# Haunted House Help



## ShadyHallows (Jun 14, 2006)

I have a few questions.

1.I'm 13 and don't have a ton of pocket change, what should I do for walls that won't be punched through or nocked over?

2.Should I open my haunted house and haunt walk before halloween? The haunted house is 24 ft x 24 ft

3.Open roof or not?

4.What are the best ways to advertise?

Thank you everyone!:jol:


----------



## HalloweenRick (Nov 25, 2005)

A few questions for you:
Do you want it to be just for your friends, the neighborhood, or the whole town? Its best to start small always. I'm assuming this is in your garage, given the 24x24 measurement. Quite simply, want YOU want is best. For loose pocket change, just run black plastic for walls. Yes open roof is best, adds to the decorating you can do. Best way to advertise:word of mouth and flyers. Opening it early: up to you!


----------



## ShadyHallows (Jun 14, 2006)

It's going to be for the public who knows if the word gets around probably the whole city. The only thing I worry about for the plastic walls is them getting ripped of somthing and how would I keep them up? The shelter is my pool shelter/fence it's about 6ft tall and 24ftx24ft.


----------



## HalloweenRick (Nov 25, 2005)

Drape them over clothesline, then tighten with closepins or the like. If you want to get a little better, run a clothesline at the bottom as well and pin to that, or simply weight the bottom down with blocks or something. Do you want the whole city coming to your first ever haunt?


----------



## Vlad (Aug 2, 2005)

Hey Shady! I can see that you're going to turn into one of the great haunters. The first lesson to learn is careful planning, allocation of resources, and the acceptance that none of us has the time or money to really do haunting the way we'd like to, lol. With that being said, here's my first thoughts on the questions.

1. I'm not a big plastic fan, I've used it in limited areas, but to me it just doesn't give a wall type feeling. Have you considered bed sheets. They can be stitched along the top edge to mount on a rope or wire, can be painted with stone type patterns, and won't degrade as fast as plastic will, so you can get several years out of them. I've heard of haunters that get them for free from hospitals and nursing homes. Do you or your folks know anyone in the medical field that can ask for you? You might even be able to pick them up at a local good will.
2. Not sure exactly what you have planned here? An outdoor haunted house is a walkthrough. Have you got two seperate things in mind? More info here please. Whether or not you open ahead of time is of course a personal preference, as well as a serious commitment of time, and again resources. Can you leave it up without fear of thieves and vandals over multiple nights? Are you using actors, will they be available multiple nights, can you trust them to show? Weekends only or school nights? What do your folks think?
3. Open sky or roof? If you're planning on being open multiple nights, that means that you'll have to be set up well in advance, and that means more time for the rain, winds and bad weather to come along and ruin everything. An enclosed haunt also tends to make people a little more claustrophobic, which is a good thing if you're planning on scaring them even more, lol.
4. The best advertising is word of mouth, but you won't get that until you've been in operation a few years. Also, is you're haunt going to be of size and quality that it would justify people coming from across town and beyond? Don't get me wrong here, every haunt and display is great in my eyes, but the general public can be harsh. And also, what if they show up by the hundreds or thousands (yes, I've heard of haunters who get thousands), are you set up for crowd control? For example, we don't advertise at all, never have, not even a flyer on a phone pole. But it's grown to the point where we had 500 last year, and I'll be honest with you, our street and haunt could barely stand up to it. We did make the mistake of allowing people to linger and go through as often as they wanted to, but this year we'll be stamping hands. I can't imagine how many more would show if our whole town of 55,000 knew about it.


----------



## wormyt (Aug 29, 2005)

BINGO!!!!! Thats what I always tell everyone....Black bed sheets. Ive used them year after year. Walmart has them for cheap. I use them to drap over everything here and they are used in my haunt year after year. Even my dot room is made from black bed sheets.
Dot Room pictures by Wormyt - Photobucket and I use them to line the inside of my garage....
Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket and 
Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket well thats some pics of the inside of the garage. But bed sheets are good for year after year.


----------



## ShadyHallows (Jun 14, 2006)

Wow black sheets will do the trick! You don't mind if I use that dot room idea do you? Last question, I always have a big graveyard setup and we have like reached our storage max. What takes up alot of the room is christmas stuff 18,000 lights. How do you store your stuff?


----------



## Johnny Thunder (Feb 24, 2006)

Wow - Wormyt those pics are amazing - such cool displays and props.


----------



## wormyt (Aug 29, 2005)

hey thanks. I have come a long way since I first started decorating, thanks to all of the Halloween list and friends.


----------



## Vlad (Aug 2, 2005)

Just my opinion, but one of the worst things about black plastic is the glare it gives off. I mean, it just always looks like black plastic.


----------

