By Kim Boatman
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
SAN JOSE, Calif. - From their creepy turrets to their creaking doors, some houses are to haunting born. Others must be, ahem, resurrected from their mundane, everyday existence.
`Tis the season for the jitters. The heebie-jeebies. The creepy crawlies. And since most of us don't have a neglected old mansion at our disposal, a little thought, work and creativity are in order if we want houses that are haunting, if not actually haunted, for Halloween.
Certainly, the possibilities for tricking out a home range from the amusingly simple to the obsessively extreme. But if stories came with warning labels, this would be ours: Haunting your own home is an addictive experience.
"We started out with a ghost going up on a fishing line when you opened the door," says Shawn Higgin with a sheepish grin, surveying the construction under way at the Almaden Valley, Calif., home he shares with his parents. Higgin, brother-in-law Mark Schmal and friends and family now work for months each year creating their computer-controlled Ghoulsville for a couple of thousand visitors - at an expense of $5,000 annually.
Just how does one go about executing this transformation from the normal to the, well, paranormal? We've culled a number of useful tips from veteran haunters and other experts.
And in some cases, their advice might surprise you.
First and foremost, they say universally, realize that you are not about to embark on your own brief reign of terror. A little gore goes a long way. In fact, the Ghoulsville folks proudly call their annual haunted house a low-gore, family affair.
"Terror is not fun," says Schmal. "It's just enough when you're jumpy and come out laughing."
Know your audience, says Terri Prosper, "Hauntmistress" of www.hauntedbay.com, a site that deals with all manner of San Francisco Bay Area-related haunted house and Halloween things.
A good rule of thumb is to keep things Casper-the-Ghost friendly in front of your house so you don't frighten pint-sized trick-or-treaters. Save the Friday-the-13th horrors for invitation-only tours of private areas.
Jim and Barb Eagan do own the sort of home we all want when it comes to Halloween. Their home isn't neglected, of course, but it's a 1904 Victorian, a great scene-setter. But the Eagans make sure to create kid-friendly, mildly creepy scenes in front of their home in San Jose.
These scenes tend toward comfortable old favorites, such as allowing the kids to stick their hands in boxes where peeled grapes stand in for eyeballs and spaghetti subs for brains. But as visitors progress down his driveway, Jim Eagan says, the landscape becomes scarier. The truly brave venture into the basement, where, he assures, the spiderwebs are "real" and visitors wander a maze where volunteers in scary attire jump out.
Would-be haunters might be surprised, too, to learn that veterans make sure their homes and scary scenes are adequately lit.
"The front of our home has got a lot of light," says Eagan, who notes parents find it reassuring. "It also attracts a lot of attention so you get a lot of traffic."
Lighting affects safety as well. And safety is the byword for serious haunters. Higgin says he and his family takes such steps as fireproofing the painted muslin screens they use to define spaces in their haunted house. You want to make sure your creations are stable and won't fall over at the slightest jostle. Prosper cautions that low-hanging props or cables can trip visitors.
"Make sure you can get your lights on and people out quickly in the case of an emergency. Make sure your electrics are UL-rated, which will help prevent fires, and don't overload electrical sockets," she cautions.
So now that you have the guidelines in hand, where do you go from here? It's all about creative vision, getting in touch with your inner Spielberg. Haunters create scenes and scenarios, sometimes borrowing from a popular current movie, such as "Pirates of the Caribbean." Ghoulsville offers a theatrical show every half hour, Higgin says, that includes Clyde the demon, who grows from 8 feet to 14 feet during the show.
"Story is essential: Why is your house haunted? What happened there, a deranged mental patient escaped the local sanitarium?" Prosper says.
You can start with simpler scenarios, including the kids in the creative process. The most basic and one of the real standards is the graveyard.
Veteran haunter Terri Perry of San Jose offers this tidbit: If you use bags of manure for the graves, then you can spread it as fertilizer for your plants afterward. And cats and two-legged critters won't mess with the graves.
And if a pair of boots or a creepy hand emerge from the grave, that's all the better.
It doesn't take much to create a spooky atmosphere. Appropriately creepy music and sound effects are readily available. "A fog machine is a must; it's a pretty simple investment," Eagan says. Rent machines from theatrical supply stores or party stores, or if you're serious about your haunting, purchase one for about $750, says Higgin.
Strobe lights, black lights and even white flashing Christmas lights lend atmosphere. Fake spiderwebs are plentiful and cheap.
Obviously, creations that move, talk or detonate in some manner are far from cheap. That's where your friends come in.
Eagan and others recruit friends to put the scare in their mazes and scenes. Even Ghoulsville's technology-laden attraction ends with the real deal, a Jason look-alike with a chainless chain saw who chases visitors down the walkway as they exit.
"Things that move get people, especially if it's a real person," Higgin advises.
CREATING A MOOD
Simple things to do:
Styrofoam for tombstones
Creepy music for atmosphere
Fake cobwebs for the ick factor
Things that move to make people jump
HAUNTING ADVICE
Tips from the experts:
Create a story line.
Limit the gore.
Know your audience.
Have adequate lighting.
Think safety, safety, safety.
© 2003, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
