Intro
Money
Location
Theme
Planning
Scares
Layout
Construction
Lighting
Sound
Advertising

Most people when they think of haunted houses, they think of the black tunnels with various people popping out around corners and startling you. This is not true fear.

Within this document you will learn every thing from: where to get money to how to build your haunt, from what is scary to where to advertise it. Not all the information contained within will apply to your haunt, and there may be something more you would like to know, if this is the case, email me and let me know what they are. My address is tjohnson@frightfx.com

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Haunts without money will suffer, but it is possible to build one with little expense, and keep the costs low. Don't forget that the money you charge for admission can go towards next years event.

Where to get it- Money is available in lots of places, the key is to make it available to you. Most banks won't give you money unless you plan to pay them back, and if your haunt doesn't clear the amount you borrowed, you end up covering the rest yourself, and next year you will have no funds from the earnings. Private parties are the best, but getting in touch with someone willing to give you money is very difficult. Checking the Internet or the newspaper can turn up some people willing to give you money, just look for parties searching for idea men, and then contact them. Radio stations are a good source of money, because they have large amounts at their disposal, and can offer free advertising. However, they will usually take most of the profit (though sometimes they put it back into the haunt), and may not work with you if you have no prior experience in haunting. The most reliable is to start small, and slowly build up your haunt until it reaches the level you want some years down the road. Or hope that your rich great, great aunt Mable dies, and for some strange reason wills all her money to you.

How to save it- When building your haunt there are lots of shortcuts to take to save you money. It would be impossible to list them all, but just remember that if you can get away with something that costs less, but may not look as good, IT WILL BE IN THE DARK, and most people won't be able to tell anyway. First let's look at material costs, wood and black paint is a lot more expensive than black plastic, but plastic may not be legal in your area by the fire codes. Black plastic is very flammable and has no strength, but will work great to cover back drop areas where there is no contact with the audience. Wood is good for strength when you really need it, but Sheetrock is cheaper. There are also some metal framing supplies to use instead of 2x4 studs. Another good way to save money is to build your haunt so a lot of the rooms share opposite walls. Then at least one wall of every room will already be made, and you will shorten your building time. Also, keep in mind that not all walls have to be full size or solid, some could be fence or a row of wooden spools, where they just have to keep people out.

Props are also a very expensive drain on your budget. If you buy the store bought kind, you could end up spending two to three times what it is worth. Building your own is much cheaper. You can also look at the stores after Halloween, there are a lot of great bargains then, and the prop that you had to have this year but couldn't afford may be in your budget now for use in next year's haunt. And never underestimate the value of thrift stores. You can find so many great props all year long there.

How much to charge- Have you ever been to a haunted house and paid $10 for admission, and it sucked? How did you feel? Ripped off is usually the answer. Well I think that a good rule of thumb is to take the walk time it takes a person to go through the haunt, and divide that by three to get the admission price. Then adjust it by a few dollars up or down depending on how good the props, atmosphere, and overall scare value is. A haunt that is lacking in scary scenes, but is 30 minutes long shouldn't cost $10 to walk through. Likewise, one that is only 10 minutes, and totally kicks butt scary style, should be more than $3-$4. Just remember that this is only a guide line to get you a starting figure, and should not be the concrete rule.

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Location, location, location. That's what it's all about, without a good place to haunt, you got nothing.

Atmosphere- In order to have a good haunt you should be able to walk through your location, and be scared with no attractions or actors. Forests, old houses, caves, run-down warehouses, old barns, mucky swamps, etc., these are good locations with great atmosphere. If the location is in an open space with lots of black walls, it won't be too scary, likewise if it is built in a cheery house.

In order to obtain a good atmosphere, you first have to choose a theme (more on this later). Once you have your theme, you then pick your location accordingly, or if you just can't find a location pre-made, you will have to build it. You just have to make the illusion that the area chosen is haunted, and that there are things in it that will prey on the audience. Forests are only going to work if you have a real forest, and are one of the scariest places for a haunt. They contain wild animals, creepy shapes formed by shadows and trees, and are lit by moonlight. However, they also are hard to keep secure, and are subject to the weather. Old houses, barns, and warehouses are great if they look run down enough or like no one has lived there for awhile. Then they have dust, creaks, and broken sections that can play tricks on people's minds. This will hopefully make them uneasy. Caves are great, because of the shadows, and the potential for bats, real or imagined. Also, they tend to be occupied by animals or monsters in most stories. Swamps are good too, with their disgusting appearance, and various nasty pitfalls. But swamps can have the same dangers as forests, plus depending on where you are in the world, the wild animals may be large enough to attack your guests instead of running away from them.

