Thread: Hauntcast: Theater of the Mind Topic Suggestions

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Heya fiends! Only 3 more shows to go before the Big Dance. Man, where does the time go? Anything in particular you'd like me to babble on about before Halloween? So far, these are the topics I've touched on:

HC_2 & 3: Types of Fear
HC_4: Theme/Backstory
HC_5: Color
HC_6: The Uncanny
HC_7: Animatronics vs. Actors
HC_8: Themes: Nature
HC_9: Themes: Science Fiction
HC_10: Haunt Planning
HC_11: When is a prop finished?
HC_12: Different Haunter Personalities
HC_13: The Show Must Go On
HC_14: Full Sensory Immersion
HC_15: Themes: Weather
HC_16: Timing and Pause
HC_17: Themes: Mind Control
HC_18: A Haunt Is Like a Whip
HC_19: Themes: Claustrophobia
HC_20: Themes: Edgar Allen Poe
HC_21 & 22: Sound Design
HC_23: Characterization
HC_24: Keeping the Spirit Burning
HC_25: Themes: Cannibalism
HC_26: Themes: "The Bad Place"
HC_27: The Art Haunt
HC_28: (Bestiary): Zombies
HC_29: Video Games As Source Material
HC_30: Entertainment Factor vs. Scares Only
HC_31: Themes: Doomsday
HC_32: Adding Local History and Details To the Haunt

What aspects of haunting do you like that I haven't addressed yet?

I may be lame and not what you are looking for BUT -- Howzabout FOODS!!! I offer myself as a guest to share cooking ideas from the Witches Kitchen. Discussions of party planning, desserts, beer, wines, punches, main dishes, and the oh-so-tastey ingredients that go with it all. Fun filler at least... Well - a ghouls gotta stretch her talents now and then, right? (Have access to professional studio with ISDN line and digital sound recording (MP3's, etc). Could fit in recording a few spots for you when doing my other VO work...)
Frightfully Yours, "Ghoulia Child" ( Send me a PM if you want to pursue. Looking forward to another round of Hauntcast!)

Susie -- My segment deals with the haunt itself... the topic you mention falls squarely in the arena of our Domestic Demoness and Mistress of Mayhem, Shellhawk. She handles the topics that are General Halloween related that fall outside of the haunt, like parties and such. You should contact her; up until now she's always done a pure essay segment like mine but in our last show she did an interview with artist and partyhaunter (and now author!) Ghoul Friday. You might discuss a joint venture with Shelly.

Revenant -
Your segment is the number one reason I listen to Hauntcast. Very helpful in planning my haunt, especially in tweaking the details. Wow, you've covered so much.
Maybe more themes? Pirates, westerns, carnival, madhouse, UFOs. Dealing with unruly guests. Getting neighborhood kids involved in planning or building. Treats to fit your theme. Tombstones and the stories they tell. Facades - how to hide your cheerful home. Contests to involve friends and neighbors - name the new prop, epitaph contest, design a costume for a lifesize figure. Haunting a small urban yard.

My favorites are #11 and #13? (I think). Well the "Don't be a Dick" episode. LOVED it! I listened to it last Halloween just to keep my perspective. It was sooo inspirational. I like all of your episodes and it is my favorite segment on the show, but the topics that make me stop and think that 'yea THIS is why I do this', those I love. My crypt might not be as great as so-and-so's but it's the best damn crypt in this town! You put the Joy in my prop building. In fact the entire show has become a Halloween tradition of mine. Build props, listen to Hauntcast. Repeatedly.
AND I Love your voice. At the end of the episode I mentioned earlier, when you said "the two sweetest words I know, Happy Halloween" I literally got chills.

I wasn't much with your question, but it might be something to think about.

You have a bestiary entry- keep offering that, and talk about not only folkloric versions vs. modern versions, but how they may apply to the Haunt.

Ghosts
Vampires
Hags and witches
Lycanthropes and shapeshifters
Ghouls and other hungry revenants
Demons and their earthly manifestations
The many faces of Death - ancient gods to the medieval Reaper
Banshees, fetches, animals and other psychopomps of doom.
Famous maniacs and killers of History

How about music in a haunt? I know you've covered sound affects and stuff but, what about music? Think about it, Alice Cooper, Van Hesling's Curse, Rob Zombie, Slipknot....so on...so on. Not just in the haunt but in Q-lines, parking lots and other places where the mood can to be set long before people even buy a ticket.

What about myth and Halloween? This could be urban legends, the origins of certain haunting traditions/symbols related to the holiday, and how these well-known ideas could be used in new and unique ways.

How about how to deal with disrespectful people and maybe why they are so disrespectful. Such as teenagers with their damn cell phones. I have had effects be ruined before because of those things. I have seen so many groups be willing to be scared and have a good time, only to have the fun sucked out because of one person in the group. You can usually see who it's going to be before they go in, but sometimes they slip through. I would like to know myself how to deal with them, short of snapping their neck and making them part of next years display.

Another one is good and evil, light and dark, and how they are interrelated. God made the devil and he was the most beautiful angel in Heaven until his fall. Night fallows day, death is the natural end to life, how can you know what smooth is without feeling rough, what is light without darkness....