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Evenin' ~
This is a lengthy Show N' Tell of the Twisted Tales Haunted House I designed and built in 2019. The idea behind this thread is to document what my creative process was like, from concept creation to final production. Maybe it'll help some of you, maybe it'll just provide a good laugh!
Like any good haunted house project, it involved drama, betrayl, love, blood, sweat and tears. Buckle in and enjoy!
In the Spring of 2018, I was approached along with a small group of others by a couple of host organizations in town to build a family-friendly Haunt in the South Bay (Sunny SoCal). We didn't move forward on 2018, the rest of the design team dropped out, and I was left to carry on the project with the hosts on my own the following year.
![]()
Twisted Tales was the name I came up with, and the idea is exactly what it sounds like - fairy tales with a creepy twist! I'll be posting some of the design work used to pitch the idea to the City - it's neat to compare the conceptual renders with what was actually built, too.
![]()
The Haunt would consist of 8 scenes, each themed after a fairy tale. The first scene is a clautrophobia tunnel, the idea being that you "fall down the rabbit hole" into these stories. You walk under a rock arch before entering the pitch black rabbit hole, only to find yourself met with the squishy wall. Following the rabbit hole, you come up into the glittering mine where Snow White's Seven Dwarves have suffered a cave-in and are clawing out from under the rubble towards you, distracting from a zombified Ms. White jumping out from behind a false wall.
![]()
After escaping the mine, you open a door that leads to Beast's Castle, who has trapped Belle within. Meandering through the halls, you find 3 eerie portraits that catch your gaze. Out of nowhere, lights flash, noise erupts, and the portrait comes to life! Two of the three portraits are rigged with drop-panels. Rouding the corner, you find Belle in her cage, begging for help and issuing stern warnings - the Beast will get you! No sooner does she say this, the horrific monster comes roaring out from a dark corner, chasing you into the next scene.
![]()
Party decor and lights illuminate the path into a Mad Tea Party, where the Mad Hatter is playing a sick game of "Operation" on the March Hare! He invites you to join him, Alice and the White Rabbit to play doctor. The Hare's intestines are strung about everywhere, and it's your job to cut the right one! Cut the wrong one and suffer a startling surprise.
![]()
Wandering through into the next scene finds you in a dank, foggy swamp. Fiendish Billy Goats hide in the shadows, taunting passerby. A lanter-lit bridge beckons to be crossed. As you approach, you can hear the bridge groaning, roaring...it feels alive. You cross, but upset the Troll hiding in the opposite corner. The lights in the scene quickly dim, you hear his gutteral scream, and get chased out of the scene into the next nightmare.
![]()
A lifesize gingerbread house facade greets you in the next scene. The evil candy witch heckles and interacts with you, promising to turn you into her next treat! You enter her house only to find Hansel trapped on an oversized burner - he's being baked! He begs for help, pleading for you to help find his sister, Gretel, who managed to escape the Witch's clutches. The Witch appears in the house to quiet Hansel and turn up the heat - a stream of gingerbread-scented fog blasts up at you before she opens her giant oven door and forces you through. Now it's your turn to become a dessert!
![]()
The "oven" is a stretch of path that is heated under heat lamps. Gretel comes running out, charred and crispy, scaring guests through into a pitch black corridor.
![]()
You hear the faint sounds of something growling, breathing deeply. This is a monstrous creature....you trip a motion sensor, lights strobe brightly, and a massive dragon head comes charging towards you with a deafing roar. You run out to cover, and thus the fairytales have ended.
![]()
If it doesn't sound terribly scary, that's the point. I was asked to make this as family friendly as possible, and that's what I strove for. I thought the Mad Tea Party operation scene was pushing it, to be honest. But they loved it. By far the best part of the whole thing would be the dragon finale, as it was a professional prop purchased from S*areF*ctory. This ended up being a total disaster, as is the norm for them. Never again. But more on that some other time.
