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 Mark has been a long time fan of Scare Attractions and over the last few years we have often bumped into him at major park events. In fact one year Mark and his brother got locked inside our Alton Towers Hotel Scare Room for over an hour as the ghosts and monsters refused to let them out!
So it’s no wonder that Mark’s enthusiasm has turned towards him putting on his own little attractions. Here Mark explains a bit more about what he did:
In 2007, together with some work friends, I organised a Halloween Party in Stamford. We hired a local Church hall, booked the disco, and decorated the venue with scary stuff. In one corner lurked a small butcher's shop inside a gazebo. Complete with gory props, police tape, smoke and strobes, the butcher's shop gained great reactions from our 70 guests.
Due to the success of the party and the interested sparked by the butcher's shop, I knew that adding a maze to this year's party would be a winner. Throughout the year I spent hours bidding on Ebay looking for props, turning ideas over in my mind, and trying to devise a thrilling attraction for our partygoers.
I decided to go with the theme of a B&B run by cannibals. Named Bled and Breakfast, guests were told of an old Motel that was left abandoned twenty years ago after the disappearance of many of the townsfolk. Following an investigation, the Motel's proprietors were arrested and their children placed into care. Now, on Halloween night, the Motel has re-opened.
Six gazebos formed the framework for the maze, with cloth being used for the walls. The landlady welcomed guests (two at a time) into the front room. The room featured a TV which played a series of scary images (I used the fantastic Elswardo's Queue Line Entertainment DVD for this). Guests were then "shown to their room" by the landlady's daughter who warned guests not to disturb her father if they saw him at his dinner table. The daughter's corridor was full of disfigured dolls and 'fire effect' lighting. The dolls created a very creepy and disturbing scene, and (thanks to Ebay and a pot of red paint) very cheap to produce! Guests also had their legs grabbed by an unseen hand as they walked through this section.
Following the dolls, guests walked through a corridor with torn pages from a surgeon's book, showing various anatomy pictures and operation procedures (this book was actually placed in the living room earlier, for those who were observant enough to spot it!). Around the next corner, guests had to push  their way into a dark corner and into the dining room. The room, complete with candelabra and candles hanging from the ceiling, was draped in red cloth. The table had various body parts in dished and plates, with the father sitting at the table. Guests had to push their way behind the father's chair as he ate. Just as they made it to the door, he would bang his fists on the table and leap from his chair. Chasing guests from the dining room, and into a corridor full of chains and meat hooks, he pushed them into the final room.
Guests nervously entered the smoke filled final room. As they inched their way around the dark room, the demented son would suddenly appear, complete with strobe  lighting (activated by a remote control plug). With the strobes lit, guests saw a room full of gore, body parts, chains and blood. They had to walk around the butcher's table where the 'meals' were prepared. Their final escape was through a corridor with hanging severed arms and legs, with the son chasing them with a severed head (which he acted being butchered from a torso prop in front of them).
It was a massive success! We had guests screaming with fright and delight as they nervously ventured through. Many guests waited outside the maze just to hear the reactions from within! We had a room dedicated to the maze, and with Rage from Midnight Syndicate used as the soundtrack, we created a real atmosphere around the maze.
It surprised me how easily you can create a truly effective maze without the need to spend a fortune. We did spend around £500 on props and effects, but this wasn't really necessary. With a good story, great acting and the right venue, you can create a truly memorable experience.
 It’s always interesting for us to about non commercial haunts such as this, as often these events can be more fun and spontaneous than some of the larger more commercial ventures.
Planning and running such an event can involve much more work than originally expected and it sounds like Mark and his friends had a great time doing it.
At the moment we have no idea of what they are planning for this year but we reckon that now they have “tasted blood” there will be no stopping them! Keep checking our site later in the year for more details.
If you ran a home haunt and would like us to feature you on the site, please contact us at the usual address.
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