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Show ''"." ' . . " . V: ' ' v'' - 4' " ' 'N w . , ;. .' ' '- . ... 1-'-'. i ' - t ' t ' 1 ' I or.LY a Dur.ir.iY when the children go trick or treating at the Wallace Olney home at 334 West 3200 South m the Val Verda area, they must meet some ghoulish creatures before they leave with their trick or treat candy. AS THE children knock at the door, they are asked to come in and pay their respects. They are ushered into the living room where they see a black coffin, lighted only by candles. Organ music is playing as either Wallace or La Rae Olney lead them to a small casket where the bowl of trick or treat candy rests on the chest of a dummy created by Mr. Olney and dressed appropriately for burial in a black suit and tie. The trick or treaters pay their respects to the thing in the casket, take their candy and leave only to be accosted by another apparition, this time a frightening white-colored white-colored figure who waves and motions in the breeze just outside the door in front of the house. MR. OLNEY said that trick or treaters have been paying their respects to the man in the casket for four years. A mortician mor-tician at Larkin Mortuary in Salt Lake City, Mr. Olney decided to create the coffin cof-fin and the dummy outside for Halloween four years ago. "It gives the kids something to talk about, he said. That first year the children in the neighborhood came and then many went home to bring their parents back to see the inhabited casket. Mr. Olney said one boy in the neighborhood, who has made several trips to the Olney home said, "As many times as we've had a viewing, you'd think it would be time for the funeral." THE FIVE Olney children between the ages of two and 15 are proud of the distinction dis-tinction "the man in the casket" brings to their house on Halloween. Especially Denise, 7, and Bryan, 5, help thier father bring up tbe apparition from the - basement where the casket, made from a large clothing box, is stored until the next Halloween.. Using some of the tools of his trade, Mr. Olney painted the large clothing box about four feet in length black and used aluminum wrap to look like fastenings and hinges, inside he created a figure from a styrofoam head, a wig and made the feature out of cotton cosmetics available to him as a mortician. Inside the eye sockets are false eyes. The dummy is dressed in a shirt, coat and tie belonging Trick or treaters will pay their respects to this Halloween creature at the home of Wallace and La Rae Olney at their home in the Val Verda area on Monday. to Mr. Olney and the arms of the coat are folded across the chest with gloves used to create the illusion of hands. THE CASKET and its inhabitant has. become a popular guest at Halloween parties around the area, Mr. Olney says. He has promised it out for several parties and spook alleys this year, but has specified that the man in the coffin must be home in time for Halloween night. This year Mr. Olney created another apparition outside the door. He began again with a styrofoam ball, used carbon tetrachloride to hallow out the eyes and the mouth and, with the use of red and black spray paint and an artificial eye, ended np with a terrifying face of a woman. THIS GHOUL was dressed in a flowing white dress with arms that reach out. The fingers are made from coat hangers covered with white gloves for hands and completed with black fingernails. This is the first year for the apparition in white, although for several years trick or treaters have also met a man hanging by the neck from on the beams of the carport. car-port. Mr. Olney said he also has plans for a witch riding a broomstick which may be completed in time for Halloween next year. He is thinking of stringing a wire up to the telephone pole and having the witch float back and forth in the air on her broomstick. ALTHOUGH the children in the Olney home aren't afraid of the things of the night created by Mr. Olney, the cats won't get near them. The one big black Persian cat, which the family has named Boo, refuses to get near the casket in the living room and both cats avoid the new creature crea-ture in the yard. His craft as a mortician also makes Mr. Olney in demand at Halloween for another reason. He is often called out as a cosmetic cosme-tic expert to make up hunchback Draculas and wolfmen for spook alleys. As a scoutmaster in his LDS ward, he has agreed to make up some of his scouts for a Halloween party. In the past he has created costumes for the older children. A Dracula with black coat and red sash was one of his more successful efforts, he said. MR. OLNEY estimates that between 150 and 200 children visit their house on Halloween. "There are a lot of children in the neighborhood and Halloweeen is a big holiday for children." |