# Needing Scare Ideas



## PeeWeePinson (Feb 23, 2006)

I am planning a haunt through woods with the theme of Scary Tales, twisted fairy tales i.e. Snow Fright, Little Dead Riding Hood, Malice in Wonderland. I am having a hard time thinking the best way to set the scenes (as I said will be in woods) for the best scare. Each tale will have its own individual area but how can I make this scary? What can be the pop ups and jump outs? Help!!


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## Hauntiholik (May 17, 2006)

Snow Fright - you'll need a witch. How about an woodcutter with an axe jump out?

Little Dead Riding Hood - definitely need a wolf.

Malice in Wonderland - Cheshire Cat in a tree? A horrific caterpillar?


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## Don Givens (Dec 2, 2008)

Not sure if you are using actors or props or a combination but here's just a few ideas. 

Snow Fright:
A zombie prince with Snow White tied to a tree
Dwarf's with obviously full bellies sitting at a table with bones on their plates and a Snow White Costume draped over an empty chair.
Evil Snow White sitting on a dead witch eating an apple

Little Dead Riding Hood:
Little Dead Riding Hood handing a wolf-head to a scary looking Grandmother, or you could flip it and show Little Dead Riding Hood scaring off the Big Bad Wolf by showing him another wolf head in the basket 

Malice in Wonderland:
Vampire Rabbit
Use severed heads for croquet balls
Make a very scary tea party scene.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

Don, you gave me some nice laughs with that.


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

In the woods I think your best scaring will be done atmospherically. Dunno how you're fixed for fog, but if you can get some high-powered foggage in there to haze up the woods you'll be way ahead of the game... and those flickering LED tealights scattered around would make great will o' wisps. Then some colored and blue floods placed here and there out of the main path of the action to give some creepy background glows. Top it off with some good creepy music with speakers here and there... for stuff that would sound best in the woods I would think Virgil Franklin's _Manic Terror Trax _or Nox Arcana's _Grimm Tales _would be best (I seem to associate most of Midnight Syndicate's stuff with castles and mansions, not forests). And Adam at Poison Props has some awesome sound FX CD's that would be perfect for haunted forest background noise.

A snarling, growling wolf crouched and eying the path. Maybe a haunted swamp with a hideous swamp witch. Maybe even a little run-down graveyard with zombies. And in a haunted woods ya just GOTTA have some trees with a bunch of giant spiders! Maybe even with a couple that drop down on strings, like in the second Harry Potter movie.

Damn. You got your own woods to haunt! Lucky. I'd go nuts with my own little haunted forest. Make sure you got some long extension cords and some watertight sleeves for the plug connections in case it gets wet or dewey out.


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## PeeWeePinson (Feb 23, 2006)

Great ideas Revenant! I do have my own woods, very lucky for me! Here are some ideas that I am toying with:

Hansel and Gretel--the kids don't escape the witch from the gingerbread house
Malice in Wonderland--we will be using the Peter Rottentail here: Halloween Masks and Horror Props
Three Billy Goats Gruff--bridge to walk across with troll underneath
Wizard of Odd--large fan blowing with lots of wind, scarecrows coming at you and my Johnny Appleseed 
Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater--Bad Seed will be here, not sure of the scene Adult Bad Seed Creature Reacher Costume : Target
Little Dead Riding Hood
Little Miss Muffet and the Not So Itsy Bitsy Spider
Goldihocks
Snow Fright--I picture a crazed Snow White with pictures of the dwarfs blood splattered


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

PeeWee, unless you are going to*post signs with the play on names, don't get caught up in thinking you can only use fairy tales that can be renamed using puns. Kids and some adults may not get the puns, so depending on them to carry the haunt may pose some challenges.

Try reversing the outcome of any of the fairy*tails you come across, the three little pigs, Hansel and Grettle, Rumple Stiltskin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, the Pied Piper, etc. Hit your public library, there is a fantastic resource sitting there waiting for you. You could also add in the Dr. Seuss storylines if you need or want more to play with.

Maybe something like popup skeletons of the three little pigs, sqeeling and screaming from the wrekage of a brick house.

Maybe start the whole trek off with a giant story book opened to the Brothers Grim Fairytales, with a brief explaination in writing, and done verbally, to explain what they (the guests) are marching into.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

That's a good point fontgeek. It makes sense to us because e see it in writing....


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## Frighteners Entertainment (Jan 24, 2006)

Nice ideas...fontgeek is on to something!


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## Frighteners Entertainment (Jan 24, 2006)

A little off what you were thinking, but Dr Seuss is another thought.

I always though the characters were a little creepy just normal...


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## PeeWeePinson (Feb 23, 2006)

We will be posting signs from one site to the next. Hey Fontgeek! Don't suppose your mind could be churning on what type of invite I would need with this? HeeHee...


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

Invite for the walk, or is there to be a party as well?
For all the work you are going through, why not do the walk as a fundraiser, and do the party by invite?
Let me know what name you want this to go by.
Scary Trails, Scary Tales, whatever.
What if the invites or fliers looked like the title page from an old illuminated book of fairy tales, maybe with a torn or deckled edge, so it looked like it was torn from a book. A cool spooky kind of collage done in an engraved style on a parchment paper. The engraved look photocopie and faxes easily, and the parchment paper can be gotten by the ream quite inexpensively at Costco, Walmart, etc. It lets you get a kind of vintage/exotic look without having to print color. Effective and inexpensive.

Just thoughts from the cheap seats.

Let me know how you are going to print them or reproduce them.
No problem on the invites, fliers, web artwork, and tickets if you need them.

Doing wierd and creepy versions of Dr. Seuss would twist the parents as much as it does the kids, and keeping the rhythmic rhymes can help carry the scenes.

Lots of places have the solar powered safari/garden spot lights on sale. These would be great for illuminating signs and storyboards for your scenes.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

"Once a Pinson time...
Scary Tales"
They don't all end up "Happily Ever After"

Peewee, Do you have power out in the trail?

My imagination started going last night, I was thinking of the magic mirror from Sleeping Beauty. What if you did a Mylar two-way mirror next to the trail, WIth a madeup or masked character behind it with a mike and small PA? without the character lit behind it, the mirror would just act like a normal mirror, but as soon as the character is lit up, the guests would see them, the PA would let you do the normal drivle for the mirror, but also let you/the character do a scream or snarl in time with the light coming on. The character could see out while they were behind the mirror, so they could see as people approached and stared.

How about flattened and splattered Jack in the middle of a giant's footprint at the bottom of a "Beanstalk".

The three bears feasting on the remains of Goldilocks.


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