For those of you interested in what the skeleton actually looked like go to:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hou...unted_Hill

For a larger version click on the photo. As you can see the skeleton is painted on. also notice the audience is anything but scared.

I saw the film at the first showing at the Tyler theatre in Tyler Texas. The skeleton was a blow up doll of sorts. It was painted black and a skeleton painted white on the front of the bag. Even as an impressionable kid of 14 I thought the effect was lame. The audience laughed when the skeleton came out over the auditorium. My friend Billy Smith and I stayed for the 2nd show so Billy could pelt it with his popcorn box and empty coke cup. He was not the only one throwing things at it. When it was hit it kinda swayed back and forth like laundry on a clothesline. An usher came into the auditorium flashing his flashlight around and said very loudly "Anybody who throws anything else will be kicked out of the movie". That just made the audience laugh more.

I guess it's true when people say "They don't make them like they used to".