# Poll: Usefulness of a story line...?



## sedgewickhotel (Nov 25, 2007)

Hey everyone.. I'm looking for everyone's opinion on whether or not they think THE GENERAL public appreciates a good story to go along with a home haunt. I know most of us would, but what I'm getting at is: if I take all this time to conjure up and write/publish/tell the story, are people going to care, or do they just want to ooh and ahh over the decor and props?

I'm building a very elaborate cemetery for a big Halloween party I'm throwing and was thinking about tying it together with a story, but I'm afraid I'll be wasting my time.

Comments?


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

Ah, the backstory thread returns! I love this topic.

My personal opinion? Very important for a pro haunt, not at all for a home haunt. ToT's and Halloweeners going to a person's house just want to see lots of cool stuff and get a few scares. If you're the only haunt in your neighborhood/area, anything more elaborate than a few JOLs and a crashed witch will make them happy and they'll have fun; they want to see how far this nutty guy goes with his decorating. If there are a lot of haunts about, though, the backstory is very useful because it goes beyond the norm and sets you apart.

In a pro-haunt, however, if there's no backstory (even a rudimentary one, like a description of the house's previous tenants) the haunt will come off as inconsistent. Even if the people don't know the story, it will form a set of guidelines for the builders that will result in a tighter haunt with a more logical and natural flow to it. Things will just seem to "fit". 

So my vote goes to "not at all" because you're a home haunt. The backstory is useful, yes, but not really important to the guests. If you're charging admission you want to give them a whole story, but Hauntz 57 is fine for home.


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

Thats are hard call to make. There will always be those that notice and those that don't so that part of it really doesnt matter. It's pretty much an "up to you" thing. If you are ok with out it then thats ok, if you think it needs it, well then. 
With what I do, I like to stay within a certain theme. Kinda a classic gothic. Skellys,witches, demons, and devils, ghosts and dusty old zombies. I dont do bloody gore, ( a skelly BBQ is as close as i get to that), I dont do cute ghosts and smily pumpkins either.
It all depends on how much you want to put into it. Some will fuss over something to get it "just right" , others only worry about getting the main idea across. And besides, its dark , right. My suggestion is, do what you think is right, what you want it to look like. I mean after all, its why you do it in the first place, right?


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Revenant said:


> ...Even if the people don't know the story, it will form a set of guidelines for the builders that will result in a tighter haunt with a more logical and natural flow to it....


Funny that you should mention that, because that's mainly why I came up with the back story for my haunt. I wanted to keep a consistent theme in my walk through and the back story has actually helped. Maybe some will read it, maybe not, but I wrote it last year right after halloween during the so called off season.


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

I don't think a story line is necessary for a yard haunt, but I do think a theme is needed. I like to have things blend together and make some kind of sense. If you have a grave yard what would a scary clown be doing there? I go for the traditional zombies, ghosts, witches and skeleton grave yard kind of thing. I like spooky over gross and gory. I agree that for a professional haunt it adds to the ambiance.


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## sedgewickhotel (Nov 25, 2007)

I guess, as an artist (we all consider ourselves artists, right?), I want people to appreciate the fact that things are the way they are for a reason. Like a pro haunt, I will not combine things that don't go together logically.. I wont have a random clown prop in the corner of a cemetery, regardless of how cool it looks, since it doesn't make any sense. 

Visitors to my party will travel through a cemetery, crypt, and into a mortuary. I guess I want them to appreciate that these things are there for a reason and not just a bunch of props from Big Lots than anyone can buy and randomly scatter across their yard.

With all the store-bought props out there getting better and better, it becomes increasing harder for a "true" home-haunter (artist) to stand out from casual home-decorator.


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## sedgewickhotel (Nov 25, 2007)

Wow, you posted that clown in the cemetery reference right before I did. I swear I didn't read it first. Jinx.


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## Uruk-Hai (Nov 4, 2006)

Just this year I started thinking about writing a back-story, even if it's just for myself, in order to tie everything together. I've done it for now just as a point form series of ideas but already it has started to bring a sense of order to the haunt. I started by deciding on a formal name - before it was just "A Haunted Halloween" as I wanted something generic but now that it's "A Haunted Halloween at Blackstone Cemetery" it means so much more. I've started doing personalized tombstones for the various members of the Blackstone family - one of which, Catherine, will become my flying crank ghost next year. My werewolf is her older brother Angus Blackstone who was cursed by the swamp witch who will become my stirring caldron witch. I could go on but you get the idea. I'm not sure if I'll ever write it down as more of a narrative for people to read - like some have said, would they be interested? - but just to have it in my head when I'm building props helps a lot in keeping an overall theme.


