Thread: Your Backstory

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One of the things I wanted to do for my haunt was to supply a backstory to tie it all together. Here is my first draft of the backstory. Feel free to make suggestions for improvements and also share your own backstory. I plan to put this on a website for the Haunt.

Edgewater Mortuary and Cemetery

Dr. Merli and his wife of 20 years were traveling home one night when a truck driver lost control of his vehicle and swerved into oncoming traffic. Dr. Merli and his wife were badly injured and rushed to the University Hospital where Dr. Merli worked as a researcher. The doctor was able to recover from his injuries but his wife, whom he described as the joy in his heart, was in a coma. Doctors declared her condition irreversible. Dr. Merli was inconsolable. Using the funds he received from a massive settlement with the trucking company Dr. Merli brought in specialist from around the world but none could offer any way to bring back his love.
With no help from medical science Dr. Merli turned his own research to finding a cure. His early work brought great success in some area. He found groundbreaking ways to preserve her body so her beauty remained even as the coma persisted. However he could not find a way to bring back her mind. Dr. Merli turned to increasingly controversial experiments in a desperate attempt to save his wife. The nature of his research caused his funding to dry up and eventually the University was forced to dismiss him.
That was when he moved to the small town of Edgewater and purchased a local mortuary. He reopened the cemetery and made arrangements with the state for very low cost burials of indigents and prisoners which were to be buried at state expense. A few months after making the move his wife mysteriously vanished from the hospital where she was being treated. Despite an extensive search police could not find her.
Rumors now swirl around the old mortuary like the clouds of fog that settle there regularly. People claim Dr. Merli is merely using the low cost burials as a ready supply of bodies to continue his bizarre research. They also claim the cemetery is a perfect way to hide the bodies of living victims of the doctor’s experiments. Whatever is happening at Edgewater the locals have grown to fear the place. They say at night you can see strange things at the cemetery particularly around All Hallows Eve. They say those buried in this place do not rest in peace.

Didn't have the stamina to read the whole story but the important thing is you actually HAVE A STORY! Too many times I go into haunts and rooms might look cool but what the hell do clowns, pirates, and rednecks with chainsaws have in common? Nothing! As the long as the story makes sense to you, you have a leg up on a lot of people. Trust that guests do notice that stuff.

Originally Posted by Rclsu13

Didn't have the stamina to read the whole story but the important thing is you actually HAVE A STORY! Too many times I go into haunts and rooms might look cool but what the hell do clowns, pirates, and rednecks with chainsaws have in common? Nothing! As the long as the story makes sense to you, you have a leg up on a lot of people. Trust that guests do notice that stuff.

Ha!! Love this post!


I read the whole story and thought it was great. I so agree with the previous poster that having consistency in a haunt is so very important. In this case, if everything is tied into your story then that is so much better.

I'm excited to read this since this morning I was staring out the front window at my yard while drinking my coffee and dreaming about what kind of gripping tale I can wrap my theme around this year.

Nice back story you have there and it definitely lends itself to a wide variety of haunt items and effects.

Please keep us updated as things progress. I can hardly wait to see some of your ideas and lots of pictures.

In your second story, it should be eight years vice 8 years. A newspaper editor would have fits if he saw that.

Originally Posted by Bruzilla

In your second story, it should be eight years vice 8 years. A newspaper editor would have fits if he saw that.

Thanks for that tip!

I seen a few people do huge stories and hipe their haunt a lot about it, and then you see the haunt, it's like any other haunt without stories. Make sure like mention, the haunt makes sence with the story.

Wow, that's great.
In my mind I try to have some continuity of why certain areas or scenes belong together, but I can't seem to figure out why a mad scientist takes over my garage, and a graveyard pops up on my lawn 3 weeks out of the year!