So you are going to put on a haunted house event?

Our first words of advice... START EARLY!

... you will always wish you had more time!
Start 6-8 weeks, or even 6 months early...
some people start planning on November First, for the next year!!

Start by going through your Halloween stuff and seeing what you can use again this year.

Decide if you want to set up a single display, or a walk through. If its a walk through, then you need to decide on how many scenes, or rooms, you will have.

Put together a tool box, with hammers, nails, staple gun & staples, spray glue, duct tape, pins, utility knife, and a first aid kit...

You'll need to design walls to make like hallways or maze, plenty of chainsaws, and safe ways for people to travel through the haunt. Just kidding about the chainsaw, they are WAY overused... We like black plastic sheeting best for the walls, and we have used many methods of hanging it. You can hang plastic from trees, from ropes stretched across from rooftops, or simply staple the plastic to your walls and ceiling.
Create hallways and places for each scene you want.

 

Ideas for scenes could be
a graveyard,
a laboratory,
a mortuary,
haunted nursery with creepy babies,
a maze room,
creepy clown room,
a beheading,
childs room with creepy dolls,
blood donation station,
gorey car accident,
a pirate pub,
western-style hanging,
a strobe light room,
an oncoming train,
classroom full of dead students,
morgue,
hospital room,
a bloody kitchen with foul smells,
a haunted castle,
filthy jailcell,
electric chair with squirming body,
autopsy room,
christmas living room with evil santa,
gypsy fortune teller room,
organ player,
witches coven,
the possibilities are endless...

 

Make sure you line up some a LOT of friends to help you out. Everyone should be in costume for the big night. For larger haunts, it is often neccesary to escort guests through the haunt. This is good for the safety of your crew and guests as well. Also use your crew to help set up, scare folks during the haunt, and take down afterward. Feeding them dinner is nice. Ask them to contribute ideas and decorations for the project.

Safety is very important. Whether you are spooking family or trick or treaters, it's crucial that no one hurt themselves. Haunted mazes are generally dark, and you must make sure that people can travel through the haunt safely without real obstacles. You cannot make them climb over or under things, nor can you create pathways less than 30 inches wide. If your haunt is wheelchair accessible, make sure you include that information in your media kit.

You want give people the IMPRESSION that they are in danger. That's the whole idea. But do not actually endanger anyone.

Each year for a while our Halloween night display got bigger and better. 1998, we used an empty apartment to house our "haunted hallway." We had about 15 friends helping out, and it was so scary that some kids dropped their candy and RAN back out of the house!!!

Hang black plastic sheeting for the "walls", in a zig-zag pattern with space "inside" the plastic for people to hide, and holes cut U-shaped in the plastic for people to poke their heads through.

Ghouls were hiding in closets, and we had a bloody chef serving up the candy in the kitchen at the end, many people went screaming right by her.
We used dry ice,
strobe lights,
black lights,
and lots of scary props that we have collected over the years.

I think that having it inside a vacant apartment made it even more scary than a typical garage or outdoor haunt. People did not want to go in. period.

The coolest thing we learned that year is that WOOLITE is black-light reactive!!
Really! It glows an eerie blue color!! We used Woolite to coat several items that we wanted to glow!!
We also recently learned that RED BULL is blacklight reactive as well.
Other laundry soaps work also, so I have heard...
Woolite is relatively safe for skin, clothing,
anything that is washable. Use at your own risk.
Buy it in the laundry aisle.
TONIC WATER is also reflective,
and can be mixed with a little paint to create various colors in lab scene bottles

 

One really cool effect we tried,
is to hook the fog machine up to a disposable ice-chest full of dry ice, and large hoses (like dryer tubes) and it "chills" the fog, so that it clings to the ground, instead of filling the area with smoke. It doesn't work as well as a real (expensive) dry-ice machine, but the fog does stick to the ground better. A slight breeze will send the smoke up & away as usual... I saw a great fog chiller that a guy made, on hauntspace recently.
Hauntspace like myspace for halloween lovers, if you spend all-year building your haunt, you'll love hauntspace! Join us!

