[Rclsu13]

Hey guys, the haunt I work for is looking for a permanent building right now and were going to look at a former church tomorrow. I cant help myself but think of all the possibilities of a haunt themed around a church. Where would you guys go with it? What music do you hear? What do you see? What movies would inspire you? I want to here what you guys have to say!!

Also, we have a new website and youtube page. We dont have any content on the youtube page yet, but we are working on producing a killer promo to kick off 2016. CHeck it out, give us a subscribe. Once we reach 100 subs i can change the url for easier access.

http://www.madnesshaunt.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtF1d_CPhNxrxNkvB-5au2Q

 

[doto]

In a church I would be tempted to go with a complete demonic underworld theme. I wonder if in your area if this would deter clientel?
As for music don't you almost have to go with pipe organ, to fit the scenery?

 

[nosefuratyou]

Gotta have a graveyard with a church don't you. Maybe a ghostly choir. And a second vote for the pipe organ. I agree that if it was too demonic some might be offended in a church but you know your audience better than we do.

 

[Rclsu13]

Yeah, my first thought was to go fairly satanic. But we're a nonprofit so that wouldn't fly lol. I looked up gregorian chants those are just delicious!! I watched the Sacrement last night, that's a route to look at. I think the demonic theme is a good one, something with illegal exorcisms and the demons are stuck in the building.

 

[tomanderson]

Hey-----one of the best haunts I ever went to, around 1995, was done in a Pasadena church (and also in the back parking lot). It was extensive and apparently well funded, because the special effects were fairly high tech (they even had a fiber-optic Leota-type crystal ball character). They stuck to ghosts and mummies for the most part, but there was a little bit of demonic possession-type stuff thrown in there. After touring the upstairs and downstairs of the inside of the church, visitors toured a swampy set built in the back parking lot, and this had ghost projections on a screen that seemed to rise out of misty swamp water (I think the "water" was mostly simulated). They were smart to keep it somewhat tasteful and not too gory--but they still delivered a great haunted house with lots of bells and whistles. And the greasepaint-covered actors were having a LOT of fun acting spooky. Those were the days--I think the admission price was five bucks, and they put on a great show.

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

I was a teenager riding in a car load of teenagers. we were ten miles out in the country on a 2lane blacktop, it was a beautiful summer night.
One guy had to take a leak, we stopped, he got out. we were next to an old church, the front door of the Church was only a few feet from the road, the church was packed full of bales of hay.
The lone teen did his task and as he completed it he yelled some obscenity. which i found to be totally unnecessary, as he turned away from the Church a loud clap of thunder reverberated through the stary summer night, it seemed to be right on top of us!
That was it, just one deafening thunder clap, the night was still beautiful, clear, you could see every star.
We respectfully, quietly SPED AWAY!

 

[Berserker]

I think that would add so much more creep factor as churches are typically creepy by themselves.
*Churches being the old school real cathedrals not this new age sh*t where robots go to a warehouse

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

Rclsu 13
If I were doing this in an old Church, I would become the story-telling Preacher up in front of them all telling them stories about the history of the building.
(My style of haunting involved much story-telling, I know most do not.)
If this was done, and the story was interesting, attention-grabbing, many simple but effective scares could be set up by the "Preacher" and his stories allowing some to become distracted as things begin to happen , which could involve live actors and simple props.
This scenario also lends itself to inserting a "Shill" among the customers who could go crazy during the speech or say quietly disturbing things.
Just something as the shill suddenly screaming as if they got scared or went crazy (Possessed?)
Having two Shills could become very entertaining if the second one plays it quiet and normal until everyone's attention becomes drawn away from #2. and suddenly another crazie is blocking their possible retreat.

 

[22606]

To expand upon Gym's fantastic idea, perhaps you could have a healer whose acts do not go as planned, kind of like how the wishes wind up twisted in The Monkey's Paw or the Wishmaster film series. Another option is an exorcist who winds up transferring the demon (or legion of them) into his body, which could also be quite creepy. A death cult drinking poisoned wine as a way to get into Heaven (so they expect) and instead returning to life as the undead is one more possibility. Personally, I think that the church theme could branch off in quite a few directions and be lots of fun.

Some musical suggestions: Cathedral Ruins, Sanctuary, and Coventry Carol - Midnight Syndicate; Phantom Toccata, Hallowed Ruins, and Nightwatcher - Nox Arcana

 

[McBernes]

A church setting offers a whole lot of possibilities. I also agree with the pipe organs. Gregorian chants sound cool too. There was a movie in the 80's late or early 90's about a group of people trapped in a church with a demonic presence trapped or held in some kind of nasty looking dripping container in the church basement. If it is a stone church you might could go with some sort of gothic monk torture chamber thing. Or if it is more modern architecture maybe snake handling goine wrong kind of thing. Or simply a generally haunted church with strange noises, shadowy figures jumping from around corners and no specific haunting or demonic force alluded to.

 

[22606]

...There was a movie in the 80's late or early 90's about a group of people trapped in a church with a demonic presence trapped or held in some kind of nasty looking dripping container in the church basement.

Similarly, the crazy preacher in The Blob with his little canister of goo: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q5TeS1nO1M0/UT-bLU5vBmI/AAAAAAAAB1o/sRMFEqFH0Ec/s1600/IMG_6703.JPG

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

As they walk into the Church, their attention is drawn to the front where something is happening....
They keep walking to the front, not noticing people hiding in the pews, all supernaturally dressed with costumes and make-up.
They turn around to leave and that is when they see all of these scary types of people already now seated ! (Sitting bolt-up-right now!
Just a few chords of random organ music might be able to hide any sounds the scary hidden ones might accidentally make as they were sitting up.

I was in a very old Church that seemed to have been extensively re-build (Re-habbed?) but it only took a handfull of people all walking at the same time to make the floor bounce up , then down, much more than I would ever want to have bouncing or moving in any building.