Black Maze...

[Spookyfinder]

Awesome, thanks! -Tyler

[GothycDesigns]

One of the other things we did, we did add the ups and down in our dark mazes, but we went one further. The rampers were only the height of a 2x4. So it wasn't too high. We had to keep in mind for those ladies HIGH heels not to be too steep on the ramps. So within the flooring pieces, added air hammers as we called them. So we bought cheap air chisels from Harbor Freight. cost of $10-15 or less. We built a special cavity to hold these on their sides. With some testing, we used 3/4" this steel for it to bang on. The chisels were anchor down in the cavity of the floor and pressure pad was added at the beginning of the dark maze or a few feet in. One of our haunt had 3 long dark mazes in it. So they would work really well. Especially with the pressure mats. You could step hard or soft and it would start up as such, hard or soft to full vibrating capacity. Since they were pnuematic we set them on a delay so the air resivours could replanish on those heavy nights. but most of the time, they went on for only a few seconds at a time.

When I roamed the halls I would gently step on the pads and then lean my wieght into them and hold it. So it would be like if you had a recording of a jackhammer going and turned the sound off, then slowly brought it back up. Thats pretty much how it sounded. They were built for us by Bill Boggs that did some haunt building for Brutal Planet and some other haunts. He's a Special Effects artist for the movies and commercial industry but has always had a passion for haunts. This effect works really well. Being in a dark maze enclosed and having the sound echo for a couple of seconds was nerve wracking. But always fun. Plus you feel the concussion of it in the floor since its built into it. you could feelit up the walls and feel it in the air to at times. Again its something that has to be messed with to get a good timing down or distances from the steel plate.

One night was so busy we had to change the steel plate. But i think a thinner gauge was used first. so a piece of hardened steel 3¾" x 8" wide works well.

[gregsalyers]

When you guys talk about a maze....is it actually a maze with dead ends and wrong ways? If so doesn't this create a congestion problem when you get a "less than smart" patron that can't find their way thru in a timely manner? Also is it just hallways or do you still have rooms?

[BruiseMuse]

I've managed haunts that had pitch black mazes, and I found that having actors in there was a must. Not only do they provide scares (especially if they are clothed entirely in black), but they can help prevent back ups and point lost groups in the correct direction.

There is the risk of an actor getting hit in the dark, but with your cameras that is less of an issue.

I love the different textures on the floor. There is this old rubber scrap (used on playgrounds, don't know the name) that provides a strange effect when walking and it is definitely creepy.

[Allen H]

"Glass coffin

If you can rig it up right, either have a sunken area, or a ramp up onto a platform.

Have your actor in a glass coffin that the guests are walking on and then he/she flips on the light and starts screaming. Have some rats or snakes in the coffin with him. A strobe would be cool here."

In my opinion this is a great idea on paper but would not work to well in practice. Would you want to be the one stuck under the floor for a six or seven hour shift. I will suggest as an alternative have a lexan panel (lets not even use the word glass) at the end of a straight hall that ends in a 90 (so they are sure to hit it) then the actor can be standing and through the use of doors and such the actor can get more than one scare. I have learned that for the most part Actors are not that happy to be trapped. Also there is the issue of girls wearing skirts and dresses.
Just a thought,
Allen Hopps

[Ironman]

http://members.peak.org/~robbpynes/rbr/play.htm

[Allen H]

Nightgore-
Another thing I have done successfully in black mazes is to put an actor in a white painters suit the full body kind and just paint white body shapes all over in a few areas. the guests will kind of be able to see the shapes but the actor will really cream them if he plays it right.
Allen H

[Jim Warfield]

