Don't you just hate

[Taena]

one other thing I hate / love is when I find a BF/GF in my black maze and the woman is going down on her man I will sneak up and scare the shit out of her .. he regrets it later. =)~

[Jim Warfield]

One time a smallish man snuck into the house all by himself and was wandering around under the influence of some animal traquilizers.
He pulled a nailed shut door open with his bare hands! The nails were very long and nailed directly into a 2 by 4 frame.
Lucky for me I had the absolutely right employee right there who talked to him, calmed him down and escourted him out.
What do I mean by "the absolutely right employee"? He is a very calm, intelligent man who later (about a year later) became a Minister, then a missionary in India, later China, he and his whole family, Wife, two kids.
My son who has worked as a security guard in a hospital for 14 years has told me it sometimes takes a room full of Policemen to subdue one scrawny little guy who happens to be on animal tranqs!
Be so carefull out there!
(It seems like the little guys are always the punchers too!?)

[Jim Warfield]

When customers try to pee in the wine cellar we often times scare them at the same time and they end up wetting alot of their own clothing!
Of course the perfect such scare has the guy trying to quickly hide his naked, exposed manly unit but the zipper teeth find their cruel meal as the secret entrance closes!
This should result in a lesson learned, wouldn't you think so guys?
Pain accomplishes such things.

[Taena]

We had a woman come through Sat. night I wanted to beat this chick anyways she came in and right away my house leader pulled me aside and told me I needed to show her through with the flashlight becuase she had a 2month old baby and a 2 year old with her. Then the woman got mad and tryed to demand that she get her money back becuase no one would scare her ... I really wish some ppl could be gagged and tied and tossed over a bridge when they do things like that I mean find someone to watch your kids for 2 hours why you go... it is not that hard.

[Jim Warfield]

The 5 yr. old boy enters the house looks scared , refuses to do a certain somethings like walk down a dark hallway, whatever?
He takes this option numerous times, then as he exits the house developes a strut and proclaims:"This house couldn't scare me!" For a whole parking lot full of people to hear.
I had to rain on his little parade and loudly remind him of each and every one of the things he decided to pass on rather than try when he was just in the house.
I did have alot of peculair fun with him when he was inside making fun of the kid as I did sort of a W.C. Fields impersonation as I wise-cracked concerning his phobias.
Ever seen W.C. with a small child? He was pretty funny.

[Warren Vanderdark]

On the flip side, I've long made it a personal rule that if a young child (12 and under) is showing signs of being overly scared, I'll back-off. Last night at The Baxter Avenue Morgue, there was a guy bringing through his two young sons and two of their friends. The two sons of course, had their dad with them, but the other two kids were basically 'flying solo" and were scared to the point of tears. A debate ensued for nearly 10 minutes (thankfully, Thursdays are our slow night) about how the two should "toughen up" and go along and how they were "never being invited to come along ever again" for wanting to leave. (One of the boys went along with "Mr. Parent-of-the Year" and his sons while the more frightened of the pair was escorted to our souvenir tent to await the others.)

I'm usually slow to anger, but I was THIS-CLOSE to stepping out of character and grabbing "Mister Macho" by the t-shirt and shaking some sense into him (granted, I'd probably still be shaking him come this time NEXT year with still no noticeable effect). For Christ's sake, lose $15 now and try again next year, or spend $1,500 on therapy 5 years down the road. As I've said before, I'm there to entertain, not emotionally scar some kid... (Stepping down off my cobwebbed sopabox)

[undertaker]

On the flip side, I've long made it a personal rule that if a young child (12 and under) is showing signs of being overly scared, I'll back-off. Last night at The Baxter Avenue Morgue, there was a guy bringing through his two young sons and two of their friends. The two sons of course, had their dad with them, but the other two kids were basically 'flying solo" and were scared to the point of tears. A debate ensued for nearly 10 minutes (thankfully, Thursdays are our slow night) about how the two should "toughen up" and go along and how they were "never being invited to come along ever again" for wanting to leave. (One of the boys went along with "Mr. Parent-of-the Year" and his sons while the more frightened of the pair was escorted to our souvenir tent to await the others.)

