Beyond the Infinite

This is our finished vortex tunnel complete with sound. Unfortunately the broad daylight video does not come close to the full night time effect. The sound track is from 2001: A Space Odyssey
Enjoy!

Day 1- That means Halloween is tomorrow!

Hard to believe. 4 months have basically vanished. So now it's the last minute preparations. Basically all that is left is the entrance/exit sheeting. All of the halls are done. The cave eyes were finally installed after I shorted out the light board trying to set up a triggering relay. I had to have Cowlacious overnight another one! I am just going to leave it on all the time during the haunt. The cave room is very small and by the time the eyes turn on and off when guests enter and leave, the effect does not have a chance to get started so leaving it on continuously should be fine.I think it's a pretty cool effect. I put 20 pairs of 'eyes' randomly positioned in the back of the cave. My son Max will have a black mask on with one pair of eyes secured to the top of his head somewhere and will walk forward a couple of steps coming out of the darkness.
I spent about 4 hours last night fussing with the vortex. OK, so we're in New England here where the weather is crap much of the time. We set up the canopy and structure maybe 3 weeks ago and we had in that time span a Noreaster, a bunch of rain and earlier this week a low pressure system with super high humidity and more rain. Last night was the 3 hour vortex test and I swear it took about an hour and a half before the thing would turn on its own! Finally it worked fine, but attention all ghouls who want to build this and live in places with significant weather! It definitely can work, but it does require a fair amount of attention. I was afraid the hoops warped or something despite the fact that the structure is enclosed and the wood is treated. The more you run it, the better it works.
At any rate I finished the sheeting for the back of the vortex and the entry way. Having a completely black exit from the tunnel makes a HUGE difference.
Tomorrow we will set up the sound for the vortex and I need to start practicing my hauntmaster tasks from the control room. We will power everything up and test it!

Day4- Weather update

The ghouls are apparently watching over us as it finally looks like cool and dry for Halloween! We're expecting a front to pass through today with rain and wind but things should be drying out over the next couple of days. Once I screwed the canopy feet down to 2x4 blocks the tent stability problem was basically cured! It can handle up to about 15-20mph wind with no major problems. I haven't had to put any legs back in place or reattach components in the last couple of weeks. The vortex apparatus is definitely affected by humidity and weather. Last night during the test it was very sluggish. We are having unusually warm weather and high humidity. I had to keep cranking the hoops around for about 20 minutes before it would run on its own. That would be a drag if we needed yet another person to assist tunnel rotation but I am certain once things dry out we'll be good.

Vortex update

Well we did successfully run the completed vortex with 2 black lights and the effect was very intense! My son Ben and I added many random fluorescent dots, plus it is important to place black wall covering at the exit of the tunnel to eliminate any stationary reference points. We had plenty of extra fabric. I added a long 2x4 on both sides of the bridge below the railing to mount the lights. These were placed exactly 4 fingerbreadths below the rail. This seems to be a good location. The light and extension cords can be secured to the rail structure with duct tape. We have 1 power strip on both sides and extension cords which run to the vortex entrance and down to the ground alongside the 'doorway' to the tunnel.

Day 4- The Cave

I'm off work today to finish the last parts of the garage. The Cave room is the last area to complete.
The concept is fairly simple. I'm sure many of you have seen a 'dot room' or 2 if you frequent halloween haunts. That's where you have an actor dressed in black and wearing glo-in-the dark dots to blend in with the surrounding dots on the walls. Then the actor moves toward the guests and appears to literally come out of the walls. It's a cool effect. We did one a couple of years back and it worked well. This idea is simply a high tech version of the dots. You have a bunch of pairs of blinking red eyes in the dark blinking randomly and an actor 'wears' one pair. We'll probably just stick them on his head or something. Then he approaches the guests and the effect should hopefully be even more intense than the dots. Since it will probably be virtually impossible to video the cave eyes in action, here is a link to a demonstration. When you go to this page, just click on the 'video' tab.

