How to Make a Haunted House for Halloween

Outside a Haunted House

Haunted houses offer a scary thrill. Creating a haunted house requires planning and lots of help. Ask friends and family to act out scary characters in the house. Choose an age group for the house. The younger the group, the less scary it should be. Set up the haunted house at least two days in advance. Have a practice walk-through to ensure it goes smoothly. Showcasing the house before hand also indicates if any changes need to be made.

Things You'll Need

• Cooked spaghetti
• Grapes
• Bowls
• Large black trash bags
• Masking tape
• Scissors
• Paint
• Brushes
• Cardboard
• Fake spiderwebs
• Lights
• Rubber spiders
• Glow in the dark stickers

Instructions

1. Cut the large trash bags in half. Tape the bags together to create walls. Tape the walls from the ceiling. Create a path with the bags. Stick the glow-in-the-dark stickers to the black bags.

2. Set up low lights around the path. Have enough illumination so that guests see where they are going. Put any novelty lights or flashing lights in. Keep flashing lights high enough that they are not in people's eyes.

3. Set up a table along one wall. Peel about 20 or 30 grapes and scatter them on the tables. Add cooked spaghetti to the mixture. There should be enough room for guests to walk through. Another option it to put the mixture in a cauldron and have someone stick the guests hands inside. Call the spaghetti "brains" and the grapes "eyeballs."

4. Hang spiders from the ceiling low enough to touch people's heads. Hang spiderwebs all over the place---the lower, the better.

5. Set up a stereo playing scary noises. Encourage any helpers to dress up and make scary noises. Instruct anyone assisting to keep an eye out for scared people.

6. Decorate the entrance of the haunted house with tombstones. Cut the tombstones out of cardboard and paint them. Set them up in the yard. For a scarier effect, make them the tombstones of the people helping out. For example, one woman could walk around with fake blood all over her, saying she was the lover of a man who murdered her.

Tips & Warnings

• Plan the haunted house out before construction.

• Do not chase people. It can cause falls. Post a warning for how scary the house is. Allow scared people to leave Do not touch guests. That can be labeled as assault. Do not use fire.

References

• How to Make your Own Haunted House