A haunted house is a lot of fun to design and create.  Some large companies even have internal competitions between departments to see who comes up with the scariest work area, and then they invite families to come experience it on the last Friday of October.  The venue we’ll be discussing here is more the community family version that’s open to the general public.  As a result, you may even want to design separate areas: one for adults, one for older children, and one for the little ones.  It’s this variability that makes the amount of money these events can generate hard to predict.  Several of these haunted house venues have reached the six-figure mark over the course of several weekends, while others are very modest in revenue.

First you need to choose a site, like a community recreation center, an old mansion, an old barn, an abandoned warehouse or manufacturing plant, or your county’s fairground area.  Then you need to fill it with volunteer monsters and goblins, eerie sounds and air gusts, fake spider webs and darkened rooms, some computer projections of ghosts, some sound effects and a little acting talent, and you're sure to scare up a big attendance and a lot of publicity.  Combine this with other attractions and activities like a pumpkin patch, the sale of pumpkins, horse or tractor drawn hayrides, giant pumpkin contests, and similar fun venues and the crowds will line up for miles. 

Ideas to Consider:

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