Tell us what inspired you for haunting...

[Spookyfinder]

This might has been touched on in the past, but figured it is a question that can be asked too often...

So, what inspired you or got you to do the haunting you do now? Was it an event as a child? Was it that scary house you use to go every year trick or treating? Did it just start as a fun party idea? Did you start it because of your kids? Was there another haunter in our world you came across that got your intrigued?

Tell us your story as to what got you to do your haunting that you do now!

[txaschainsaw]

Ive always liked doing scary decorations in my front yard, so i collected for a few years, got a bunch o props and equipment, and now i transformed it to a haunted house.

Some haunts that have greatly inspired me to push further and further are:
The Darkness
Scarehouse

[Jim Warfield]

As a kid I immeadiately got emotionally hooked-up to the assumed power the scary guy has over mere meek mortals, if only just for a few seconds til they figure things out...
"Gotcha!"
Maybe it's an ego boost allowing us to feel temporarilly superior to those timid-reacting others?
I do it now for the laughs, mine and theirs.
Add to the formula the constant tinkering and building I have always been doing since my first tool kit... "Oh look! Isn't that cute! Jimmy thinks he can unscrew the door stop and hinges with his constant picking at the screws with his tiny toy screwdriver!"
Then the door almost fell off!
Yep! I got it! age 3.

[GothycDesigns]

I was originally interested in Special Effects makeup. As I got older, it was just a natural progression for propbuilding. About 5-6 years ago I really got more into the propbuilding and found a local pro haunt. Got involved there and became a core member. As that haunt grew, we went out on our own to create a total new attraction.

I still love doing the yard decorations when I get time. and sometimes just the smallest things make me happy when doing haunt stuff. Weahter is building a pnuematic scare or wiring LEDs. Its all good.

[Motograter]

I was in the 6th grade and I was watching the movie Ernest scared stupid where a group on neighborhood kids built a haunted house in the woods. After watching that movie it inspired me to make a garage haunt with my brother and best friends. We charged $1.00 to enter and made over $200.00 in the weekend that we where open. We made flyers and passed them out door to door for advertising. That lasted a couple years and then I got into acting at pro haunts when I was 13. I've been doing haunts ever since than.

[Jim Warfield]

So taking in $200.oo meant that you then felt as if you had to buy some $6,000 robotics for next year, right?
hahahaahah!
Temptation comes in many forms.

[Terrorknight]

Why I got into the biz

My reason is probably much different than most. It wasn't my love of Horror movies or even going to haunts growing up. I did watch and go to these things but they didn't put the thought into my head. I grew up going to Disney and Universal and I was always amazed at what these places were able to do to your mind and the way they you think. I can trace back to the exact moment I realized what I wanted to do. I was at Universal in Florida, I was 10 and I went on E.T. And I know this sounds odd "E.T. got him into haunted houses?" Yes. Here was a big metal warehouse looking building and we walked inside and walked up to what looked like a grocery store check out were they asked your name and handed you a credit card. Well I walked up to a big set of doors and when I went through the doors I was in a forest. I remember just standing there staring up into the trees and it giving me the total feeling of being in the woods. The sounds and moonlight shining down I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. I knew I was in a building but my mind just didn't want to believe it. That's when I knew I wanted to be the person who could do that to other people. I wanted to be the person to make people believe what they knew couldn't be true. That was an awesome feeling, and it still is.

[brad]

I had been going to haunted houses for as long as I can remember. My parents even took me to the Dallas and Houston areas, just to go to haunted houses. Thats what I loved to do.

When I was 16, a friend and I voluteered at a local Jaycee's haunted house. We were so pumped up at the end of the night. I had the most fun I'd ever had! We got home, and were saying that when we grow up, we should build our own haunted house!

After a while, I started thinking about it, and realized- I know what scares people and what doesn't. I've been going to these things for forever! Why not. Why not build my own haunted house!

So I went to the local party stores and started buying costumes and masks, and whatever else I could.

And 9 years later.... I'm still buying stuff, I'm going to tradeshows, and doing everything else I can do to be a part of this stuff.

Maybe next year, I can finally open my own haunt up again.

[Dr. Giggles]

Went as a clown one year(10 years old) and picked up a chainsaw and i never really put it down since then iv pretty much acted and built haunted houses. I just devloped this much darker side of me.