PROPS

Flying Crank Ghost

Everyone knows or has seen how to make a crank ghost.   I won't go into details on the concept.  Let me just point out a few unique enhancements I have made to the design for ours. 
The ghost itself is made out of wooden dowels

Using a 1" dowel for the shoulders I drilled a 3/8" hole in the center and placed a 1 foot 1/2" dowel in and glued & screwed it in place.   Using 3/8"  dowels I cut 4 1foot long pieces.  Using small eye hooks I screwed them into the ends and opened one end of the eye and connected them.  This is pretty much how a real marionette is built. 

I used 1/8" plywood to trace out 2 hands and cut them out and then nailed a small block of wood on the back and attached it to the arms using the same eye hooks.  I placed the standard foam wig head on the 3/8" dowel. 

 
I used a rotisserie motor from a barbeque for the moving arm.  

 I built the frame for the motor out of 3/4" square hardwood which I glued and nailed together.  I attached the motor using tie wraps.  Using the square steel stake that goes into the rotisserie motor I bent it with a 1" bend on each end going in opposite directions.  I then drilled a hole in the end that is inserted into the motor through the bushing that holds it.  (I have also used a piece of 3/4" square wood for the rod and a small piece of the square rod inserted into the motor and the wood.)  I placed a small nail through the hole and bend it over.   At the other end of the bar it is threaded so I just added the washers and the nut.

I use fishing line for all the strings with a little oil on them to make them slide easily.  I use the same eye hooks to run the lines through on the frame. 

 

Using the standard cheese cloth and some glow in the dark spray the ghost is ready to be setup and run.