My mother was “The Housedress Ghoul” in “Night of the Living Dead” and now everyone knows it | Screen | Pittsburgh

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

Sharon Carroll, featured in Night of the Living Deadwelcomes visitors to the Living Dead Weekend at Monroeville Mall.

One October evening, back in the hazy 80s, when I was 10 years old, my mother woke me and my brother from our beds and tucked us under a blanket on the couch to watch Night of the Living Dead. According to her, it may have been the first time she had seen it. That explains why she expected the black-and-white film to be cheesy and not downright scary. But it is scary, and the scariest thing about it? For me, it was the moment when she pressed pause, pointed at one of the ghouls (they are not called zombies) in a pretty fitted outfit, and exclaimed, “That’s Mom!” and grinned. I screamed. We laugh about it now.

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CP Illustration: Jeff Schreckengost

That’s right, my mother, Sharon Carroll, was a zombie teenager. Or, more accurately, she played a flesh-eating, undead ghoul in Pittsburgh’s most famous movie. It wasn’t until 2024, however, that anyone outside of our family knew the name of the ghost of a woman fans dubbed “The Housedress Ghoul.” That was Mom.

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

John Wilson poses for a photo during the Living Dead Weekend at the Monroeville Mall.

A quick synopsis of the 1968 film for the uninitiated, with spoilers: The dead have risen and are looking for people to eat. As the nightmare unfolds, several strangers find themselves trapped in a Pennsylvania farmhouse, fighting to survive as they hurtle toward a truly shocking end. The film was made for less than $100,000 and grossed more than 250% on its initial theatrical release. It was scary and apocalyptic, and it had a social message and an eternally quotable line: “They’re coming to get you, Barbara.”

Shot in an almost guerrilla style, this film was groundbreaking not only because it was one of the first horror films in which the protagonist died, but also because Duane Jones, a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, was the first black actor to play the lead role in a horror film. Today, the film is a cult classic and is in the National Film Registry.

For a little dose of local color, the film brought in Pittsburgh legends of the 1960s, including reporter Dave James, who accompanied the local news crew and appeared as an extra. Late-night horror movie host Bill “Chilly Billy” Cardille was also an extra. Bob Harvey, a real-life helicopter reporter at the time, can be heard in a key scene where survivors try to get information about what happened. The inclusion of local color adds to the eerie terror for Pittsburgh viewers. This nightmare could happen to you. In your own home.

As with any popular movie or television series, loyal fans have sought out and consumed all the information they could find over the decades. Night of the Living Dead. From the casual viewer to the superfan, there is a lot to be said about this film, which was shot in less than 30 days. Documentaries have been made and conferences are being held across the country to bring together people who appreciate the work of director George Romero and his series of films.

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The last Living Dead Weekend took place last month at the Monroeville Mall, taking up a few vacant storefronts. More than 1,000 people attended the three-day event. Conventions dedicated to authors like Romero are usually smaller and more intimate, and this one followed that trend. Lines were reasonable and the mood in Monroeville was convivial. Panels were well attended, and Facebook fan groups were flooded with pictures of happy attendees.

New York-based John Vullo, who works with the original film production company, Image Ten, spent years tracking down every person associated with the film, even extras like my mother.

The challenge is an interesting one. Start with a partial list of extras and scan through scenes where they’re wandering around a cemetery, but without many opportunities to put names to faces. The search gets harder when trying to track down women, as many of them now have different names.

It was the film’s credits that brought my mother, now Sharon Brubach Rapone (Sharon Carroll at the time of filming), to the convention. Her former full name was all they had.

Sharon is a retiree who lives a quiet life. She swims every day and enjoys reading and painting. She no longer lives in Pittsburgh, but misses it. She is grateful to have grown up in this city.

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

Sharon Carroll, featured in Night of the Living Deadsigned an original poster from the film.

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Vullo tracked her and other extras down through thorough investigation. Like many women her age, she has no online presence, so finding her was a challenge. Vullo searched records, found obituaries, linked her maiden name to her current married name, requested documents and kept searching.

Less than three weeks before the Pittsburgh convention, Sharon was surprised to receive a call from Image Ten asking if she would be a guest. She didn’t even know anyone was looking for her, but it made her smile. A polite stranger asked if she had ever been Sharon Carroll and if she had been in the movie. She wondered for a while if the whole thing was a hoax. She replied that attending a nostalgia convention wasn’t really for her, but after some thought, she asked for a few concessions, which were kindly granted, and she was off on a new adventure.

One of the film’s producers, Russ Streiner, tells Pittsburgh City Newspaper He vaguely remembers that Sharon was a friend of his ex-wife, but didn’t know anything else.

In fact, in 1967, while studying and working at Pitt, Sharon became friends with Jackie Steiner, Russ’ wife, who lived in the same apartment building. One day, Jackie asked Sharon if she was busy and wanted to be in a movie. Sharon thought the whole thing was very entertaining. She was asked to bring her own wardrobe and for the first day of shooting she picked out what she called the “house dress” (which we both agree was pretty cute and a bit fancier than something someone would wear while cleaning house) and spent two days shooting in it. That was it. She had no ambitions to be an actress, and she wasn’t there for the money, since she was paid a total of $25 – about $225 today. She was there because – why not? She was young and thought it sounded like a fun way to pass the time.

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

Mandy Davis poses for a photo in zombie makeup by Ali Fleeman during Living Dead Weekend at Monroeville Mall.

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

Mandy Davis poses for a photo in zombie makeup by Ali Fleeman during Living Dead Weekend at Monroeville Mall.

This weekend, one of the actors, Karl Hardman, got out his camera to document the action. Fortunately for the world, but not so great for Sharon, these now famous copyrighted images of her have been used without her knowledge on dozens of products, from T-shirts to a VHS release of the film to the Konami game Zombies ate my neighborsand a living Dead-Themed board game.

When my mom arrived at the conference, she was completely delighted that people were lined up to get an autographed photo and take photos with her. She was stunned that people had traveled from as far away as Texas and Tennessee just to hug her. (I can attest that it’s a fantastic hug.) She posed and smiled and was so grateful when someone conjured up a slice of Mineo’s pizza. “The best pizza I’ve had in ten years,” she said. The bonus was that not only did she spend the day meeting a litany of fans, she also earned more in the first hour than she had in two days working on the film. It was worth it.

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CP Photo: Mars Johnson

John Wilson poses for a photo during the Living Dead Weekend at the Monroeville Mall.

The whole situation makes her giggle. “I feel like I’ve met family. Everyone has been so nice to me.”

Now she is part of the troop and looks forward to becoming more involved in future events.