 

Pumpkin Bowling Paint six 2-litre bottles to look like candy corn, and fill them half-full of water. Set up bales of hay for the edges of the "lane" ... Let the kids roll pumpkins toward the bottles and they win a prize!

Ah, yes, that was a great haunt. We had already decided on the placement of the horrors, and one thing we did differently is that we created a special area for little ones that were too scared to go through the haunted house.

Many kids were scared and we had to pass out candy at the front door of the haunt. This year we'll be setting up a "Candy Corn Lane" in the front area, with all the fun "cute" decorations that my husband normally doesn't let me hang!! That way, kids and grown-ups alike will have the option of being scared out of their minds!!! We had pumpkin bowling, with prizes, and lots and lots of candy!

Here is the layout for our biggest haunt.
Our apartment complex is made up of 6 units in a U shape, we used the back driveway area for the haunt and the front for the candy corn lane. This map is of the haunt only. The inner walls were made of black plastic sheeting hung from poles cemented into buckets. Some walls were plywood.

People started in the gallery, were we hung lots of cool and creepy artwork, that we painted ourselves. There was a talking skull host that greets the guests. From there they were escorted by one of our own hosts, around the corner, where a girl screamed from a jail cell made of fake-brick and a wooden rack. (looked better than I can describe it)

She screamed "watch out for the train" because when the people turned again, there was a VERY realistic train coming at them! Bill built a large cardboard train with lights and smoke, ( you could not see the train, really, just the shape, and the light coming toward you) and played a loud recording of a real train, with sound so realistic that you could FEEL the train coming! We have access to some great audio equipment!

Once they ran away from the train they were treated to a very scary ghoul/devil coming out of the (laundry room), equipped with smoke and a strobe light, and a 8 foot wall made of grey-painted cardboard boxes. (just paint them and stack them like bricks).... once past the ghoul, they encountered a scarecrow, except he came to life as the people walked by. (more screaming) Backstage in this area, people popped their heads and arms out of the black plastic walls.

Then there was a graveyard on our existing lawn. We had a real coffin, with an "undead" lady in it, and several homemade tombstones.

When the people turned the next corner, there were three scurvy pirates ready to attack, two living, and one dead, (a full size skeleton). Our pond, and lots of pyratical theming (treasure, swords, guns) made a great backdrop for this area.

Once they escaped the pirates, the last scene was a full-size very realistic guillotine, with a live squirming body and a head that dropped into a pan. really creepy- this really grossed people out, because the persons head was hidden so well, that it actually looked like we were killing off our neighbors one by one!!! Visit dreadwilliam.com for complete directions, and you can build your very own halloween guillotine!!

1999 was our most successful haunt ever.We got the entire apartment complex involved, so there were plenty of helpers and spooks! Keep in mind that we have a large talent pool of friends that are professional effects artists and sound engineers, so we are lucky that we can put on such a detailed haunt. (check out our home-made tv show)...Everyone who lives here was involved, and lots of other friends and family too. It took us months of planning, a several hundred dollars (only), and several days to build, all for one nights fun!

We had about 200 people come through, and we only did it on Halloween night. It was a free gift to the neighborhood. Parking was an issue...

Since then, people still come up to us off the street and tell us what a great time they had at our haunted house!

We'd love to hear about your home-made haunted attractions - send us a description and a photo or two, and we'll include it here for future hauntmakers!

 

 

Dean thinks & plans all year about themes for small, (read: less complex) free, fun ways to mess with trick or treaters on Halloween night. Sometimes because October is such a busy month, we barely have time to put up more than lights and music.

Dean is currently debating between a killer clown theme, or a haunted zombie slumber party, or an interactive movie screening in our back yard.... Either way it's always a blast, sometimes lots of work, but always worth it!

