# Granny's Basement - My 2011 Garage Haunt



## brees86 (Sep 8, 2008)

*Granny's Mansion - My 2011 Garage Haunt*

Here's the floor plan that I'm working on for my garage haunt this year. 










I've never actually named my haunt in the past, but I'm thinking about calling it "Granny's Basement" this year. The theme will be centered around the Distortions Rockin' Granny that I picked up on Ebay a few months ago, starting with a room made to look like a patio or deck leading into her house. 

The next room will be a view of granny in her rocker with a candle (LED) chandelier, dead plants, cobwebs, etc. 

Following that is a den with a "Rotty Randy" painting and a few more candles. 

Next is a darkened room that I'm still trying to "theme". One thought would be to have some dangling 4-inch landscape drainage tubes that people have to push through. Another thought is to have a few hanging skeletons that they have to walk through maybe with a small bit of blue back-lighting. Anyway, that room needs to be mostly dark so it won't reflect in the 2-way mirror as they enter the next room. 

The mirror will be a motion sensor-triggered effect where the room lights will shut off and granny (or maybe an actor) will appear in the mirror with a scream or something. I'm really happy with the mirror - I built it a few weeks ago with thick plexiglass, mirror film, and a perfect frame that I found at Hobby Lobby. 

Next is granny's closet, filled with a bunch of whimsical clothing that I found at several thrift stores. Could also hide an actor in there. The closet leads into the skull room that I used last year. You can see that in this thread:

http://www.halloweenforum.com/general-halloween/105395-my-2010-garage-haunt.html

After the skull room is an "enchanted forest" type hallway with a thunderstorm (motion sensor-triggered strobes and a thunder clap sound effect). 

Next is the black light spider pod room that I also did last year, but this year it will include an air blaster at ankle level. 

The final room is a false doorway-type room with a fake door built into one wall and the real exit behind one of two curtains (the other curtain might conceal another actor). I've never tried a false door type of effect, but I've been thinking that it might be fun.

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts and suggestions!


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## MissMandy (Apr 18, 2011)

These sound like great ideas! That rocking granny actually scared the crap outta me last year! I was in a Halloween store with a friend, walked around the corner and there she was, rocking away with that horrid look on her face! Thank gawd there was no one around to see me jump LOL. It would be cool to elaborate on this idea over the years. Having the basement be more like her entire house (adding a bedroom, kitchen, dining room, etc). If it's in the budget, add the rocking grandpa too. What a lovely couple!  Maybe there can be some kinda twist, where this seeminly innocent elderly couple actually traps children and keeps them in cages. Poor grandpa is just too old to go out hunting for dinner anymore, so they capture children for their food! And what better night to do their big yearly grocery shopping than on Halloween...when there's an endless supply of little kiddies!


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## Trinity1 (Sep 5, 2009)

I LOVE IT! Sounds like you have some really great ideas. I especially love Grannie's closet...I don't know why...I can just see you really being able to make that a creepy place. Old clothes, cobwebs, maybe one of those jewerly boxes that play music....but make it sound creepy and out of tune somehow. Those things always freak me out. 

An actor hiding in the closet would be awesome too!! Maybe a creepy looking kid sitting on the floor with the music box playing dress up....as people walk in...the actor could ask them if they want to stay and play. You definitely have a great base laid out. Can't wait to see pictures of it!!

MissMandy: I love your idea too! Yearly grocery shopping......FANTASTIC!!


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## Wolfbeard (Sep 22, 2008)

Make sure the closet smells like moth balls! This looks like a great layout!

Eric


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## Whispers in the Park (Jun 6, 2009)

Sounds great...would love to see the mirror you made. How did you do the skull room last year? Or maybe I should say, where did you get all the skulls and bones?


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## brees86 (Sep 8, 2008)

MissMandy - I love your suggestions! Maybe I'll move it "up" a floor every year. Next year the living room, dining room, kitchen, and cages; and the following year the bedroom, bathroom, attic, etc. It would play into a sort of Hansel and Gretel type theme (which really creeped me out when I was a kid). I'd love to be able to develop a storyline over several years!

