# Fishing for ideas



## wandererrob (Aug 8, 2007)

I'm trying to think of something new and interesting to add to my haunt to liven it up, make it more interesting and maybe slow folks down a bit. Get them to stick around a bit and actually look around.

Lost Lake Cemetery is, wait for it.... a cemetery themed haunt. Think vaguely 18th century New England cemetery in the woods. I have lots of gravestones, an MIB coffin and my "entombed" gravestone I added last year. It looks like a pillar gravestone them I turn on a strobe revealing a skeleton entombed in the pillar. People found it creepy a d cool but I think it needs some sort of sound to really make an impact.

In our crypt I have a talking skeleton. Otherthan that it's me an a couple of actors creeping the cemetery.

I like what I've got but I want to do something... more. I don't know what. I'm still adding gravestones, though now I'm focusing on more detailed showpieces rather than sheer quantity. But I want to give the haunt a certain something to really kick it up a notch. Give people something to talk about, pique their interest. 

I'm open to suggestions. Who wants to throw some fuel on my fire?


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## MassMax (Mar 26, 2011)

How about building a free-standing mausoleum with a flying crank ghost (FCG) inside? Something like 




Yeah, it's many hours of work, but hey, it's only April.


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## N. Fantom (Sep 8, 2011)

Have you considered doing an actual walk through "haunted house"


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## Warrant2000 (Oct 8, 2008)

Carve out a section of the cemetary yard to be a darkened maze. It could be "going deeper into the crypt" with a large scare, lights, sounds at the exit. Compress the walls towards the end to increase claustrophobia effect.

Build a simple large coffin that a guest goes into and stays for a short time (15-45 seconds). Add a sound track and noises, scratches while they are inside. Make it larger and upright, guests need to step into one side then the back opens as the exit. They go in one at a time and seemingly disappear.

Axworthy ghost.

Peppers Ghost.


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## wandererrob (Aug 8, 2007)

MassMax said:


> How about building a free-standing mausoleum with a flying crank ghost (FCG) inside? Something like
> 
> Yeah, it's many hours of work, but hey, it's only April.


Ha! Yes! I have one of those too, forgot to mention her. My shed that houses the crypt with the skeleton is about 15' long and has double doors at both ends.

My FCG is at the opposite end from the crypt, facing the street to "welcome" the TOTs as they come up the driveway.

Incidentally, between the crypt and FCG area is where I house the "brains" of the haunt. All the audio and power comes from the darkness within. I just slip through the curtains around the FCG to power up and down.


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## wandererrob (Aug 8, 2007)

Warrant2000 said:


> Build a simple large coffin that a guest goes into and stays for a short time (15-45 seconds). Add a sound track and noises, scratches while they are inside. Make it larger and upright, guests need to step into one side then the back opens as the exit. They go in one at a time and seemingly disappear.


That's pretty damn cool! And my traffic is low enough I might be able to make something like that work. You might have just given me an idea...



Warrant2000 said:


> Axworthy ghost.


I would love to do this but haven't figured out just how I'd go about it. I've got no lack of trees to anchor it to.



Warrant2000 said:


> Peppers Ghost.


I have long wanted to do this but don't have a good place to set it up. Though if I ever tire of the crypt, that might be worth playing with.


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## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

Look up big Johnson Axworthy ghost for a method that uses conduit pipe driven in the ground instead of a tree. Search for "happy haunting grounds" it has great stuff. My personal fav is a scene of a crypt with a scrim of porch screen in front. A ghostly scene is projected onto the scrim from in front while the background is partially illuminated. It give a nice illusion of transparency of the ghost image.


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## Halloween Cats (Jan 30, 2011)

Meow, well you can probably guess what I'm going to say 'Details..' try picking one tombstone and building a scene out of it, take for example a tombstone with a skull on it, write 'captain -----whatever--' on it, go get a cheap sword, skull, bone arm and hand and a ton of jewels and gold coins. 

You can easily throw an eye patch over the skull, stick the bone coming out of the ground and put the sword in the hand. for a finishing touch spread the coins and gems about, maybe get a bunch of fake bead pearls over the tombstone. 

