Ideas for my haunted woods

[Pumpkin5]

I just had another thought...you could make the front of the walkway look like the entrance to a mausoleom. Then as they entered you could make it seem like they are going underground like into a crypt with bones hanging down, worms, dirt falling on them...you could make it super crypty-crawly. You could even dig it down so the ground actually is graded down so they would be walking down, into a grave.....hhmmmmm...

[fontgeek]

Unless you have the area pretty well lit, people won't be able to see much with the ground breakers. Remember we're talking about real woods at night with cemeteries on both sides so little or no ambient light.
If you need to keep the people in a group then the only practical way to do the "spirit hall" is to have their guide go through first and have everyone wait until the last of their group comes through so that the group can go on.
If this is supposed to be cursed land then you won't find a mausoleum or crypt on it.
Having dirt or anything else for that matter falling on guests is an invitation for major lawsuits and injury.
If you actually had the dirt walls collapse, you could kiss your haunt and a good chunk of your life savings goodbye, and that's provided you have insurance. I can't imagine any fire or safety inspector letting you have that kind of setup. And if it can't pass them then the insurance wouldn't cover it. So digging the trench for people to walk down into is pretty much out.

[jessjaja]

Yeah, though the idea of the mausoleum is cool, it doesn't really fit the theme this year. The fire inspector guy would crap his pants too, LOL, if dirt fell on his head.

[jessjaja]

Originally Posted by stagehand1975

A marine grade battery would.last longer than a car battery. A marine battery is designed to take more of a discharge and spring back to life than a car battery.

I saw some rechargeable ones on Ebay. If I have to go the battery route, I think that would be my best bet as far as keeping expenses down. But I am thinking I might be better off in the long run to convert it and run it off electricity?

[fontgeek]

Adding a boombox or two that have someone or something with an evil sounding voice calling or chanting something indecipherable to those on the trail can help your trail stay "alive" even in areas where there are no props or actors. You can plant them, the boom boxes, in several places all with the same stuff being played to make it sound as if the creature or demon is surrounding them. If you have a Mac, know someone who does, or you have musical equipment that has a reverb and or echo on it, applying it to the recorded voice for your finished recordings can help make the voice seem more other worldly/etherial. You can add those effects in itunes on a Mac. Having loud "whispers" or having a whispery version of the chant or call going at the same time as the chant can make it creepier too. If you've ever heard "The Doors" song "Riders on the Storm" you will know what I'm talking about.

[Cheapcreation]

Personaly, I think something that could be scary is if you did a fallen boons area. Something along the line of hideous inbreads/hill-billy's and have all scratched together shacks that you could walk through on the path or just have the front for an appearence where actors could come out of. You could even borrow ideas from old westerns in the way that the buildings could look or such.

[fontgeek]

For this haunter's theme this year that probably wouldn't work. The area is supposed to be cursed and people stay away from there, besides the fact that her haunt is in Tennessee, and that people may find that kind of labeling more offensive than scary.

[jessjaja]

LOL, yeah....people get kind of touchy about the whole hillbilly thing here.

[Offwhiteknight]

Originally Posted by jessjaja

The idea is good, and we used it last year. But like Fontgeek said, part of the story line this year is that the woods are possessed by evil, the ground is unconsecrated, and the families were too afraid to bury their dead there. But it could be tweaked to include that perhaps there were people buried there before the area was settled and their lost souls roam the grounds or something to that effect. I did the cemetery thing last year, and I was trying to give it a whole new theme this year. I already published the bit about no one being buried in the woods and that was the reason the cemeteries are on either side and not actually in the woods on the website. I am trying to convince the guests that the woods are actually badly haunted, with gruesome murders and unexplained disappearances there. I almost feel that including ground breakers and things normally seen in cemetery scenes in the currant storyline would take away from the ability to convince them that this is real. I am trying to stay away from mythical creatures like werewolves and focus on things that people find truly terrifying like malevolent spirits, or evil things/beings in the dark woods, and the possibility of encountering one.

Okay. Fair enough.

First idea that popped into my head reading this?

Blair Witch.

A few people have done "Blair Crows" and those could look really cool and I think might into what you wrote above very well. Maybe start with that and go from there?

[Offwhiteknight]

Originally Posted by fontgeek

Adding a boombox or two that have someone or something with an evil sounding voice calling or chanting something indecipherable to those on the trail can help your trail stay "alive" even in areas where there are no props or actors. You can plant them, the boom boxes, in several places all with the same stuff being played to make it sound as if the creature or demon is surrounding them. If you have a Mac, know someone who does, or you have musical equipment that has a reverb and or echo on it, applying it to the recorded voice for your finished recordings can help make the voice seem more other worldly/etherial. You can add those effects in itunes on a Mac. Having loud "whispers" or having a whispery version of the chant or call going at the same time as the chant can make it creepier too. If you've ever heard "The Doors" song "Riders on the Storm" you will know what I'm talking about.

I'm on the same page. Chanting, whispers, maybe some kind of ritual?

Maybe even ghosts attempting to re-enact the ritual that caused the trouble in the first place...but yeah, chanting and whispers and strange langauges (Ia! Ia! Cthulhu ftagn! or however it's spelled...)