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Wanda's Ghost Lantern
Wanda's Ghost Lantern
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Wanda's Ghost Lantern
Built By Hand In A Loft Above An Old Awning Shop, Circleville, Ohio
By Wanda Hoyt, 71 — 34 Octobers at the same bench, and the last person in Pickaway County still building these.
“I always thought I'd stop the day nobody wanted them anymore. It was my hands. These last 433 are the best I have ever built — I just cannot build a 434th.”
What comes in the box
The Ghost
Seven layers of grade-40 cotton gauze over a hand-bent wire spiral
The Carved Base
Cast from the pumpkin Dell Hoyt grew in 1994 — weighted, and it never rots
Fifty Warm Lights
Hand-threaded through spiral and body, six-hour timer built into the base
The Loft Card
Your ghost's number from Wanda's book, signed by her and granddaughter Tessa
One ghost, by the numbers
Six things make a Hoyt ghost a Hoyt ghost
The Seven-Layer Gauze
Grade-40 open weave off a North Carolina mill that shut in 2019, six yards in every ghost. What is sold as cheesecloth today is a ten or a twenty — thin enough to read a newspaper through. Hold his hem to the light and you can count all seven.
Dell's 1994 Pumpkin
Her husband grew it, she carved it, and instead of letting it rot on the step she took a mould off it. Every base since has come out of that mould. The face is identical on all of them because it is the same pumpkin.
No Starch Since 1997
Forty of her ghosts collapsed on a folding table after one rainy night in 1996. Starch is sugar, it pulls water out of the air. Since then the cloth is set the way she set boat canvas for thirty-one years.
The Black Felt Eyes
Two ovals of wool felt — the only part of him that does not let light through. That is exactly why they are the first thing anyone sees from the far end of the street.
The Fourteen-Foot Spiral
Tempered wire, bent by hand. It is the structure, not the decoration — the body hangs on it and stays exactly where she put it, instead of sagging into a lump by mid-October.
The Tarlton Road Book
Hand-numbered in the hem and entered in the book she started in 1992. This final batch runs #8,912 to #9,344. After #9,344 the book closes.
From the cotton trade
“Grade forty is not what gets sold as cheesecloth now, and people do not realise how far that has slipped. Put starch on anything that lives outdoors and you have two days of work waiting for one wet night. Wanda sets her cloth the way a sailmaker sets canvas — I have handled pieces of hers from the late nineties that are still tight in the hand. There is nobody else working this way, and after this October there will be nobody at all.”
Dale Chambliss
Cotton finishing, 38 years, Gastonia, North Carolina
Where he goes
Why this is not a store-bought decoration
- Thirty-four Octobers of practice — built by Wanda Hoyt, at the same bench above the old awning shop since 1992.
- No hands but hers — every ghost framed, layered, dipped, wired and lit by Wanda. No helpers, no apprentices, no line.
- Materials that ran out — the grade-40 gauze came off a mill that closed in 2019. When the last bolt is cut, there is no more of it anywhere.
- No embarrassing daytime — nothing inflates and nothing deflates. At noon he is a white cloth sculpture, not a heap on the lawn.
- Numbered and logged — stamped in the hem and written into a book that has been running since 1992.
- Family certified — ships with a card signed by Wanda and her granddaughter Tessa, who runs the shop side of it.
30-day returns, no questions asked. If he is not right for your porch, one email and you get your money back. Wanda's words: she wants them switched on, not kept out of obligation.
One honest note before you order: he stands about 29 inches — roughly the height of a kitchen stool — and the porch photographs make him look bigger than he is. He takes three AA batteries and they are not included . He is built for a porch, a covered step or the spot beside a front door, not for the middle of an open lawn in a storm. Everything else is exactly as shown.
About hand-built: no two are the same. The fall of the hem, the set of the arms, the reach of the hands — all of it is decided in the twenty minutes before the cloth hardens, by hand, once. Small differences between ghosts are not faults. They are the evidence that somebody stood there and made this one.
Product details
| Material | Seven layers of grade-40 cotton gauze, six yards per ghost |
|---|---|
| Structure | Hand-bent tempered wire spiral, approx. 14 ft, plus wire armatures in both hands |
| Base | Mineral-filled cast, taken off a real carved pumpkin in 1994 — weighted, will not rot |
| Set contents | 1 ghost lantern + numbered loft card signed by Wanda and Tessa |
| Height | Approx. 29 in / 74 cm overall |
| Base size | 7 in across / 18 cm · 5 in high / 13 cm |
| Arm span | Approx. 24 in / 60 cm |
| Weight | 1.65 lb / 750 g |
| Lighting | 50 warm white LEDs, hand-threaded through the spiral and body. Warm white only — no colour modes, no remote |
| Power | 3 × AA batteries, not included . Compartment in the base |
| Timer | 6 hours on / 18 hours off, comes on at the same time each evening. Manual switch in the base as well |
| Weather | Weather-resistant. Built for a porch, covered step or beside a door — not an exposed lawn in high wind |
| Eyes | Two ovals of black wool felt, the only opaque part of the figure |
| Origin | Built by hand in a loft on Tarlton Road, Circleville, Ohio |
| Craftsmanship | One builder, 34 Octobers, the better part of a day per ghost |
| Season | Made for Halloween; most owners leave him out through Thanksgiving |
| Care | Wipe the base, store upright and dry, keep the cloth out of the washing machine |
| Built to date | 9,344 since 1992 (Wanda's book) |
| Final batch | #8,912 – #9,344 — 433 pieces, and the last there will ever be |
The Final Series
The Final Series
Message from the studio:
After forty-six years painting the Blue Ridge mountains from her window, a small stroke this past winter took the steady hand Eleanor Voss needs for the fine detail. She finished her three 2027 series — the American landscapes, the French villages, and the twelve famous-painting cats — in the last weeks the line still held. Every month is printed from an original oil painting. When these are gone, there is no reprint and no 2028.
Free US Shipping
Free US Shipping
Free shipping across the United States
- Delivery time: 3–5 business days
- Each calendar is carefully packed and ships from the US
- Printed from original oil paintings on thick, writable paper
- 30-day money-back guarantee — just email support@backroad-goods.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Got a question? Here’s how to reach us.
Got a question? Here’s how to reach us.
Email us anytime at support@backroad-goods.com. We answer Monday–Friday 9am–5pm and Saturday 10am–3pm (ET) — whether it’s about your order, a gift, or just to say hello.
Can I return it if it’s not for me?
Can I return it if it’s not for me?
Of course. 30-day money-back guarantee. Hang it in your kitchen, and if it simply isn’t right for you, email support@backroad-goods.com within 30 days for a full refund. No questions asked.
How is it made?
How is it made?
Every month is an original oil painting by Eleanor Voss near Boone, North Carolina, printed on thick coated paper with a twin-wire spiral binding and large writable date blocks. Three editions: American Landscape, French Town Scenery, and the whimsical Famous Painting Cat. This is her final complete series — no reprint.