Forest Park Casket Race awards the 'dead last' and 'frighteningly funny'

FOREST PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- The race to Halloween is on - literally.

Saturday marked the 12th Annual Forest Park Casket Race, bringing ghouls, goblins, monsters, superheroes and princesses together ahead of Oct. 31.

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"We do have some very fierce competitors, but there's at least two or three teams, if not more, that love to just walk," said Laurie Kokenes.

Laurie Kokenes is the executive director of the Forest Park Chamber of Commerce.

Kokenes said residents and local businesses alike unite to create these creepy, crawly, caskets.

"It's just over the top for some of them," said Kokenes. "It's unbelievable. They have meetings and they create it over several months."

Kristen Lyons embraced the role of Mary Poppins herself ahead of the races.

She's part of a team called the "British Are Coming," celebrating British pop culture icons, alive and dead.

"The lovely queen is riding in our casket, because she is the most famous dead person of our group," said Lyons.

And the history behind the race, is enough to send a chill up your spine.

"For every one resident, there's about 275 dead people here in Forest Park. We have so many cemeteries," said Lyons.

Each team used all their undead strength to push the casket and rider down a nearly 600-foot track on the street. Some faster than others.

All competed for a variety of trophies, from dead last, to frighteningly funny, making this spooky celebration one for the spell books.