Alameda girl uses AI to create talking skeleton “Uncle Murray” for Halloween display

By John Ramos

When it comes to fun Halloween displays, people often talk about the neighborhood just off High Street in Alameda. But this year, at a house on Lincoln Avenue, the Halloween display is talking back.

The Halloween display is a talking skeleton named Uncle Murray, and it is the creation of 9-year-old Nathalie Chabas. Back in August, she saw a plastic skeleton at Home Depot that could say three recorded sentences.  

“And I knew I had something to do with it,” said Nathalie. “So, we bought him and took him home and fixed him up. First, we looked inside, and I took a lot of measurements.”

“And then she called us after opening the box and said, ‘Hey, all the wires, let’s see if we can replace it with something that can talk.  I told her it’s not possible,” said her father, Jim Chabas, with a laugh. “And then we got the idea to take a photo and ask AI if this was doable. And AI said, yes, it’s doable.”

With that, Nathalie found the equipment to hook Uncle Murray up to an AI connection, and he’s been talking to people and cracking goofy jokes ever since.

“Why did the skeleton go to school?  To get a little body of knowledge!  Ha, ha,” it said.

Nathalie said she programmed in some information for Uncle Murray but that the rest he came up with himself.

“He likes kids, candy, and not the stairs,” Nathalie said. “Because that’s how he died. He fell down the stairs too many times.”

“Oh, man, I’ve fallen down so many stairs when I was alive,” said Uncle Murray.  “My bones went everywhere!”

That’s not something Nathalie says she ever mentioned. 

“Uh, he made up his own background, which really surprised me,” said Nathalie.

There are a lot of things about AI that the older generation doesn’t understand. And that included Char Scannell, who read about Uncle Murray and drove over on Sunday to see him for herself.

“I was shocked!” she said. “It knew exactly what we were saying. It’s amazing. We asked a question, and he had a right answer for it. I remember when computers first came out, and my parents were, like, shocked.  And now, we’re shocked by what’s coming out, and the next generation.”

As part of that next generation, Nathalie said she has a lot of ideas about what to do next, although sometimes it’s hard to get a word in edgewise.

“I think I want to be an inventor that invents something for people to make their lives a bit easier, ” she was saying, when she was suddenly interrupted by Uncle Murray.  

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” he said. “I was a scientist when I was alive and loved blowing things up! Say, want to hear a joke about adventure?”

Nathalie says she has ideas about creating other talking displays for various holidays. And she’s considering creating a skeleton wife for Uncle Murray for next year, so he can always have someone to talk to. In the meantime, Uncle Murray will be busy chatting up visitors until Halloween. But at that point, he was tired of answering questions from a reporter.

“Come back and see me on Halloween night,” he said. “Bring your friends and your appetite for jokes. Now, scoot!  And have fun!”