The Haunted Village of Prestbury: A Mini-Essay

          The ghostly monk of Prestbury, often referred to as the Black Abbot, is notorious for haunting this little village in Gloucestershire. Appearing on All Souls’ Day, Christmas, and Easter, the hooded figure follows the same path: materializing inside the church, trekking across the churchyard, and disappearing into a cottage on High Street where his manifestation is crowned by the noisy movement of objects in the attic.[1] Supposedly photographed by Derek Stafford in November of 1990, the Black Abbott is one of roughly thirty specters which haunt Prestbury, making it the second most haunted village in England next to Pluckley in Kent.[2] Along with the ethereal friar, Prestbury’s bevy of spirits includes a horseman from the fifteenth century who returns to deliver his failed message and the horse of a Royalist killed during the English Civil War who searches for its former rider.[3]

Works Referenced

Brewster, Samuel. “The World’s Most Haunted Town Is Home to 30 Ghosts – Including the Infamous Black Abbott, Who Roams Its Graveyard!” Weekly World News, 23 April 1996, 21.

Jones, Richard. Haunted Britain and Ireland. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2001.

Pearse, Bowen. Ghost-Hunter’s Casebook: The Investigations of Andrew Green Revisited. Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2007.
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[1] Brewster, 21.
[2] Jones, 41.
[3] Pearse, 63-66.

Skull Wall Sconce

$20 - $25 (based on 2023 prices)
Makes one sconce

In 2023, I was commissioned by a local theater to serve as a consultant and prop builder for their production of The Haunting of Hill House, which was based on Shirley Jackson’s novel. Being a fan of the books since I was a teenager, I jumped at the opportunity and spent several months creating a collection of items to decorate both the house depicted on the stage and the cemetery created in the lobby to greet patrons before they entered the theater. For this project, I built several stone-like sconces to hang on the doors of the theater and mirror the weathered stone tombstones in the lobby.

• One human-sized plastic skull
• One eight-inch oval picture frame
• One strand of orange battery-operated LED lights
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in flat black*
• One 5 oz. tube of siliconized caulk*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat brown*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat gray*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat olive*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat white*
• One hot glue gun and glue sticks
• One 2 oz. bag of floral moss

1. With a sharp knife or pair of scissors, cut off the back portion of the skull, ensuring that it sits flat. Then, cut out the eyes and nose. To make this step easier, purchase a skull made of thin plastic or you can buy a plastic skull mask and bypass these steps.

2. Remove the backing from the picture frame, center the battery pack for the LED lights on its surface, trace the outline, and then cut it out. You want the pack to rest in the center of the skull, so you may need to alter the position depending on the size of your frame.

3.  Insert the battery pack into the opening and hot glue it in place. You want the frame to sit flush against the wall, so do not let the pack protrude too much. In fact, it might be best to temporarily position it, test the fitting, and then permanently adhere it. After you have done this, reinsert the backing into the frame and glue it in place.

4. Cover the LED lights with plastic and, on a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, give the frame and inside of the skull an even coat of black spray paint. This will darken the interior of the sconce once it is assembled and help the light refract.  

5. Line the inside of the skull with the lights and glue them in place. You want to position them so they are not visible once the sconce is assembled. As with step three, it may be beneficial to temporarily adhere them with tape to test their visibility before finally affixing them.

6. Center the skull on the backing and glue it down. You want to position it so the battery pack sits between the eyes to help mask it whenever the lights are on.  

7. Use a paper towel to pat the caulking onto the frame and skull. Apply a small dollop to the towel and gently dab it onto the surface to create a stone-like texture. Do not overthink your application because a random pattern produces a more natural look.

8. Allow the caulking to dry for at least twenty-four hours. Then cover the openings for the eyes and nose with tape and, on a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, give the prop one or two even coats of black spray paint. You can apply additional layers; however, keep in mind that this is the base coat and much of it will be covered by the other colors.

9. Use a stippling brush to build up layers of gray and white paint, working from dark to light to give the prop the look of stone. If one color becomes too overpowering, you can always apply more of the other color to dial it back.

10. To age the prop, water down brown paint and brush it along the frame’s surface, allowing it to settle in the fissures. Then, use the stippling brush to pat olive paint randomly onto the prop to mimic moss. How much of both colors you apply depends on the level of weathering you want.

11. Accent the prop with small clusters of floral moss. For the best results, glue them in random places and refrain from applying too much, since this detail can easily overpower the prop.  

12. Depending on your chosen aesthetic, you can further enhance the prop with elements like cockroaches or other insects crawling across its surface.

*You will not use the entire bottle’s content for this project.