Re-Post All of this information

About what will work in a black maze but let's re-think it , will the same things work in a dark brown maze?
A pink maze?
"Is this a black maze?"
"Yes, and watch out for the black bear in the Black Forest eating licorice at midnight!"
(I have actually said this to people .)
Nothing is foolproof! A strand of fishline once caught on a sweaty eye lid, caught and almost seemed to rip the eye lid as the person walked!
How do I know that this really happended and isn't just BS? Because it happened to ME!
Right in the old JCs haunted house.
I actually expected to see blood dripping from my eye it hurt so much and felt as if something got ripped.
I used scraps of rubber from a factory that made gaskets. these could pluck out a contact lense, it happened more than just once or twice.
Anytime you have such things in the path someone will turn them into slapping whips for the next person behind them, sometimes accidently, sometimes on purpose.
Vaseline on a reachable prop will usually get you Vaseline smeared on your wall right afterwards.
Maybe customer apprehension and fears could be generated by someone in the middle of the maze walking passed them, all illuminated showing off their very realistic exterminator's uniform as he carrys a work box full of poisons and a gunny sack full of furr and tails?

[tchaunt]

There is a product that we used to use in a dark maze that was made to feel like slime, but wouldn't come of on the fingers. I think it was a silicon mix, but I can't remember what it was called. Anyone?
Dave

The name of the "slime" is Sil-slime. CFX makes the stuff.

[MDKing]

Katie,

Are you referring to the rubber mulch for the ground? It's ground up old tires sometimes, we bought some dark rubber mulch and had a huge pallet and box delivered for use in my yard!

Allan

[swampboy]

According to CFX: Sil-Slime is safe for skin contact but is very sticky, so handle with care if you want to avoid cleanup with makeup remover or a good scrubbing. Sil-Slime may stain fabrics. Intended for professional use. Not for use in the mouth.

never seen the stuff so don't know if it sticks to clothes, hair, etc or passersby. Btw, I tried to come up with something funny about the 'not for use in mouth' but I'll leave that to Warfield


On the shredded tire...not trying to be an alarmist but...check out your shredded rubber carefully. We had some shredded rubber in a playground at a local park. It caught fire and MELTED the swingset. Luckily it happened when no one was playing (happened at night). Not sure how flammable this stuff is but supposedly a lit cigarette is to blame....though my money is on some teenagers goofing around...I'm sure there are different grades/types of shredded rubber and it looks like our park picked the wrong one.

[Jim Warfield]

Remember....

The guy in California? Who had collected something like 5Million used tires , had them just piled up, and they caught on fire and nobody could put that fire out for quite some time. The EPA was not happy.
Shredded tires could also have some very sharp metal in them. Some tires had/have steel cable in them along the bead.
A local man used to get his heat during the winter by burning old tires. He would make a fire from them in the yard then stand around the fire as it burned, he had a definately "Commando" blackened face look to him(and a rubberish smell?)
He only drove the 8 miles into town once a week or less to use the gas station's rest rooms to clean up in.
The old school bus in his junkyard had no electricity, plumbing nor heat. Most old busses don't but he was living in this one.
He lost a foot to frost bite, died in the nursing home.
Yes, tires burn rather well but I don't think Toyota will be making a car soon that uses them for an alternative fuel.(The trailer pulled behind would have to be rather large, I think, I could be wrong though.)

[michilson]

Fog and Color Lights Idea's

I liked the Idea of the Fog and Color Lights I would add one suggestion to this idea! Place several Colors in a Square pattern threw out the whole maze so that 1/4 of the maze is a solid color so ex:

Area 1 Green
Area 2 Yellow
Area 3 Blue
Area 4 Red

This lets them say okay I’ve came from green so that’s not the way out!

Here’s the twist set this up so the Colors Change like every 5 mins or something depending on the size of the maze

Now

Area 1 is Blue
Area 2 Red
Area 3 is Green
Area 4 Is Yellow

This will make the maze a little harder to figure out and make them more disoriented.

I've never done this setup before but it would be worth trying i think but you light have to make the maze easier depending on bottle necks and attendance.

The other option would to put in one way doors that once they get to a certain point they can’t go back!