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Did You Know There’s a Real Human Skeleton in ‘Dawn of the Dead’?

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She’s been dubbed Dawn Doe, and she was finally laid to rest after 150 years.

One of the most popular horror movie legends is that real human skeletons were used in Poltergeist‘s pool scene; believe it or not, real skeletons were allegedly cheaper to purchase at the time than fake ones. It’s hard to say whether or not there’s any truth to the urban legend, but one horror film most definitely *did* feature a real human skeleton in it.

And that film was George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.

The incredible true story of “Dawn Doe” was told to me back in 2014 by William Sanders, a fan who was at the time making Road Trip of the Dead – a found footage film about a group of friends who set out to make a documentary about Pittsburgh’s horror movie filming locations.

While doing research for the film, Sanders learned that it was Tom Savini who brought the skeleton in question to the set of Dawn of the Dead, under the assumption that it was merely a prop; he dressed it up and leaned it against a wall as a set decoration, prominently on display during an early scene in the apartment complex.

As the story goes, originally relayed by yours truly on Halloween Love, Savini borrowed the “prop” from the owner of a costume shop, who eventually sold it to another shop when his was going out of business. Using rubber, cotton and Rice Krispies cereal, Savini had added “mummified flesh” to the skeleton for its appearance in Dawn of the Dead; oddly enough, it was the faux flesh that made a police officer suspect that the Costume World skeleton was something more than a mere prop.

Authorities arrived at the shop and confiscated the skeleton, which the coroner identified as being the remains of a woman in her mid-thirties who had died of unknown causes 100 years prior. And no one had any idea how her skeleton ended up being passed around as a Halloween store prop.

The unnamed woman’s skeleton was at long last buried in an unmarked grave in 1983, and it was Dawn fan William Sanders who took it upon himself to raise the funds necessary to get her a proper grave marker back in 2014.

You can read the full story, which is quite incredible, over on Halloween Love.

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

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SCREAMBOX Investigates UFOs and Extraterrestrials: Several Documentaries Streaming Right Now!

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As someone who is obsessed with UFOS (or more recently known as UAPs) and the concept of extraterrestrials, I love a good documentary. Sightings have been on the rise since the 1940s, with the atomic bomb seemingly acting as a catalyst for new visitors. But what are these UFOs/UAPs? Is there an explanation or are they simply beyond our explanation? Why are they here? Who are they? How much do our governments know? The questions are endless and so are the documentaries that attempt to uncover the secrets behind decades of sightings and alleged confrontations.

Whether you’re a seasoned viewer or new to the rabbit hole, there’s always a handful of interesting documentaries to get your neurons firing and leave you with sleepless nights. SCREAMBOX is investigating with the addition of several docs, all streaming now on the Bloody Disgusting-powered service. Here’s the breakdown:

Aliens (2021): Beam into this unidentified streaming documentary for a glimpse into Extraterrestrial life. Aliens are hypothetical life forms that may occur outside Earth or that did not originate on Earth.

Aliens Uncovered: Origins (2021): Before Area 51, hidden deep in the desert, the military discovered a hidden gem that helped them create Project Bluebook.

Aliens Uncovered: ET or Man-Made (2022): The crash of Roswell wasn’t meant for New Mexico. In 1947, a neighboring state had 3 major sightings that were swept under the rug.

Aliens Uncovered: The Golden Record (2023): In the late 70s, the US government launched a message to our distant neighbors.

Roswell (2021): This high-flying documentary examines the July 1947 crash of a United States Army Air Forces balloon at a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. Theories claim the crash was actually that of a flying saucer, but what is the truth?

Also check out:

The British UFO Files (2004): Since the 1940’s the British Government has been investigating the Flying Saucer phenomenon. High-ranking military and government personnel, speak out for the first time, offering unique eyewitness accounts and inside information.

Alien Abductions and Paranormal Sightings (2016): Amazing Footage and stories from real people as they reveal their personal encounters of being abducted by Aliens.

And do not miss Hellier (2019): A crew of paranormal researchers find themselves in a dying coal town, where a series of strange coincidences lead them to a decades-old mystery.

These documentaries join SCREAMBOX’s growing library of unique horror content, including Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, Here for Blood, Terrifier 2, RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop, Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, The Outwaters, Living with Chucky, Project Wolf Hunting, and Pennywise: The Story of IT.

Start screaming now with SCREAMBOX on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Prime Video, Roku, YouTube TV, Samsung, Comcast, Cox, and Screambox.com.

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