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 Welcome to our virtual tour of our haunt from 1997. This was
our first attempt at a real home haunt and took about 7 months of work to
complete. Had it not been for the
Halloween-L
chat list, I would not have one tenth of the ideas and resources to put this
together.
 We actually even named our Halloween haunt this year, Schock Manor.
Not only were we utilizing the entire 2 car garage, but we extended that by
putting the entrance about 10' in front of the garage
 door and covered the walls
and ceiling of this extra space with black plastic sheeting. We also enclosed
the entire walk way leading up to the front door of the house so it
would be protected from the wind.
Not interested in doing all this work and hosting 35 TOTs, we contacted the
local TV news crew and they came out to get some footage. They played the tape
both nights we
 were open, the night before as well as Halloween night itself. We
put around 300 through the first night and then about 400 to 500 on H night.
The victims enter the haunt through the
Grand
Entrance. The two gargoyles that sit 9' high have fog pouring from their
mouths, illuminated by alternating red and green lights
 while the sign in the
middle announcing the name of the display glows in inconsistent green light a
well. Something stationed at the
 entrance dressed in a puppet skeleton mask and
a robe blocks immediate entry. Their job was to keep the victims from entering
the haunt more than 3 to a party and not before the last party had made their
way through the 1st half of the haunt. The first thing you meet with is a black
hallway with no other light than a very bright strobe light facing directly into
their eyes as they attempt to find the end of the hall.
 The distinct sound of
large beetles crunch under your every step. While finding your way, spider webs
made of 20 lb test fishing line coated with cobwebs from a webshooter drag across your face. At the end of the maze stands a static prop
of a 7' tall
executioner flanked by gargoyles all bathed in
 blacklight.
Around the very next corner the
Coffin
Coronary
awaits. He is a very convincing dead man in
 what looks like an authentic coffin. He is simply resting peacefully until your curiosity gets the
best of you and you move up close to his face. That when he sits up and moans a
scream from the large speaker
 in the karaoke machine directly under the coffin.
Just beyond the Coronary you come to the
Crypt
Keeper who is chatting to all who walk by with the actual voice of the CK
from late night TV. His mouth is slowly moving open
 and closed as the TOT
triggers the motion detector for the jaw. His face is continuously moving slowly
from side to side and his left hand is actually moving the pointer on a Ouija
board. In the corner as you walk past, a
screaming rat is tearing at a trap that
his head is caught in.
 Directly behind him is a giant static cat being eaten
alive by a dozen rats that have attacked him being led by a giant rat
orchestrating the scene. Before you can pass to the next scene you have to walk
past a 7' tall Death Lord wielding a bloody sword. His looks amazingly like the
static Executioner back at the beginning of the haunt, so it is possible he is
just a prop. This seems plausible since he is missing a hand as if he has been
victimized by one of the
 TOTs. Once you have passed and are being entertained by
the screaming rat you see something out of the corner of your eye moving toward
your legs. It's the Death Lord and he has something in his hand that is making a
terrifying sound that causes you to run screaming out of the main portion of the
haunt and to the enclosed walkway.
As soon as you round the corner you don't notice the large
 green
garbage
can to your left until you trigger his leaping head from under the lid, his
face is blurred by a strobe light illuminating his body. His eyes are flashing
bright red while an air horn lets out a 90 decibel scream. The monster not only
travels up to nearly face high from the inside of the can, but one arm literally
reaches
 out for you as you pass.
An amazing specter bathed in black light catches your attention just past
the Trauma.
Elvira
hovers in mid air behind the window screen of the garage. She speaks to you with
her eyes dancing red with her words. She is followed by skulls and bones and
 skeletons laying on the ground and hanging from the wall. The cute fish in the
water fountain with the baby riding on his back is pouring deep red
 blood from
its mouth.
There is nothing else between you and your candy reward now except having to
negotiate the fog pouring out from under the
 door jamb so you can knock on the
door. A nice young man lets you pick out your own candy bar from a large
cauldron he is holding
 up that is filled nearly to the top with Snickers bars.
You reach for your final reward and something odd meets you once your hand is
inside the
cauldron. It's a
real, warm hand that is grabbing yours
back! In automatic reaction you run for the only remaining exit immediately
to your right.
We had a good time running the haunt those two days, but it was exhausting by
the end of the night. In all we wound up with a few pieces of garments from
costumes abandoned while retreating TOTs left without getting their candy. In
fact some left their own candy behind on their way out.
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