Bridge of Doom

The haunt included both classrooms. The largest was the sitcom studio and it contained the first planned central corridor. The last two years the central corridor happened as a result of other developments. This year the haunt was planned around the central corridor. The transition was made easier with the use of screws. I had yet to find three inch screws, so the 2x4s were nailed, but the wafer board was screwed to the frames to form single sided panels.

The 900 sq. ft. classroom contained my first bridge type effect. The trap door bridge was 16' long and 4' wide. Its ascent and descent ramps were 8' long. The bridge was 3' off the ground with a trap door centered in front of the descent ramp. The door was hinged facing the open side towards the customer, had a creature attached to its underneath and was chained to keep it from flopping open more than 30 degrees while being operated.

The bridge was enclosed in white fire proof plastic, had a protected entrance and exit. Fog filled the enclosure. The creature had Red LEDs for eyes. As the customer approached the trap door it would pop up, the creature would bounce around and they could see its glowing eyes. A slow pulsing strobe was set at 90 degrees to the bridge and illuminated one side from the outside. The entire fog filled bridge would glow briefly. Walking through the enclosed bridge was a terror filled treat. The fog limited vision, the strobe would blind you, a sound track of rushing water filled your ears and a trap door rattled ahead with something horrible trying to get out, who could ask for anything more?

This was my first and last trap door. It failed. I had a 12 year old girl and her friend operating the effect. I had no idea how strong two little girls could be. One night they broke the chain loose, the trap door flopped up and over and became a hole in the floor. The girls did not know what to do, they could not pull the door back over from below, so they decided to wait for the customer to pass by. The customer fell through the hole, hurt her leg and I had $145 bill to pay for emergency room x-rays.

I have seen trap doors in other haunts and they solved the problem by placing several very large chains over the trap door(s) as well as a path that did not require the customers to walk over it. We repaired the effect and it did not fail again. Because I was using children someone got hurt. They were not mature enough to do there job correctly. And yes they were told not to let anyone cross over the bridge if the door did not close properly. This was in reference to the creatures limbs getting caught in the door as it closed and was the reason for two people. One to fix the door while the other stopped the customers till it could be fixed.

This incident, and several other minor ones yet to come, planted the seeds for doing away with volunteers. Paid actors brought a different set of problems, but they did improve the safety and quality of the show. Age also became a factor. Maturity and responsibility are attributes necessary for producing a better show. I will never do away with young people. I have a couple of events where a child as young as six can take a six six male to his knees. The big change to come was how to use children and what to expect. And much to my surprise, this information would apply to adults as well. Actor placement is a science. You must understand your show, what it is that you expect each scene/event to accomplish and the mentality needed to reach this goal.

My greatest achievement is a core group of actors capable of executing all scenes/events as well as performing security and maintenance duties. From this core it is easier to train new actors. Dedication in an actor is difficult to find. It is the number one attribute to look for. No matter shape, size or sex; dedication is what matters in a haunt. Dedication brings with it two other important attributes. Dedicated actors (no matter the age) tend to be more mature and responsible for their age.

Next Week, 1989

Mad Hatter

Copyright 1999, All Rights Reserved

ARTICLES