Thread: Has anybody else tried this?

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Wow! OK, so it's not an "Original". But after 16 years of doing this, I've never used an idea like this. I would think that, if I were an unitiated guest, it would catch me totally off guard, scare the dickens out of me for a second. Especially if the kid can be convincing with his robot moves.

Thanks for the input, I'll show this thread to my nephew.

I used to do this at one of the local haunts every year. I would work as a clown, and be down on the floor where the customers were. As they rounded the corner in front of me, I would point with one arm, from the elbow down, like a robot. They would initially be scared to come near me, but, inevitably there would be one guy in the group who would get cocky and walk over. I'd let him poke me a couple of times, then ask if he was enjoying it or reach out and shake his hand. LMAO, it's great to see the looks on people's faces when the "robot" talks to them.

I saw this years ago at a pro haunt in Nashville. There was a large reaper costume with a big head standing at the entrance to the line to get into the haunt...and it seemed to be cheap animatronic, arms and head moving slowly in a defined space....until the actor suddenly lunged. He only did it every 1 in 6 groups or so...to make sure noone approaching had seen him. Meanwhile everyone waiting in line had a good laugh waiting for it. Worked great...I wanted to do it with a creature reacher I had, but never could find the dedicated person to pull it off. I wear glasses and couldnt do it myself, Id never know when to strike.

Yes, granamyr, I think, to really pull it off, the guy must actually LOOK like an animatronic. I'm going to fill the claws with great stuff and insert extensions. This will give the actor, my nephew, un-naturally long arms, and the fingers will remain immobile. The fact that it looks unreal will make viewers drop their guard. That's what a good scare is all about, catching 'em off-guarI'm really starting to get warm over this one, you know, have an "SORRY! Out Of Order" sign draped over the kid's neck to really get 'em off guard. We'll have an electrical cord running up the kid's leg so it's an obvious fake, stuff like that. With luck, we'll get a few poor schmucks stepping inside the Graveyard for a Photo Op!

I did this myself last Halloween. I stood on the front lawn just a few feet off the walkway. I dressed in full scary clown gear and as kids rounded the corner near our house, I would stand with my arms out in front of me forming a half circle and just rotated at the waist left to right slowly. Every single TOT that came up would stop short and say to their friend or parent "is that real? is that a person?" After their parent reassured them that I was totally fake, I would jump forward for the scare. It was so much fun.

I didn't have time to set up a prop that would look like the clown in the yard before Halloween, but that would have helped fool anyone who passed the house prior to Halloween night. Another idea I came up with is to stand on a square piece of plywood, so that I looked more like a prop attached to it.

I first did this kind of thing about 10 years ago when managing a Halloween store at my local mall. We would take turns and dress up with a simple black robe that was long enough to cover our feet and use a bleeding mask (with the pump tucked up the sleeve) and put a sign on the front of the costume that said "grim reaper prop, $99". We'd just stand at the entry to the store and people would come right up and touch the mask to see if they could feel the blood and we could just say "hi" or something simple and scare the crap out of everyone. We had people lining up across the hall so that they could watch the next victim get scared (one night there must have been almost 50 people watching). It's unreal to have someone come up and touch the mask that you're wearing and they have no idea you are a live person. It totally freaked them out! Oh, such fond memories

My costume for years has been this grim reaper type character. I put black socks on my hands and feet, and my mask has glow lights in the eyes so my white and black makeup eyes reflect the yellow glow from the sticks. So I commonly stand and stare blindly into space. Tots walk by thinking I am a prop, until I suddenly move. Even then they are not sure I am real until I slowly raise my hand in the typical grim reaper point and proclaim in my best deep ghoulish voice. " Beware the Witch !!! The wife who hands out the candy is decked out as a witch with fake nose and chin, and green face makeup.