Size- Small haunts are good if the idea is just to be a quick little tromp through a haunted area. But to have a true haunt, it should be large enough to immerse the audience in the story/theme, and by at least half way through they should believe they are really in a haunted place. If it is too short they might just get the feeling that it is real, and then bam!, it's over. On the other hand, if it is too large, the attractions will become spread out to fill all the space, and then all the dead time in between scares will let the guests regain their composure before being scared again. So a good haunt should be 10 to 30 min. long, and have a scare/creepy set around every corner. Unless of course they are in the dark, and the waiting for something to pop out is what causes them fear.

Access to the public- Your haunt should be easy to find, and have multiple ways to access it. If it is inaccessible, to the public by main roads and a few minor ones, your audience may get lost on the way, or just give up before even considering it, based on the long list of directions given. If they just have to get off a freeway exit, and travel down a road or two, they will have no problem finding the location. This is why shopping centers and warehouse are a good source for haunt locations, since they tend to be easy to get to. Forests and other wilderness areas tend to be out of the way, and are a less desirable a place to haunt as a result.

Another very important thing to keep in mind when looking for the perfect site is the parking. If the guests have to walk too far to get to the haunt, they may give up, and go home. Also, there should be adequate parking available to accommodate all the visitors you will receive.

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"As we enter the site of the old Indian burial ground listen carefully and you may hear the sounds of the old chief chanting as he attempts to bring the dead back to the realm of the living!" If there is a running story or "theme" throughout the haunt, it will help the audience to immerse themselves into the action.

Style- All good haunts have a general theme. It could be as simple as "this is a haunted house", or as complex as "This building was an insane asylum, and all the patients went mad and killed the doctors. Then the worst of the insane ran amuck brutally killing all the other patients, and leaving their ghosts to haunt the halls of this tormented place!" If there is a running story line, the guests seem to get more into the story line, and as a result start to believe it is real. If you can get audience interaction, they will be swept into the story even faster. Audience interaction is one of the things that I believe sets a great haunt apart from regular haunt. Such as the soul coins in the Haunted Forest, which kept the holder safe from harm until they were lost, that made them very nervous when they had to give it up to cross the bridge.

Story- Finding an ongoing story can be one of the hardest parts of the theme of a haunt. There are several ways to get started though. One way is to walk through the location and let your imagination run wild, something may jump out at you. You could be in an old house and see a hole through the Sheetrock in one of the rooms and think to yourself that would be freaky if the people who lived here before had a disfigured child and that was the only way he made contact with the outside world. Or maybe they had a whole house full of these people, and before you know it, your theme is born.

Another way is to pick an object/prop that you like, or fits a theme, and build it around that. Elshoff Manor was created because I found a great coat-of-arms at a thrift shop with the name Elshoff on it. Since coats-of-arms are medieval in nature, I figured the haunt should have that sort of feel to it, or at the very least be very old. So I sat down and started thinking about what I would need to create a story around this prop. First I needed a person with the last name of Elshoff, and I felt that a man would be creepier. Then I had to come up with a first name, which kind of made itself because of the premise of the story (The initials had to spell CAVE). After a few minutes of brain storming, I came up with a madman/vampire like creature who fed off the brains of others to live. This idea was fine, but I wanted to make it a little creepier, and thought that victims with their heads torn open would be too gory for some audiences, so I had him reach their brains through their eyes. Missing eyes freak people out, and I don't have to show as much blood and guts this way. I then wanted a hook to bring people here, since no one in there right mind would go into a house that is said to have a brain sucking monster, I used greed as a way to get them there. Now I'm not saying you have to have a reason why people visit the place, since some people seek out scary places (like your visitors, or they wouldn't be there), but the guide needed a reason in this case.

