# name haunt scares



## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

I read the "are haunts a waste of money" thread and realized I dont know what the scares ARE. It might be nice to just gather up a list of them here to explore & Google further. 

Dot room
claustrophobia room
butcher room
spinning vortex


what else??


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## Allen H (Feb 13, 2010)

Boy- this is a toughie. you have a list of themes and effects there as opposed to scare tactics. I will attempt to help differentiate between them.
I seperate scares into Actor scares and Animatronic scares

Claustrophobia room- this is an effect more than a scare. it is a neat hallway but rarely does anyone get scared by it- so it is an effect.

Vortex- definitely an effect no real scare just the discomfort- again a neat hallway

Butcher room - This is a theme for a room as opposed to a scare. the scare could come from an animatronic or an actor. The set or theme doesent scare them it just provides a setting for the actor or animatronic to get the scare.

The dot room is the closest to being a scare- it is a *Camo Scare*. A camo scare is anytime that the actor is hidden in the set and they move to alarm/surprise the guests. Other camo scares are Ghille suits,baked potato rooms, camo mouths, statue costumes in a graveyard, Toy boy (I explained that on another thread recently), horse/zebra boy, black out suits and an infinite variety of camoflauge concepts.

Like the camo scare every actor scare has dozens of variations
Stalking, statue scares, mind invasion, reach throughs, pop outs, curtain attack, curtain startle, sliding, drop panel, door startle, wall bang, disembodied lies, name chant, looming, camo scare, lurking, puff, 2 second suspense, overhead startle, foot plant, mock charge, wall slap, spider startle, underglide- itas a long list but that is many of them.

the animatronic scares are slightly less numerous.
air cannon, drop panel, pop ups, pop outs, corpseolators, slides, wall bangers, thrashers, floor bangers, prop bangers, noise, Actor cant's, bubblers, misters, falling walls, falling props- and a few others that slip my mind. 
In all of these the theme and dressing can change but the nature of the scare is the same.


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## hedg12 (Jul 6, 2008)

OK, forgive my ignorance, but - what is a baked potato room? 

I can't imagine what it could be, but it's making me hungry...


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

Oh, see how I don't know anything ? I need to research all of these now.


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## Allen H (Feb 13, 2010)

Hedg12- A baked potato room is a camo scare. It is a room with the walls cieling and floor covered in mylar or aluminum foil (mylar works best) and an actor in a mylar material costume. The whole room is lit with a strobe light. Its a very disorienting effect and the actor dissapears completely.

Debbie5- I would never say that and I hope it didnt sound like I implied it. I have been working on a haunted house design DVD for the past few weeks and thats why I had most of these in my head. Almost every haunted house and its concepts and scares were developed in a goldfish bowl of sorts. They all worked on their own stuff and it evolved independantly from other haunts except what could be gleened from a covert trip through a rival or neighboring attraction. 
Only in the past 15 years has there been a fellowship of haunted attraction owners- we are still compiling tactics and themes in order to share and grow the industry as a whole. I try to be a steward to and for all haunts and haunt techniques. I have studied haunted houses for years and I still learn something new every day about haunts. 
Most people have a hard time differentiating between effects scares and themes because it isint important to them. They are like sparrows- when you see 20+ sparrows flitting around in the bushes you dont know or need to know that there are 6 different species of sparrows there. Knowing the names and species isint important unless you have decided to make it important to you. 
To me the organization, naming, and categorizing is very helpful when Im helping clients or talking about haunted houses. Compiling what every haunter has developed in their goldfish bowl and putting names to them and adding twists and tweaks is difficult but (to me) necessary. So I try to nail down terminology for ease of reference down the road.
I hope I didnt come across as rude accept my apology if I did.


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

NONONOoooooooooooo..!! I didn't mean that YOU said or implied it! **I** said it cuz I really don't know anything about this & and was hoping someone with knowledge would come on here and list them for us!! I just wrote it the wrong way perhaps. This is a great service to all of us who don't know about these scares, and would like to add some in to our haunt. You are never rude, Allen! Thank you!


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## Abby Normal (Jan 4, 2011)

Allen, thanks for sharing your knowledge with all of us,...I will be keeping an eye on you


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