Turning your home into a haunted house doesn’t require an actual ghost to live in it. Instead, with a little creativity and a burning passion for scaring all the trick-or-treaters this Halloween, you can make your home the scariest haunted house in the neighborhood.
With Halloween almost upon us, are you ready to make your home the scariest on the block? If so, here’s how to turn your home into a haunted house for All Hallow’s Eve this 2019:
1. Select a scary theme
Scary haunted house entertainment is the best business come Halloween time. However, notice that most of the haunted house attractions have similar generic themes. If you want to make your haunted house stand out, here are some spooky themes you can choose from:
- Clown theme
- Insane asylum
- Slasher’s den
- Serial killer’s lair
- Evil doctor’s clinic
- American Horror Story seasons
- Murder scene
- Cult chamber
- Haunted hotel
- Evil circus
- Dungeon
- Torture chamber
- Human sacrifice
- Exorcism
- Witches’ coven
- Abandoned orphanage
- Evil laboratory
There are so many themes that you can choose from. Choose one that is closest to your heart. But be sure to put up a warning outside if it’s not appropriate for all ages.
2. Assemble your team
Find friends and family who want to be part of your haunted house. Assign them costumes according to their role and be sure to give everyone a scary makeup to complete their looks. Whatever the theme is, everyone is bound to have fun while wearing their costumes
In a haunted house, there are three most important senses that you should stimulate: sight, sound, and smell. For a multi-sensory experience, try including these elements into your haunted house:
- Create a story with your decorations
- Use realistic decor as much as possible
- Enlist the help of battery-operated ghouls
- Use mannequins for added terror
- Create an eerie atmosphere using spooky lighting
- Keep the area dark or dim
- Consider adding strobe lights or fog machines
- Add gory scenes for extra fear
- Set up jump scares here and there (but don’t overdo it)
- Play creepy music
- Make man-made noises such as banging on walls or screaming
- Have different spooky sounds in each room
- Use terrifying and panic-inducing sounds such as the sound of a chainsaw or demonic voices
- Make other rooms silent so guests will be more shocked by the next sound they hear
Smell
Match the smell of the room to the theme of each room, for example:
- Dirt pods for cemeteries or graveyards
- Antiseptic for hospital scenes
- Artificial blood spritz for gory scenes
- Bleach for haunted bathrooms
- Cotton candy or candy corn for haunted circus
- Sulfur for paranormal activity
Temperature
Another sensory factor that you shouldn’t forget is the temperature of the room. Although this may be harder to control if you have centralized heating and cooling, you can still make rooms colder or hotter than they’re supposed to be. For colder rooms, increase the cooling or turn off the heat completely. For scenes that need warmer temperatures, turn off cooling or place a space heater in that room.
Who doesn’t love Halloween? Probably the people who are too scared to go into haunted houses. If you want to create the spookiest haunted house, these tips should send your visitors running.