# Help us think of some ideas for our haunt (we have a theme)!



## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

Our themes depend on which house we get to work with this year in our haunt.
There are a bunch of houses so we're not sure which one we'll be assigned with.
If we get the one we're hoping to get, the theme will be an old decrepit house in the woods where a guy lives who likes to take people in who happen to pass by and he kills them or tortures them or whatever.
If we get any other different house we'll be doing a menatal institute theme, and it will be said that the power went off and all of the room doors unlocked, releasing everyone into the halls of the institute.

So far some ideas I have are that if we do the madman in the woods theme I'm going to line the floors with walnut shells and play Cicada sounds so it's like you're stepping on bugs or whatever and if we do the mental institute them we're going to have it pitch black and you have to navigate through with a flashlight (one given to each group and collected at the end).


What do you guys think of those ideas and do you have any other good ideas for those themes?


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

Both sound good.

I have seen a room set-up with blood splatters and a torso on the table with guts. Usually, it is a real person moaning and holding some intestines. There is a tall cabinet in the room where a person is hiding, then busts the doors open weilding a chain saw.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

I'd be a little nervous about people slipping/falling not being able to see and stepping on something that they can lose balance on...


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## slightlymad (May 25, 2006)

I like the ideas and would have to set up a meat shop like in TCM with either house.

But what do you mean by assigned house? whats the story there?


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

Our haunt, The Spooky Walk, is really really big. It's at this big camp for disabled kids (open in the summer) and the Spooky Walk raises money for them. There's four or five cabins, plus a long trail through the woods and a pirate exhibit down on the lake, so we aren't sure which cabin we'll be able to get to work with. One of them is closer to the woods and the others are in the open, so if we get the one closest to the woods we'll do the madman theme. If we get the others, we'll do the institute theme.

If you go to my YouTube account, youtube.com/ericstriffler, you can see the videos I shot of the whole haunt during the day for this past year.


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## halloweengoddessrn (Feb 14, 2007)

I couldnt find your vids- where do I go?


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

Ah man haha.
I wrote that wrong, sorry. XP

Try this: youtube.com/ericstrifflervids


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## Spartan005 (Mar 13, 2007)

The chainsaw is the most famous haunted house cliche.... it almost annoys me how much its used but it scares EVERYONE. If you were going to do the cabin theme then I would suggest a "bloody workshop" theme.... toss some body parts around and some blood (corn syrup + red dye, incase you didn't know) Do you know how to do the torso/head on a table illusion. I did that last year in my haunt and it amazed everyone!


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

Yeah that's what we planned on for the last room. His lair, type of thing. We'll see what we wend up doing in there, but I want something loud, so a chainsaw might work best.


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

The shells on the floor would be relatively safe if there's a low-nap carpet or tacked-down astroturf on the ground... if you do that, let them crunch along in the dark listening to the "bugs" for several paces, and then have some lengths of string with knotted ends hanging from the ceiling anywhere from about 5'6" to 6' off the ground. The ends will just graze the tops of their heads, so right when you've established that they're walking thru bug city they get these little taps and tickles in their hair. It works like a charm, they go totally spaz.


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

Yesss we're going to do that AND we're going ot have two ankle ticklers set up on each side of the hallway hopefully. That, plus the shells (and yes I planned on putting something down first A.) for safety and B.) for easier cleanup), the strings hanging down, and loud cicada noises playing should really creep everyone out.


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## Hellrazor (Jun 18, 2006)

Sounds creepy already Eric


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

ANd that's only one of many ideas haha.
The one I just started toying with in my head is the idea of a shrinking hallway, in the sense that it gets thinner and thinner until you have to walk one at a time.
It will be collapsible though for those..."larger" guests haha.
We'll be able to pull one of the walls back from behind it so that we can move it if we have to,
but I'm trying to think of the best way to go about doing that without having to move it back too much.

My friend said he would bug out haha,
but I'll need to work on it to make it safe.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

Neoprene?


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

For what, something to put the walnut shells on?


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

for the walls. that way they can be narrow and stretch for the larger guests. then no one has to move walls at all, freeing up actors.


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

Ooooh true!
Well I'm not sure.
I want the walls to be solid so it freaks everyone out.
But I want to have one movable that's just got something heavy in the way of it that can be moved to move the wall.