A third way to come up with a story is to use a book or a movie for inspiration. I must admit "The Haunting" movie helped out in the making of Elshoff Manor. I liked the idea of a creepy old man who did disturbing things to children, since children seem to freak people out. The things I try to avoid when borrowing ideas from movies, is the cliché monsters like Jason or Freddy. They are too specific, and everyone knows who they are, and thus are not real and just movie characters. Though something in there may catch your eye, and makes you feel a little uneasy. Don't just copy them straight from the source, instead think about what part of it made you scared, and then expand on that.

Let's say you are watching a movie about a haunted house, and this guy kills a person, chops them up and puts their parts in a sack. Then he is carrying the sack to be buried in a shallow grave in the backyard. He sets down the sack, and digs the hole. Then as he reaches for the sack, the severed arm within reaches out of the bag and grabs him! Now let's analyze this and see what the scariest part was. Is it the murder?, the suspense built up during the long walk to the back of the house?, the erie sounds of the grave being dug?, or the hand reaching from the bag? Well if your like me you said the hand. Now let's use the hand as our example, and see how we could make that part scarier. What if it was all covered in blood or was now a monster/demon hand? It could also be accompanied by the head being exposed when the hand reaches out, and you see the eyes staring at the murderer. Any number of additions could be made to enhance the scare, that maybe the movie creator didn't think of, or left out because it would change the mood of the story. Just remember that you are taking it out of context, and will be using something similar in your haunt, so it doesn't have to match the movies criteria anymore.

Another good source of scares are your dreams, many times we have dreams that can easily be made into something terrifying. You may even want to leave a pad and pen next to your bed so when you have one of those nightmares we all love, you can write down the scary parts so you don't forget them in the morning. A lot of the time nightmares are person specific, and wouldn't scare everyone, so tell you friends about them, and see if they think it is as scary as you do. In fact this is a good idea to do with all your scary ideas. Because we don't want to make haunts where you tell your guests to strip down to their underwear, and you send them into a school environment with all their clothed friends! Well wait a moment, I guess that would depend on the person going through the haunt. I for one would love to see..... oops got side tracked.

Transitions- These little guys are great to tie the scares together. Most of the time haunts tend to leave this portion of a haunt out, and thus lose the theme of the haunt. Let's say you have an old mansion that your guests are going through, and you next want them to be in a cave. If you just started a cave out when the went into what they thought would be a bedroom, they might think it's a bit strange. They'll just say, "Oh well, it's a haunted house", and their frame of mind will revert back to knowing all this is fake. Instead you could have a secret door behind a book shelf, which leads to a tunnel and then gradually becomes a cave, or make the cave look like a giant worm or snake hole that had burrowed it's way into the house at one time. Or maybe a vortex sucked the wall away and on the other side is the cave.

Most transitions if done well will need no explanation, but some of the above mentioned ones may need a good story to support them, or have the guide explain why they are there. Just try to think of logical reasons of why one scene would jump to another, and it will keep the audience in their suspended disbelief.

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Most of us don't have the perfect location, or we know where it is but we can't get access to it. So we keep looking until we find one, or just end up settling for the least offensive one the day before October. This way we have to build the entire haunt in only a few days, and we find ourselves skipping things because we ran out of time. Then we end up with a haunt that went from the greatest scare on earth to a walk-through that children laugh at. So my advice is to start planning now!

When to start- If you want to do it right, you have to start early. Use your knowledge from last year's haunt to see what worked and what didn't work. Make sure you do this right after the haunt so it is all fresh in your mind. Some months down the road things may not be as clear to you on whether that kid was crying because he was so scared or because he wasted 6 bucks on a lame haunt. So, start now! Make sure that you are building props and facades a little at a time throughout the year so they will all be ready in time for Halloween.

How to plan- Get all the ideas that worked from last years haunt, find ways to make them better and right it all down! Trust me, you will forget something if you don't write it down. Also, make sure you keep them all in the same place, like a file folder or on your computer, that way you won't spend endless days tracking down all your notes.

Since most of us are not sure where we are going to have our next haunt, it would be a good idea to create room templates. These templates are basically just a room with whatever items you will need and what kinds of scares are there. Like a mad scientist's room, you would have the room, a table or two, some chemicals, sounds, lights, actors, props, or animatronics. You can either draw them up in their room shape, and place all the pieces on this drawing, or just make a parts list. Do this for all the ideas you have, even if you are not sure if you will use it in your next haunt. You may find out that you don't have the space for a 12 foot by 12 foot room, and will have to go with the 3 foot by 8 foot hallway scare instead. These templates are great for when you do find a location, since you can lay them all out in the space you have, and arrange them according to your theme, or as space provides.

