Thread: How scary is too scary?

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My wife and I are having a disagreement about our haunt (again). She thinks it's too scary for trick-or-treaters. It's the same basic layout as last year which can be seen here...

Halloween 2007 - a set on Flickr

I'm adding the car accident/chemical spill scene that you can see at the end (it was from a previous Halloween). I'm also adding a motion activated tree shaker and air cannon, plus I'm going to try and incorporate Hallowindow somewhere too.

The kids on the street are a mix from very little to ten or twelve. The little ones all come over before dark for a party and then go out trick-or-treating. I'm also going to advertise this year since our neighborhood consists of short streets divided by a major road and I want to get more visitors.

I'd like to get opinions about how far is too far with an extensive yard haunt. The fliers do have a warning about small children but...

Thanks!

Its Halloween,never too scarey for me.I do try not to startle lil kids tho.

Typically as it goes in my neighborhood, the little ones come while it's still light out.
When it gets dark, it's usually the slightly older crowd that isn't so scared....at least not in a scarred-for-life-get-sued-by-the-parents way.

if its too scary, they just will skip your house. I would say if the kids are not knocking, then its too scary. If you are running out of candy, then you can afford to step it up a notch.

I love the red candles, nice effect

You can never be too scary.

I have seen your beautiful pics before on Flicker. You have a great haunt, and I definitely don't think it is too scary!

Originally Posted by DetroitGrass

if its too scary, they just will skip your house.

Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Some parents are total jerks who will push their kids to go up, no matter how horrified they are. As you can't do much about the creepiness of the props, I'd say to just tone down the acting around the youngest children so you don't give them nightmares, or worse.

For the older crowd, scare to your heart's content

great pics!

I say be scary. it doesnt seem there is a ton of gore type stuff at your place, just fright things, really. i vote moar scary stuff!!!!! Its halloween! Thats why people go out, to be scared a little bit.

I'm pretty conservative when it comes to scaring ToTers, and I think you've got a long way to go before you need to reign it in! I say go for it!

Me personally, we keep our public display PG.
No gore, no body parts (other than skeletons).

I totally agree that there are too many dumb@ss parents out there that will drag a too-young child into something that is too scary.