It’s that time of year again! Halloween is a special time to let loose and express the creepy side of fall. Your pumpkins are set aglow on your front porch, spider web hangs from every corner and paper ghosts hang from your trees in your yard, but something feels like it’s missing! As you prepare for your Halloween festivities, you may want to know how to perfect the art of the quintessential Haunted House! Make your house the must-see home of the block, and enjoy scaring the boots off of your neighbors these tips that will add that next level of  terror and extra screams! The witching hour begins now.

Create a Scary Story

Draw everyone’s attention toward your cavern of mystery and magic with strobe lights bouncing off of fake mirrors strewn about your lawn. Of course, feel free to add a dozen or so jack o’ laterns near by! Perfectly timed strobe lights will tell the story of what lies ahead. The lightweight Chauvet Derby X gives a stunning performance of LED strobe light in red, green and blue. Try the static mode to really give off a horror film vibe. The blackout feature will surely terrify anyone who happens by! Use the strobe mode to set off  the party afterwards! If you want to go even further with your light show, place the Chauvet Shocker Panel 180 USB along your walls outside and along the garden path way. The possibilities for this wireless panel are endless!  This particular strobe comes with jaw dropping visual impact. Amaze your guests with these special effects.

Set the Stage

Sure, you already know how to make grotesque looking pumpkins and you definitely know how to hang up those store bought witches and spiders,  but are you ready to take it up a notch? Turn your front porch into the gates of doom and fantasy with some eerie extras. String some iron chain on your doorway, and leave the padlock hanging open… make sure you add some realistic spiders all over the door way and knob. Next, grab some LED rope lights and tack them up around your doorway and a long steps to illuminate the path of your victims… oops, we meant your visitors! When you set up fog lights in the corners of your porch and bottom of the steps near the LED lights, it creates a sinister glow. All you need is a sturdy, high output machine like the American DJ VF 1600. Just grab the included wireless remote to create a formidable experience! Keep the fog rolling with fog machine fluid. We suggest a high dissipation fluid like the Chauvet Professional PDF, because you will want to keep your machine at the ready so you can creep out the unlucky passerby on the sidewalks!

You can really make your haunted house the talk of the town with a simple  outdoor projector screen placed on your lawn, and of course, you’re going to need lights! Try these Chauvet Gobo Zoom compact projector and prepare to wow your guests with a mystical performance of lights. You can customize your own gobos aka : prints with your own ghoulies and beasties on transparency film.

Cast a Spell on Your Visitors

Once your visitors have entered the gates to your haunted house, they will need time to adjust their eyes to the darkness. This is the perfect opportunity to cast a spell upon them. You’re going to need lots of props! First, you need the right music. Ambient music pouring from a portable speaker system is the way to go!  If you use the Galaxy Audio Traveler Quest Speaker System, you get two receivers, a bluetooth connection and a microphone so you can hide from your guests and terrify them with your snarls and sounds of terror! Pro tip: If you want to compile sound bites from horror films onto a USB drive, this speaker supports you and includes 24 hours of battery life!

Keep Them Entranced

The key element to petrifying anyone who stumbles into your lair is confusion and disorientation. If they can’t sense which way is what or see around them, it keeps them right where you want them. Keep the atmosphere spellbound with black sparkle curtains hanging along your walls and entryways.  You will want to place a smaller fog machine just beneath the curtain to entice your guests to venture inside. The Chauvet Geyeser offers a trio of six multi colored fog light bursts that will look especially creepy along the walls of your hallway, as well. Beyond the entry way, lay about some glow in the dark skeletons, like these! Perhaps behind  your skeletons, place a backdrop of dungeon stone along the wall. Add some dense moss along your carpet and toss in a single old battered boot in the path way. You can include some fake bones  among the moss to freak out your guests when they step on it!

Engage Your Guests

Consider keeping your haunting tour interactive. Give the random  arrivals a webcaster gun so they can prank and terrify each other! Another fun idea is a faux fantasy door…with fake door knobs all over it! Follow this DIY to make your own door, then head over to Home Depot for some dummy door knobs. Spray paint them in creepy, distressed looking colors for extra effect. Be sure to line the doorway with fog lights to keep the aura of mystery alive! Oh, and be sure to include lots of fearsome games to keep your guests entranced and feeling festive!

As you can see, Music & Arts has you covered this Halloween season. From the spooky music and fog machines and everything in between, make Music & Arts your first stop when crafting your haunted house.