Make sure that you have lots of transition sections so if you have bedrooms and libraries, and want a crypt or mausoleum; you may want to have a graveyard off of a back door area, or a secret room in the library that contains all kinds of creepy props and notes for a workshop. These areas don't have to have scares in them, they just are there as transitions from one scare to another. Transitions are usually something you will have to come up with after you get the layout of the haunt, and will usually create themselves.

What do I do first- The first step is to make a schedule of events like when a certain prop should be complete, when all the walls should be up, and whatever other items should be in place. Also include the start date, and break times for your actors. Just make sure that you leave yourself with enough time for all the last minute things that will undoubtedly pop up while building your haunt. Make sure you stick to this schedule as best as you can so you don't get behind and have to scrap something.

Then when you complete a prop, you should label it with the name of the room/area that it will go in so your crew can take it there. You may even want to write instructions on how to install it in the room or what other items it will need like power cords or an air supply so your crew can set it up for you. The less work you have to do in the end the better. Costumes are a good thing to do this with also. I like to make a complete costume, and add instruction if there is accessories or makeup that needs to be explained how to go along with it. Then place them in bags and tag them with their name and/or location.

When building the maze portion of your haunt you may want to hold off on a few sections to allow a passage for moving large items throughout the haunt before you seal off all the rooms and have to get the 10 foot statue through the 3 foot wide and 6 foot high door. Same goes with sound and lights so the cords don't get in the way or cause tripping hazards. Once everything large is in place, then you can start closing off all the walls and adding the smaller delicate stuff to the rooms.

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Need I say more? Scares are what make a haunt a haunt, without 'em you got... well I guess I said more.

Boo scares- These scares are very important, without them it will be very hard to keep your guests uneasy, and at the point of running away. Anything can be a boo scare, pop-out attractions, actors jumping out, noises, flashing lights, etc. It is important to remember that it has to be fast and close to the guest to inspire maximum fear. If the boo scare is too far away, the guest won't feel threaten by it, and their fight or flight defense won't be activated. Likewise if it is too slow, it will have no effect either. So quick close movements are your goal, but after the scare is activated, it is good to remove it, or have it go on past the audience. If a boo scare is allowed to be viewed by the audience after it was sprung, they can inspect it, realize it is fake, and then the illusion is gone. So try to make them fly out at the audience, and then quickly fade away, or pop back from where they came. If the illusion is lost, the audience will then resort back to knowing that it is all just fake, and the fear will subside.

Most people have a "bubble" around them where they feel safe and comfortable. This bubble is different for everyone, and changes as the person becomes more familiar with the thing that enters it. A good example of this is the next time you meet someone see how close the get to you, it's usually 3 feet or so away, just close enough to shake hands. Now if you lean in or step closer they typically back away or lean back to stay at that comfortable zone. Now if you try this with one of your friends, they may not react the same way, since they know you and don't perceive you as a threat or untrustworthy, so their "bubble" is a lot smaller with you. Inside the "bubble", or "space cushion" as it is also known there is another zone that is smaller yet. This area is within a foot or so of the person, and this is their "fight or flight" area, personal space. Anyone who crosses into this area must be on an intimate level with them or they will find a fist in their face, or the invaded person will retreat. Now this is the area that we want to get into. Just make sure that it is a prop doing it, or the fist option may hurt someone.

Creepy sets- If your haunt is nothing more than a slightly scary place with some monsters popping out here and there, it will not inspire enough fear. Creepy sets are needed to enhance the atmosphere, and keep the illusion alive. If you are simulating a graveyard, and have nothing more than a few gravestones, and some zombies, the attraction will suffer. You need to add other props such as a cemetery fence, some gothic columns, a mausoleum, a crypt, a few bushes or other foliage, fresh graves, or whatever else will help to make the audience feel as if they are in a real graveyard. Remember though, it is possible to overdo it, and make the set either too crowded, or just cheesy. Try and keep a good balance, and just use real areas, or artist's renderings as your guide. Let's say the audience has passed across The River Styx, and descended into Hell, if the next thing the audience sees is black walls, some red lights, and a few people dressed up as demons, they won't think that they have passed into hell. However, if there is the smell of smoke and fire, actual flickering red light and smoke, monsters of all varieties, sounds of torment, and flame spewing forth they might actually wonder where they are.

