Parts: Lots of junk More junk Lanterns More junk Screws Bailing wire Oh and more junk

Description:

The Scene- When the guest enter this room the see what appears to be a dark basement. Piles of junk make the walls for a path through this wasteland of forgotten memories. As they twist and turn their way through the mess they are suddenly surprised by the basement's inhabitant, Rat Boy. Rat Boy has been living in the basement for several years keeping him self alive on rats alone!

Layout- All you really need to make this room work is lots of junk in various sizes; crates, baby buggies, posts, trunks, chairs, tables, etc. Just make sure to arrange the stuff in a pathway that allows the guests to still make it through safely, but hopefully not see every part of the room. Make use of the space not only trying to fit in the longest path, but take advantage of the height of the room to stack things up and hang object from overhead beams. When you arrange things, think of how you would try to maximize space in your own basement or garage, and try to keep things off the floor and off to the sides. After that approach, now imagine your crazy aunt just moved in and you have to cram all her junk into your room too. Once you have it filled up with all the extra junk you should be just about done. Make sure all this junk is secured very tightly, this room can have some surprising results of people getting scared and then smashing into your set.

Actors- If you have an actor such as Rat Boy in your basement, make lots of pass-through's for him/her to squeeze through so they can get ahead/behind the guests for additional surprises. Rat Boy's costume was basically a period costume (blouse style shirt, and breeches). We ripped it up added a bit of dirt and some blood splatters to make him look a little more animal like. He was supposed to be a failed experiment, so he was a little "off" and would say strange things to the guests as they passed through. It would not be out of place to have him/her munching on the remains of a rat while they tormented the passers by.

Lighting- Light the room with dim lanterns hung throughout, or some other form of lighting such as cracks through the ceiling. Use the lanterns to highlight the great junk and to show where all the twists and turns are in the path. You may have to make one of the lanterns brighter, and placed it in the center of the room to lighten up the whole place so the guests can see where they are going and to shed a bit more light on the whole room. A dimmer switch could be added, or just use a lower wattage bulb to achieve the right light levels. We like to make our rooms just bright enough to see the path and just highlight certain areas where there is visual interest.

Sound- This room could have almost any sort of soundtrack; though something sounding wet, echoing, and other worldly would be nice. Creaks, wind, drips, rats, low guttural growls, etc. Vary it and make the sound levels louder in some spots and almost non-audible in other places.