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## Spookie (Aug 26, 2008)

If you have a yard large enough to have some separate scenes, then I say go with a theme and having a backstory can be useful. I'm doing this this year also. Here's my plan. The theme is pirates, swamp, witch's swamp shack. My backstory is "what happened to Captain Jack?"

Driveway entrance-- A pile of bones and skulls. The top skull will talk and relay a Very short poem that forewarns of danger ahead but also of tasty rewards to those who are successful and reach the swamp witch and special pirates booty to those that can tell her where Captain Jack is. ToT follow the GID dashes and X's (where to stop to listen) on the driveway and sidewalk.

Side of garage--A pirate shipwreck seen through the fog

Front of garage--A pirate raft blowing in the stormy waters (low lying fog), lone skeleton pirate sailor, parrot on the mast talks when motion triggered. Calls out to find Capt. Jack, find Capt. Jack. Danger.

Side of garage--window done up as a ship's portal. Projected ghostly image of Capt Jack seen floating in the air (or underwater). (no sound/using technique of BigScreamTV with plexiglass)

On side of sidewalk--swamp area with low lying fog and aligators, frogs and swamp creatures. Swamp sounds. 

Cemetary--seen beyond the swamp. Graveyard of pirates. Motion detector owl with lit eyes and rotating head.

Haunted Forest--Scenesetter used on fence. Spooky lit trees circle a brewing witch's cauldron.

Swamp Witch's Shack--ToT destination for candy and pirates bounty for those that can whisper to the witch where Captain Jack is. 

Kids are running from house to house and I'm hoping most will slow down long enough to look at and briefly listen to my props. I'd probably accept a few different answers to the question, if the kid was brave enough to come up to the witch and give a solution. 

Most of all if you do a backstory, find a way to keep it really short because the kids will be off an running for the next treat. Don't spend a lot of time with fine detail work on the props which probably won't get noticed anyway.


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## Tyler (Jul 17, 2008)

I dont think a story is really needed. But a theme, or dividing the props into scenes, which I try to do, is a good idea.


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## Fiend4Halloween (Aug 28, 2008)

a story helps....but I must admit, I'm all about the gore factor!!!


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## Ironside (Aug 1, 2008)

I wasn't sure if a backstory really meant all that much to the public, so last year I posted a little blurb on my website and didn't think much more about it.

The moment I changed my outlook was during the haunt when a young child entered the "lab" and said "Look!!! It's Doctor Cadaver!"

I got a little chuckle out of that and realized he must have read the website and the story of our central character Dr. Cornelius Caldavar (nicknamed "Dr.Cadaver" after he went mad of course).

This year we are putting a lot more effort into making our haunt "story driven". Everything has a nice flow to it; you start off in a 'normal' looking haunted house with eerie wallpaper, picture frames, a pipe organ, skeletons, haunted chandelier, etc. Then you creep into a dark tunnel behind a moved bookshelf and the fun begins... I don't want to give away the rest but lets just say you go through rooms with the names, cavern, morgue, butcher shop, laboratory, operating room, and finally... the body dump.

Makes it easier when you are renovating an entire basement of a house into a Haunt though..


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## Nephilim (Sep 15, 2006)

Here's my take: you can make a perfectly good haunt with no story. Or even a theme, for that matter. But it will feel disjointed and won't connect with your visitors on the same level.

_If you can manage a back story though_, there are big payoffs. At our home haunt, we have been building a mythological framework year over year that is (mostly) consistent and includes the same characters, the same metaphysics, the same challenges, and the same tone. The result is that people _come back in following years_ for more of the story.

It does take a lot of time and energy, though. Historically, we've done this through the black light puppet show we did in our garage called _Madame Sarita's Spirit Parlour_. We tried to set up a consistent, original mythology and build upon it year over year. You can see how the story evolved over the years 2004-2007 at the links below:


 2004: Marius Blackwood makes his first appearance
 2005: Sarah Beaumont fights back, Blackwood Mausoleum appears as another attraction referencing same characters
 2006: Madame Sarita makes a terrible choice
 2007: Audience saves Madame Sarita from the spirit world
(The later ones in the group have videos of the performances, while the first one only has a script - sorry.)

I'd say that the effort to present a coherent, consistent story year over year has paid off for us. We get kids waiting in line for the show wondering "what's going to happen this year" to the characters. Kids know the characters before they come to the haunt, and obviously have an emotional investment in them even before they arrive. That builds loyalty, and makes the total greater than the sum of its parts because each year builds on echoes from the previous years.

It also allows you to bring more power to your attractions. For people who know just how bad Marius Blackwood is from the garage show, visiting his crypt in the Blackwood Mausoleum and reaching inside becomes even scarier. Tying your attractions together thematically and with recurrent characters and themes helps you build the illusion that you are immersed in this fictional world.

