Q&A for How to Make a Haunted House

It is best to scare them when they are distracted, by others or some specific prop/item/action. Example: they walk in a room and in front of them is a person they are expecting to scare them (that person is the draw). Then you come up behind or from the side and scare them while their focus is elsewhere (you are the hit).

For best effect, you could decorate it all in black and hang big spiders in cobwebs (if you can get them to move battery-operated, all the better). Seems to really add to the "scare factor" because so many people are terrified of spiders.

This should depend on how much effort was put in and how big or it is. Ask some friends or neighbors to check the haunted house out, and afterward ask them what they think would be a good admission price.

Buy a lot of Halloween animatronics and decor, which you can easily remove at the end of the season.

Pin long sheets of black fabric between the walls to create smaller rooms and paths. Use mirrors to make the room appear than it actually is.

On YouTube. There are lots of tutorials there.

Look around your house for as many things you can use to your advantage as possible. You may already have mirrors, sheets you can tear up, ketchup to use for "blood," etc.

Just do it in a room. It is a lot less work, and just because you don't make any money off admission, doesn't mean that it won't be fun. Use chicken wire for ghosts and put ketchup on a lot of mirrors. Dim the lights or put a flame retardant shirt on the lamp's light bulb. Pin up long posters of Halloween photos on the walls. Play some spooky music -- or Michael Jackson's "Thriller".

I would recommend decorating the house (make it look condemned) with "condemned" tape going either around the entire house or just the front and back. Hang skeletons on the walls for a fun effect, and feature scary monsters in the windows. I would turn the yard into a maze, and you can use the ideas on how to make walls for under $300 listed in these questions. Use decorations throughout and friends or actors who are dressed up in Halloween costumes.

You could ask some friends to come over, or family. You can also advertise it online or on social media (Facebook,Twitter,Instagram etc) if you want a big load of people.

Ghosts, skeletons, vampires, blood, skulls, and dark spaces are all important things to put in a haunted house.

Follow these steps, just try to hurry everything along. Remember, you don't have to do everything on the list, just the most important things. You can close a few rooms off too and make it smaller and easier to handle.

Try creating a "jack-in-the-box" out of a large cardboard box, for someone in a creepy clown costume to jump out of. Play music when someone approaches the box, but slow it down at the end when the clown is about to jump out, to build tension. Another idea is to have someone dressed as a creepy clown stand near the exit and offer black balloons. He can caution guests not to take them or "bad things will happen."

You can buy fencing such as Easy Gardener 7 ft. x 100 ft. polypropylene deer barrier (also referred to as garden fencing) for approximately $60. If you want the walls to be covered, you may be able to use 20 in. x 1000 ft. stretch film ($22 per roll). Although it is light green in color, you can get plastic paint and paint the plastic black or whatever color suits your needs.

Hiding, wearing a very scary mask, and coming out of the dark and reaching out to choke them is always a guaranteed winner.

You can as long as you can set up your haunted house safely so no one gets hurt. (This is especially important because it will be dark in the forest at night.)

If you want it liquid-y, usually red food dye or just red dye and water does the trick -- just make sure you're not putting it on something you don't want stained, unless you can bleach it. If you want it slimy, you can use red dye, water and clear glue. If you don't want it liquid-y at all, use red dye, a little water to make it stick, and baking soda, baking powder, flour or cornstarch.

First, you can draw a shape of a hand, then trace it with crayons, colored pencils or markers to add some color. Next, cut out the shape carefully until you are at the very end of the line. Last, try to stick it to a wall because it will be more terrifying.

Have some of the actors guard areas and make sure people don't steal your decor.

Make the haunted house fun and light-hearted. Add goofy pumpkins with googly eyes, If you have a pet, use it as a distraction, then an actor could make a decoration in the room 'talk to them'. Add goody bags at the end with fun things like Squishie toys, stress balls, fidget spinners, and candies.

That is a very good idea! You could try that. But make sure that your actor screams or else it won't be noticed.

Try to make it look like a coffin with a mangled corpse inside, or cover it with fake blood and gore.

Get another staff member to take the visitor to the nearest exit or to take over and continue the tour.

Think of a story or situation that can be seen as scary, like the house of a serial killer, as suggested in the wiki. Then, find or make props that help deliver, such as dead bodies, blood, trophies, and weapons. If you want, mix a few themes, such as serial killer and mad scientist, to create a wider range for props and situations.

Anyplace that has lots of room. The more rooms/scenarios you can make, the better, and a longer walk between encounters can help build tension and suspense.

Change the layout of the haunted house just a little so it doesn't take up to much time and planning. Dress up the old props with new costumes. Some theme ideas are mummies, classic horror movies, graveyard, haunted mansion, or a zombie apocalypse school.

You can do your haunted house whenever you want! Just make sure that your guests, are okay with attending so late at night. That may be too late for some, but fine for others. As for the phone idea, I love it! You should definitely do that, even if it's not at 3 AM.

You don't need to have an exit. You can do what we do and mark off one room with a curtain that will be the survivors' room, or party room. Typically, put a bowl of candy and some food in there, but your guests may make noise with the candy wrappers once they are done. So, I would also advise putting the treats in there once everyone has gone through, and you can all enjoy the treats together.

4 feet, many people will come with friends in a group of 3 or 4. It is smart to stick with the 4 feet rather than the 3 feet option.

In the USA, not using exits would be against Code laws. It would go against basic safety for the public. Even if nothing bad happened (like fire), the setting could induce panic and a "stampede" of people trying to get out. If a fire or other calamity happened, people could trample other people trying to get out. One emergency, like a trip and fall, or heart attack, could be horrendous. You'd have zero protection against lawsuits, and code-wise, you could face arrest and jail sentence for endangering people.