Ever since I received my 33 inch Mr. Thrifty skeletons from Anatomical Chart Company, I had been thinking about how I could display them. I wanted to put them in hanging cages and dress them as forgotten "thick or treaters," but did not like any of the designs that came to mind, until on a trip to Home Depot, I noticed some inexpensive 12 inch diameter particle board disks. Using 36 inch long dowels as bars and these disks as the top and bottom, I could make a very quick and easy hanging cage for Mr. Thrifty.

PARTS LIST 1 – Anatomical Chart Co., 33 inch Mr. Thrifty skeleton, 4th class ( $15.00)
2 - 12 inch particle board disks ($2.50) available at Home Depot
12 - 7/16 inch x 36 inch dowels ($4.68)
1 - can of flat black spray paint ($.98)
3 - small eye hooks ($.99)
36" of small chain ($.93)
1 – key-ring ($.30)
3 - sheetrock screws
22 - 1 inch brads
12" of wire or fishing line

Locate the center point on one of the disks. Using a straightedge draw twelve equally spaced radial lines from the center of the disk to the edge. When you are done, it will look like a thinly sliced pie. Then use a piece of string and a pencil to draw a circle 1/2 inch from the disk's edge. That was the hard part, the rest is easy. Now line up the two disks, hold them together and drill three 3/32 inch pilot holes through both disks at the locations shown in the picture. Also drill a 3/32 inch hole through the center of the top disk. Screw three 1.25 inch sheetrock screws into the 3 holes to secure the disks to each other. Now drill twelve 27/64 inch (one size smaller than 7/16) holes where the drawn circle and radial lines cross. Drill these holes all the way through both disks. (I used a small drill press, but a hand-held drill should work fine.) Unscrew and separate the disks and then paint dowels and both sides of the disks flat black, then using a medium gray paint, dry-brush the bars to add some depth and texture to the cage. Once they are dry, push 11 of the 12 dowels into the holes in one of the disks, by placing the disk on the floor and use a hammer to tap the dowels all the way into the holes. Take the second disk, place it on the other end of the dowels and work the dowels into the holes. This will take some patience. carefully tap the disk down with the hammer until the end of the dowels are flush with the top of the disk. Drive 1 inch brads into the edge of the disk, pinning each dowel to the disk. Note that an assembled unpainted cage is pictured for clarity. It is much easier to paint the cage before assembly.

Preparing the Skeleton Drill a small hole into the top of the skeleton's skull cap directly above the nut inside, which holds the skull onto the spine. Remove the skull cap and loosen the nut. Wrap a piece of thin wire or fishing line around the shaft and tighten the nut. Thread the wire through the hole in the skull and replace the cap. If you plan on dressing your skeleton, you should do that now. When ready, place the skeleton into the cage through the missing dowel. Hold him so that his feet are flat on the bottom of the cage, and thread the wire up through the hole in the center of the top disk. Screw a short sheetrock screw into the center hole to hold the wire in place. You can pose the skeleton so that he is holding the bars and pin each hand to the dowels using a brad. You may have to heat up the brad to push it through a bone in the skeleton's hand. Use a hair dryer to warm up the skeleton's fingers and curl them around the bars, holding the fingers in place until they cool. With the skeleton posed and secured, place the final dowel into the bottom disk, tapping it down into the hole and out the bottom of the disk by 3/4 an inch or so. This allows you to work the dowel into the hole in the top disk. Tap the cage down until the dowel works its way up into the hole and is flush with the top of the disk. Leave the last dowel unpinned so you will have future access to the skeleton. Use pliers to bend open the three eye hooks and screw them into the three holes that you used to secure the disks together during the drilling process. Cut the chain into three 12 inch pieces, making sure that each piece of chain has the same number of links. Connect the three chains to the eye hooks and bend each eye hook closed to secure the chains. Connect the other ends of the chain together using the key-ring and hang your new cage by the key-ring.

The finished cage is a 12 inch by 36 inch high cylinder, which is the perfect size and a great way to display the Mr. Thrifty skeleton. The total cost is less that $30 including the skeleton, and the whole project can be completed in one evening. Some sound effects and dramatic lighting would really make it stand out. This is a quick, cheap, and easily built prop that can be used to dress up any haunt.

Brian Lorsung, is a Network Administrator from Minneapolis who has been yard haunting for the last two years. You can contact him at blorsung@citi-link.com, or visit his web site at http://www.citilink.com/~blorsung/halloween/MHO.htm