# 2013 Haunt, Your Opinion?



## Nac (Feb 28, 2013)

Okay guys, first off I'm not sure if this is the right place for this post so feel free to move it to a more appropriate section if necessary.

Now, for the past Five or so years I have been doing a Home Haunt in my yard, it gets bigger every year, and this past season we had an area around 700 - 800 Sqft. to work with. Every year the crowd gets bigger & bigger and it has gotten to the point that it is hard to accommodate so many people at our location.

Luckily and a bit scarily we have basically been given the go-ahead to set up a haunt at a local government owned park called "The Field of Dreams." 
( http://www.fieldofdreamsnh.org/ ) it is HUGE, it has an out-door stage, it is always nicely kept up, there are paths through the woods, a enormous playground and at least 2 large fields, along with great parking as it has a good sized parking-lot and the high school is only a few hundred feet away that has easily 500 + spots.

Now this is my last year of high school I want to go really big with my Haunt this year and I see this as the perfect opportunity to do so. But I am facing a few issues and questions that are holding me back as of right now.

- The Number One Concern that I have is vandalism, since it is a public park and gets a good amount of foot traffic through it everyday.

- Security to handle what I expect may be a huge turnout.

- Setup, our time will be limited and more than likely we will be in a situation of setting up in the morning and opening the same night.

- How long to open for, right now I'm thinking that a weekend sounds good, but it is a debate between 1 night vs 2.

But I am very excited about the project, and I would love to hear your input and opinions, if you want any more info about the location feel free to ask or if you are in the Salem NH area and would like to help out I would be ecstatic to work with you.

Thanks :jol:


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## Nac (Feb 28, 2013)

And yes. If nothing else is thought of, we will more than likely be reffering to it as the Field of Screams.. Haha so original


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## remylass (Sep 18, 2008)

The biggest problem I would have doing that is security. I mean, we all worry about that at home. Worrying about it in a public, outdoor space would be crazy. Is there anyway you guys could set up and tear down most of the stuff just on the nights you are running it?


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## Nac (Feb 28, 2013)

remylass said:


> The biggest problem I would have doing that is security. I mean, we all worry about that at home. Worrying about it in a public, outdoor space would be crazy. Is there anyway you guys could set up and tear down most of the stuff just on the nights you are running it?


That is exactly the main issue I have with doing it, and that is what we would have to do. It is definitely possible but its gonna take a HUGE push to get everything set up and taken down all in one day. I think it all depends on the team that we get working on this, and how complex we want to get with it. Just get in and get out with anything that we don't want to risk and we should be good. Of course though that only works in a perfect world.


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

Well, being in a public place, if there was not a way to store my stuff away from people, there is no way I would chance doing it. If you were able to have some type of on site trailer or something to store props and such after closing, it might be possible. You know if you leave anything out for people to have access to it, somebody will steal or vandalize, that's just the way it is.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

If I were in the area I'd be glad to give you a hand. A severed hand, a few skulls, and throw in some spiders to boot. But I won't be there, sorry. Are going to be getting a lot of help? It sounds like a big job. But heck, you're young, and crazy. You have lots of energy, and ideas, and did I mention you're crazy? But you're in good company here, because we all on here are crazy too. Check the search section at the top of the page, and put in things like public haunt, crowd control, and am I crazy for trying this? A lot of people on here have public haunts, and share their experiences. As for leaving it set up overnight for a two day haunt, would the cops help out by keeping an eye on it since it's sanctioned by the local government?


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

I have to agree with the others. If there were no way to secure the place, and no place to store my props/lighting/foggers, etc... There is NO Way I would set up in a public place. I don't trust people at all, not even security guards. People will steal things just because they don't want to have to pay for something, for a variety of reasons (kleptomania, drug addiction, generalized worthlessness) If I were you, I'd keep doing a home haunt until you can locate a building to set up inside, or a public place with a storage building.


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## Nac (Feb 28, 2013)

kprimm said:


> Well, being in a public place, if there was not a way to store my stuff away from people, there is no way I would chance doing it. If you were able to have some type of on site trailer or something to store props and such after closing, it might be possible. You know if you leave anything out for people to have access to it, somebody will steal or vandalize, that's just the way it is.


Now that you mention it a onsite trailer would work perfectly & is definitely do-able. But in the end it really depends on if we want to run it for more than one night, which if we don't then we will be able to have everything set up and taken down the same day with no problem as long as we have decent help which should be to hard to get either. and yeah it is sad that that is the way it is.


