# Tell us: What worked & what didn't?



## gypsichic (Jun 6, 2006)

i'm curious how many of you get the numbers of tot's you do

what would you keep about your setup and what would you change?


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## SpectreTTM (Aug 22, 2005)

Every thing pretty much worked . But I would adjust the timing on the timers on the props.

I would change the repeat time between arm movements on the back of my crypt to be 
ON for 20 sec and OFF for 1 min rather than ON for 30 sec OFFfor 3 min. The 3 min wait was too long 
between movements. 

also the timing between when 1 prop triggered and the next prop triggered 
The interval was too long.


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

I'm going to modify the MitB next year. I have to use larger U-Bolts because the chain keeps getting stuck and the lid won't open. People are also getting used to it, so I want to have it motion activated and have the lid slam open and shut more violently when triggered.

I also want to do a better job of hiding my lighting next year. All of the lights that lit individual props were way to obvious. I saw Bone Daddy's yard and think I'm going to pilfer some ideas from him on how to hide lights, as well as steal a few other ideas too.


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## edwood saucer (Aug 21, 2006)

I'll tell you exactly:
Next year - I'm telling mother nature to NOT have any wind. Fog testing the night before was a great success - then we had 20mph winds night of.

Oh well.

Next year - add movement to the props. Finish mech's on the FCG. Build Fence.

This year was an absolute success for year 1. Lot of neighbors had no idea what to expect and admitted they were blown away. A quarter of the kids parents took pictures next to the witch.

Next year I will follow Wormey lead and have a more formal picture place.


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## MansionHaunter (Sep 20, 2006)

Amen to what edwood saucer said. Where the heck did that wind come from?


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## Long_Tom (Oct 7, 2006)

What worked: haunting the back yard! It's dark back there, unlike the front, where two, count 'em, two street lights on my corner wash out every shadow. That also keeps the scary stuff away from the toddlers; the parents appreciate that. (Got quite a few who brought theirs back to the graveyard, but hey, at least now it's their fault, not mine, when their kid starts crying.)

Next year: finish the sign that points the way to the back yard. Maybe make some cemetery fence and pillars, too, to make it really obvious. We had people answering the door in the front, so they were directing folks to the back yard, but everyone was just a little confused. "Are we really allowed back there?"

Also, I think next year I will have a Halloween party on the Saturday before, so we aren't trying to mix general socializing over dinner with running the haunt on Halloween night itself.


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## TipoDeemin (Oct 8, 2005)

I'm just barely starting to get my lighting set up, and as such, I've got cords everywhere. I need to find a better way to run the cords through my yard so they're less noticable, but not going to be tripped on. It wasn't a problem this year, but I was also using bright orange cords that no one was able to miss seeing, and it definitely took away from the feel of the yard.


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## Wildomar (Aug 30, 2006)

As TD said above, the cords going everywhere. I was frantic to get everything done before the sunset and went to turn everything on and blew the circuit. Matter of fact blew it about four times until I persuaded my neighbor to let me run power out of his house to help shoulder the draw to run my haunt. Pretty funny actually, but I will definitely need to rethink the electrical before next year.


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

Wildomar said:


> As TD said above, the cords going everywhere. I was frantic to get everything done before the sunset and went to turn everything on and blew the circuit. Matter of fact blew it about four times until I persuaded my neighbor to let me run power out of his house to help shoulder the draw to run my haunt. Pretty funny actually, but I will definitely need to rethink the electrical before next year.


that was me the past two years. This year, I had an electrician install a new outlet over by my cemetery that was on its own circuit so's not to overdraw anything, and I also had the two outlets that were already outside split off onto their own circuits as well. Needless to say, my breaker box is getting full now but at least I have no electrical issues to contend with any more.


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## Dr Morbius (Sep 21, 2004)

Make a bigger fence, so I can utilize more of my yard as small as it is...maybe take advantage of the driveway using cemetery gates. I need to hide lights too, and use more of them. I need to have more props that actuate when approached instead of just moving constantly.


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## Dr Morbius (Sep 21, 2004)

Zombie-F said:


> that was me the past two years. This year, I had an electrician install a new outlet over by my cemetery that was on its own circuit so's not to overdraw anything, and I also had the two outlets that were already outside split off onto their own circuits as well. Needless to say, my breaker box is getting full now but at least I have no electrical issues to contend with any more.


