Thread: Warn Your Scaracters

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Please warn your Scaracters that kicking/hitting is a knee jerk reaction to being frightened. This vid is a perfect example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NijwK...halloween.html

yeah, scaracters should be forewarned to overreactions from people being frightened, but most people (children and adults) that i have encountered and scared have shrunk backward away from the monster

that video is of a bad prank, and i figure 98% of people have different reactions to a prank and a haunt, that is they know in a haunt something is going to jump out at them, but with a prank anything can happen.

still its good to warn people working the haunt and people visiting so that every one remains safe and uninjured

There are some who go into a haunt looking for someone to punch, then they may pretend it was a reaction.
They never punch the big guy in-costume, it's always the littlest guy/girl/grandma who gets slugged, this in itself tells you something about the puncher doesn't it?
Stay arm's length away at all times . If they begin to approach you, retreat, if they just keep coming at you have a real bright flashlite, shine it into their eyes and get away, call security.
Dislocated jaws wired back together are scary, aren't they?
Haunting should not be a contact sport but it can be and just like basketball, when a big person and a little person collide, the little person always gets more serious abuse from it.

Well, I had a little problem with this the weekend after halloween. I was volunteering at a local pro haunt(since I was finally not busy preparing mine). I was in a "closet"...a long dark walkway with hanging clothes...in a burning house. It made a sharp left midway thru, and I was wedged in the corner of the juncture. Most people felt me, not saw me..I usually screamed at that moment. Once tho, a lady and her husband came thru, she felt me, said "what is that?"
I remained silent as she recoiled, and they had an argument on wether I was real or something put there, etc. She kept saying"is anyone there?"
Finally, without warning, she decided to test...by kicking me in the groin. My bellow of real pain and anger did in fact, scare her badly. Then Me, AND her husband both read her the riot act. He seemed fairly hacked at her too, as I was threatening to throw them out for touching.
I let them go on. She kept saying"you should have spoken". He kept telling her "He was doing his job! You DONT kick ANYONE to see!"
The next night, I brought a head with me in a different tunnel, always holding it by the hair at arms length to give me distance. They usually hit the head 1st, then felt under it(nothing, decided it was there to freak them, and kept coming, then I screamed. Worked much better. No sore groin.

Good points made here,

I think that any startle scare should be well thought out in a haunt, an actor’s position, entrance to the "Scare", exit out of the patron’s sight, and where the people will be jumping to, so as not to hurt themselves, the actor, or the haunt props. A well practiced and planed scare always works better and usually much more entertaining for all participants.

I was a clown in my haunt this was back in '04, a girl who I actually knew came through scared as heck, saw the clown and did a rapid fire fists to my chests. Talking to my other scareacters this is the only known case of hitting. I have 35 volunteers, and at least 10 are over 6' and are very intimidiating in their roles. If anything happens to our smaller scareactors these scareactors and they are also security who patrol the yard will be on them very quickly. THe most trouble we get are the hecklers. I did get flashed by a teenage girl once, as I remained in charachter and she wanted to see if that would get a reaction. sorry to disapoint her, I reamained in charachter, inside I'm like dam!