# I want to open up and run my own haunted house. How do I get started?



## No_Regret (Oct 17, 2010)

Okay, I dont know how you guys are with these sorts of questions, or if there is anyone on here that can help answer my question.

I am 20 years old, and really want to open up and run my own haunted house. I already have my ideas, and theme planned out for what I would want to do, even down to what I would want some of the highlight/special rooms in the haunt to be. This may be a stretch, but I would like to have one of the scariest/most intense haunts in the country.

I know there is a TON of work, and a TON of money to put into a haunted house if you want to run a top notch haunt, so my question is...how do I even get my foot in the door?


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

I would think at this stage that research of other pro haunts would be at the top of the list. Go to as many as you can, make notes and take photos when possible. Working at a pro haunt would give you insight into the workings from the ground up. Make contacts with suppliers and artist. Books and even Utube would be a source of info. Start a note book of links, contacts, how-tos, anything and everthing you may possibily need to know.
Learn from others so you don't have to make the same mistakes they did.


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## No_Regret (Oct 17, 2010)

Yeah, thanks for the insight Bone Dancer. I just realize, that if I try to talk to some haunted house owners, they are not going to want to share any kind of information on how they started from the ground up, seeing as how I could be future competition for them.


I did work at the Haunted Schoolhouse/Haunted Laboratory in Akron, Ohio last year, and absolutely loved it. I got chosen as one of their best actors of the year that they wanted to put into their "actors guild", an idea that they didnt follow through on..but I was still humbled all the same. I got the invite to work there again this year, but unfortunately I have a conflicting work schedule at the moment.

Honestly, finding all the special FX, costumes, animatronics, makeup artists and such is the fun part. Fire codes, liability insurance and all that is what im more worried about...right behind the not having enough money to run one yet factory hahaha.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Browse through the Haunt Tactics and Techniques subforum here. There are several threads discussing setting up a haunt, both pro and charity, that will be of interest to you.


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## sickNtwisted (Sep 29, 2010)

I recommend Kelly Allen's book So You Want To Be A Haunt Entrepreneur.

http://www.hauntbook.com/entrepreneur.html


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## No_Regret (Oct 17, 2010)

Thanks for the responses guys. I'm really hoping I can make this work in the upcoming years...but I still know I'm young haha.


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

I'm 19 and my haunt opens tomorrow night. I'm not charging admission and I had people register for an invitation, which allows me to call it a "Halloween party" as opposed to a public event so we don't have anyone breathing down our necks for the various annoying legalities.


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## FRIGHTGUY (Sep 1, 2010)

Lots of great suggestions. I've read and re-read Kelly's book and have had conversations with him and he and the book were so helpful to me when I opened my charity haunt Grimlock Manor last year. I've only been haunting for three years now, in my first year (2008) I did a lot of research on the industry. I always loved Halloween but had no idea how big the community or industry was. I went to a lot of haunts, subscribed to magazines and bought all the videos I could before deciding to try and open a haunt to the public in 2009. We choose to team up with a local emergency squad and create a charity haunt for them. The squad let us use their building and surrounding outdoor space and parking for our haunt and in return 25 percent of the proceeds went to them. I found this to be the easiest way to get your foot in the door because unless you have the money to buy or lease a space ensure everything is up to code and fire tested so on and so forth it can be very hard to get started. Even though we were a charity haunt we still had to secure insurance and had both local and state fire departments come to flame test all our props and ensure that we had the proper highlighted exits, fire extinguishers and everything we needed to be a safe haunt. It was certainly more than I expected and was stressful at times because a lot of ideas you may want to do may get shot down due to safety concerns by the fire officials but once you get past that at least I can say it all felt rewarding because you hear those screams and see people smiling when they come out and you know it was all worth it. In the end I both enjoyed and hated the experience or trying to put on a professional show after only a years experience and wished I had taken more time to learn but I am doing that now. This year we reverted back to a home haunt because of lack of help to run the full on charity haunt but its been very satisfying to be able to do what I want..I guess home is where the heart..I mean haunt is! If u have any questions about anything please pm me and I'd be happy to help so keep up the research and pushing towards your goal because with hard work it can be reached.


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

I'm a 4th year haunter and doing my 2nd haunt for charity this year. Actually we opened 2 weekends ago. 

There's some really good information in this thread. I've heard great reviews on "So You Want To Be A Haunt Entrepreneur", but have yet to read it myself. Working with local charities is definitely a way to get started. My first 2 years haunting was just doing a simple walk through haunt at my home. 

Through personal contacts I came across an opportunity (charity) to do some good with the haunt and get some help with the things I couldn't do myself (i.e. budget to work with, donation of building to use, cheap to free advertising, the charities insurance covered the event). 

This year I was contacted by the local chamber of commerce to do a haunt for them and that's what I'm doing, but with the agreement that we still make a donation to the charity that got me started in addition to the charities they choose to donate to. 

Feel free to PM me or shoot me an email. Email address is listed on my website.


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## ShadowGyrlBrice (Oct 28, 2010)

I've been haunting since 2003, just doing yard haunts for tots. This year is much the same, save for taking donations for Wounded Warrior Project -but I would like to move up to something larger eventually. All I can say is that it takes time, especially if you're working full time on top of your haunting. Take it slow, do your research, and do your best one little piece at a time.


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

Ahhhhh..VEHHwwwyy smahht, Gwasshoppah! To call it "private pahhtee" vewwy smaahhht.



Eric Striffler said:


> I'm 19 and my haunt opens tomorrow night. I'm not charging admission and I had people register for an invitation, which allows me to call it a "Halloween party" as opposed to a public event so we don't have anyone breathing down our necks for the various annoying legalities.


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