Don’t be surprised if your Halloween visitors and trick-or-treaters take the long way to your door. When they pass through your yard and see protruding legs and arms they’ll vote yours the scariest house on the block. The buried arms and legs is a decoration that’s easy to set up, and fun to watch, as others spy the buried body parts.
To make a buried leg start with the pant leg off of any pants. You don’t necessarily have to cut the leg off the pants; you can use one pant leg and tuck the rest of the pants into a plastic bag. Besides the bag and pants you’ll need a yardstick, a metal rod, a wooden dowel, or something similar.
Use a boot to make the buried leg. Slide the dowel or other object through the pant leg and into the boot. Stuff the pant leg with foam, trash bags, or other material, and shape it like a leg. If necessary, stuff the boot to keep it steady. Depending upon the angle that you set the leg into the ground it might be necessary to tape the pant leg to the boot.
Dig a small hole to use for setting the leg. The hole should be large enough to cover several inches of the stuffed leg and the pole or rod which holds it. Cover the end of the leg with dirt and point the leg so that it’s raised somewhat off the ground – or even with the boot way in the air.
To make a buried arm just use the sleeve from a shirt or jacket and a glove. Stuff the sleeve and glove then bury the end, as with the pant leg. To take the project further, make a tombstone from crossed sticks or even a Styrofoam kickboard.
There are lots of ways to do this project. Make two legs that stick up out of the ground, or make a leg and an arm. Or, make a graveyard full of arms and legs at different angles. Another choice is to just bury boots so that you can see just the soles and parts of the boots.
It’s fun to see the look on people’s faces when they see the protruding arms, legs or feet. Place them where people will see them as they approach your door and watch as they take the long way around. You’ll laugh hysterically and you’ll probably want to set it up again – but a little differently – next year.