Fear of the mind- This is the best kind of fear, but also the hardest to obtain. It is sometimes very difficult to achieve when the guests know that they are in place designed to scare them. The best example I can give of this kind of fear is if a friend tells you that the old house on the hill is haunted and then he dares you to spend the night there. Once inside, you start to wonder if it is really haunted, and your mind starts to play tricks on you like what is that shadow lurking over there, what was that sound, or it feels like someone is watching me. These types of mental fears are the best, since you don't have to make anything for them to scare people.

Now on to the hard part, how to achieve these types of fears. One way is to have the guide make references to the place as a haunted area prior to the start of the haunted house, kind of a history lesson if you will. "This old house was built by Chester Berkshaw, murdered his wife and two children. It is rumored that his ghost still haunts these very walls." Then as the guide is walking through the haunt they could point out things and say, "Huh, I don't remember that blood stain on the rug there in the last tour". But it must be believable, and not sounding like it was part of the script. Then halfway through the haunt, the guide could be eliminated by something, and the guests would be on their own, wondering if this part of the tour or not. A lot can be gained by just words, or even cleverly placed sounds that maybe only some of the guests can hear, and not the rest of the group.

Another way to achieve fear of the mind is to make the groups that you allow into your haunt smaller, like two people or even one. Since they have no one to talk to, they can't joke about things and try to put their minds at ease. If this is just not possible, try to keep the group to a maximum of six people, so at least all the people can see the scares.

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The general flow of a haunted house is determined by the layout of the haunt. It should start out within a certain story-line, and make smooth transitions throughout the journey. And at the same time the haunt should have a path that is continuously moving forward towards the end of the haunt, and trying to avoid switch-backs and loops.

Room design- The rooms of a haunt should be tailored to fit the theme, and not so large that they contain wasted space. However, a large room may be used if the result is to portray a vast expanse of terrain such as a river or outside area of some kind. Some small rooms are good for scares where you want to keep the audience close to the action. Most of the time a room isn't really a room at all, like a graveyard or scene of a Hell pit. Just try to match the location with whatever theme the haunt is following, and it will turn out fine. To see more information on room layouts, follow this link to Room Designs.

Flow- The flow is what helps to keep the guest moving through the haunt, and transitions them from one scene to another. As long as the haunt progresses from one scene to the next without having to back track or loop around it should flow fine. Also if you give the guest multiple ways to go and only one of them is right, they may get lost and go the wrong way. Something of equal importance is how clearly the exits to a room are made, and controversially how hidden the emergency exits are. If the guest can't find the path that they are suppose to go through, they may start looking in things and opening doors they shouldn't. Likewise if there is a door in front of them that says "exit", but they are supposed to go passed it, you may need to hide it better, or label it "Emergency Exit", so they know not to go that way.

Although I stated earlier that back tracking and loops are not good practice, sometimes they can be used for effects or safety reason. Back tracking is good if you want the person in the back of the line to be in the front since that tends to be where all the scared ones end up. Just be sure that the guide is clear about who is the front of the new line. Loops are used for either disorienting the group, when you want the people to gather around an object, or get clear of an area for safety reasons. I used a loop in the Haunted Forest to clear the way for the Soul Snatcher so he wouldn't run into anyone when he landed by them.

Wall placement- When placing walls try to make use of both sides of the wall to cut down on cost, and make the passages run in different directions and have lots of turns to keep the walls structurally sound. Try to maintain a minimum of 4 feet between walls for fire codes, and don't get any narrower than this without checking your fire codes first. Plus if you can keep 4 foot centers you can use 4x8 sheets of plywood and it will all fit together like building blocks.

Another thing to keep in mind when placing your walls is where the beginning and end will be so you don't have to have the guests walk a long way just to get back to the start and tell their friends about it. Also for fire safety you will need lots of exit doors to get people out, so keep this in mind when drawing up your plans to get the least amount of doors possible. That way you won't have a haunt that is too bright do to all the lighted exit signs.

