# Scariest Scene



## gregsalyers (Mar 2, 2007)

I am sure that most of you have been to alot of haunts. What do you think the scariest or most effect scene was?


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## Front Yard Fright (Dec 23, 2005)

as for scariness... i believe that drop pannels are a great scare.
however those really aren't "scenes"
as for scenes, i think it really depends on what you're afraid of.
a spider room might scare the daylights out of some girl.
and some little kid might walk through and say "hey that's cool."
hahaha.
we, however did recieve a lot of "compliments" about our kids room we had last year. we had our finger food prop in the corner in a wagon, a tv on a motion sensor, and our little neighbor kid from across the street that would say "have you seen my mommy?"
.


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

I think what one person thinks is scary someone else might not.
I think the anticipation of what is around the corner in the dark scares most people.
I agree with frontyard ..it depends on what scares you most.
I don't scare easy so that's a hard question. I just like all the props and stuff that go into it.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

I think things that heighten our senses, scares us. Walk down a street in the day and it's not scary, but at night with limited sight we keep looking around and we are jumpy. Sitting in silence we jump at a loud noise. And when we stick our hands in something slimy we pull back right away. Of course the imagantion is working the whole time too. I love being scared. The heart pounding faster, being anxious, looking around for the next thing. Go ahead, scare me.


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## slimy (Jul 12, 2006)

"And when we stick our hands in something slimy we pull back right away."

...........uh.........huh huh.......huh..........uh

You put your hands in something 'slimy'?!?!?!?!?! Scareme, are you flirting with me?!?!?!?!?!?!?!


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

LOL My mind is TOO creative sometimes and makes up scenarios that don't exist, simply because it likes fiction.


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## gregsalyers (Mar 2, 2007)

I agree with all of the comments, however I am trying to put together a new haunt and I thought it would be great if I strted with what the pro's thought were the most effective scenes/scares in a haunted house. That way even if I can only manage to do 15 rooms, they will all be very effective


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

ok so you want ides 
spider room and victims in webs
corpse room- rats eating them
drowned victims
tortue room
vampires
werewolves in the woods 
cemetary scenes
dark room with scary noises ..growling howling ghosts moaning
swamp witches


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## BudMan (Mar 6, 2007)

Clowns, don't forget about the clowns! My wife is terrified of them. I tend to just laugh my ass off when in a haunted house, not that it's funny, just my reaction. Same thing happens on rollercoasters, don't know why. Guess I don't scare too easily, when I know that there is no real harm coming. On the other hand, I have been known to jump a little w/ a good scary movie.


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## Front Yard Fright (Dec 23, 2005)

yes, i agree with the sense thing that scareme said.
if you put someone in a dark room, they become more aware of sounds...
stuff like that.
at the haunt i use to work at they had a thing called "the rat hole" all it was, was a pitch black hallway and the walls got narrow as you went down the walk.
it was something so simple, yet people were screaming their eyes out!
there were no scares in the hallway, just pure black and the sounds of other people screaming ahead of them.
if you were to put someone inside one of the walls... you would have a perfect scare!
.


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

I'm with you BudMan. I tend to laugh my way through. I can't help it.
If someone manages to make me jump. I laugh after. 
A maniac has a chainsaw at my ankles? It draws giggles from me. I just think of it as fun. 

Oh, I thought of one thing that made me think twice.
I went through a haunt in Baton Rouge that had a crematory. This mute dude directed us to a small door on an incinerator. We had to climb up into it and crawl our way through. It ended up in the back of a Hearse. Then we had to crawl through the Hearse to get to the rest of the haunt. Pretty cool! It was a transition area between the indoor and outdoor part of the haunt. I had to be the brave one and go first. I actually asked the guy, "You expect me to go in there?" It was funny. Our group actually discussed it before we went in. I really thought it was a joke at first. The actor was good. He just silently waved us where we were supposed to go.

I really was surprised. I didn't know what to expect.