Hiring an electrician to install outlets so you can run a haunt...now THAT's dedication!


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## slimy (Jul 12, 2006)

I'm going to replace all batteries the night before. I was running around that afternoon trying to get everthing all ready, and I didn't budget enough time to the replacing of batts. 

I also will probably hire teenagers as actors so they will show up on time. Volunteers are too unreliable. 

I got tremendous drive by traffic, so next year I will have a sign that tells people we will be open for a haunt on halloween. I think I could have had better numbers if the drive bys would have come back for halloween. 

Overall, everything seemed to work fine. The traffic flowed smoothly. I was the tour guide and that seemed to work well. I will use more remote controlled stuff next year as well.


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## Fright Yard (Jul 12, 2006)

TipoDeemin said:


> I'm just barely starting to get my lighting set up, and as such, I've got cords everywhere. I need to find a better way to run the cords through my yard so they're less noticable, but not going to be tripped on. It wasn't a problem this year, but I was also using bright orange cords that no one was able to miss seeing, and it definitely took away from the feel of the yard.


put flood lights in front of them and angle them up, I used them and you could not see the cords with blue flood lights!


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## Fright Yard (Jul 12, 2006)

Zombie-F said:


> that was me the past two years. This year, I had an electrician install a new outlet over by my cemetery that was on its own circuit so's not to overdraw anything, and I also had the two outlets that were already outside split off onto their own circuits as well. Needless to say, my breaker box is getting full now but at least I have no electrical issues to contend with any more.


how much did that run?


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## TipoDeemin (Oct 8, 2005)

Fright Yard said:


> put flood lights in front of them and angle them up, I used them and you could not see the cords with blue flood lights!


That's exactly what I did.  Still would like to camouflage them better, though--maybe bury them partially in the yard or something just to completely eliminate the risk of anyone tripping on them.


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## slimy (Jul 12, 2006)

Easiest thing to do. Use a flat shovel and just put blade about an inch or so in the ground and wiggle it. Don't remove any dirt. Keep doing this one blade width at a time. This creates a groove that the ext cord can be shoved in. Then take some wire ( you're a haunter, I know you have lots of wire) and make U hooks. Turn them over and pound them in the ground around the cord. Walla. Instant no trippy trippy. Also grass will grow back in the spring and you will never see the trench.


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## slightlymad (May 25, 2006)

yes yes hide the lights and set up more pre halloween. We dont set up untill day of.
more lighting and cleaner power distobution


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## Vlad (Aug 2, 2005)

Hmmmm, Let's see. I think that better crowd control has been and remains our only problem. It's gotten too big to just allow people to go straight in as they arrive. Groups of no more than five or six is the key to hitting as many people as possible with each scare. I heard complaints from many of the last people in large groups, that they missed the scare. I could have used a few more power outlets myself, I guess that'll be a midwinter project.


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## Wyatt Furr (Jun 5, 2006)

One way in and one way out.Had some larger groups that clogged up the path to the front door and the people behind were trying to get in while they were going out.The path to the door also curves to the driveway,so if I sign the paths and move from inside to the porch,I can remedy the congestion.
Otherwise, I need to finish my projects sooner.This last minute stuff wears me out.
Anyone need help in cord-hiding? PM me, I'm the master of this lost art.I can throw a few hints your way free of charge.....


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## CRHaunting (Jul 15, 2006)

Things went surprisingly well considering this is the first year I actually went beyond front yard scenery and did an interactive walk-through haunted house. I can relate to the crowd control, as some of the larger groups going through together I know would have ruined the scares for those at the rear of the train. I think my biggest issue was forgetting to set the CD player with my cauldron stirring witch to repeat so for much of the night she was stirring mutely.


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## Great White (Jan 18, 2006)

I commited the Cardinal Sin of haunting. I ran out of Fog Juice! Fortunately it was towards the end of the night. That won't happen again. I bought a gallon yesterday along with a new fogger. As far as electrical cords, I have green colored ones. Hides it better than the orange.


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## Death's Door (Mar 22, 2006)

I also have the green extension cords. I agree they are better to use when trying to camoflage all the cords all over the yard. 

The only thing I intend to change is the stress level that I had this year. I was getting on my own nerves!! We went to a Halloween party on Saturday night (28th) and I told my hubby that he was going to be the designated driver that night because I had to drink a lot to drown the bug that was up my ass. He also agreed that I was getting a little cranky. For once I agreed with him.

