Few things captured my childhood imagination more than the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland in Anaheim. In particular, the beginning of the ride where the boat gently drifts through a bayou, past shacks and dripping Spanish Moss, turning you away from the stark reality of the theme park and into the underworld of piracy. The visitor absorbs aspects they aren't even fully aware of, details so subtle they can't help but be transported in seconds before taking the plunge, literally, to the playground of rascals, scoundrels, villains and knaves.
I've taken this approach to heart as I've developed Little Pearl Haunt. After a few years of being The Spider House, I completely changed tracks. I adore the character Tia Dalma from the Pirates franchise, in particular her incredible shack. Filled floor to ceiling with jars, bottles, trinkets, boxes, baskets, bones, frayed ropes, cages...the flotsam and jetsam a sorceress might gather in her journeys through the metaphysical. I'm blessed with a nice sized sitting porch which provides ample area to replicate her shack. Having a clear focus has also made it far easier to develop new ideas.
Choose a character to inhabit your habitat and stay faithful. Don't let yourself be tempted by a prop simply because it's so well done or "cool" if it doesn't fit in your story line. The greater the cohesion the more effective. Try to stimulate all the senses as well by using incense or Halloween scented candles and playing appropriate sound effects available online. I've included links to scents from my favorite place, Dark Candles, that I think would add value to each theme as well as sound effects suggestions you can find online (Youtube).
Lean into the style of your house - Victorian think Witch's Lair or Undertaker. Gothic Revival or anything brick or stone for a Tomb or Dungeon. A modern home works well for a Kill Room or Slaughter House. No need to build fake walls when you can use your own.
Use the available space to your advantage both in choosing a theme and taking into consideration your budget. A small front porch lends nicely to a claustrophobic Tomb or Kill Room and neither require much set up.
Here are some themes that can be pulled off with just a few props while also leave room to grow over the years depending on your budget and desire. As with all of my ideas, look for sales year round at home improvement stores, discount stores like Big Lots as well as thrift & secondhand stores. Nearly everything I list can be acquired without breaking the bank with some leg work and patience.
Share your haunt's theme and story in the comments below!
17 days tills Halloween...
**Over the next year I'm going to do posts on each theme that will include a laundry list and photos to help set you up on a budget. Look for my "Hundred Dollar Haunt" series and click on the links below to learn more***
Haunted House - Well, duh. Stick with vintage and antiqued household items such as old wooden end tables, ornate frames, mirrors, old books, flocked wall paper, worn dining table chairs, velvet or similarly heavy curtains, candelabras, shredded creepy cloth, etc. Cover everything with a Webcaster Gun for a "hasn't been touched in years" effect.
Candle: Haunted House or Apparition
Sound FX: wind, creaking boards, moans, raven calls
Candle: Exorcism or Absinthe
Sound FX: Swamp sounds, frogs, crickets, water, light rain
Pirate Ship - Wine barrel planters, pre-weathered crates or age your own, hanging lanterns, rum bottles, storage chests, skulls, candles, furs & velvet, nautical instruments such as compasses, maps, a spyglass, a sextant, or hourglass and trinkets & treasures "acquired" by any means (aka costume jewelry from a thrift shop). Researching this I found an actual wine barrel on the Habitat for Humanity Instagram for the location near me for a mere $50. You could use this year round with a top as a backyard bar height table and then roll it out for the most wonderful time of the year. Toss in some swords and flint stock pistols from a prop shop and, Argh! Hoist the colors high!
Candle: Clove
Sound FX: Creaking boards of a ship as it rocks, waves, rain, thunder, wind, singing pirates
Tomb or Mausoleum - Choose an Egyptian Pharaoh or that of a Great Emperor of China and prepare a space for the journey through the afterlife. Planters like this one or this one, planter boxes, urns, vases, pavers in different sizes, sand, mummies, fake bones, offerings, incense and myrrh burners, statues, artwork (hieroglyphs, terra cotta warriors), stylized stools & chairs, shredded cheesecloth mummy wraps. Dried palm fronds can fill a space out with a dynamic visual. Opt for a looted or full of treasure, recently sealed look. This is a look that can grow.
Candle: Mage, Graveyard or Crypt Moss
Sound FX: Wind, dripping water, coffin opening
Candle: Exorcism
Sound FX: Howling wind, dripping water
Kill Room - Build a Kill Room on your front porch by hanging some clear plastic sheeting and flinging corn syrup dyed red against it for a blood spatter effect. Wear disposable coveralls and a nitrile apron with some blue nitrile gloves. If you're game, find a medical tray and lay out some rusty, dirty surgical tools and knives. This one is easy and universally unnerving.
Candle: Dragon's Blood
SOund FX: screaming victims, muffled voices begging for help
Dungeon - Halloween shops sell wall murals that look like stone walls if you're feeling that. Otherwise, go with chains (real or fake), hooks (real or fake), restraints, metal baskets, hanging metal baskets, tiki torches, pavers, gates (check used building materials places like the Habitat for Humanity Store for these), locks, traps, skulls and bones, etc. Go heavy on the metal, stone and fire (real or otherwise). Perfect for a stone or brick home, you're more than halfway done just reading this!