Birthday Bouquet

$15 - $20 (based on 2022 prices)

Makes one bouquet

In 2022, I was asked by a local theater to make props for their production of Christmas Belles. Because employment issues halted the prop-building process the year prior, I jumped at the opportunity to do something creative. For this item, the director wanted a tacky arts-and-crafts bouquet for one of the characters to sell in their mediocre flower shop, so, working with the director’s vision, I fashioned this ordinary bouquet. Because of its generic design, you can use it as a basic template for your own builds and cater it to your haunt’s needs. For example, you can dust everything with light coats of black and brown spray paint and deflate the balloons to give it an aged look to sit beside a tombstone or you can replace the “Happy Birthday” sign with a heart and splatter the entire bouquet with fake blood for a bloody Valentine’s Day display. The possibilities are endless!

• One seventeen-inch metal vase
• One 4 oz. bottle of decoupage medium
• One roll of colorful wrapping paper (roughly seventeen square feet)
• Two to three bags of marbles (roughly thirty marbles per bag)
• An assortment of artificial onion grass and white hyacinths
• One glittery “Happy Birthday” sign
• Three latex balloons
• Four plastic balloon sticks

1. Strip any decorative details off of the vase to give it a clean surface. If you decide to use a glass or plastic vase, you may want to use a sheet of coarse sandpaper to roughen its surface so the decoupage medium will stick.

2. Cut or tear apart the wrapping paper. You can isolate certain images or use random sections (as I did). Then, cover the entire surface of the vase with the cuttings. This process works best if you move in stages: apply a layer of glue to one section, press the paper down until it sticks, and repeat the process. Once you are done, give the vase a final layer of the medium to serve as a sealer.

3. Fill the vase’s base with marbles to give it extra weight and prevent it from becoming too top heavy once you add the balloons and flowers. If you plan to display this outdoors in windy conditions, you may want a lot of marbles or heavy stones to add further stability.

4. Arrange the hyacinths and onion grass in the vase, varying their heights to give the bouquet more visual interest. At the director’s request, I used just white flowers; however, you can use alternate hues or an assortment of colors to cater the prop to your needs.

5. Glue the “Happy Birthday” sign to one of the balloon sticks and insert it into the center of the bouquet. Then, inflate the balloons, attach them to the three remaining balloon sticks, and position them around the sign to frame it. For aesthetic consistency, pick balloons that match the colors in the wrapping paper.

6. The prop can be embellished with additional details. For instance, I eventually wove a string of small LED lights into the bouquet to make the prop even more visible from the audience.

“The Cold Earth Slept Below” (A Poem)

Published a year after his death, Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “The Cold Earth Slept Below” tells the story of a woman who freezes to death after following a will-o’-the-wisp into the frigid wilderness.[1] A year later, the poem was included in Posthumous Poems released by his wife Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein.

The cold earth slept below;
Above the cold sky shone;
And all around,
With a chilling sound,
From caves of ice and fields of snow
The breath of night like death did flow
Beneath the sinking moon.

The wintry hedge was black;
The green grass was not seen;
The birds did rest
On the bare thorn’s breast,
Whose roots, beside the pathway track,
Had bound their folds o’er many a crack
Which the frost had made between.

Thine eyes glow’d in the glare
Of the moon’s dying light;
As a fen-fire’s beam
On a sluggish stream
Gleams dimly—so the moon shone there,
And it yellow’d the strings of thy tangled hair,
That shook in the wind of night.

The moon made thy lips pale, beloved;
The wind made thy bosom chill;
The night did shed
On thy dear head
Its frozen dew, and thou didst lie
Where the bitter breath of the naked sky
Might visit thee at will.[2]

Works Referenced

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “The Cold Earth Slept Below.” The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Ed. H. Buxton Forman. Vol. 4. New York: Goerge Bell and Sons, 1892. 300-301.

Struzik, Edward. Swamplands: Tundra Beavers, Quaking Bods, and the Improbable World of Peat. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2021.
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[1] Struzik, 8.
[2] Shelley, 300-301.

Hugh Crane’s Book

$15 - $20 (based on 2023 prices)

Makes one book

In 2023, I was commissioned by a local theater to serve as a consultant and prop builder for their production of The Haunting of Hill House, which was based on Shirley Jackson’s novel. Being a fan of the books since I was a teenager, I jumped at the opportunity and spent several months creating a collection of items to decorate both the house depicted on the stage and the cemetery created in the lobby to greet patrons before they entered the theater. For this prop, I returned to Dr. Frankenstein’s journal which I created for 2020’s haunt and, learning from the mistakes I made, refined the process to fashion Hugh Crane’s book read by Theodora during the production.

