Thread: What are the essential items for any haunt?

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I was thinking about all the things that I have put together for my haunt of the last few years. I feel like something is missing. I started to wonder, "What items are essential to every haunt?" I know that there are different types of haunts but I have to believe that there are basic items that everyone has. Rather than list everything I have, I would like to hear what everyone thinks are "must have" items. Here are some things that I think are essential:

1. skeleton(s)
2. grave stones
3. jack o' lantern(s)
4. scary music
5. spider webs
6. fog
7. mood lighting

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Coffins????

And if your gonna' have a graveyard, then columns and fencing must be included, right?

WOW! For a "rookie", you appear to have aced the test for a home haunter. My first few years I had pathetic plywood Tombstones in the front yard. The "Real Stuff" was inside the house. But it worked, that's the main thing.
No two haunts are alike, that's the beauty of Hallowe'en, anything goes. But what about Fog? If your locale permits it, not too much wind, fog is a real hit, something people don't expect to see, and something that really sets a tone. If you get really into it, Animatronics are awesome too. And not as hard as you might think.

Welcome to the club!!

Hmmm...

I have no tombstones
No cobwebs
Prior to Santa bringing me a bucky this year, we've had no skeleton, and I don't think it's detracted.
And I'm not sure the music is so much 'scary' as mood setting.

The things I always think of first whenever someone asks me what they need to get started:

No matter what the scene, LIGHTING. And quickly after that, proper music. Doesn't need to be "scary" just fitting the theme.

Lighting and sound make the single biggest impacts.

After that, it's all down to what fits your theme. If any.

absolutely coffins and cobwebs! rats, big ones, fat ones, small ones, scary ones. black cats and ghosts

I second UnOrthodOx's suggestion: lighting can make a HUGE impact. I'm focusing on lighting a lot this year. While you're at it, you might want to work in some lightning as well. Those lightning control boxes work pretty well (see here and here). Use one of those to control a couple of 250W photoflood lightbulbs in standard shoplight fixtures and the effect is pretty amazing (see this recent thread for a good example of what they can do). I'm working that setup for my yard this year.

There are lots of examples on this forum of great lighting and ligtning. Just do a little searching and you'll be able to get lots of good ideas.

Look at it this way - "Essentials" What would be "missing" from a Hallowe'en display? My answer Jack O'Lanterns. No Haunt is complete without them. Like Christmas without a tree.

mine is fog and lighting, ( and of course JOL ) but with tech how it is now i would say a good computer

a theme, blood, and lots of spiders

No one has mentioned ghosts.

Whether it's a simple sheet covered ghost hanging from a tree or a Flying Crank Ghost, no haunt is complete without one or two spectral beings.