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Haunt Profile With 50 Photos - Haunted House Of Horrors - Ontario, Canada

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  • Haunt Profile With 50 Photos - Haunted House Of Horrors - Ontario, Canada

    Hey Guys,

    I have been a member of the forums for years, and really enjoy seeing other people post photos of their attractions. I wanted to put a thread together with some info and photos of our attraction in Ontario, Canada. This is the third year running a haunted house "proffesionally" but the first year as a trailer haunt. My background is in engineering so i tend to be very maticulous and methodical when it comes to construction and fabrication. I start off with a CAD drawing, then walkthrough in 3D, wiring schematics etc.

    I feel that this haunt is likely pretty unique in the way its designed and constructed in the fact that the entire attraction is 12 volt, the only AC power used is from a generator that powers the air compressors (we dont have exterior power in our lot), and charges the batterys when we need to. Basically, the entire haunt lighting system, audio, effects, props etc etc is all 12V and the entire thing runs off 3 marine grade deep cycle batterys. Whats amazing is the entire haunt will run on these batterys for about 20 hours without exterior power (the air obviously wont work, since that needs the AC generator, but everything else will). This haunt is really a testimonial to those haunters asking "Can i really run a haunt with just 12V?", the answer is YES and it can be done well! It saves the electrical inspection and satisfys your fire marshall. Of course, 12V haunting isnt revolutionary, but its become feasible with the advent of proper haunt lighting. All our lighting is from Quan at Darklight, the stuff is amazing and well worth the money. Whats even cooler (i think at least!) is that each trailer uses 2 10 guage power wires running down the middle of the ceiling of the trailer, and there are no junction boxes (no electrical tape, no boxes, no solder), whenever we need to get power to a light or prop we use these clips called "tap and run connectors" which allow us to tap power from that wire by inserting a small fork into the thicker power wire and then running power to a small guage wire to the prop or light.

    Each trailer is essentially a module, with a wiring harness containing 4 wires. 12V power and ground, and the emergency alarm signal in and out. For fire safety, we have emergency push buttons at the end of each trailer, plus heat detectors in each trailer. If the buttons are pushed, or the heat detectors go off, the ground signal triggers all the other trailers to turn off the effects lighting/props/sound and turn on the emergency lights and audio recording telling people to find the nearest exit. Again, all this is 12 volts.

    Lastly each trailer has a 3/8" air line running down the middle underneath the trailers, with T connectors inserted where props are on the floor above. What also neat is that the ground wire going into each trailer is grounded to the trailer chassis, like a car. So for any prop or light, we have to run a single 12V positive power wire, but the ground wire to that prop or light simply gets grounded to any part of the trailer that is metal (usually the roof cross members). Saving on extra wire and creating less mess.

    I am a numbers and details guy, so here is the run down:

    - Victorian funeral home themed attraction with the first two trailers being the "victorian part" and the last two being the basement or underbelly of the funeral home.
    - (4) 53' FRP Trailers - 53' long, approx 100" wide. - Total of about 1700 sq ft.
    - Started building from scratch in late March, completed in September of this year. I built this entirely myself, with the exception of help from our actors for laborius non techical tasks like painting etc.
    - There is likely over 500 hours of my time into this project :-(
    - The cost (dont cringe!) - $61,500 (cost of trailers, new props and materials). However we also carried over $62,800 worth of props and equipment from our previous haunt. So YES this is a 1700 sq ft haunt that cost $124,300 to build (thats $73/sqft! - most expensive trailer haunt ever? I dont know, but it turned out amazing!). There is a lot of higher end animatronics in this small space, which is why the numbers are as big as they are.
    - We have 16 volunteers / actors each night
    - We are open for 7 nights per season

    As haunters we all know its easy and cheap to throw up something substandard with black walls and no thought put into it, however the part i enjoy is the set design and the detail, it is time consuming but i have been told that this is one of the most detailed trailer haunts in existence from some haunters who have been through it. Although I hear amazing things about the trailers at Creepyworld and RJ's in Las Vegas.

    LASTLY, i have 5 unit 70 animatronics for sale that are in the haunt right now but wont be next year, so after november 1 they are available, you can see the details on what i have for sale here: http://www.hauntedhouse.ca/propsforsale.asp

    So... now that you know the details, here are the photos. I have put them in order of the walkthrough, so photo by photo its the same order you would view things while going through the haunt.

    Im open to questions, comments and criticism, so enjoy!
    Last edited by shawng; 10-24-2011, 12:40 PM.
    Shawn
    Fear Engineer
    HauntedHouse.ca

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    Fear Engineer
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              Fear Engineer
              HauntedHouse.ca

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                Fear Engineer
                HauntedHouse.ca

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                  Fear Engineer
                  HauntedHouse.ca

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                    Fear Engineer
                    HauntedHouse.ca

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                      Fear Engineer
                      HauntedHouse.ca

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                        Fear Engineer
                        HauntedHouse.ca

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                          Shawn
                          Fear Engineer
                          HauntedHouse.ca

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                            Shawn
                            Fear Engineer
                            HauntedHouse.ca

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                            • #15
                              That is very impressive what you have done. I love the fact that everything is 12V.

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