When I went out on Halloween to set up at my usual time and was actually finished 2 hours ahead of time. I couldn't believe it. Everything went smooth. I can't put too much stress on myself like that.


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## incubus0 (Oct 13, 2006)

*Worked*
Ghost in the window. Not an FCG, but tulle and RIT soaked cheese cloth over a skeleton with a fan blowing on it.

Jack-O-Lanterns on tiki torches. Had six of em set up, and they looked great.

Fog Chiller.

*Didn't Work*
Hanging Bodies. I had 3 bodies dressed in costumes all ready to be hung up in front of the garage, but the method I was planning to hang them up with didn't pan out, so I ended up just laying them around with blood and severed body parts. I was disappointed because my vision of the setup was ruined, but everyone said they liked it.

Fog machine pointing out of garage. I set one up in the garage with a long black tube sticking out just under the garage door, but so much of it came back in that the garage was filled in a thick fog, so I ended up turning that one off.


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## mnstrmum (Sep 6, 2005)

Lets see....it seems more things didn't work than did...shame on us for not giving ourselves enough time to properly test. Also some of the people who helped us set up...touched things they shouldn't have and is why some stuff didn't work right. Bonedaddy's MIB was tempermental.....fcg's head fell off (yes .it was hanging there)..we were able to put her back together...I think we were the only one's that noticed thought......corpse/coffin jumper.....would only work for one cycle( bonedaddy says we need a new chip)...the other coffin ( broken cylinder)

thankfully many of the othr props worked well. We had well over a hundred people come throughout the night. We were successful though.....Thank mother nature for the beautiful weather. We couldn't have asked for a better night temperature wise.


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## Eyes_in_the_dark (Jun 15, 2006)

What worked- my haunted grill and TV was a big hit. The over-all "fell" of the house worked well because it was being called the "scary house" by both the TOT's and the grown-ups alike. 

What didn't work- the fog machine in the garage. Instead of the fog rolling out the door it was being driven back into the garage and "smoking" the garage up. I'm almost to the point of beliving that a fog machine is not work the time, trouble, and money because, the weather has to be perfect for the things to work right.

Need to camo the lighting better.


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## Seamus (Jul 29, 2006)

The wind did not work for me. I don't know what it was with the weather this year, since everyone across North America seemed to have this problem, but the wind knocked out my one moving prop within 24 hours of it going out, and required me to make unwanted modifications to my other static props to keep them in one piece. 

Next year, a giant tent covering the entire property...


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## Beepem (Jul 17, 2006)

ATLEAST 30 more graves. pink foam #1 for my birthday gift list....i start props in feb and my birthday is then so it works out

i need to build like 3+ 6' static figures with pvc.....more fog too. better strobes and more floods


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## NecroBones (Feb 10, 2006)

Not sure what I'll do differently next year. I think my #1 thing is to put a ghost in the window. Probably a FCG, but possibly a static prop with glowing cheesecloth and a fan.

I'd do more animated stuff and more fog, if I could count on more than one or two TOTs over the course of the evening.


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## ghostie (May 15, 2006)

_Worked:_ Fog without chillers. That was a surprise. Once it rose up, the blue floods hit it and it was a real attention getter...which is what we needed, so we skipped our chillers this year.

_Didn't work:_ Wind ripped the crap out of all but one fcg so she worked solo. And looked a little stoned. I was bummed. I think our haunt is too dark. It's a fine line between lighting up your stuff and keeping it dark enough for the ghosts to look good. Next year we're going to do blue and white strobes in our front rooms to simulate the Poltergiest Movie I, effect. That'll get some attention! Other than that, just pray for good weather and NO SNOW!


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

Something that worked but I think could have worked better is the flowthrough of the graveyard. The way it was set up this year (and all previous years) is you can just kind of wander in and walk around. I think what I want to do next year is create a path through it so the people walk in, go along the fencing on the left, move along the bushes at the back, and then work their way back to the front along the fencing on the other side. I think I can accomplish this by simply roping off the center of the graveyard and having one of my helpers point the guests in the right direction (prevent them from going the wrong way).

I also want to build a crypt facade at the back corner where the bushes are, to kind of make it look like the bushes have grown in around the crypt. After seeing Bone Daddy's crypt facade at his house, I realize you don't need a whole crypt to have it be effective... you only need the front of it as long as it's at the end of a pathway.


