10 Last Minute Details for Your Haunted House!

With Halloween rapidly approaching and deadlines closing in on home haunters, the time has come to finish up with construction and get on to the final details of our haunts! So here's a list of 10 cheap and easy ways to add some immense detail to your haunt this year.

Fake electrical, Creep Acres, 2013

1) Add fake electrical.
Walmart sells switches and outlets for under a dollar a piece and covers for under 50 cents. With their help, you can add detail and realism to any wall in just a few short minutes! To take it even another step farther, you can get cheap pipes,

2) Use scents.
Froggy's Fog offers scented cologne sprays for $11.99 which can be used to add an immense layer of realism to any haunt, regardless of all other factors. Remember, even if the visuals in your haunt are cheap and cheesy, attacking a sense other than sight can take the realism to a whole other level. (On a side note, I ordered my scents on a Tuesday and recieved them in the mail the following Monday. So there is still plenty of time for you last-minute home haunters to order scents!)

3) Make yourself a good soundtrack.
Again, even if your visuals are absolute crap, attacking a different sense can truly sell the experience. I'd encourage any serious haunter to put in a few hours searching YouTube and i-Tunes for some potential tracks to send shivers down the spines of their guests!

4) Make a thrift shop run.
Grab $20 and head out to your local secondhand store and you never know what you'll find! All it takes is a creative eye and you'll be able to find plenty of props to fill the shelves of your haunt.

Creep Acres 2013

5) Put in fake vents.
As with the fake electrical, you can easily find cheap air duct covers which can be added to walls for that extra layer of realism.

Mine shaft with pipes, Creep Acres, 2013

6) Make pipes.
Any industrial scene would be incomplete without a few rusty pipes, so why not create a few of your own!? With latex gloves, smear spray insulation all over sections of PVC pipe. Let dry, spray paint a rusty orange color, and screw into place!

7) Create realistic blood.
Spray a roughly 2:1 ratio of red to black spray paint into a small cup or spray paint cap, and splash onto a wall for a super realistic blood splatter! (Using only red paint will result in too bright of a finish, so be sure to include the black.)

8) Remember fog and lighting.
Even the cheesiest haunts can become terrifying spook houses given the right combination of lighting and fog, so be sure to leave yourself time to tweak them!

9) Make clacker gloves.
Buy a pair of cheap work gloves and glue washers onto each fingertip. Now when your actor smacks his hand on a wall, the sound will be louder and more frightening!

10) Make your finale something truly memorable.
Don't have a chainsaw? No problem! Unscrew the blade from your circular saw (you know, the one that you built the place with?), save the bolt that'll hold it together once you're through with it, and you've got yourself a finale scare! As always, exercise good judgement and common sense when scaring with a power tool.

Happy Hauntings everyone! I hope your Halloween seasons are filled with fun and fear and I will see you all on the other side!

-Collin