Candle: Cemetery Gates
Sound FX: Dripping water, moans of prisoners, creaking gates, jangling chains
Witch's Liar - A spin on Voodoo Priestess shack. Line some brooms up next to the door to let visitors know the coven is meeting. Create an Apothecary with glass and medicine bottles, a mortar & pestle, cauldrons & other brewing vessels. Hang Phrenology & medical charts, insect specimen boxes. Old books, mirrors, trinkets, bones, feathers...stock the shelves with all the necessary supplies for potion making.
Candle: Full Moon or Dark Grove
Sound FX: Bubbling potion, cackling witches, clinking jars, incantation chants
Spider Infestation - I gotta tell you, I loved doing this for all those years. It's actually on the "easier" side once you get your supplies together and can be done inexpensively with some DIY pipe cleaner spiders. There's loads of store bought options as well and a good mix of sizes and styles makes for an agoraphobe's nightmare. Instead of fake webs, check out this pretty neat technique on making giant spiderwebs out of beef netting that would can be kept from year to year.
Candle: Arachne's Garden
Sound FX: Scuttling insects
Candle: Arachne's Garden
Sound FX: Scuttling insects
Slaughter House - Okay, not going to post pictures for this one only because I find them pretty intense. For this it's all about chains and hooks, cleavers, etc., real or Halloween prop. What you hang is up to you - there's realistic options for all sorts of "meat" available online.
Candle: Dragon's Blood
Sound FX: Screams, saws, meat hitting the floor
Mad Scientist Laboratory - Beakers, tubes, bubbling colored fluids, smoke, scales, charts. You can find supplies at the craft store, thrift stores and sometimes schools have sales to clear out excess & old stuff. Thrift stores also offer up wonderful metal stuff like Turkish coffee makers, also available at kitchen supply places.
Candle: Silver Bullet
Sound FX: Bubbling chemicals, chemical explosions, maniacal laughter
Candle: Silver Bullet
Sound FX: Bubbling chemicals, chemical explosions, maniacal laughter
Old West Undertaker - Perfect for a Victorian. Crates, planks of wood stacked and ready to build the next coffin, a sign listing available services, death notices, rusted tools from a second hand store, wooden crosses made out of stakes antiqued with SOS Pads/Steel Wool, tombstones. Go next level and build a coffin to advertise your goods. Bring the scene to life by dressing as the Undertaker either with a stunning (and $$) costume from Historical Emporium or build one out of pieces you already own and a pocket watch & hat.
Candle: Coffin
Sound FX: hammering, sawing, creaking wood
Cabin in the Woods - If you're a camper you likely will already have a lot of what you need for this. Think classic horror movie set up - teenagers go to a cabin in the woods for a weekend only to learn they're being stalked by a killer of local legend. Set out some sleeping bags & camping gear, bloody up some clothes from a thrift store, hang random ominous sharp & deadly objects around like hunting knives and crossbows (for when the heroine looks like she's nearly done for but yet, as she crawls backwards, her had comes upon an object...what it is? A speargun?!?! Hazzah! She is saved!" If you have one, pull out your wooden rocking chair and a place a lantern on a wooden table. Lay out a blanket of dried leaves: a forest floor crunching under trick-or-treater's feet. Dress the part and wear a hockey mask or trench coat. Come up with your own story, it's YOUR woods these disrespectful kids came to party in.
Candle: Dark Grove and Falling Leaves
Sound FX: Crickets, wind, rain, howls, forest sounds
Candle: Dark Grove and Falling Leaves
Sound FX: Crickets, wind, rain, howls, forest sounds
Sleepy Hallow - Credit to my darling betrothed for this idea. My West Coast upbringing can limit me despite spending 4 years East Coast in college. His perspective is vastly beneficial despite his complete befuddlement over my Halloween obsession. So I bring to you, Sleepy Hallow/Ichabod Crane Haunt. If you are blessed enough to have a tree lined lane, sidewalk or drive (Sacramento I'm looking at you) - please do this!! This one is perfect for the audiophile in that you can plant speakers along your visitor's path to develop and tell this story. Start with the wisp of a swirling wind followed by a hooting call of an owl. As they draw near, add the distant sound of thundering horse hooves, drawing near. Lanterns light the way to safety (?!?) as crows alert their dire warnings overhead. Create your own forrest by attaching branches to porch columns and posts and lay a bed or dried leaves you've been hoarding as the weather changes. A lone scarecrow with pumpkin head is just enough to elicit distant memories of this classic legend. Google the legend for more inspiration - it's Civil War timeframe elicits an abundance of opportunities.
Sound FX: wind, galloping lone horse, crows, crickets, night forrest sounds
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| Burbank people, but at night...plant speakers in the city trees to start the audio story on the path to your haunt |
Bat Cave - Perfect for a stone home, especially one with a smaller front porch, entrance. As easy as sticking some Command toggle hooks to the ceiling and hanging bats. If you want more of a cave look, again using Command hooks, create a rounded false ceiling by hanging grey creepy cloth or a grey tarp or drop cloth. Use strips of burlap to create hanging stalagmites or vines.
Candle: Crypt Moss
Sound FX: Dripping water, flapping bat wings, high pitched bat shrieks
Funhouse - Turn your pillared front porch entrance into the gaping mouth of a creepy clown. Line the walls in alternating sheets of red & white plastic tablecloth to create a tent. Funhouse mirror, signs advertising the "freak" show. Dress as a carnival barker. Or clown if you want no one anywhere near you.
Candle: Dark Carnival
Sound FX: Carnival music played at unusual speeds, Hurdy-Gurdy, sinister laughter, children's screams, bells & whistles of the midway games
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