# Pre Entry Anxiety



## totallynotedward (Jul 1, 2011)

Hey guys, what can be some tactics to hype up your haunt and get your guests scared in line before even entering your haunt? That makes the experience much more terrifying, but I can't figure out how to do it.


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## Wolf (Jul 2, 2011)

Depends on how long the line is and how the haunt looks like from the outside. Try designating an actor to walk up and down the queue line and scare them. Also, when guests see that the haunt has a creepy facade or is decorated well from the outside, it typically gives them a sense of impending fear. 

Something that is a small detail but always made me nervous before I went into a haunt was hearing people from the inside screaming. Maybe come up with a way for the guests to hear what's coming from inside without spoiling it too much.


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## thealmightyzenk (Jul 7, 2010)

We don't always necessarily have a lot going on in the queue line, but we do generally have a pre-show room where we play a short recording or video that sets the backstory of the haunt. This generally starts to get their nerves going. We also have an actor in their that basically messes with people the whole time (runs around, drags their chairs around, and just really gets in their face) A lot of our other actors ended up improvising ways to scare in the room as well! we had actors banging on the backsides of the wall panels with hammers and throwing severed body parts and snakes over into the room. It really got intense by the end of the night. At the end of the video the lights went out just before the door opened to the haunt...at that point we had a TON of people freak out! People were terrified to enter the haunt...so I'd say it worked well... hope it helps!


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## Ryan Wern (Dec 3, 2009)

It depends on where your haunt takes place too. I have always done mine in my garage and sideyeard. The people in line could hear what was going on inside if they really listened, but I played music in the que line and most of my big scares happened in the back corner of my garage, so the screams were harder to hear on the outside. I mainly tried to do it to keep the noise down for my neighbors, but the side effect was that the folks in the line would see a group of 2-3 (that's all that were allowed in at a time) go in and "not hear from them again", well, untill they came out the exit. Another tactic you might want to look into is called "infrasound". There are a few other threads on the forum about it. You need a large powered subwoofer and some other things to make it work, but it has been used in Hollywood films like "Paranormal Activity". It is a frequency, I think 18.5 hz, that when people are exposed to it for a period of time, can cause feelings of dread, the feeling of being watched, paranoia, anxiety, etc. There are lots of places on the internet that describe how to build your own infrasound generator, and I think you can buy them online as well. Hope this helps


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## totallynotedward (Jul 1, 2011)

Yeah, I know about infrasound. I even saw a generator, but it was like ten grand. I tried making the sound in audacity but to no success. I'll have a look see around here for tutorials. I was thinking having a worker outside with a walkie talkie being called and asked where the defibrillator was or something (I would actually have one of course, that's nothing to lie about) or have a stooge in line being dragged away by an actor in the queue, but I may save that scare for inside the haunt. A local haunt I heard about used a board with a bunch of things written on it like heart attack, fainting, and having a worker with an abacus work the numbers and mark down the fake ailments, but I haven't seen it in action. I may buy some sparking gloves for an actor and have him slide around on the pavement.


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## Ryan Wern (Dec 3, 2009)

totallynotedward said:


> Yeah, I know about infrasound. I even saw a generator, but it was like ten grand. I tried making the sound in audacity but to no success. I'll have a look see around here for tutorials. I was thinking having a worker outside with a walkie talkie being called and asked where the defibrillator was or something (I would actually have one of course, that's nothing to lie about) or have a stooge in line being dragged away by an actor in the queue, but I may save that scare for inside the haunt. A local haunt I heard about used a board with a bunch of things written on it like heart attack, fainting, and having a worker with an abacus work the numbers and mark down the fake ailments, but I haven't seen it in action. I may buy some sparking gloves for an actor and have him slide around on the pavement.


We had a dummy in a body bag that one of my friends would periodically carry out of the haunt through the entrance. We would have the door guy announce that we had to momentarily shut down due to an "emergency", we'd haul the dummy out and toss it into my back yard over the fence. Everyone got a kick out of it, but the younger kids' eyes would get about as big as dinner plates. That gag worked well for me, but it was kind of only good for 1 year. After you've seen it already, it loses the effect


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## Ryan Wern (Dec 3, 2009)

totallynotedward said:


> Yeah, I know about infrasound. I even saw a generator, but it was like ten grand. I tried making the sound in audacity but to no success. I'll have a look see around here for tutorials. I was thinking having a worker outside with a walkie talkie being called and asked where the defibrillator was or something (I would actually have one of course, that's nothing to lie about) or have a stooge in line being dragged away by an actor in the queue, but I may save that scare for inside the haunt. A local haunt I heard about used a board with a bunch of things written on it like heart attack, fainting, and having a worker with an abacus work the numbers and mark down the fake ailments, but I haven't seen it in action. I may buy some sparking gloves for an actor and have him slide around on the pavement.


There is a tutorial somewhere, can't remember where....anyway, the guy built an infrasound generator with a big fan and a large diameter long tube. I think he just used a concrete pouring tube. It's out there somewhere, I'll try to find it and post the link


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## ghost37 (Jul 30, 2008)

These are some great ideas! I have always wanted to have an actor in my que line, but the line is so tight there isn't room for an actor to go through. We have our patrons come up a ramp in our hall and at the ramp the haunt starts so there is not much room but I love the body bag idea. You can see the exit where they start, so this effect would work well.


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