Thread: New Member intro & help request

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Hello all. I'm Daniel (Most people call me Bear) and I'm 21 years old from Jacksonville Alabama. I'm a huge horror fanatic and love to host haunted attractions every year. I started young at the age of 11 helping do some scares at some smaller local haunted trails and such. At 15 I finally got to do my own room at the haunted house we were putting on at the Fire Department I volunteered with. From there I moved slowly into doing my own attractions. Starting small like a haunted trail fundraiser for the local Elementary school, Boy Scout troops, and church group parties. At 18 I got to get a friend do an entire house, which was really fun... Even though we had little money and it was his pet project. The last two years I have been using a friend of the families to put on a haunted trail. It is low budget since it is all my money, but it has drawn a pretty good crowd. (about 2 hundred people over just two weekends.) Of course I don't do it for the money as most of that money was donated to the local DHR to help sponsor families for Christmas.

Now that you know my backstory, here is my problem... This year word has gotten around to somebody I went to school with that I do pretty good work but has never really been given the chance to shine. So I was contacted to help head up the expansion of a very successful Haunted House. I mean they were huge last year with 1 - 200 people on Thursday Night and upwards of 5 - 700+ on Friday and Saturday night. I was overjoyed to hear that they wanted me to help, but then I got the real kicker... They want me to come up with a hayride out back. Now I've managed houses, trails, and even hayrides... But this is through a field, not through the woods like I'm used to. I'm at a standstill here. They want to get started soon but I have no idea how to make this work. They told me that nothing really permenant can be set up, only things that can be dismantled as it is used for a hay field. Also there is limited electricity. They do however have a very comfy amount of money to invest into it as well as access to a lot of propane for fires etc.

I looked around for some good ideas for hayrides but had trouble finding these threads with the ideas I saw mentioned here and there. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

- Bear

Im thinking alot of haybales and old wooden barrels for characters to hide behind. As far as lighting maybe some solar powered floods and battery powered strobes?

Dry ice would work for fog effects.
Solar powered LEDs.
Torches.

Propane flash flames on either side of the passengers as the end.
Maybe have a witch curse them and bam the fire rises?

are some threads to check out
http://hauntworld.com/haunted_house_...splay.php?f=12

I wouldn't recommend open flames (something about fire and hayfields?) and sure your fire marshal won't like it either.

Good suggestions. I just really don't want to let these guys down since they have heard so much about me and have gotten their sights set so high.

As for the lighting, I thought about having the lighting actually coming from the trailer itself. Yet for the scenes, it would be nice to have some better lighting.

As for open flames, the primary sponsor of this is a fire department, yet we might not want to use them much as we are under a "No Burn Order" around here.

Anyway, I really appreciate the help and invite anybody in the southern area to come along this October. Just hit me up if you are interested.

I think atmosphere would work also. Work up a good story abut a hidden gravyard. A good story maybe get some people to spread some tales or lore if you will. Maybe a gallows, make up a story about a hanging in years past. A man who kills. Hey, a scarecrow. You can hang a friend up as a scarecrow. And have him move and jump down after the people. That would be cool!