Thread: Looking for CRAZY! ideas

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Alright for the people who know me or don't I have moved up in the Haunt Industry in the last few years... I took my home haunt "Donovan Ville" and moved into our Downtown local mall for the last 3 years we changed our haunt name & theme to the "MALL OF HORROR" and now it's time for change!

This season is our biggest yet we have a 3 Day Major Event in the planing and we will be open for 3 weeks again Mon. to Sat. 5pm/10pm
Our new them in a Old Mine the was buried over and the mall was built on top... Our local mall is in major reno stages so our new story line works great! The idea is when then were digging in the mall the uncovered a huge sink pit! releasing the trapped souls below...lol we have a huge story line and I will fill you guyz all in I will keep this as a blog of my ideas and where we are at!

What I am looking for is crazy Old Mine/Gold Mine ideas? scares? props?
Anything that might give us some extras for the haunt, we already have many things built but looking for somthing extra lol...

Sounds like fun. Back in the 60s and 70s our local amusement park had a dark ride called "The Lost Dutchman Mine." As I recall a crazy miner was bent on keeping the location of his gold strike a secret and continually tried to derail and otherwise destroy the mine car loaded with passegers. At the end of the ride he would inadvertently blow open the exit wth TNT so we could escape. The ride was mostly blacklights and flourescent paint, but back then it scared me silly. Good luck with your haunt.

I wonder if you could rig foam timbers together overhead of a walkway and have someone "release" the timbers as people were approaching--only one side would "slip" down and then when the people passed, the haunt worker could just pull the cord on a pulley that would then raise it again into place until the next group was coming through. With dim lighting and other scenery like vines growing in the tunnel the groups wouldn't be looking for the timbers to fall.

I like the old TNT explosion in one of the tunnels. A soundtrack of an explosion along with a strobe light flash and a timed fogger would give the impression of an explosion and debris rolling out from the side tunnel. I think that would add some realism to the experience.

We took a tour of a California working gold mine a few years back that we enjoyed and they were explaining the history of the mining process. You could have a cage with canaries that sing and then suddenly go silent (ie died) alerting the haunt goers that there's trouble in the mine. You could have a tour guide with his head lamp illuminating the way through the mine, suddenly triggered to go off plunging everyone in the dark. Maybe the guide has been telling stories of some of the less than reputable characters that tried to steal gold or robbed the workers in the mine and play off that with some actors. Maybe there's ghosts of evil villians who hid out in the mines at one time. Surely that means there are skeletal remains of them lying around. If the mall has those motorized golf cart-like vehicles that you could use (to help promote people coming to the mall for the event), then maybe you could use those as mining carts to transport the next group of miners/ToTs into the lower depths of the mine and begin their "tour". If you guys can't operate them because of insurance or such maybe the mall workers who drive them could be brought in to do so?

Sorry if I ramble a bit here and there. I'm pretty tired but I love mines and mine themes!

Don't forget the natural kind of threats too like snakes dropping down from upper stopes or shafts, spiders, scorpions. Bottomless or sidewise "bottomless" pits would be a great effect. If you have a long hallway tunnel that you could rig with an overhead pulley of sorts you could send a line of bats flying overhead of the group (adding audio of bat sounds and such of course). Maybe at some point the group has to pass through a bat nesting chamber where bats are covering the walls and ceiling and people are told to keep their hands over the heads and stay low and quiet so as not to disturb them. Maybe as the group is nearly out of the place suddenly there's a loud noise and the lights get real dim and you whip up the fans to create air movement and bats on strings appear to be fluttering around and the audio of bats gets louder and you guys quickly exit to the next mine area.

I'm assuming that you get pretty large groups of people waiting to go through the haunt. Maybe you could have "newspapers" posted for them to read while in the waiting line tell them about the mine that was discovered under the mall and about weird things that have been happening. Throw in some news stories of old mining tales and dangers in the mines as a teaser of sorts.