Here is the Haunt path layout:
![]()
Not a whole lot switchbacks here, which ended up being a bit of a detriment in the final product, but I was going for "scene immersion" rather than a traditional "maze" format. The biggest scenes were undoubtedly going to be the Troll Bridge and the Candy House, and the most impactful scares were going to come from the Bridge and the Dragon finale. I wanted a bit of interactivity as well, hence the Tea Party Operation opportunity and being able to cross a bridge that was "shaking."
Cast Placement
![]()
Lighting Placement
![]()
Audio Placement
![]()
Having these layouts really helped me flesh out the audio and lighting requirements for the maze. They were pretty rudimentary, but as forgetful as I am, it's nice to have something to reference back to. These layouts were created in early 2019, and would change dramatically over Spring and Summer that year.
For the record, I was doing all of the design work on my own time. Product/theme/Haunt research was all done on my own time because something in my gut told me there wouldn't be time or opportunity to wait. Plus, this stuff is exhilerating when in the planning stages! And my gut ended up being right..... Long story short, contracts took FOREVER to get finalized (don't think I signed until halfway through August), time was slipping by, and we went from being open for 20 nights to 9. It ended up being for the best, but I was losing sleep over the sheer undertaking that was before me in such a short amount of time. As a result, we had to scale back a bit. We cut one room entirely, moved the rabbit hole/claustro tunnel inside the building, went from hired talent to local youth vounteers, shortened some already limited switch-backs (but lengthened others), and tried like hell to make things just done enough to pass for a Haunt. It was a monumental effort on the City's part in terms of organizing volunteers and Recreation staff to work each night of the Haunt, and a colossal effort on mine to build this thing. I took a step back from my Full Time job to do this (and still ended up working both anyway some days, 30 miles apart from each other). Building wall panels was supposed to start on weekends in June, but didn't actually start until September. Thankfully, we had a pretty healthy budget and I had complete control over expenses, so that was less of a headache than I thought it would be. Trying to keep hundreds of receipts for every single purchase though is another story.
I'll continue the tale tomorrow ~
This is a lengthy Show N' Tell of the Twisted Tales Haunted House I designed and built in 2019. The idea behind this thread is to document what my creative process was like, from concept creation to final production. Maybe it'll help some of you, maybe it'll just provide a good laugh!
Like any good haunted house project, it involved drama, betrayl, love, blood, sweat and tears. Buckle in and enjoy!
In the Spring of 2018, I was approached along with a small group of others by a couple of host organizations in town to build a family-friendly Haunt in the South Bay (Sunny SoCal). We didn't move forward on 2018, the rest of the design team dropped out, and I was left to carry on the project with the hosts on my own the following year.
Twisted Tales was the name I came up with, and the idea is exactly what it sounds like - fairy tales with a creepy twist! I'll be posting some of the design work used to pitch the idea to the City - it's neat to compare the conceptual renders with what was actually built, too.
The Haunt would consist of 8 scenes, each themed after a fairy tale. The first scene is a clautrophobia tunnel, the idea being that you "fall down the rabbit hole" into these stories. You walk under a rock arch before entering the pitch black rabbit hole, only to find yourself met with the squishy wall. Following the rabbit hole, you come up into the glittering mine where Snow White's Seven Dwarves have suffered a cave-in and are clawing out from under the rubble towards you, distracting from a zombified Ms. White jumping out from behind a false wall.
After escaping the mine, you open a door that leads to Beast's Castle, who has trapped Belle within. Meandering through the halls, you find 3 eerie portraits that catch your gaze. Out of nowhere, lights flash, noise erupts, and the portrait comes to life! Two of the three portraits are rigged with drop-panels. Rouding the corner, you find Belle in her cage, begging for help and issuing stern warnings - the Beast will get you! No sooner does she say this, the horrific monster comes roaring out from a dark corner, chasing you into the next scene.