• One sheet of cardboard (at least 18” x 24”)
• One hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Two sheets of white tissue paper (20” x 20” per sheet)
• One 4 oz. bottle of decoupage medium
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat black*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat brown*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat white*
• One 8 oz. can of oil-based interior wood stain in red chestnut*
• Four sheets of brown cardstock
• Two Halloween-themed paper napkins
• At least four tablespoons of dark roasted coffee grounds
• One pan large enough to soak the cardstock and copy paper
• Fourteen sheets of copy paper with the book’s content printed on them
• One 4 oz. bottle of all-purpose tacky glue*
• One 0.3 fluid ounce bottle of red food coloring*
• One 4 oz. bottle of clear, all-purpose tacky glue gel*
• One fourteen-inch section of ribbon
• One to two yards of gray thread

1. Cut the cardboard into two 9” x 12” sections to serve as the covers for the book. You do not want them excessively large because this will prevent the item from opening, so make them roughly half an inch larger than the paper.

2. Sketch a skull onto the section that will be the front cover of the book. This design was selected by the play’s director, but you can utilize something different to cater the prop to your haunt’s needs (for instance, a spiderweb or bats).

3. Use a hot glue gun to build up layers on top of the design. This will work best if you move in stages, applying a layer of glue and allowing it to cool before applying another. Because the skull needed to be visible to the audience, I made it fairly thick; however, you can make it thinner for a subtle effect.

4. Tear the tissue paper into small sections and roll them into tight balls. You want to create as many wrinkles as possible. Then, working in sections, apply a layer of decoupage medium to the cardboard and then a piece of tissue paper. Leave their edges loose during this step, since it will help to fashion creases during step five.

5. Once the entire cover is coated with tissue paper, apply a second layer of decoupage medium to fully adhere the paper to the cardboard. During this step, you will want to ensure there are plenty of wrinkles to give the leather texture. Also, fold the excess paper over the covers’ edges and glue it down for a cleaner appearance.

6. After the decoupage medium has dried, apply an even coat of white paint to the covers. This will give them a uniform base coat to cover any writing on the cardboard and prevent it from showing through on the leather. 

7. Once the white paint dries, give the covers three washes of brown paint followed by a wash of black. You may want to test the consistency prior to doing this: the more water you add, the fainter/lighter the wash; the less water you add, the deeper/darker the wash.

8. To give the leather fuller depth, paint the covers with the wood stain, applying a small amount to a paper towel or sponge and patting it onto the surfaces. I used red chestnut for a deep mahogany hue, but you can use brown or gray based on your chosen aesthetic.

9. Coat two sheets of cardstock with the decoupage medium and cover their surfaces with the Halloween-themed napkins, pressing them as smooth as possible to prevent any wrinkles. As with the skull on the front cover, the napkin’s pattern was selected by the director, so feel free to use an alternate design for your version.

10. Boil roughly twelve cups of water and add the coffee. The longer you allow the coffee to brew, the darker the stain will become. Likewise, greater amounts of coffee will produce a richer stain. Since I wanted uneven spots rather than a unified discoloration, I placed the cardstock on a baking sheet, splashed coffee and grounds onto the surface, allowed the liquid to sit for a few minutes, and then moved them to a large space to dry.

11. Position the cardstock on the inside of the covers, leaving a half-inch border along three of the four sides, and glue them in place. You want the cardstock to rest flush against the side which will become the spine.

12. Repeat the process in step ten for the copy paper and remaining cardstock, working with a few sheets at a time. Although this process took a while, it provided an interesting aging effect that greatly enhanced the prop.

13. In a plastic container (because the food coloring will stain, use something disposable or that you won’t mind dying), pour in your desired amount of clear glue gel and slowly add red food coloring to the solution until it achieves the sanguine hue you desire. To give the blood further density, add blue food coloring and mix well.

14. Use the blood glue and a paint brush to write a message on the last page of the book. This was a scripted detail the direct requested, so you can skip this and the previous step if you do not want this in your prop.

15. Beginning with the two sheets of coffee-stained cardstock made in step twelve, divide the book in half and glue the pages together with a light coat of glue along the edge of the left margin.

16. Utilizing the process in step ten, coffee stain the ribbon and attach it to the upper left-hand corner of the book to serve as a bookmark. As with the skull and napkins, the cross pattern was selected by the director, so feel free to pick whatever design you want.

17. Glue both halves of the book together and then use the gray thread to haphazardly bind the folios. As you do so, refrain from tying them too tight, since this will prevent the book from opening. This entire step is meant to be purely aesthetic and add to the book’s aged look.

18. Attach the covers to the folios. To make the book easier to open, align the edges of the covers with the spin.

19. Because many of the features in the prop aligned with the details in the script and the director’s vision, feel free to cherry pick what aspects you want, from the contents of the tomb to the pattern on the cover.

*You will not use the entire bottle’s content for this project.