I'm usually slow to anger, but I was THIS-CLOSE to stepping out of character and grabbing "Mister Macho" by the t-shirt and shaking some sense into him (granted, I'd probably still be shaking him come this time NEXT year with still no noticeable effect). For Christ's sake, lose $15 now and try again next year, or spend $1,500 on therapy 5 years down the road. As I've said before, I'm there to entertain, not emotionally scar some kid... (Stepping down off my cobwebbed sopabox)

Yeah my dad took my brother and i to a haunt one time and a dude jumped out and scared the S### out of him. The dude immediately broke character and said it's only a mask. We laughed it off pretty much.

Some people are just suited from haunted houses, my brothers gone to very few since then.

[screamshow]

We get paid to entertain people. They hand us their $15 so they can enjoy a scary show -- with the key word being enjoy.

When I get an oblivious parent with a terrified kid, I generally take the option away from macho-dad by interceding myself. When I see someone approaching (or in) panic I will simply step in and offer to show them the way out. The kid is usually saying hell yeah, get me out of here. (It is relatively rare that macho-dad will refuse, but it happens. Some parent's seem to take perverse delight in dragging their horrified kids along with them.)

When the show allows, once I get the kid away from the parent I ask if they want to help me try and scare their parent's. That usually cheers them up.

[s.fc90]

I'm not a haunt actor (although I'd like to try it, hopefully next year...I wanted to do it this year at a local haunt but I didn't have the time )

Anyway, everytime I go through haunts I always here the "I'll sue!", "How much do you get paid" and yelling back at them.

It totally RUINS everything. It ruins the suspense, tension, and scares all the time. I'm scared when I'm walking through there and so is everyone else and then you get the 1 dickhead who thinks he's the tough guy and spoils the whole moment. Well, I think that

And then you get that whiny b!tch. Why do people get so offended and so up in arms? EVERYTHING is solved by suing or threating to. It all stems for their greediness. I rememeber when I went through haunts where they would touch you. And I wish they still did.

Do they not touch anymore because of people like that? Or is it different. The touch thing was scary.

I once went through a maze where we zigzagged back and forth in pitch black through long black curtains and in between the 2 sides of curtains people were hiding and they would grab your leg (not hard or intent to make you fall, just a touch) or arm. So what? Are you gonna die now because of it?

I think that should be a rule. No saying stupid shit to the actors (well, worder differently) or you'll be ejected immediatly right then and there, no refund. Maybe that'll get idiots to stop. Next time I hear anyone say any of those things above, I'm yelling out STFU because it ruins it for me. So, heads up to anyone working at ESP or Fright Factory, don't kick me out! haha


How about responses to the "I'll sue" line

"Greedy little mortal! You can't sue me!"
if its a girl....
"I dont touch tainted meat!"
or
"I only touch the pretty ones!" or "I only touch the dead ones!"

and if its a guy

"You know you want me to!"
or
"It's ok, I only scare men!" (i tried not to say i only touch men because then that backfires haha - this way it just seems like he's a pussy)

[floater]

I had one kid say "if anyone touches me, my dad's a lawyer..." I replied "My brother's a judge and he eats lawyers for breakfast!" No reply...

We had our "greeters" dressed as Gypsies several years ago (looked great!), and some dingbat girl actually said "We're Christians, so we don't believe in Gypsies!" That one still has me shaking my head.

There's always some idiot who wants to prove his manhood and take on a spook like they're real! They're usually Jr High boys, am I right??

Ya gotta love people who bring much-too-young kids to haunts - what other horrible things do they make them do? My ghouls and I always pull back when freaked-out little kids come through.

Working security one year, I was a little worried the two tough bikers in leathers might cause problems. Just before the haunt door creaked open, one says, "Are you going in first?" To which the other says "No way, you're first!" I had to leave so I didn't laugh in their faces! No worries there!

I love dressing all in black with flowing robes down to the floor. My boots and headgear make me a full 6' 6" tall! All I do is hang out in a dark corner and wait for someone "cool" to come strolling by. All I do is step out silently when they're not looking - sends 'em screaming to the ground every time!! I've even freaked out co-workers in the haunt, mostly NOT on purpose!!

There are the people that make haunting difficult, but luckily they are few and far between!!

The big question - "Is it scary?" Hell, yeah!!!