Party decor and lights illuminate the path into a Mad Tea Party, where the Mad Hatter is playing a sick game of "Operation" on the March Hare! He invites you to join him, Alice and the White Rabbit to play doctor. The Hare's intestines are strung about everywhere, and it's your job to cut the right one! Cut the wrong one and suffer a startling surprise.
Wandering through into the next scene finds you in a dank, foggy swamp. Fiendish Billy Goats hide in the shadows, taunting passerby. A lanter-lit bridge beckons to be crossed. As you approach, you can hear the bridge groaning, roaring...it feels alive. You cross, but upset the Troll hiding in the opposite corner. The lights in the scene quickly dim, you hear his gutteral scream, and get chased out of the scene into the next nightmare.
A lifesize gingerbread house facade greets you in the next scene. The evil candy witch heckles and interacts with you, promising to turn you into her next treat! You enter her house only to find Hansel trapped on an oversized burner - he's being baked! He begs for help, pleading for you to help find his sister, Gretel, who managed to escape the Witch's clutches. The Witch appears in the house to quiet Hansel and turn up the heat - a stream of gingerbread-scented fog blasts up at you before she opens her giant oven door and forces you through. Now it's your turn to become a dessert!
The "oven" is a stretch of path that is heated under heat lamps. Gretel comes running out, charred and crispy, scaring guests through into a pitch black corridor.
You hear the faint sounds of something growling, breathing deeply. This is a monstrous creature....you trip a motion sensor, lights strobe brightly, and a massive dragon head comes charging towards you with a deafing roar. You run out to cover, and thus the fairytales have ended.
If it doesn't sound terribly scary, that's the point. I was asked to make this as family friendly as possible, and that's what I strove for. I thought the Mad Tea Party operation scene was pushing it, to be honest. But they loved it. By far the best part of the whole thing would be the dragon finale, as it was a professional prop purchased from S*areF*ctory. This ended up being a total disaster, as is the norm for them. Never again. But more on that some other time.
Here is the Haunt path layout:
Not a whole lot switchbacks here, which ended up being a bit of a detriment in the final product, but I was going for "scene immersion" rather than a traditional "maze" format. The biggest scenes were undoubtedly going to be the Troll Bridge and the Candy House, and the most impactful scares were going to come from the Bridge and the Dragon finale. I wanted a bit of interactivity as well, hence the Tea Party Operation opportunity and being able to cross a bridge that was "shaking."
Cast Placement
Lighting Placement
Audio Placement
Having these layouts really helped me flesh out the audio and lighting requirements for the maze. They were pretty rudimentary, but as forgetful as I am, it's nice to have something to reference back to. These layouts were created in early 2019, and would change dramatically over Spring and Summer that year.
For the record, I was doing all of the design work on my own time. Product/theme/Haunt research was all done on my own time because something in my gut told me there wouldn't be time or opportunity to wait. Plus, this stuff is exhilerating when in the planning stages! And my gut ended up being right..... Long story short, contracts took FOREVER to get finalized (don't think I signed until halfway through August), time was slipping by, and we went from being open for 20 nights to 9. It ended up being for the best, but I was losing sleep over the sheer undertaking that was before me in such a short amount of time. As a result, we had to scale back a bit. We cut one room entirely, moved the rabbit hole/claustro tunnel inside the building, went from hired talent to local youth vounteers, shortened some already limited switch-backs (but lengthened others), and tried like hell to make things just done enough to pass for a Haunt. It was a monumental effort on the City's part in terms of organizing volunteers and Recreation staff to work each night of the Haunt, and a colossal effort on mine to build this thing. I took a step back from my Full Time job to do this (and still ended up working both anyway some days, 30 miles apart from each other). Building wall panels was supposed to start on weekends in June, but didn't actually start until September. Thankfully, we had a pretty healthy budget and I had complete control over expenses, so that was less of a headache than I thought it would be. Trying to keep hundreds of receipts for every single purchase though is another story.
I'll continue the tale tomorrow ~