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## Nac (Feb 28, 2013)

scareme said:


> If I were in the area I'd be glad to give you a hand. A severed hand, a few skulls, and throw in some spiders to boot. But I won't be there, sorry. Are going to be getting a lot of help? It sounds like a big job. But heck, you're young, and crazy. You have lots of energy, and ideas, and did I mention you're crazy? But you're in good company here, because we all on here are crazy too. Check the search section at the top of the page, and put in things like public haunt, crowd control, and am I crazy for trying this? A lot of people on here have public haunts, and share their experiences. As for leaving it set up overnight for a two day haunt, would the cops help out by keeping an eye on it since it's sanctioned by the local government?


Yes I am just young and crazy, and I'm glad I have found others of my kind :jol:. My family has alot of connections with the fire department and police as my dad has worked as everything from a forest firefighter, to an emt so it shouldn't be to hard to get help from them, but as I look deeper into this I think that I'm going to be restricting it to a one night endevour as it would make it much more manageable in the long run.


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## deathstaste (Apr 20, 2007)

*my suggestion*

I seen on the website they have a volley ball court by what I have searched they are 30'X60' 1800sq ft not bad for a first year haunt so surround it with 12' walls or 4'x8' wall panels with extra height with a sideways panel on top. that way it would be secure. screw plywood over doorways when closed.


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## Nac (Feb 28, 2013)

BioHazardCustoms said:


> I have to agree with the others. If there were no way to secure the place, and no place to store my props/lighting/foggers, etc... There is NO Way I would set up in a public place. I don't trust people at all, not even security guards. People will steal things just because they don't want to have to pay for something, for a variety of reasons (kleptomania, drug addiction, generalized worthlessness) If I were you, I'd keep doing a home haunt until you can locate a building to set up inside, or a public place with a storage building.


Thanks for the advice, just an update to my original post though, I will be able to have an onsite storage container and I believe I will be changing it to a one day event. But yes I see where you are coming from.


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## Nac (Feb 28, 2013)

deathstaste said:


> I seen on the website they have a volley ball court by what I have searched they are 30'X60' 1800sq ft not bad for a first year haunt so surround it with 12' walls or 4'x8' wall panels with extra height with a sideways panel on top. that way it would be secure. screw plywood over doorways when closed.


Yes I took the volleyball court into consideration, but I'm sure that if they wanted to, they would break into it, so I'm considering taking more of a Haunted Trail approach which will make the setup/tear down alot easier since it will only require a few temporary walls.


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## Nac (Feb 28, 2013)

Little update to the original post for everyone.

- Onsite storage (lockable) is possible.
- Highly considering 1 Day instead of two.
- Possibly taking a Haunted Trail approach rather than a full haunt to keep the overall setup to a minimum.

Thanks for all the advice I really appreciate it.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

Here are some threads you might want to check out.
Just to get you started...

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=24532&highlight=suggestions+public+haunts
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=34205&highlight=public+haunts
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=32354&highlight=public+haunts
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=29271&highlight=public+haunts
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=24549&highlight=public+haunts


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## Nac (Feb 28, 2013)

scareme said:


> Here are some threads you might want to check out.
> Just to get you started...
> 
> http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=24532&highlight=suggestions+public+haunts
> ...


Thanks for the links, I'll definatley check them out, and knowing me probably end up reading through all of them for the rest of the night. :


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

lol Then it's going to be a long night! I just went to the search option, and put in public haunts and there are pages and pages of just the links, not to mention when you click on a link, there are pages and pages of ideas. You could also put "haunted trails" in the search option, and get pages of ideas on just that subjuct. We like to share a lot around here.


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## Nac (Feb 28, 2013)

Haha I guess it is then, thanks for all of your help. I'll be sure to keep you posted on the status of the haunt.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

Don't leave! We need fresh brains, I mean ideas, yeah, that's it. We need fresh ideas around here. We like new blood, I mean members, new members here.


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## Nac (Feb 28, 2013)

scareme said:


> Don't leave! We need fresh brains, I mean ideas, yeah, that's it. We need fresh ideas around here. We like new blood, I mean members, new members here.


Haha what? I'm not going anywhere I was thanking you for your advice as you and everyone else have led me in a good direction and that is what i was looking for out of this thread. Lol I am certainly not leaving.