 

ok enough of my rambling ... !
~nancy

www.makeup-fx.com

Phantasmechanics Online - "Home of the Flying Crank Ghost" ... just like Disneyland! More flying crank ghost info at kickthefog.com

HAUNTED HEADSTONES

Larry's Halloween Page: learn how to scare, build your own haunted Halloween projects. Larry will show you how!!

HALLOWEEN - Halloween is our favorite Horrorday!! Each year these folks decorate their front yard into a HAUNTED TERROR. They have a graveyard, a haunted tunnel, and many scary things.

cryptopropology Halloween prop ideas from cheap and easy to come by materials.

Death Studios halloween masks, Props, and Haunted House Supplies - Death Studios produces quality halloween masks, props, and haunted house supplies. Killer Klowns, werewolves, vampires,demons, and more direct from the manufacturer. Not sold in stores

Haunted Attraction Magazine Online

Spooky Blue's Halloween Projects & Haunts Projects include corpsing a skeleton, build a mausoleum, build an electric flickering candle lamp and more. Spooky House Production

Burman Industries - Another great supply place! Latex, Silicone, and much much more

ImaginEERIEing If you're looking for a way to boost your Halloween fun this October, consider one of these projects.

Marks CreepZone halloween monster list of projects

Bare-Metal Foil & Hobby Co. - Casting and Molding Supplies

GLOW INC. Glow in the Dark Paint and Powder--"Lasts All Night"

KING'S INEXPENSIVE HOME HALLOWEEN IDEAS

Pinkhouse - Latex and casting supplies

Special Effect Supply - all kinds of supplies

Splitting Image Home Page - Nice general info

How to Build a Haunted House at DoItYourself.com

Helpful Links

Check out Adam's fantastic haunts from the past several years, and 13 project plans, at ghostsofhalloween.com

 

Fog Machines - Your Guide to using Fog Machines for Halloween - includes instructions to make a fog chiller with an old ice chest.

 

Instructions for making a Celtic Cross out of wood and foam

 

Project information for Halloween decorating and haunting, including articles on creating a “dot room” and a “glow room”

 

Static PropPictures Available Fixall Skull Plaque - instructions for making a plaster cast of a small skull .

 

Easy Goo-ey Slime Recipes at
the THE CREATURE COMPANY

 

Jacobs Ladder - basic instructions for making a large arcing electrical spark. Perfect for a LAB scene

 

 

Kicking Legs - instructions for making a motorized kicking leg prop for placing under a lawnmower

 

Haunted Illinois Endless Hallway, Living Head on a Table, Living Head in an Empty Box, Metamorphosis Box, Flip-Flop Doors, Ghost Appears Effect, Motion Sensor Prop Control, Spinning Floor, Lightning Simulator & More!

 

Dancing Skeletons - instructions for hanging skeletons that move.

 

Haunting With Compressed Air - information about using compressors/actuators

 

Monster Makers - special effects make-up supplies for Halloween and horror f/x.
Also, haunted house supplies, custom latex masks, body parts, props and complete mask-making kits.

 

Witch and Brew - instructions for life-size stirring witch and pot.

 

Halloween How-To's By Joseph Pfeiffer Excerpts from his book including the Maze, Surprise Trunk, Mysterious Transformation Chamber, Endless Hallway, Camouflage Room, Body Parts Illusion, Pendulum Torture Table, Illusion of Fire, Creature with Human Head or Floating Head, Crazy Room Effects, High-Tech Surveillance, Haunted Mansion Effects, Phony Portrait, Corpse in Bed & More.