Trinity1 and Wolfbeard - I also love your ideas on the closet, especially the music box! When I worked at Nightshade Manor haunted house a few years ago, one of the creepiest scenes was the walk-through closet exit from the bedroom. There were a bunch of clothes hanging down and waist-high claustrophobia bags that people had to push through. An actor made an appearance from a side wall about half-way through. The effect was like the dream when you're trying to run from something, but your legs won't let you run. I think Granny's closet will be a lot of fun.

Whispers - I'll try to get a couple pics of the frame tomorrow. The skulls and bones are the styrofoam ones that you can get at Walmart, Michaels, etc. I cut the backs off the skulls and mounted them to the walls, added a little Great Stuff for texture and then painted the whole thing black, then dry-brushed gray and white. Wasn't difficult at all and the TOTers seemed to love it!


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## Trinity1 (Sep 5, 2009)

So you made the skulls display for the skull room?!?! Awesome job! I thought it was something that you bought prefab. Seeing everything that everyone has either made or is working on is really putting me in the mood to work on a few things myself!


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## brees86 (Sep 8, 2008)

*Granny's Mansion Blog*

I've decided to add a little "back story" to my garage haunt this year. I love the concept of an on-going mystery that develops over several years (thanks MissMandy for the idea!). I'm working on a short blog/website to help build the story. Not quite sure how to direct people to the site just before Halloween (maybe one of those vinyl banners from Shindigz?). But I think some of the kids and maybe even a few adults in my neighborhood would get a kick out of it!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story so far:

http://www.grannysmansion.com/


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## MissMandy (Apr 18, 2011)

Very cool story! It had me wondering and wanting more! Do you plan to add pix? I was hoping I could click on the polaroids and it would reveal something  I'd definately do a big ole banner and hang it in your front yard or on a garage door. Maybe even print up some flyers and stick em in neighbors mailboxes.


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## brees86 (Sep 8, 2008)

Thanks! Yes, I'm going to add more to the story including making the poloroids clickable (as soon as Mr. Milton has some time to work on them). I think the story is going to play out along the lines of what you suggested, but the caged people will be a year or two down the road when we get to the attic. The light and rumbling coming from the mansion will play an important part this year, as will the entomology professor's family that disappeared. I think this year's haunt is going to be a lot of fun!


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## MissMandy (Apr 18, 2011)

Gawd, how fun it would be to live in your neighborhood! It's not just a haunt....it's a story that comes to life over the years! Each year, you get a little more info. That is really cool


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## ezekiel (Nov 4, 2007)

I stumbled across your 2010 Garage Haunt thread and I must say I am impressed. What you did was exactly what I wanted to do last year. And based on what I'm seeing in this thread your haunt is going to be many times better than last year. Excellent idea on including a story behind your haunt. Maybe I missed it but are you actively promoting your haunt within your neighborhood? How was traffic last year for you? One of my main concerns was dealing with traffic ... we have quite a few ToT's who visit our home and to add/convert it to a garage haunt could pose some problems dealing with a queue lines and such and was just wondering how you handled it. 

One last question for now if I may, what type of fastener system do you use to join the panels to each other, screws or bolt/washer/nut?

Thanks so much for sharing your haunt!


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## brees86 (Sep 8, 2008)

Thanks! I think this year is going to be a lot of fun. I've already had a few of the neighborhood kids asking me about it (that doesn't usually happen until a week or two before Halloween!). I've never done much in the way of promoting the event in recent years, other than putting up my pumpkin tree in the front yard around mid-October, and adding a new outside decoration every day or two after that. This year I'm having a couple of big banners printed up (shindigz.com) that I will put out around the same time the pumpkin tree goes up. I wanted to do that so the kids will have some time to check out the back story on the website before coming to the haunt. It will be interesting to see how many of them actually do check it out.

