Cheap Haunted House Ideas - Floating Mask Room
Looking for a Cool, Cheap Home Haunt Room?
Oct 12, 2008
Home haunts, small-scale haunted houses done by home owners, are a great way to expand on a Halloween party, or just add something extra for local trick-or-treaters. Unfortunately, ideas that are both effective and cheap can be hard to come by, especially for first-timers. One idea that serves as cheap, effective, and a lot of fun is the floating mask room.
Materials Needed
For the floating mask room, very few materials are needed, depending on the desired size of the room and the available light and outlets. If the room is unable to block out all light, black plastic is a great way to keep things dark, reflect a bit of light inside the room, and help the actor(s) hide. One wall, or part of the wall, will need to be covered by black fabric. Make sure to have enough fabric to cover whatever section of wall that needs to be covered as well as 13 or so extra feet to make a large costume (don't worry, no major sewing is needed).
For lights, a blacklight bulb is required. It's best to use the full-sized fluorescent lights; many ordinary light bulbs that claim to be black lights are really only purple-tinted light bulbs, and won't give the needed illumination.
Finally, some fishing line and any number of white or glow-in-the-dark masks are needed for the effect. Many halloween supply stores have cheap hockey masks that work well, but any white mask that glows under black light will work fine.
The Setup
Usually, such a room should have enough space to fit up to five people and still have some space (about 5-10 paces) between where they will stand (usually in a frightened group in the center of the room) and the other side of the room. This has been done using a section of a large outdoor canopy tent with black plastic along the sides, but a garage will work better. Be sure to still hang some sort of barrier between the side of the garage and the area where people will walk: scared visitors tend to cling to the walls, so a hanging barrier lets them know that something may be behind there.
Once all outside light is completely cut off and the far wall has the fabric on it, set up the blacklight. In a moderate-sized room, one or two bulbs is all that is required. Hang them in the center of the room if possible. If not, hang them so the light shines toward the far wall, but try to angle it away from where the actor(s) will stand.
Using the fishing line, hang the masks around the room (two lines holding the masks taught is best so they don't rotate), being sure to face them all toward the guests and making sure to leave some sort of path. Keep them at face level. Then, drape the leftover fabric on the actor(s), making sure they can see. Have them wear the mask and wait for guests to come close before leaping out.
The Last Word
In a dark enough room, all of the masks will appear to be possible actors, and any wind will cause them to move slightly, appearing to be alive. The actor will blend into the wall, appearing to be another mask, until they leap out and cause all sorts of wonderful panic!
 |
 |
 |