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Materials-

Where to find them-

Building to code-

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If your haunt is too bright the audience can see all the control wires and flaws in your props, and if is too dark the audience will not see anything, and miss half of the props that you worked so hard in building. Proper lighting is key to a good haunt, it can add shadows, hide flaws, play tricks, and enhance objects.

Basic lighting- A good example of shadow use is the Tunnel 'O' Terror room. In this room the walls were all painted black and there were opening cut into the sides that were covered by clothes to make it appear as if the walls were a continuous flat, black wall. If it is dark enough, the cloth coverings will be completely invisible. An absence of light can also hide flaws in your props and fishing line that is used to make things fly, but too little light will make your props and attractions so dark that they cannot be seen.

Other types of basic lighting could include night-lights or flicker bulbs to set the atmosphere as well as give off a subtle amount of light. Rotating lights flashing lights, and other such "movement" lights can contribute to a scene and still give off enough light to see by.

Spot lighting- Spot lights are good when you want to draw attention to an object and take the audience's attention away from the background. So if you have a scene that is very cluttered and the guests don't know where they are supposed to look, a spot light will draw them right there. Let's say the audience enters a room filled with treasure. They are looking for a certain piece to finish their journey and kill the wizard in the end, So a simple spot light shinning on the object will point it out and they can find it quickly and keep the tour moving.

It can also be used to eliminate shadows cast on actors so you can see their facial expressions or all that great make up you spent hours putting on. Or enhance the actor with colored gels (plastic with tinted colors). These are great for altering the mood of characters or scenes. Reds portray anger or bloody scenes, but tend to wash out detail (more on red later). Blue makes cooler sad scenes and water reflections or if it is pale enough, moonlight. Amber can be used for sunlight or reflections from gold or brass. And green can give off a sickly appearance, and can also be used for water reflections. Almost all the colors used will alter the appearance of objects true colors, so make sure the light gel doesn't wash out the color you took so much time putting on that perfect prop. Unfortunately this is a trial and error process, though I can say this, use warmer tones for front lighting, and cooler tones for shadow areas.

Special effects- Lighting of different colors can play tricks on people, such as black lights, that make white glow really bright, and giving an erie glow to ghostly figures. Another great lighting trick is to paint red lines on an object and shine a red light on them and they will not be seen! Then gradually fade to a green light and the red lines will turn a dark brown color and show up really well. I used this effect in the possession room.

Another great trick is to take a piece of aluminum foil and crinkle it slightly. Then smooth it out again and attach it to a frame. Reflect a colored light such as blue on it, have a fan blow on it to make it wiggle. The effect can look like water or gold shimmering or even fire when using the right colored lights. Or if light is cast on an object from an angle, it will enhance the features making things look creepier, or casting shadows on background objects... we all know of the infamous flashlight below the face trick.

Pepper's Ghost as the theater industry call it is a fantastic illusion that is almost totally based on the concept of good lighting. You can make an object appear and disappear with this trick, or bring it half way into view so it has a translucent look to it like a ghost. The way it is achieved is to have a scene that is lighted just enough to make out all the details in it. Then perpendicular to it there will be another area painted all black that contains an object that you wish to make appear in the scene. There must also be a piece of glass or plastic at a 45 degree angle between the two to act as a reflective surface. A light will then be turned on the object in the black area, and it will be cast on the glass that the audience looks through to see the scene and will give the appearance of a ghostly image. We have all scene this trick when you look outside at night and you can see your own reflection cast on the window when you look outside. This trick can also be used to show things happening to people that would normally kill them, such as having a person in the room appear to be on fire while the fire is in the black area, and the person is safely in the scene acting out the pain. Just make sure you clear any fire with the local fire marshal before you try these sorts of illusions.

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Background- Now if you have a scene with a graveyard, and it has zombies running around, with no noise it doesn't draw you in to the action. But with howling winds, some moaning, and maybe an owl or distant scream, it brings the graveyard to life.

Location specific- Sound effects add all kinds of great benefits to a haunt. Whenever someone jumps out at you, do they just grab at you?, no, they scream or make a monster noise to accompany the action.

Creating your own sounds-

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Where to advertise-

How to advertise-

When to advertise-

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