[Evil Eyes]

I have a front yard that has a serious slope down the side. There is only a small part of the yard that's even close to being flat. Every year that I put tombstones up they either have to stand crooked or if I prop them up straight there is a huge gap on one side. A few crooked tombstones look great but not when all of them are leaning the same way. I'm looking for any new ideas or props that would work in a sloping yard. Help!

 

[dave the dead]

I will be dealing with the same thing, evileyes. My thought was to cut the bottom of the stones to look like they are embedded in the side of the hill, making the main part look fairly straight. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it will work.

 

[Lilly]

you could try and make it look like it's covered in a huge spider web..
maybe cheesecloth stretched out, with spideys crawiling on it.maybe a zombie caught in it.

 

[dave the dead]

how bad is your slope? I remember when I was growing up there were a few mausoleums built into the side of a hill in my local cemetary. This could be a real nice addition to a sloping yard.

 

[dave the dead]

or possibly have some coffin ends sticking out of the side of the hill, like the dirt has washed away and just started to expose the buried coffin.....this would work great with one of the massager motor corpses like he is reachiung out of the exposed end of the coffin.

 

[Revenant]

I was just going to mention the hillside mausoleums. They look even cooler if you build them to be crooked and put some heavy settlement cracks in them, like erosion and weight are causing them to slowly settle and shift... maybe have a door hanging askew, and a broken tomb inside lying crooked like it fell off its pedestal. The ancient, forgotten cemetery.

 

[Haunted Bayou]

Do you have a pic? It might help us figure out some suggestions.

 

[sadayo]

Leaves

Leafs raked against the bottom of props hide a lot of sins and smooth the transition between prop and ground. If you're concerned about leaves blowing away, pick up a leaf garland at the craft store to wrap around bottom.

 

[HalloweenZombie]

One advantage you have with a sloping yard is that if you have a corpse lying in a coffin, people will actually be able to see what's in the coffin. Ground breaker props have a whole new intimidation factor because they will be above the viewing audience. And Revenant has a great point with the hillside mausoleums. Think of the advantage of building a front mausoleum facade without having to detail the sides too much. And tombstones look way cooler when they are randomly tilted.

 

[SweeneyFamilyHorror]

Hard to know exactly HOW sloped you are talking about. Really, from a theatrical standpoint it may work great. Our yard has a good deal of slope in the middle, too. But yours may be more extreme. I would think that corpses popping up from tumbled tombstones could be great. On the other hand, if you'd really like a standard graveyard scene, it may be a case of using shims on the front of the stones or maybe even attaching some wires on the back of the stones and securing them in place with a stake. Post some pics and maybe more specific suggestions can be made. Good luck!

 

[trexmgd]

I too have a slope and used tombstone props. I try to use it to my advantage by "staggering & stacking" the tombstones like stadium seating. Then I buy a bag of potting soil or compost and use that around the stones to make them look like they've settled or recently been moved. When I'm cleaning up, I simply spread out the dirt/compost with a rake and it's good for the lawn too!

 

[Lagrousome]

Here's a pic of a mausoleum built into a hillside. Hope it helps.

 

[trexmgd]

That is AWESOME!

 

[Lagrousome]

Thanks T. I had some free time this morning so I whipped out this little prop!
LOL. J/K.....

 

[sadayo]

The Hills Have Eyes

Have you seen the movie The Hills Have Eyes? You could play up what you have by placing pairs of LED eyes that randomly blink, like rats or something waiting for the perfect moment to attack.

 

[edwood saucer]

Daves ideas are great so are LG's... that one takes some work though...

I think the exposed graves is a really neat idea.