Day 8- Random finishing details

Welcome back Ghouls! Only barely over a week to go. I think we're good. Today we finished off the prison room including all the sound and light effects. I will try to demonstrate the sequence of events tomorrow. The corpse effect in Zone 6 actually turned out a lot better than expected. I was happy that for once we got something to work great at the end. Usually we're so rushed to throw things together that the end of the haunt is kind of a dud. The video here shows the basic set-up in natural light which doesn't do it justice at all but you get the idea. Several years ago I prepared a skeleton to look like a corpse. If you google 'corpsing a Bucky' you will see the process. Anyhow, the corpse sits in the nearer of 2 trash cans. I secured 2 strobe lights to the bottom of each can so you get uplighting of the corpse. A rope is secured to the skeleton and runs through a pulley above, then across the ceiling to a second pulley which drops down to a handle in the prison. One of the prisoners will be in direct line of sight as the guests walk past the trash can and he will raise the corpse upward sharply. It's very startling as I also have the cans enclosed in a separate corridor with it's own fog machine!
Finally the vortex is coming along. Almost half of the fabric was painted today with the fluorescent dots. We tested it out and I believe it will work fine. One thing is we have to eliminate all outside references meaning the white canopy. We're going to try lines as well. Many have said that enhances the effect. So basically what's left are finishing the corpse room and vortex entry area which is basically sheeting there. And finally the cave room which should take all of about one day. Finishing touches and walk through the last few days.
Pictures shown today from the bottom up are:
1) Prison room showing a prop inside the prison which is actually just a diversion since there will be actors in there as well! I also have a head prop hanging in the main room you can see to the right. Again, it's so dark this year that I am having trouble showing this stuff. The images usually have to be overstretched
2) Looking back into the hall of the green mile room, Zone 5, through the gate.
3) Painting the vortex walls. We used fluorescent paint and cut-out round holes in paper to use as stencils so the paint would not run. One coat appears to be satisfactory.

Day 14- survived the Noreaster

Well yes we did survive that....barely. The vortex hoops remained totally dry, but unfortunately with the wind, the canopy does keep shifting and some of the segments have to be repositioned periodically. I tried duct taping to see if that helps. If I had to do it again I would go with the 12 x 20 so as not to have to use any extension pieces. Only need another 2 weeks though. We continue to press on getting things done. The vortex bridge is nearly complete and zone 4 was finished today. The video is sort of a walk through of zone 4 without the simulated electrocution with the ghost actor so all you hear is the lightning storm. With so little time left I am not having the time to demonstrate some of the details such as how to create lightning effect, etc. I will do this after perhaps on a separate page.

Day 19- Vortex success!

Yes Ghouls, it CAN be done! We cranked it out on Columbus day weekend: put up the canopy with the 2 foot extension, assembled the hoops and tested it out. It does actually work. Once again, when I finally get the whole thing operating including bridge, fabric and all I will create a whole page detailing the steps and troubleshooting etc. that I went through. I would like to thank 'Scary Terry' for providing the basic plans and material sources and Jeff Brown for invaluable troubleshooting and tips during the construction. It's not over yet as we have still the bridge and finishing work, but fully operational hoop rotation is a major step! The images show the hoops inside the canopy during construction with 2 of the 3 hoops connected and the 2 videos demonstrate the rotation of the finished 3 hoop construct.

Day 21- What's left

Well in 2 words...A LOT. But that's OK. I'm sure all you ghouls out there watch those reality shows where people have 2 days to build a house..and it does get done. We have way more time than that. So what's left? We have still to finish lighting, sound and sheeting for zone 4, the "Green Mile' room, but the good news there is the peppers ghost illusion was perfected, so that's done. Lighting, sound and sheeting for the prison room and the corpse and exit, zones 5-7, framing for zones 6-7, special effects and sheeting for zone 3 and finally the vortex. We need to find a few more helpers including 'prisoners' for zone 5. Thankfully we have a 3-day weekend so we will be cranking this weekend on a bunch of things, including finishing the framing, getting the lighting and sound for zone 4 done and finally testing a 2-hoop construct for the vortex and covering the canopy. If you're just joining us you might have to go back to the beginning of the blog, around July 7th to see the explanation of the different zones.

Day 22- Vortex update

Finally we've got things going on this! Now listen ghouls...you don't realize how big this thing really is until you start building it. The hoops are a good 10 feet high! I got a 10 x 20 canopy to protect the hoops from weather. I had to crank it up an extra 2 feet. I just used PVC pipe, 2 foot sections bolted onto the ends of the legs. We actually just got the thing up when it was dark so I will have more pics hopefully tomorrow. We completed the three hoops which you can see in these images. My son Ben who is 11 now was huge on this whole task! The 2 of us finished the hoops, put the canopy up while Peter the carpenter was working on the 2 x 3 connector boards. Now if you look on Scary Terry's website and scroll down to the end you see the diagram of how the 2x3's are supposed to connect to the hoops. Very confusing if you're not used to doing this type of thing. I've included a couple of images of how the holes are supposed to look. You place the T nut facing the bolt in the hole, thread it onto the end so the spikes will engage the flat part of the hole.

Day 23- Bees of Terror walkthrough

Welcome back Ghouls! Zone 2 is now complete. I had found a real bees nest last summer (a 'corpse' nest of course- one that was vacated) I prepared it with a spray-on varnish and mounted it onto a piece of 2x4 connected to a 2x2 from the ceiling frame. I made the bees out of packing peanuts and sprayed them with black paint but not totally black because you can't see them in the dark. The 'bees' are suspended with fishing line painted black. Concealed behind the room overhead is a small fan. Once the door opens I turn on a switch (Using the previously shown X10 device- see post from September 11). This turns on the uplighting strobe, fan and scream followed by bees buzzing noise. To add a touch of additional spookiness, I have a spider dropping onto the guests just as they enter. The first video shows the original set-up with fan on creating the bee swarm. The second video is live walkthrough with sound, again using headlight so you can see, but the effect is much better with strobe obviously!

