How to Make a Scary Haunted House
Halloween wouldn't be complete without a haunted house to visit for a good scare. Making a haunted house is a lot of fun and a chance to work with family and friends on a big project. The most important thing to remember when creating a haunted house is that it has to be full of surprises that will startle or scare the socks off of people. Aim to surprise and shock and your haunted house will be a success. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Create a blueprint of the area you'll be using for the haunted house. Include direction on how people will travel through the house so it's clear where the path will be. Then think about a theme if you want the house to be themed. Ideas include Frankenstein's lab, zombies, a graveyard, a witches' lair or the traditional spooky haunted house.
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Choose your main scare features. These are usually people who will jump out from hiding places, things that pop out, bursts of air that pop at people and mechanisms set up to make things happen on their own such as books flying off and on a bookshelf or doors opening and closing.
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Set up your lighting scheme and any special effects. You might go for a blacklight effect, glowing eyeballs in skulls, fog machines or other contraptions and ideas. Cover the main areas so you hide any furniture or other items you don't want seen.
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Add in decorative items to fill the gaps, such as cobwebs, skulls, fake blood, body parts and elements that add to the theme. For Frankenstein's lab you could use fake brains, test tubes and bloody medical equipment. For a ghostly traditional haunted mansion you could add fake spiders, rats, ghosts and cobwebs.
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Play spooky sounds. Sound effects bring a whole new dimension to haunted houses. Coordinate sounds to go with the scary "pop out" moments or have a creepy soundtrack playing the entire time. Wait until it's night time and then test out your set up to see if it's truly scary or needs some more work.
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Tips & Warnings
Test out your haunted house on some volunteers or friends before it's complete to ensure things run according to plan.
Don't scare very small children; tone it down for the young ones.