Give the people something to stop and look at, it's all about the 'detail'


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## wandererrob (Aug 8, 2007)

Halloween Cats said:


> Give the people something to stop and look at, it's all about the 'detail'


Aye. Therein lies the challenge. If it weren't for myself and a couple of other actors, they'd just march through, get the candy and leave.

We only get 20-40 kids a year and even then I can't seem to get them to hang around for a few and look around. When I started oh, so many years ago, people seemed thoroughly amused just to walk around reading gravestones. Not so much anymore.

I do like your idea though. I think I have a few that could be worked in similar fashion.


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## Demon Dog (Mar 30, 2009)

How about a breathing grave? It'd go with your theme, is easy to make, and the ToTs love them (I was surpised how popular ours was).

I like the idea of a Peppers ghost too, especially if motion is involved.


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## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

Do you want to entertain or to provide a scare? For only 20-40 tots you can do a lot more. How about setting up a magic mirror and do a quick scavenger hunt in your haunt to get the treat.


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## wandererrob (Aug 8, 2007)

A bit of both. I tend to go for the scare when they just blow through but leave the lookers alone for a bit then get them onthe way out.


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

Well with all the tombstones and cemetery, A tombstone peeker or pop up would be a great choice If you can do pneumatics and motors. A coffin pop up or a neck massage zombie prop. The casa fear pneumatic zombie is an awesome prop and everybody loves watching mine. Hope this helps a bit. Maybe even a mudmonster reaper or ghoul with LED eyes in the graveyard.


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## Halloween Cats (Jan 30, 2011)

Meow, Well if you want to make them walk around, why don't you just set up a trail with wood or rope railing that leads them on the path you want them to take, you can make them walk all around the graveyard before they get to the spot with the candy! You can even use rope lights for a little extra light!


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## imthegoddess (Feb 3, 2012)

Halloween Cats said:


> Meow, Well if you want to make them walk around, why don't you just set up a trail with wood or rope railing that leads them on the path you want them to take, you can make them walk all around the graveyard before they get to the spot with the candy! You can even use rope lights for a little extra light!


I like the rope light idea.


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## wandererrob (Aug 8, 2007)

Halloween Cats said:


> Meow, Well if you want to make them walk around, why don't you just set up a trail with wood or rope railing that leads them on the path you want them to take, you can make them walk all around the graveyard before they get to the spot with the candy! You can even use rope lights for a little extra light!


There is currently a path basically through the middle of the cemetery marked by skulls with glowing green eyes. It's hard to explain but the path through my yard/haunt is sort of an elongated 'U'. Essentially they enter the yard near one end of the house and the candy is near the far end.

I am contemplating pushing the path deeper into the yard (i.e. taking them further from the house before coming back toward it) which may open up more space for props/scares. But I've got to figure out how to light it.

The current path is primarily lit for the approach. If I push it out, I'll have to figure out a way to set the scene to look good going out and back as the sides of the 'U', if you will, become more parallel.

I'll have to see if I still have a mockup of the overhead view. It'd make a lot more sense with visual aids 

Ah, here we go. The red line is the current path. The yellow line is the possible new route, which would take them out another 15-20 feet from the current path.


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## Darkmaster (May 9, 2009)

*Scene idea*

What we have done for 2 years, in the cemetery, dig a hole in the ground big enough for someone to lay in. On top of this, put a piece of plywood with foam pieces and spray foam, and make it look like a mound of dirt. Sink some 2x4s in the ground and screw a 1x4 to these 2x4s. Attach some hinges to the 1x4 and to the plywood lid, this will make it so the person inside can lift it up and scare the ones walking by. Across from this, you can pile the dirt from the hole. Now you have 2 mounds of dirt and with the right lighting, you will scare them with this scene. It worked great for us.


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## wandererrob (Aug 8, 2007)

Ha! Wow! That's a good one! And since I have no grass, I wouldn't hurt the "lawn". Now to find a sucker... er... Willing actor as I'm a pretty big guy, so it'd need to be a pretty large hole


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