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## kerryike (Oct 5, 2006)

In my opinion, the scariest thing in any haunt is being caught by surprise. I've been to haunts that were just plain lame...just eye candy and nothing more. 

I've been to haunts that had gotten my focus directed to an awesome creative static display (and I thought that was all there is). Then when my mind was "taking it all in" either an actor or a pneumatic prop would scare me...but the timing had to be right...like the feeling that I was moving on to the next room or something. 

I think it's all about the "shock". Finding a way to shock the visitors when they'd least expect it is the most effective. 

Many will say that you (and your actors) are the best props, and you are.

For our haunted trail, I like to have nice scenes set up (cemetery, lighting, maybe a torture room built, etc, etc.) 2 years ago, I had a drill powered electric chair that I manually ran off a dimmer switch. The wagon stops...people take in all that is set up and I set off the chair. People get a kick out of it...some are scared at the sudden movement. Then the wagon starts up again and the real actors are ready to scare all those who assumed it was all over.


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## Empress Nightshade (Jul 25, 2004)

gregsalyers said:


> That way even if I can only manage to do 15 rooms, they will all be very effective


ONLY manage to do 15 rooms? gregsalyers, that's a LOT of rooms and is definitely a full-blown haunt. Do you have a theme? A back-story? That would make it SOOO much easier for you decide on scenes.

It is all so subjective -- scares are. As everyone has said, what goes for one may not fly for the other. The trick is to make them uncomfortable. Put them in situations they will not normally face in life. Once you do that, the scares come easily. 
For example, my entire haunt this year is a medikal klinic that has been taken over by killer klowns from the nearby psycho ward. Our Laundromat in the haunt is where VERY large brightly colored pairs of underware and brassieres will be hanging from overhead for customers to maneuver through. To add to it all, the undies will be wet and a tad bit stained. Now, this is an uncomfortable situation they would (hopefully) never face in everyday life. This is the distraction -- thus an opportunity for an easy scare.

It takes time and creativity to come up with different scenarios, but when they work, it's so rewarding. When they don't(I've had some bombs!), rework them for the next night and keep going. Just remember, it's all about setting them off-kilter -- putting them in a situation that's beyond the norm. When you do that...THEY ARE YOURS! :jol:


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## PeeWeePinson (Feb 23, 2006)

Greg, what is your theme and I think we all can help you. Some of us do haunts, some do trails but when you say "rooms" I am thinking this is inside. You want to know what we created that seemed to scare the most the best, is that right?


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## GothicCandle (Mar 26, 2007)

One time i was in a haunted corn maze and i was walking along talking to a freind not looking in front of me. I stoped walking for a second and when i looked in front of me there was a guy wareing a in front of me and waited for me to turn around expecting to scare me. And it was even funnier when my freind told me he had been standing there for a few minutes waiting! LOL. Some other person may have been really scared about this since they were there so suddenly. 

I know some people who jump ten feet when a chain saw runs by or when the people in gorila suits "exscape" from their cages.


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## gregsalyers (Mar 2, 2007)

My theme is little girl nightmares....the first scene will be a little girls room with an vortex tunnel in the back of her closet that transports the patron to the world of her nightmares....after that??????????


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## lerandell (Sep 6, 2006)

wow. thats a cool idea for a theme. 
one that we got a lot of comments on was in our "Asylum of Clowns" there was a Jail room that we had a live actor in a full clown costume in there. they would sit in the corner rocking as if they were crazy, then as they customer walked by, the clown would stick out there arm through the bars and squeese a loud honker at their feet.