If I had any cautionary advice from this, though, I'd say that you can go overboard with story. It's dull listening to a long back story, so edit it down as far as you can. I think our first year's offering (and our second year's recap) were too long, although the kids still seemed to love it. The simpler and easier to grasp the better, but if you can come up with a way to stretch out your time with your audience, you can present more story. If you have a choice between telling the story and making your haunt fun, go with the latter. Only add story if you can do both.


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## Spookie (Aug 26, 2008)

Ironside, your post peaked my curiosity and I clicked your link. Very nicely done and you have me wanting to visit your haunt. What State are you in? Couldn't tell from your site, nothing sounded familiar though. I really loved how you scripted the site. I can see why the kids love it.

Nephilim, as I already mentioned, loved your Magic Mirror and the whole Carnival of Souls haunt. Watching the video of the kids asking for candy just makes me smile. Truely engaging. 

Going back to the topic of theme/back story, I think kids tend to remember the house that had a theme or storyline going for it, and I think all of us who decorate want to be remembered more for our haunt than what kind of candy we gave out.


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## blacklightmike (Nov 2, 2008)

Cranky, old-man-Mike likes back story, even in his displays. I've done a variety of haunts over the years, from sideshows to godzilla to graveyards, and tie them all together under the banner of Dr. Slickshill, a world-traveling carny showman who has collected oddities and strange things to show on Halloween. It keeps me sharp and focused when thinking of new presentations, even if I'm the only one who really appreciates it. 

That approach comes from a background in magic... adaptation of effects is routinely practiced by magi in thematic performances... older effects get rejuvenated and refitted to fit into different scenarios. Sleights and simple effects can be blown out to full sized illusions given the right storyline. it keeps the blood flowing, and never leaves you wanting for ideas.


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## EMU (Dec 4, 2007)

my back-story started off as an english project that i "went to far" on for school guidelines, and now its insane and not even finished. it keeps me grounded i keep wanting to build things but they dont fit, so it stops me from building excessively, and it also helps me decide my actors(friends) costumes and stuff. i love Literature, just my personal opinion.


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## HauntCast (Jul 25, 2008)

I don't think a Story line or a theme is necessary. For the past 20 years I have had neither. Some good atmosphere effects, lighting, tombstones, and some pneumatic props to scare the crap out of people will always work. Though a theme or story line can be a good thing when helping plan out your haunt. For bigger haunts it is probably needed to keep things fresh. Due to a severe case of ADD I have trouble staying with the story line


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## slightlymad (May 25, 2006)

I do not have a name or back ground story.However, I am working on the name and considering the story. I see it possesing value for many of the aforementioned reasons especially to keep my focused. This year though we had time to enjoy the haunt and our visitors and their comments are what lead us to consider a story.


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

I think the idea of a story line would make a haunt more fun, and give patrons somewhat of an expectation of what is going to happen. For those who have websites and can post them there, you give people a "heads up" of what to expect. What about haunters who wing it on Halloween night? I think having a "theme" lends itself to a back story. We've kind of adopted a traditional "haunted house" or "castle" theme over the past few years. We try to incorporate scenes/props that are consistant with this. Graveyard, zombies, coffins, skeletons, witches, etc.. For the first time this year, we used a voice over cd that was run by a costumed actor who played the crypt keeper of the castle. He gave a brief welcome and explained what people had to do to get their "reward" (candy) He told them they had to walk down the path to the lair of the beast (our garage with a cage facade across the door.) They then had to walk past the witches who would cast a spell on them to keep them safe the rest of the night. It wasn't so much a back story but it tied together the various scenes we had going on. In reading this thread, it has sparked a few ideas of maybe doing a narrative back story as people line up to go through the haunt. Since we're changing things a bit but keeping the same overall "theme" it might be a fun idea and would add something we've never done before.


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## Georgeb68 (Mar 26, 2013)

Well my 2 cents worth is during the haunting season of October.....the professional haunt that I work t....I am the story teller......I get the atmosphere going and the people on edge but on Halloween I do my own yard and just have fun as he atmosphere s already there!


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## Gallows (Aug 16, 2013)

I can't imagine a haunt without a name, it's the foundation the rest of your reputation is built on. As for story, I feel that depends a lot on the type of haunt, your target audience, and your competition.

In our rural location, our Haunted House is the only one within almost 20 miles, and is entirely run by volunteers. Teams of volunteers are assigned rooms, and run with it from there. So you may deal with witches, illusions, zombies, snakes, clowns, and a vortex all in a single visit. We haven't heard any complaints about cohesion, and I worry our volunteers would lose traction if they had to conform to a story line. For a home haunt I think a storyline is excellent, as long as it doesn't take long to tell, our town only has about 2-3 hours for trick or treaters, and it might create a heck of a bottleneck if you live on a busy street.


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