Thread: Scaring ToTers.....

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This year, I'm dressing as Leatherface. I don't do anything fancy at my house... small cemetery and a heavily decorated walkway from the sidewalk to the front door of the house. Because I am the only one in my household that is enthusiastic about the holiday, I am pretty much stuck with all the responsibilities for the night, including giving out candy.

Because I have worked so hard on my costume, I want to scare some of the ToTers. So, my plan is to have the front door shut and the lights immediately to the inside of the house off so that it is dark inside. When someone rings the doorbell, I'll open the door slowly and then jump in the doorway screaming at the ToTers.... NO chasing. When the commotion dies down, I'll give out the candy.


Now my main concern is with the younger ToTers. I don't want to traumatize the younger ones and upset their parents. So.... I figured that I'd use the peephole viewer in the front door to determine if the the ToTers are too young to be scared by me. Obviously, the decision will be based on their height.

Does this sound good? What do you guys do with the younger ToTers? Should I remove my mask for the younger ones?

Thanks for your insight!

I was a Scary Clown the year before last, and I sat outside my house, and did not move, unless one TOT was looking at me, then I just moved my head very slowly. They then had to decide if I was real or not!

Depending on the TOTs, I would then jump up, or just keep still until they were brave enough to approach me.

By being there already, it allowed the TOTs to decide whether to approach me or not and I could gauge how to react to them. Little ones would not come close, some braver ones would, and teens were the best!! Screams from boys and girls!!

So my suggestion would be that you stand outside, just away from your door, so they have to pass you to get to the door. Look like a shop-bought prop, and then you can decide how you will react.

HTH

Ian

I usually do a combination of the above 2 posts. I have a devil in a self-rocking chair on my porch right next to the door, which keeps everyone's attention and ups the tension quite a bit. Then when they finally approach the door, as soon as they knock or ring the doorbell, I throw the door open and scream at them. Works every time.

My sons dressing up as a zombie clown this year. My other Sons best friend and my eldest Brother are terrified of Clowns. I'm hoping to get some good girly screams out of them.

I love scaring older kids but I tell my Sons not to frighten the younger ones, makes me feel bad when they start crying.

One year I had a young man simply wearing a scary mask, sitting perfectly still in a chair with the candy bowl in his lap. Apparently they were already already nervous after passing through the yard. Since I have some static props out there too, they weren't sure what they were facing by the time they got to the front porch. All he did was move a little when they got close and alone was sufficient to scare the devil out of a lot of kids.

Originally Posted by malevolence

I usually do a combination of the above 2 posts. I have a devil in a self-rocking chair on my porch right next to the door, which keeps everyone's attention and ups the tension quite a bit. Then when they finally approach the door, as soon as they knock or ring the doorbell, I throw the door open and scream at them. Works every time.

HA HA HA HA HA!! Most excellent. (Getting a mental picture of that.)

I will have a full blown walk through this year but 2 years ago my dad came over to my house just to see it and he brought a mask with him. He came out and sat in a chair next to the steps. None of the kids knew what to make of him.
But one set of kids came up and and you know awww he's not real it don't even look real and that's dumb so with that up out of the chair was my dad a 6' 5" 275lbs and yelled with a real deep voice "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I AM NOT REAL" I never seen kids run so fast in my live and my father laughed his ass off!!!

Originally Posted by chaoscat

One year I had a young man simply wearing a scary mask, sitting perfectly still in a chair with the candy bowl in his lap. Apparently they were already already nervous after passing through the yard. Since I have some static props out there too, they weren't sure what they were facing by the time they got to the front porch. All he did was move a little when they got close and alone was sufficient to scare the devil out of a lot of kids.

I did this one year and stayed still as they passed me on the way to the door, but moved when they passed back by... really creeped them out because they thought they were safe since they'd made it by already. I think the real trick is not to jump out right away - it's the whole "lull them into a false sense of security" thing.
I do agree with not going all out on the little'r ones... that's just mean.

Last year, clad in a long, black coat and cracked babydoll mask, I slowly paced back and forth through the circus/cemetery setup for awhile, which definitely creeped some people out. When there was a group of older people, I quickly followed them down the sidewalk, turning the crank on a creepy jack-in-the-box (the one from Walgreens) as I did so; most of them didn't know I was behind them, so I got quite a reaction...