC, Canada

Bruce Mowatt 2 of 3

Bruce Mowatt 3 of 3

Mark Sloat 1 of 4

"This year I built a crypt for my ghost who I call Christine Daae'. This is from the Phantom of the Opera movie. My blog can be seen at http://www.blogcrypt.com/deathtouch. More pictures of ghost and crypt can be seen on my blog. I am located in Lombard, Illinois about a few blocks away from North Ave."

Mark Sloat (sloatbyte@comcast.net)

A.K.A Deathtouch

Mark Sloat 2 of 4

Mark Sloat 3 of 4

Mark Sloat 4 of 4

Nick

"I just wanted to say thanks for the crank spider idea. I used your info to build a really nice one. It is big and works great! You are very clever to have figures this thing out. I used a 25rpm gear motor (120volt) and the speed is perfect. Flourecent paint and a black light along with stobing led eyes in a skull head made it look great. After starting with a balloon and paper mache, I use three coats of monster mud (dry wall patch with latex paint) to give it some weight so as to prevent swinging. The trick is to use smooth string guides which will not shred the strings.?I used 20lb test stealth spider wire fishing line.

Thanks again for the great idea. People were impressed!"

Nick (nicropolis@charter.net)

Chris Olsen

Another image to add to the FCG builders scrapbook.

I used glow-in-the-dark eyeballs and vampire fangs. I also used expanding foam to make the hands more 3D. Web site: www.geocities.com/csolsen/

-Chris Olsen

David Peers

Here [is an image] of my first attempt at a FCG. It was hung next to the front porch kind of hidden by some hedges so you did not see it until you came upon it. It got lots of complements. Your site is an inspiration for all lovers of halloween! Thanks for taking the time to share you creativity and passion with the rest of us. Thanks again!

-David Peers (dhp@gene.COM)

Pete Henderson

"This is a picture of my first time FCG. With a powerful blacklight system, and a fog machine, this prop looked like the real thing. When the backlighting was turned off, due to picture quality, she appeared to not only speak out, but reach out. She was to emulate a 9 year old girl that died in our farmhouse, generations ago. The picture does no justice, this prop was wonderful, thanks to you and your completely wonderful and incredible design. Another success story."

Pete Henderson (Screamhaunt@aol.com)

Greensburg Pa

Bill Pierce 1 of 3

"I want to thank you and curse you for all your incredible work that you have given to the haunting community. I found your site through the Howl list and I've not been the same since. I have included some pictures of my FCG Lenore which is built using a system with the motor and arm at ground level and a single 1 1/4" PVC that also routes the fishing line up to the \|/ shaped top that hold the head and the hands."

Bill Pierce 2 of 3

Bill Pierce 3 of 3

Bob Pony

"Here are a couple of pictures of the FCG I built last year. It was the hit of the neighborhood - cars were stopping in the middle of the street to watch it! It went up in my daughter's room, and at first she wasn't too sure about giving up her room to the "ghost" (sleeping in there with it was out of the question - too spooky). But after seeing it work she's anxious to have it back up in her room this Halloween.

I used black shoelaces for the lines (the round kind that are used for boots and hiking shoes). They were the perfect length. I used some black weed-block cloth thumb tacked to the ceiling to provide a nice, dark backdrop for the ghost. The hands are made from great stuff foam.

It was awesome! My website is http://members.nbci.com/bobpony/ohsoscary/

Ron Hurst

The instructions were great! Please include this in the FCG builders guild.

ronhurst@herptrader.com

Haunted Summitview Drive

Haunted Summitview Drive is a neighborhood haunt, and their FCG is a Scream. ;-) Have a look at the rest of their Halloween page at: http://www.gierlach.com/hauntednewcastle.html

Steve Jones

"Thanks guys, everyone loved her."

Steve Jones

Greenville, SC

(SteJones@greenvillecounty.org)

Kevin R. Alvey

Gore Galore (Kevin R. Alvey, AKA Mr. Gore) is now manufacturing a wonderful skeleton-based FCG marionette (shown at left) which weighs about 5 pounds, and will work with the original PKM-1 using the counterweight system (included in our kit if you ask for it.) Visit his site at http://www.gore-galore.com to see what else he's been up to. The spectre can be addressed directly at: http://goregalore.hypermart.net/Ultimatespectre.htm.

Dave Steele

Your site helped me become the talk of the neighborhood. Here is the "traditional" FCG as seen from the street into the garage where she haunts every year.

-Dave Steele (david.steele@kodak.com)

Rick Tatum

"Here is a photo of our version of the Flying Crank Ghost. The biggest difference in our ghost, Victoria, from the others is that ours has nothing above it to give the illusion away. The mechanism is mounted off to the side in a tree, with fishing line going across the open yard to the house. The ghost is attached to the line with drops in the center of the run."

You can visit him at: www.members.aol.com/tatumhalloween.

Pat Jones

I couldn't not include my own FCG now could I? This was my first attempt at a FCG. The picture doesn't show it but I later used clear shower curtain holding rings for wrists and it made it much more lifelike giving a good illusion of arms being present.

Pat Jones

Erie, PA

Pat@kickthefog.com

George L. Troxler

George L. Troxler from Winston-Salem, NC submitted his FCG.

VctrFrnknstn 1 of 2

" Here are pictures of my Pepper's FCG, one normal and one transparent.



The head is a hacked Boris skull through which we play his voice using a digital recorder and full-scale amplifier, so we also get synchronized mouth movement and led eyes. He has Bucky arms which show through his decrepit shroud. The whole thing is so heavy, we had to counterweight the FCG mechanism. Once we got it balanced, he works as well as his lightweight FCG neighbor. We set up a short hallway with a Pepper's Ghost illusion, so he appears "from out of nowhere". There is a gothic arch stained glass window at the end, with thunder synched lightning flashes, in order to backlight the ghost, to make it more obvious that he is transparent. We had a lot of comments thinking it was a hologram.



VctrFrnknstn (kent37@zoominternet.net)

Oxford, PA

VctrFrnknstn 2 of 2

Sometrails.com 1 of 2

Webmistress of sometrails.com offers us her documented FCG building details. She used our PKM-1 as the basis, and opted to make a personalized ghost. You can see more images of her work on this ghost at: http://www.sometrails.com/halloween/Projects/fcg.htm. and a final pic at http://www.sometrails.com/halloween/2000/coffin_shop_2000.htm. She adds, "Thanks for the invention!"

Sometrails.com 2 of 2

DAVID ZECCHIN 1 of 3

"Using some tips from your Kickthefog site as well as a few others on the web I put together an FCG this year. I wanted to thank you for all the time you invested to make the instructions available. And thanks to all the other "how to" writers out there.

It got rave reviews. It is human sized so people keep thinking it is a person in a costume.



I have included some photos of the ghost with black light, daylight, and of the marionette rig."

DAVID ZECCHIN

webmonger@prodigy.net

DAVID ZECCHIN 2 of 3

DAVID ZECCHIN 3 of 3

Mark Poore

"My wife and I are Disney fans and wanted to create something a little less frightening to the young children in our neighborhood, but would be immediately identified with our interests. The result was the TFMG. It truly was the talk of the community. At one time there must have been 20 neighbors staring at it in the front yard. One little girl dug into her trick-a-treat bag and pulled out some skittles for us to give to Mickey as she was sure Mickey would be hungry when the night was done."

Mark Poore

SARA_Racer@hotmail.com

http://members.aol.com/houseofhaunts/enchanted/