Day 26- More entrance detail, vortex update

Going down to the wire for sure. We added a small sound bite to the end of the entrance which will be a cue for the door operator to open the door to zone 2. One advantage to wood framing is that you can mount things like sound boards and speakers just about anywhere. In the video you can see how we mounted a small sound board high up on the wall so the sound appears to come down from there when you're inside. You can also control power to different effects using a simple switch that has a female plug for your device and a male plug on the other side to connect to your outlet (top image).

Ah yes, the vortex. Perhaps some are wondering if it's still on. Well yes, so far it is. We have the wheels mounted, and a fully operational gear motor with a switch. I realized not too long ago that the only way we can do this is to assemble it once outside where it needs to go and keep it out there. Because of that, we had to get a 10 x20 canopy to weatherproof it. No way around it. We're in New England and we don't want the hoops to warp. Anyway, we're expecting to start building this week once the canopy arrives!

Putting it all together- the Entrance!

The Entrance is the most important and attention to detail is critical. This year the haunt is definitely darker. Unfortunately I don't have the camera equipment that can capture exactly the scene as it unfolds but here are 2 short videos. The first is in 'natural light' although it is still quite dark. In the first video I try to point out key features of interest and some of the effects we are employing. The second is an actual walkthrough with sound. I am using a headlight to create some light so you can see although again this is not the actual lighting the guests will observe. Notice how the changing scenery and ceiling depth creates an amazing illusion of space. This hall is perhaps 8 feet long or so but seems to go on forever!

ALL 5 senses

Something new I decided to try this year....SCENT! Yes I know....sounds crazy, but all the hauntmasters told me that the best haunts utilize ALL 5 senses. Believe it or not, this stuff actually exists. The way it works is you pour a vial into your fog machine and away you go! For this year's crypt/catacomb theme, I have chosen 'moldy morgue'. OK, I just tried it and no question it adds a whole new level of creepiness.

Day 29- Clean out for zone 6 and 7

The north end of the garage was cleared for the last part of the haunt. The bottom image is what I started with. A 'corpse' will rise out of one of the trash cans on the right...OK well, you'll have to use your imagination for now.

Remote scare deployment- Part 2

OK. So now we can create sound. How can it be activated at the proper time? Well one way would be identical to that used for the prop drops (see first post from today) namely just turn it on when we can see guests entering the area since we have the cameras. The other method we use is remote sensors. As I mentioned earlier, the ONLY sensor that works reliably in the dark is PRESSURE. Shown here is what's known as a mat sensor. This is the standard size I use which is 18" x 24". What I do is place it under a rug where it can't be seen. As soon as someone steps on it, the pressure transducers inside the mat create an electrical signal that can trigger just about anything. The adaptor wire shown here plugs directly into the sound board shown in the last post and that triggers the sound! See the video demo below. Mat sensors are a good investment for a haunt. Here is one good source. These have been rock solid reliable for 3 years now.

Haunted sound effects 101

We're nearing the completion of the entrance hall so it's now time to discuss more special effects. This time we focus on sound. How can we use various sounds in different parts of a haunt like this where the spaces are tiny and we only need about 10 or so seconds for each sound bite? Sure it would be great to have a huge sound system with multiple channels and speakers and a central control board. Not in a 2-car garage-sized haunt! Maybe for Disney, but not here. The answer lies in a small recording chip and circuit board shown above. Cowlacious Designs sells all sorts of cool electronic and computer stuff perfect for this sort of thing. Shown here is their CAR/P 300 recorder/player board. It sells for around $30. Very simple to use. All you do is output your sound bite from your PC to the circuit board to record the sound and then the sound can be activated in a variety of ways. I will cover one of these ways in the next post. You can plug small PC speakers into the board and the sound will usually be just about right for the size halls we utilize in the haunt. I have found that the sounds are pretty well confined to the specific hall and there really is not any significant carry over. Plus each sound is only activated for 10 seconds or so which is actually longer than you might think!

Day 30- October is here! Now for 'Prop-drop 101'

Welcome back Ghouls! Only 30 days to go and lots to do still. We wanted to demonstrate the prop drop concept. This is very simple and effective. All you need is a prop, some fishing line and a couple of pulleys. We see here the example of our 'bloody hand' prop in the entrance hall which will drop on the unsuspecting guests just at the right moment. The hand drops through an opening in the frame. We can monitor it with the camera placed at the end of the hall. The fishing line runs up to the first pulley directly above the hand, then across the ceiling back to the control room to a second pulley, then down to the operator who is able to control the drop using a block tied on the end of the fishing line. the block can be placed under 2 posts until it is ready to be used again.
See the images and demo video!