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## BobC (Aug 23, 2005)

More than anything I would recommend getting a strict theme and story line and going with it. I know its fun to do a bunch of different rooms but I myself believe it is more scary and realistic when all the rooms,scenes and props match your theme and story line. I don't think people have enough time to process 15 different themed rooms. 99% of all horror films stay with a story till the end think about if in the middle of Friday the 13th they cut to Barney singing the I love you song and then it cut to some old episode of Miami Vice. It would totally ruin the movie. I think if you apply the strict story line to your haunt you will get more thumbs up from customers. Later all :jol:


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## Wraith (Apr 2, 2007)

There used to be a haunt called the Bates Motel in Evansville, IN that was an actual old hotel building and it was multiple floors. One scene you walked into a room and there were bodyparts slung everywhere and a record player that was skipping because the needle was bumping up against the decapitated head that was sitting on the turntable. At first I wasn't that impressed because I thought that the person who was supposed to be in the room was on break or something or that it was just static. But then I wondered why there were 4 foot letters on the walls that read The Butcher. Unaware to my group the area behind us was open and that there was a ledge behind us about even with the middle of our backs. I started to hear this swishing noise like something slicing through the air. I looked over my shoulder and up on this ledge was a very demented very evil half human, half demonlike thing with a REAL scythe and he was just moving it back and forth about a foot above our heads. SCARED ME S#$%LESS! The great thing about it to me was that some people probably walked through and never saw him, but if you did....whew! Some people wouldn't think it was that scary, but it always stood out to me. It's what I don't know is there that scares me more than something I know is coming like the ever present guy with a chainsaw.


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

I went to a haunt this past October which is basically the same theme.
http://www.hauntedhousenyc.com/
It was called Nightmare, but this year it's called Nightmare: Ghost Stories apparently.
Find my review for it in my posts if you want to.

Anyways it sounds similar to yours.
My favorite thing to use in my haunts is disorientation.
It's so creepy to walk aroud in pitch black with no sounds or anything and then you start to hear some breathing or something.
OR, an idea I had for my haunt this year is to have a room with a door on the other side or whatever, and just have it look normal, then turn off the lights and have the room be spinnable, cheap wood. Have a man to each wall on the outside spin it clockwise when it's pitch black and then turn the lights back on.
OR strobe lights while it's spinning.
I think that would be reeeeeally confusing.


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## BudMan (Mar 6, 2007)

My scariest scene, walking in on my Mother in Law while she was changing, WOW!!!! I can loan her to you.........she'd scare the bejesus out of ANYONE!
Beh Dumpt Dumpt

Ok, now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

P.S. don't tell my wife I said that !


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## GOT (Apr 17, 2007)

I saw something that made me jump out of my skin at the very first "Knotts Scary Farm." We were on the mine ride and while the train was traveling slowly along a ledge that was eye-level with the train but maybe five feet away, a man in a werewolf costume charged the train and leaped into the air, ready to jump right in my lap! I think I screamed some obscenity. Just as he leaped, a strob light went on and, rather than landing in my lap, he floated briefly then sprung backwards. He was apparently on a bungie cord. Very effective, but tough to do for the average haunt.
For my Garage of Terror, the one prop that has always gotten the most screams is a large rubber rat that I put in a small cage. I wait for someone to get close then make it leap forward. It is the "static-prop-come-alive" that I think is the most effective.


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## TwistedDementia (May 2, 2007)

We had a cage set up (pvc bar's) toward's the end of our haunt that had a clown in a stright jacket, when TOT got to it, he'd jump around and come up to the bars and the TOT would all have thier backs to the opposite wall walking by untill... mr clown got out of the jacket and pulled the bars apart and got out, he'd chase some of the people all the way out the rest of the haunt.


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## mikeq91 (Jul 19, 2005)

My personal favorite scene was from a haunt a friend of mine runs. The last room of the haunt looked exactly like the first room, down to the last detail. So I go through with some friends of mine and we get to the last room and we think we're lost and somehow got lost (keep in mind that this is a trailer haunt so you have absolutely no clue where you are to begin with). So we start to get that feeling like we're somewhere that we're not suposed to be then BOOM, out of nowhere a drop pannel falls, and then someone shows us the exit... Probably the best scare for me


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## The Mangler (Jul 2, 2007)

Hmmm... Indiana haunts. You have to go to the Columbia City Jailhouse. Just outside of Warsaw, IN. 10/10.


