A model of the stone chapel from the iconic 1968 film “Night of the Living Dead” has joined the Carnegie Science Center’s miniature railroad and village.
The chapel from the movie was turned into a model for the Science Center using a 3-D printer, a process that took about 100 hours. Railroad and Village manager Nicole Wilhelm said the chapel was picked because of its feel-good backstory, but it also serves a functional purpose.
“We do try to be as realistic as possible and it’s kind of like, well, of course people are going to be dying in the miniature village, but where are all of those dead people going to be buried? So, now we finally have a cemetery where they can be put to rest,” she said.
The almost 100-year-old chapel is located in the Evans City Cemetery, where “Night of the Living Dead” was filmed. It is the only building from the film still standing, but was very nearly demolished.
Efforts to save the chapel in 2011 were led by Gary Streiner, who was the sound technician on the horror classic and one of the original 10 people to put up $600 for the film stock. When forming the grassroots group, Streiner encountered an unexpected challenge with town residents.
“There was a huge faction that kind of looked down on ‘Night of the Living Dead’ as devil worship,” he said. Despite this, community members and fans were able to raise nearly $50,000 to restore the stone chapel.
This new model honors the film, which was deemed culturally, historically and aesthetically significant by the Library of Congress in 1999, as well as a town that came together to preserve a landmark. To celebrate the spooky season, it will be surrounded by “true crime” placards and — of course — tiny zombies.