Universal's Halloween Horror Nights had a Haunted Mine and they handed you a hard hat with a light on the top. Little did I know that the light was remote controlled. heh! This company here sells flashlights that do the same thing: http://www.monster-tronics.com/produ...products_id=36

Another idea for the haunted mine is to have monsters that hide out in the cave. Here's an idea of one:

Ghost of Spookie did you ever catch your breath? LOL you said a mouthful of wonderful ideas.
Terra awesome ideas.

I like the idea of the newspapers to explain all about the haunt. Keeps you from having to tell the same story ever few minutes.

And I had been thinking about the hard hats, Terra just beat me to it. It's a necessary evil in order to keep them "safe".

Beware of Creature Inhabitants signs
Maybe gas masks on some of your props or actors and puffs of air, as in underground gases, which can be a hazard with TNT all over the place.

Maybe in the end you could reward them with "I survived" certificates.

maybe off somewhere (a well guarded roped off area in case of wandering stragglers who like to ruin the surprises) I would make something bright and shiny as if there is a hidden chamber of gold...or whatever they were "mining" in those days.

Ghosts of Workers past
Sound effects of those workers still working.
Legend tells of the spirits of those tragically lost in...explosion? cave in? gas poison? still working long after the caves have been closed.

Of course you'd also want to make up something about the gases and what a danger it holds to the patrons of the mall...unless you are afraid someone might take you seriously then I would explain how the gases have been eliminated from the property while planning the building of the mall.

P.S.
Especially if you are deciding on "falling objects", the hard hats would be good. You never know when something you've rehearsed and checked a thousand times can go on that one thousand first time. Also, if such ideas are what you want then you should perhaps post warning signs...to keep the sue happy people at bay.

YEARS ago, there was a haunt in a local abandoned silver mine.

Outside the waiver pages you had to sign, and the 10 minute lecture on how to use your rescue breather with another 5 minute lecture not to venture off as they're only pumping air to the areas you're SUPPOSED to be in, being crammed into a mine elevator, rifled down a few miles, to get into a train and ride another five minutes to the haunt.....

What stood out in the actual haunt was bizaar underground creatures of enormous size. Trap door spider, centipedes, etc. And an entire tunnel with people encased in the walls.

.....And, the pitch black when they turned the lights off.

Most memorably, however, I came away with a distinct understanding mines were not meant for people of my stature. LOW ceilings are a must.

We live in a coal mine area and there is a ghost story that the younger people have always looked for and still chase that is hundreds of years old. Rather than tell you the story I will post the website so the story gets told right.
Maybe this could at least give you some ideas that might help!
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ut-s...anyonlady.html

Many people still chase the story and go hunting the white lady......I have to admit I have done it, and it is spooky.......

Reading this, I just had an image of miners helmets, the brim lamps still glowing, floating through a section of the mine. Floating lanterns and tools might work.

I also thought of a pile of rubble with arms sticking out... moving arms.

The old encroaching darkness thing can be done with great effect by having wall lamps go out about 30 feet down the tunnel from the crowd, followed by the next nearest lamp about 25 down, and the next at 20, and the next until the darkness swallows the crowd.

ambient: water dripping, rat squeaks. intermittent 'cave ins' - screaming and rocks falling. CREAKING TIMBERS.

if its supposed to be wet and cave like, i'd varnish all the rocks then mist them every so often.

turn up the a/c?

instead of miners lights, flickering lanterns might be a nice atmospheric touch. as would flecks of gold painted into the walls (and veins of white quartz).

I'd have rustly pick-axes, shovels, lanterns, and rocks "strewn about", but bolted down and not where peop;e are walking. what about a 'miners belongings'? pin -up picture from 1800's, pocket watch, candle stub, handkerchief, bourbon bottle, pipe, revolver, etc? gives a backstory to the skeleton with an axe in it.

Water is a big scare in mines. There is also a story that a school group got cought in a cave in and now you can hear them singing and they leave their hand prints on the walls of the mine