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## The Mangler (Jul 2, 2007)

The most 'scariest' room that I have ever seen was at Geauga Lake in Aurora, OH. It was a completely open barn with about 300 actors therein. Complete madness. People just running around, props going off in front of you, benhind you, everywhere. Unfortunately, Six Flags bought the park and killed it.


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## Lakeside Haunt (May 31, 2007)

I think dot rooms are a great scare if operated with many people.


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## HibLaGrande (Sep 25, 2005)

I still think an ambulance driving up and paramedics taking a body out of the haunted house and driving away would be an awesome scare tactic. might lose customers though. repeat the scene every 15 mins or so. could change it up a little now and then. chainsaw guy comes out and finishes the job, paramedics drop the body/body parts on the ground in the mad dash to the ambulance. creepy paramedics come out and drag a "customer/actor" away. "But I don't want to go in the truck! I think I'll go for a walk! I feel Happy!" all taking place in front of the people standing in line.


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## Eric Striffler (May 6, 2006)

You know what looks terrifying? We did it this past Halloween in my haunt.
If you aim a strobe light (or two on each side of the trail) into the crowd so they are almost blinded by them, and then have some quickly walk out, but trying to look almost like they'fr floating out, it's EXTREMELY scary to see! They come out of nowhere from behind the strobe lights and they look scary as hell.
What WE did this past year was have two guys up on scarecrow crosses (check my videos to see them - youtube.com/ericstrifflervids) and the strobe lights on each cross aiming out, you couldn't see ANYTHING past the blinking lights. As people came close, the people on the crosses jumped down (or just one would) and appeared out of thin air. It really was a shocking illusion and I'm proud to do it again this year!


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## fg4432 (Sep 18, 2007)

*Odd idea to pull off, disorientation sort of*

Disorientation is a good one, as I did that last year for one area in my 1st haunt and going to replicate if possible.

Dark hallway of black plastic and fog, with 3 windows cut out and clear plastic over cutouts. Windows were 8" wide by about 12" tall at about 5' height mark. I put a fast strobe behind it so that the hallway was lit with the flicker of light coming through the windows. At the end of the hallway, same side as windows, I had a cut out of plastic that I could stand up, reach out towards people and yell. It worked well to place large plastic sheet over me and cut out where I would jump out so that strobe wouldn't give away my position. It worked well and I should have placed video camera to capture faces as it all unfolded. I had one TOT pee her pants and mention to the door person that she had to go home and change. She ended up coming back and asking to be the scarer at the black plastic cut out. I just found this out from my wife (door person at the time) that it was the same person who asked to work it after being scared.

It was also hit on earlier with a mention of ANTICIPATION. Ten things trying to scare me at once doesn't work. Or something that forecasts where a scare position would be at.

I just had a thought of something that shuts the haunt down in multiple rooms, floor lighting comes up, people think something is broken and it's over. Then wham, scare all who are inside. Might sounds corny just being a very general idea, but it would have to have lights turn off and motion items stop as if power was cut while switching on some "emergency" floor path lights like an airliner. Might be hard to pull off with many noises and a new crew but that's a thought anyway.

I think scaring people from the back when they are looking the opposite way is going to be my attempt this year. Popping out from behind a lit up grave marker means higher technical level to pull it off as compared to behind "hidden" from main view or area where people will be looking.

Bungee cord, that is really cool. However, I see having to have a very strong tree, strong bungee, because if 260lbs of me flattened someone out, I see it getting real ugly, really quick and ending up in court. Paying fines to scare one person really, really bad doesn't honestly appeal to me.

I don't typically go for a theme but it does make sense to have room tie in to each other or it seems jumbled and not creating the right atmosphere.

New haunt - 15 rooms, only a month+ to go, seems like a link to the 3 things learned post needs to be placed here. Jumping in to something big on the first time is really saying that you will not get it done or spend too long trying to put it all together and then on the night of, be incomplete. Been there, done that. I am sure we all have.


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