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## Bodybagging (May 8, 2006)

As far as I am concerned, Our Air Cannon was the best thing ever, everything worked as expected but the air cannon exceeded all expectations... kinda a double whammy effect, first off no-one expected that disembodied klown on the candy table to be real, and once he got them the air cannon came a directly from below, and finished the job.......


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

What worked:
A last-minute mod to a GotFog design chiller. It actually worked better than the Vortex-modified FOTR chiller. I may re-design the FOTR. I'll get some pics of the mod if any are interested.
The hacked PIR/timers that I built for the $20 prop challenge. I had crows- and werewolf howls-on-demand all night.
Pretty much everything worked this year. I didn't have any prop failures, fogger problems (well, see below). I need to make more dead people, though. And, yes, I know how that sounds...

What didn't work:
Piping chilled fog from under the garage door. The slightest breeze was able to blow the fog back under the door and through the modified GotFog chiller. Within an hour, it was pea-soup in there. Gotta come up with a check valve and way to seal the gap at the bottom of the door.


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## skullboy (Sep 21, 2006)

Stalkabout worked wonders.Small chiller made at last minute out of small igloo cooler.Blew into my witch pot and worked very well,nice rolling fog out of pot,even in wind.

Trying to get in or out of stalkabout was a P.I.T.A!Even more in the dark.
Having 3 parents come over when your alone to tussle,might have gotten ugly. Cause thier kids are brats.(thats why)


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## BooGirl666 (Jul 29, 2006)

Things I liked or worked...
remote control pneumatic clown, stretchy wall, white sheets in torture room and overall set up.
So many things went wrong this year so I was pretty impressed with what did work. The day of I had 2 monsters drop out due to food posioning, didn't finish my sign so I guess we are still name-less , ran outta time and slapped things together, wasn't ready at 6 on halloween once again, o and the damn weather. damn you rain gods! lol. 
But overall people were impressed. After reading this whole thread I am getting ideas for next year. I'm hooked!


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

*what worked...
*
the tiki torches worked really well. I had 12 and a gallon of oil, which only filled each one half way but they were still burning when we blew them out 4 hours later.

using the flood light motion sensor to set off the grave grabber, sound loop and strobe light. After it was adjusted right it worked every time... but usually it was fairly crowded and would go off more than necessary.

the fog commander / trashcan chiller worked pretty well, as long as it was full of ice it would hang pretty low for the first 12' or so and after that it would expand to around 8'... the breeze was constantly changing though, so I'm not sure how it would have worked on a nice calm night. it ran on "constant" mode for about 4 hours and went through 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon of fog fluid, and I had to top up the ice twice. Next year I think I'll make a tap to drain out the icemelt... it seemed to work better without the water in the bucket.

the drain hose on the bottom of my vortex mini chiller clone worked well, I glued a brass plumbing piece to the lowest point on the side of the pail and ran a garden hose out the garage, and placed the chiller and fogger on some pieces of wood to elevate them 4" - the water drained out great.

*what didn't work...*

my mini vortex didn't work too well, I think the capacity was too small for the 700w fogger. it eventually melted all the ice before I thought to refill it and it had one small piece in it when we picked up.

non-chilled fog in the cauldron.... it would simply rise out and dissapapte making a lot of haze in the garage, I had to use a box fan on top of the open garage door to help blow it out. maybe next year I'll use the vortex mini and a 400w fogger plumbed for the cauldron.

using jute twine for the fcg... the fcg was one of the last things we set up and I realized I didn't have any nylon rope to use, so I used the only thing I had... some stringy jute twine. it eventually got very frayed and I think it might have been the reason it got tangled up just after the haunt was over which stalled the crank for about 5min. no apparrent damage though, since it's an induction motor.


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## stretchnuts (Oct 17, 2006)

every thing was perfect my fcg is not of the regular mechanisms most people use. its something i made up and used stuff from around the house it cost me a total of 9 dollars to make and it proved out great. the scare crow intimidated many though cause they had to go under its arm.


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## widowsbluff (May 24, 2006)

Our path around the yard worked well but the lighting was the biggest improvement. Many of the static props we have has for a couple of years were "new" to the kids because now they could see them. I think for next year we will work on lighting the path so there is no confusion, we still had people who just wandered around.


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## mikeq91 (Jul 19, 2005)

Next year, I'm definately starting earlier. That way I can actually get everything up, and more people will be able to see it.


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