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## Nac (Feb 28, 2013)

And sorry for the late reply I was reading through the threads. Lol


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## Troll Wizard (May 3, 2012)

scareme said:


> Here are some threads you might want to check out.
> Just to get you started...
> 
> http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=24532&highlight=suggestions+public+haunts
> ...


Hey! Nice Threads...Man! Sorry...just had to say that! The 70's are coming out of me right now! LOL!!!! :jol:


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

Get written approval from the city, not just for the haunt, but probably an "okay" that you would be probably operating without insurance too. 
I wouldn't proceed any further with plans until I had that signed paper in my hands.
I'd also see if you can have someone stay overnight at the haunt site/park, while having a trailer is nice. a semi-live body (or two or three) is a major deterrent to would be thieves and vandals.
If your haunt is on a Saturday night, then you have a non school day to setup and another to tear down and clean up the site. That cleanup is an important part of the deal if you want to be able to do this ever again.

How much slave labor/volunteers do you have and what kind of budget do you have?
Is there electricity available to you at the site?


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## Nac (Feb 28, 2013)

fontgeek said:


> Get written approval from the city, not just for the haunt, but probably an "okay" that you would be probably operating without insurance too.
> I wouldn't proceed any further with plans until I had that signed paper in my hands.
> I'd also see if you can have someone stay overnight at the haunt site/park, while having a trailer is nice. a semi-live body (or two or three) is a major deterrent to would be thieves and vandals.
> If your haunt is on a Saturday night, then you have a non school day to setup and another to tear down and clean up the site. That cleanup is an important part of the deal if you want to be able to do this ever again.
> ...


You bring up many good points there, and to start with we will certainly not be going through with this event without proper signed papers and documentation. As for the insurance we will be covered by the park and town itself.
Most likely we will have it running on a Saturday and the majority of the items will be taken off site the same Saturday after closing leaving only the items we can afford to lose still on the property, which will be picked up immediately the next day. Having some livebodies stationed on site may be possible and is something I am looking into right now.

Electricity is available onsite + we have a Very Large generator that I plan on bringing if necessary. And as for our slave labor we will have 20 + bodies with us at all times more than likely quite a bit more as we may try to get the high school's drama department involved if possible, along with friends of friends which I happen to know alot of people who are interested so we would more likely have 30+ workers at any time.


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## Haunted TEM HOME (Mar 13, 2013)

Hey Man

I may be able to help, we do a pretty big amature haunt, we had a turnout of about 1600 last year. One of the things I can suggerst is associate your haunt with a charity, with a charitable number. Most will let you use their number to help get sponsors, who can in turn right off thier donations. I have a security sponsor that does security for us for free. In turn i provide a receipt of the value of their services along with a charitable number, I also promote them on all our flyers and have banners around the event.

Setup is sketchy man, we start prop building and blue prints in April. We start building the haunt in sept. There is never enough time, I couldn't imagine having to tear down each night. We also do live bands and have a CCTV camera system and all the expensive lighting is torn down and set up each night and day. We start setup around noon and fire up for 7pm. If we rush and dont take to many beer and smoke breaks, we could get it setup in three hours rushing.

We are free so we run off donations, we open thurs from 7-10 fri from 7-11
sat from 12-4(no actors) and then 7-11(with actors) and sunday from 12-4 (NA) and 7-10(WA). We do this the last three weekends of october.

Just a pointer, I would make sure you check with your city and make sure you don't need any additional permits and I know here you have to have an inspection and certificate from the electrical company. I learned that the hard way and almost got shut down last year. Also you most likely have to have a fire plan submitted to your local fire department, get to know them real well, make friends, it will help! Also fire departments are great charities hint hint.......

hope you got some good info and help from this, if you have any other questions hit me up!



Nac said:


> Okay guys, first off I'm not sure if this is the right place for this post so feel free to move it to a more appropriate section if necessary.
> 
> Now, for the past Five or so years I have been doing a Home Haunt in my yard, it gets bigger every year, and this past season we had an area around 700 - 800 Sqft. to work with. Every year the crowd gets bigger & bigger and it has gotten to the point that it is hard to accommodate so many people at our location.
> 
> ...


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## Haunted TEM HOME (Mar 13, 2013)

We also had a 20000kw geni donated, all our sound and lighting, our printing and some building materials!


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