 

 

Dress Up Your House With Silhouettes For Halloween Appeal By Rose Smith Trick-or-treaters will enjoy your outdoor Halloween decor when you use simple silhouette's to lure them in. Any window, garage or flat surface on your house can be fair game to use as your canvas. Use double sided tape, temporary spray adhesive, or reusable adhesive putty (found at office supply stores) to secure your creations, yet allow for easy removal after the holiday is over. Here’s one neat idea for those of you that have a garage that faces the street - decorate the front of it with cutout black craft foam in the shape of a fence. Add a black cat sitting on the fence along with some bats flying around. You could add some low, ambience lighting to highlight your decorations. For those who wish to decorate their windows, use black poster board to cut out the shape of a bare tree with a wise owl peering out from one of its branches. In fact if you have a large window, why not create a whole Halloween graveyard scene? There are many shapes that can be cut into silhouettes to use as outdoor Halloween decorations. Some additional suggestions are: a witch flying in front of a moon a jack-o-lantern face tombstones a skeleton a spider web and spider ghostly trees some ravens black cauldron witch broom and hat Frankenstein and his monster friends ghosts and ghouls the grim reaper Using cut out silhouettes for Halloween decorations is a simple and cost effective way to spook up your home without it being overly scary for youngsters. So why not try your hand at something different this year? You may be surprised at all the compliments you receive on your creative Halloween decor. (c) 2006. Rose Smith own HalloweenHowl.com a website filled with party ideas, costumes, unique Halloween decorating suggestions, games, graphics, crafts and more. It's Halloween fun for all ages! Come visit us at: http://www.halloweenhowl.com/halloween-decorations.shtml Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rose_Smith http://EzineArticles.com/?Dress-Up-Your-House-With-Silhouettes-For-Halloween-Appeal&id=301375

 

 

 

 

NO TIME TO MAKE PROPS?
Order some awesome props here!!
Delivered right to your door - Buy one every year and soon you will have a huge haunt!

availability and prices subject to change by vendor

 

A couple of hip kids in my neighborhood are in the business of designing
their own rubber stamps... they are the coolest stamps I have ever seen....
visit Sideshow Stamps, and create your own invitations and party supplies!

 

 

This is an oversized, animated spider and web that spans 30" across, and includes 150 multicolored miniature bulbs that glow as the 2' spider work creeps back and forth across the web. Illuminated Creeping Spider	This is the 5' tall animated figure of the cinematic vision of Frankenstein's monster that moves its arms, twists its hips, and plays music from the integral speaker in its base when activated by its internal motion detector. 5-Foot Animated Frankenstein's Monster	Unlike common wire frame decorations that are only visible at night when lit, this mummy has a special silk-screened surface of highly-reflective material that "fills-out" the frame, making it visible day or night. Visible Day and Night Illuminated 4-Foot Mummy

 

 

ArtMolds MoldGel Prosthetic Grade Alginate 10 lb. Regular Set MoldGel is a Prosthetic Grade alginate that mixes into a smooth, creamy paste and sets to a firm, rubbery consistency. The organic, water-based molding powder is made from sea grown kelp so it's both skin and food safe. Approximately 2 lbs. of MoldGel is sufficient to mold one life-size adult head. Regular Set gels in approximately 3-5 minutes. It's ideal for making molds of smaller body parts such as hands, feet, and faces, or for making craft molds and small taxidermy pieces. SloSet has an 8-9 minute gradual set time. This is the right choice for making molds of larger body parts, including heads and torsos, and for making very large molds where additional setting time is required.

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween props & effects for a horrific haunt get them now at buycostumes.com!
Turn any room into a Haunted House! Lighting Effects w/ Spooky Sounds CD	Mini Fog Illusion Machine great for fountains and cauldrons	Turn your party or haunted house into a real 'crime scene'! Crime Scene Tape
This Tarantula will give you the heebie-jeebies. This huge tarantula is 50" across and its legs are covered in brown hair for a very real look. This high quality latex prop is sure to give anyone a scare!	Skull Deluxe Rubber	Pizza By The Slice A great way to freak out your Halloween guests!
	Femur Bone, Prop	The eye-deal gory display! Pickled Peepers
	Spider Web, 9' Rope White	Strobe Mini Flash
Humerus Bone, Prop