Thread: Using Black Light

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Kinda excited about this new discovery. You can use regular liquid clothes detergent as a scare. I create rooms in my garage with black poly. I have written scary words onto the poly and it remains nearly invisible, but turn on a black light and they become clearly visible. I just tested it and it works great. A little runny though will have to find the right application amount. Help Me now looks like HEEP ME. I will be checking it over the next few days to see if it will dry and still stay visible under the black light. The thought of people brushing up against the wall and smearing the message has crossed my mind. This is new to me, could be old hat to someone else. I was thinking of a small room, gather the victims in, turn off the white light, tell a short story in the dark, turn on the black light and the messages appear. Short version sorry but I'm not a fast typer. So the question to everyone is this: What have you used to create invisible messages that only appear under black light?

The story behind this discovery was quite embarrassing for my wife. We were attending a birthday party for our niece at one of those indoor black light minigolf playrooms. When we entered the golf area her hands and pants lit up like christmas. Her brothers were teasing her about what exactly were we doing before we got there. The detergent had spilled in the trunk and we cleaned it up only a few hours before we got there. Is it wrong, during great embarrassment of a loved one, to be only thinking of how this could be a new Halloween gag?

I have seen this happen to me in haunted houses, usually in splotches on my jeans. According to one haunted house, it happens if you pour your soap on the clothes after loading them into the washer, and the spots where the soap sat on the clothes before the washer kicked in show up the best. Something about UV brighteners in the soap.

Maybe you could soak your clothes/mask/gloves/etc in a bucket of soapy water that's got a lot of extra soap in it, then dry on a clothesline without rinsing for full effect? Could be kind of cool on an all black robe.

HouHaunter - great story, and you are among friends if your wife's embarrassment was inspiration for Halloween (well...the detergent glowing...but, no, you're not wrong).

Yes, most laundry detergents have "bluing" in them, which glows quite well under black-light (I think it's phosphorus based, and phosphorus glows well under black light).

Your idea for the words is fantastic - there are paints you can use as well, that are transparent under normal light, but glow like crazy under black light...if you're terribly worried about people rubbing your lettering off the walls, perhaps the paints would be a way to go.
(I just use the simple glow in the dark paint that can be purchased at craft stores - it's mostly transparent (might give a slightly yellowish tinge to white surfaces), but glows a bright green under black light.

You can also purchase glow in the dark hairspray - perhaps using that and a stencil on your walls would work?

Remember highlighter glows under black light.
So does tonic water (it's the quinine in tonic water that glows - very blacklight reactive).
Apparently cat urine does, however I haven't checked this one myself.

I've found hot glue sticks that really react to black light...and I don't think it was an intentional outcome (just regular hot glue sticks...can't even remember what brand they were now).

...and I'm sure there's lots and lots more...

Apparently cat urine does, however I haven't checked this one myself.

i did with 5 cats in the house i can tell ya it works very well

You probably already have this thought through, but when you said 'small room', one of the things I thought about - was the placement of the light and where folks would be standing. Is the room big enough to light the walls and the folks standing there not block (shadow) part of your UV light, therefore make HEEP look like HEE ? If it is intergral to the 'story' will everyone be able to see all the words even if lit up?

Also, except for LEDs, UV lights tend to get very hot. Dangerous hot. So keep the bulb at a distance from the black plastic and people.

I have one 18" UV bulb that actually strobes. This is a VERY instense disorientation in a room painted with UV patterns or graphiti.

ClearNEON is a brand of paint that is all but invisible under normal light. It is pricey$ though, but produces an instense color.

ACE Hardware is one of the few places I know to still carry spray paint Flourescent Blue. A fine mist (hold can far away from plastic) produced a neat starry glow to the wall. Not that black poly is not already fire-risky enough, do note that paint only adds to the danger. No open flames in a garage haunt where plastic is used for walls. Even if in another section, etc.

Do not try the spray paint technique closer than 48 or so hours before your visitors will arrive. It takes time for the fumes and odor to disapate.