I don't know though, that's a good idea too.
I'll have to think about it.
Thanks though.


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

Oh and also today I had a cool idea for the part with the bugs (which I might mix in with the skinny hallway so you feel enclosed AND you feel like there's bugs everywhere) and that idea is to stick feathers to the walls in that part. In the dark (pitch black most likely) it will feel very confusing and add to the effect I think.

We're going for disorientation and confusion in our exhibits over cheap BOO scares. We have those of course, but they're mixed in with the confusion.


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## Lady Nyxie (Aug 30, 2006)

My suggestion would be to watch a bunch of movies for inspiration. Like Hostel. 

Going with the mental institution one... you could have a room with an escaped patient dressing up as a doctor and doing something horrible to the real doctor that he strapped down to the table. Have another patient or two cheering him on. Then when they realize that someone is watching them, they quickly slam the door and you hear some awful scream and maniacal giggles.

Just a thought.


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

I was disappointed by Hostel, but the idea of that is very creepy.
They just HAD to add in the first hour of softocre porn into it...

But anyway haha yeah we could do something along those lines.
If we do the mental hospital I want it to be more like...creepy and unnerving than gross and gory. For example I want to have a room with a guy just standing there, and then the lights go out and when they come back on he's gone. I think that's fairly creepy.


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## Empress Nightshade (Jul 25, 2004)

Try kitty litter in place of the shells. Gives a very good crunch, won't flatten or create sharp edges like shells can and it's easily found at the dollar stores.

When I think of cabins in the woods, my mind goes to "Drop Dead" that came out on vinyl in the 70's (I'm showing my age here). It's a complication of scary stories narrated by Arch Oboler.
One of the stories was called simply "The Dark." There was a cabin that was, well, dark. And in that dark, behind a door, was an unknown element that would turn all it's victims inside out. The sounds that were made and the excellent voice actors really made you believe that this fog or what have you was turning everyone inside out. GREAT STUFF!


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## BobC (Aug 23, 2005)

Your ideas sound great. I attended Eastern State Penitentiary's Terror behind the walls last year in Philly PA where they did a similar thing with the flash lights. I believe it was called Night Watch and everyone got little cheap LED key chain lights to walk through the house was pretty cool. Personally I like the gory stuff I would have people putting body parts in meat grinders and spraying the customers with mists of water like blood. I have been reading tons of books with hopes on opening my own haunt next year they all seem to say detail is everything when you make a haunted house add as much as you can. I heard an awesome soundtrack when I walked through a insane asylum gone wrong last year and I cant pin point the artist but its from the 50's and I thought the song was called dream ride or something sounds so awesome its just music with no singing and very calm sounding for all the chaos going on around you. Anyways good luck with it. Later :jol:


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

BobC's got it dead on with the music concept -- if you want a major atmosphere impact with the music, use music that's the opposite of the mood you're trying to evoke. It's like, if you want to make a guy look really tall, set him next to a short person. If the classic Gothic haunted mansion flavor is what you want, something like Nox Arcana or Midnight Syndicate is fine but If you want to seriously disturb and unsettle people in a scene with bodies and stuff, play some kiddie tunes (like Raffi), happy music-box music or some bright, bouncy light stuff from the 40's or 50's with a scratchy vinyl sound. The cognitive dissonance is great; it throws people off guard and makes them feel uncomfortable.


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## TwistedDementia (May 2, 2007)

If you have the means, try a spraying toilet-in door/outhouse-outdoor (or misting effect depeding on how wet you want your customers to get). We did one last year and by the end of the night people were asking if our haunt is the one you get 'wet on', and don't forget to put a "warning you could get wet" on you rules sign. You can see the outhouse highlight video at our twisteddementia site.


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## BobC (Aug 23, 2005)

BobC said:


> I walked through a insane asylum gone wrong last year and I cant pin point the artist but its from the 50's and I thought the song was called dream ride or something sounds so awesome its just music with no singing and very calm sounding for all the chaos going on around you. Anyways good luck with it. Later :jol:


Can anyone possibly help me pin point this Artist and song? I wanted to use it and cant find it anywhere. Thanks all :jol:

But back to the theme of the post: Anyone got any cool room ideas they are playing with this year?


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