Traffic-wise I had around 200-250 people go through the haunt last year (and probably another 50 or so that stopped by but didn't want to go in). Fortunately they were spread out over about 3 hours, so I never had too much congestion. I'd say the longest the line ever got was about 30-40 people at the busiest time. I had an actor at the entrance to the haunt metering people in and that helped a lot. This year I want to have another actor outside to provide some entertainment for the people waiting in line. I also have a couple of little "gags" planned for the driveway (a fake snake in a "free bottled water" cooler for example).

I didn't get too fancy with the fastening system. I just used 3" wood screws to attach the walls through the 2x2 frames. It worked pretty well. I'll try to take more construction pics this year.


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## Lea32R (Oct 16, 2008)

This whole thing sounds amazing. I've just looked in the other thread and it looks like your haunt last year was awesomely spooky. Can't wait to see this year's pics!


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## ezekiel (Nov 4, 2007)

It sounds like the foot traffic for my yard walk through was about the same as yours. Having a queue line of 30-40 people could prove problematic though. Where did you line them up? In the driveway? I was thinking about using some type of post-rope system to create a snake-able queue line in the driveway.

Last year there were several groups of people that came all together, talking like 8-12+ people and I will have to break them up. I was thinking of letting 3-4 people at a time through the haunt and then allowing the next group in once the first group was halfway through.

Do you have any video of your haunt from last year?


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## brees86 (Sep 8, 2008)

Unfortunately, I didn't get any video last year. I will definitely have some for this year! I didn't have a defined path for the lines - they just formed on their own down the driveway and (briefly) onto the sidewalk. The only problem I ran into was that the actor in the first hallway would occasionally scare people so badly that they ran back out the entrance and (in a couple cases) out into the street. This year I plan to rope off the span where my driveway connects to the street. Fortunately there wasn't a lot of car traffic at the time, but that still made me nervous.


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## ezekiel (Nov 4, 2007)

How is the build going brees86? I haven't seen any new posts in this thread so hope it is progressing better than mine.

I really love your idea about building a back story for your haunt. My wife and I have kicked around the idea of doing one since 2009 but never made it any farther than talking about it. Seeing your back story site inspired me to begin to build one for our haunt. I'm working on trying to develop a story line that incorporates the local area and what not ... but I'm wondering how I'm going to work it next year ... will have to be an all new story I guess? At any rate, I hope to hear something about your progress this year. Thanks.


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## brees86 (Sep 8, 2008)

Sorry for the lack of recent posts. Just finished building 7 new wall panels, including a new facade. I'll post some pics soon. I have a couple of updates on the way for Granny's website, but I'm waiting until closer to the middle of October when I put out the first of the banners. I've hinted a little about the theme to some of the kids and they seem to love it!

Can't remember if I mentioned previously that for each of the next few years the haunt will cover a different "floor" of granny's mansion. I was originally going to start with the basement, but I've since decided to make this year the main floor. I want to find a way to simulate an elevator in the haunt to "take" them to a different floor, but I just don't have the time to do it this year along with all the other changes.


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## MissMandy (Apr 18, 2011)

I cannot wait to see some pix!


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## CaliforniaMelanie (Sep 8, 2008)

WOW. That is seriously going to be something. Awesome!


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## Rev. Noch (Sep 2, 2008)

Sorry for the thread Necromancy. I just stumbled on this thread today and am curious how not only 2011 went, but 2012 as well.


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## brees86 (Sep 8, 2008)

Both years were a lot of fun! Here's a video from 2011 that was shot by a friend of mine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw1FRO3nwdE

I have 20 minutes of video from 2012 that I still need to edit and upload. I'll try to post a few pics too as soon as I can get to it. The 2012 haunt was similar in size, but more detailed than 2011. I added a study, a clown room, and a claustrophobia room. I also brought back the "vortex chain" hallway from 2010, which probably got more scares than any part of the haunt. We had around 300 people come through in 2012 - it's been growing by about 50 people per year over the past few years.


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## Trinity1 (Sep 5, 2009)

That looks awesome! Can't wait to see still photos. People with cameras always make me queasy LOL! You did an amazing job though!


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