Halloween Haunted House 2010—behind the scenes

[mjbonito00]

U guys shud put like actorrs to make it

scarier

[hyperflexharrington5]

Happened upon the channel and had to sub. I remember seeing the inflatable cats for sale on TV and how quickly they vanished. Like the Gargoyles!!!

[trey314159]

@hyperflexharrington5 Thanks! The inflatables are easy to put up and take down each day (we live in a high-wind area and can't leave anything out over night), and the littler kids really like them and don't find them too scary.

[nrubmx]

thats an awesome set up your elctronics are great i wish i could do that

[trey314159]

@nrubmx Thanks! We've been building up our collection of props for many years, and we try to build something and buy something each year. Between free software (Audacity is my favorite audio editor nowadays), and ideas and project plans available on the web (and several trips to Radio Shack for parts) it's become a lot easier to come up with and build interesting things.

[WildFunAwesome]

You should make a donation box to make few extra buck$

[trey314159]

@WildFunAwesome We've thought about it, but it isn't worth the trouble—I'd worry about the box being stolen, or people feeling pressured to donate. It's not about the money for us, so it just feels better to do something for free for our neighborhood. Especially since there are scarier commercial haunts not too far away, it's good to do something less scary and free.

[carlycartershow]

do you have actors?

[trey314159]

@carlycartershow Unfortunately, we don't have actors. Our haunted house is free, so we certainly can't pay anyone, and we don't know anyone who wants to spend Halloween in a haunted house rather than trick-or-treating or handing out candy at home. Maybe when our kids get a little older we can bribe them with a sack of candy.

[MrChristmastree2]

are u going to make one this year cause i am where do u live like what state

[trey314159]

@MrChristmastree2 Thanks! We live in Maryland, in the suburbs of DC.

[MrChristmastree2]

sick dude



[coasterman59]

pretty cool haunt

[phelanmanor]

i used the same method with the audio for my skulls at phelan manor. you guys did an amazing job. wish i had a garage to set things up. mine are all outside so some things i cant put up until halloween day.

[trey314159]

@phelanmanor Thanks! I saw your video, and it was great! Funny, we all want what we can't have. The wind in our area is so strong and unpredictable that we can't put anything outside. We put the façade over the garage door up each night (we're open 4 or 5 nights each year), and it is strapped on tightly to keep it from blowing away. The inflatables go up and down each night, too. I'd *love* to be set up a big graveyard out there, but it would blow away. Alas.

[dustinlambable]

what website did u go to to get the banner?

[trey314159]

@dustinlambable "Banners on the Cheap" - we are pretty happy with. It's strong and looks good!

[Gerula73]

How did you change the audio of the animatronics?

[trey314159]

@Gerula73 Both the witch and scientist have audio input so you can talk through them—one even came with a microphone. We recorded their new voices as a single track to keep them synchronized, but with one on the left channel and one on the right. We used a right/left splitter to send one channel to each. It worked well (though the scientist's mouth motor burned out 2 years ago, hence the facemask). The talking skull doesn't have any audio of its own, it takes input and moves the mouth to match.