Monster For A Day At Knott's Scary Farm Halloween Haunt

[Ortizmo2000]

That was very cool of them to let MC behind the scenes.

Gonna be attending my first Haunt in about ten years this Friday and after looking at this, I'm even more amped up for it. Many thanks!

[Athlonacon]

Wow, just seeing the pictures gave me a huge adrenaline surge! Please don't take this the wrong way but in some of those pictures you had a truly insane look, it looked like you were ready and able to kill... under the circumstances, I'd consider that to be a major compliment. This was truly an *amazing* MiceAge article, it ranked up there among the Best of Al. I've never been to the Haunt before, but seeing it like this really gives me a great deal of appreciation and admiration for the people that put it on. They are truly creative masters of the craft of horror.

[elly]

Originally Posted by k_peek_2000

You were awesome on Sunday! I was the gaurd that came over and gave you a high five!

thank you to you and everyone else in Lockdown who put up with a n00b in their maze i never once felt unwelcomed or unwanted during the 3 hours i worked, you guys and gals all rock

Originally Posted by Kritter

I wish I could've gotten a picture with you! :O(

i dunno why we didn't do something about it when you were back where i was! dangit

Originally Posted by unclemike

Elly, you look awesome! Welcome to the other side of the veil--isn't it addicting?!?

'
VERY addicting, if i'd felt my body could have physically handled more, i would have stayed out there longer, but my arms and legs were getting tired and having the luxury of stopping whenever i wanted i made sure i didn't overdo

Originally Posted by seenoevil

Very good article! I'l NEVER go to one of those, so it was interesting to see behind the scenes. I'm wondering do the "monsters" ever come across "guests" who try to get in their face and not get scared? What would you do if they didn't run away, but tried to give you a hard time? Does that ever happen?

i had no problems with guests that night, but i've heard many a story of bilgerant and/or drunk guests that seem to feel that they have the right to just smack around mosters willy nilly, and i find that horribly sad

Originally Posted by Zerox DeVil

Elly,

I am SO proud of you! I wish I could have seen you in there!! From what I heard, you did an AMAZING job, and by the looks of it, you gave some people some serious nightmares. Hope to see you on the other side next year my dear. <3

~Zerox

squee zerox!!! i so very wish that both Ripper and I could cross the veil on a regular basis, but sadly its just not in our cards thanks to geography

Originally Posted by crAziemutant

I was working the area right before her. She was in my usual spot so I gave her some space. In total honesty, she's the best guest monster I've seen. She'd make a fine addition to our maze on a regular base. Think about fully crossing over next year? =D I hear #16 might not be returning...

so sorry for being in your usual spot! but thank you so much for letting me stay there, i really enjoyed that jail cell and the hallway behind it, they were great locales for scares, no wonder that's your spot and i'm very humbled by your compliment, i was terrified that even after so many years of attending Haunt i would get out there and completely freeze up...but thankfully i didn't and everything just fell into place

Originally Posted by Ortizmo2000

That was very cool of them to let MC behind the scenes.

Gonna be attending my first Haunt in about ten years this Friday and after looking at this, I'm even more amped up for it. Many thanks!

Ripper and i will be at Haunt this friday as well! feel free to follow our haunted attraction twitter (Elly and Ripper (IsItOctoberYet) on Twitter) to find out where we are and if you come across us we'll be happy to give you one of our Is It October Yet? stickers! that goes for everyone

Originally Posted by Athlonacon

Wow, just seeing the pictures gave me a huge adrenaline surge! Please don't take this the wrong way but in some of those pictures you had a truly insane look, it looked like you were ready and able to kill... under the circumstances, I'd consider that to be a major compliment. This was truly an *amazing* MiceAge article, it ranked up there among the Best of Al. I've never been to the Haunt before, but seeing it like this really gives me a great deal of appreciation and admiration for the people that put it on. They are truly creative masters of the craft of horror.

again i'm humbled by this compliment as well. i feel so very fortunant to have been able to participate and bring this story to the MiceChat community so you all could hopefully get a taste of why Ripper and I love Haunt so very much. It was an amazing experience all around, Knott's marketing and all the staff we came into contact with were so kind and professional, and i'm so very thankful to have had Fishbulb along as the photographer, as you can see from his photos in this piece he's amazingly talented.


oh, and for those that heard about my missing shirt....it was returned to me tonight at Disneyland...yeah, its an interesting story on its own

[Fishbulb]

Originally Posted by elly

oh, and for those that heard about my missing shirt....it was returned to me tonight at Disneyland...yeah, its an interesting story on its own

oh thank god. My fault, right here. So where was it? Inside the make up room? Unitard to the rescue!!!



That night was simply amazing. Lot's of work, but oh so worth it. It was like sitting there watching the best scare prank videos on you tube all night long.

I will never forget the look of happiness and joy coming from Elly. She was glowing. I could have just sat there and watched Elly work all night as it was exceedingly entertaining. I shot photos for a good hour before I had to run off to take care of some other duties I had. I am hoping I will get the chance to hop into costume one day and terrorize as well. It's in my blood.

I also have to give mad props to the monsters in Asylum. They were SO supportive and just plain cool with us coming in there to document their world. I made so many new friends back there. It's like a big family, it really is. Too the Knott's staff was unbelievable. Helpful and gracious at every turn.

Truly amazing experience. Thanks to everyone who made it so.

[tamasurvivor]

Originally Posted by Fishbulb

That night was simply amazing. Lot's of work, but oh so worth it. It was like sitting there watching the best scare prank videos on you tube all night long.

I will never forget the look of happiness and joy coming from Elly. She was glowing. I could have just sat there and watched Elly work all night as it was exceedingly entertaining. I shot photos for a good hour before I had to run off to take care of some other duties I had. I am hoping I will get the chance to hop into costume one day and terrorize as well. It's in my blood.

I would so love to be scared by Elly or even you if you were to ever cross the veil... my reactions would totally top anything on the youtube prank videos! I can guarantee that... but still it would be amazing to see either of you decked out as a monster for Haunt or even better both of you together decked out as Haunt monsters.

For next years Micechat Haunt meet, Knotts should so do something like this again and hold a contest through Micechat to find a way to pick one of the attending Haunt guests for the meet to make into a monster for the night and put them randomly into a maze to scare us all from here... It would be like the year of a million screams, only Haunt style... LOL!... then you would carry the Haunted sword of Destiny all along the way like usual in addition to taking pictures of the whole backstage process! I swear this would be a winning idea! But alas it is late at night and I am bored... LOL! I need some sleep... winning ideas dont come from insomnia !

[DL_beats_reality]

Not to be contrarian, and I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, but can someone tell me what is entertaining about this "attraction"? Seems a bit sick and disturbing to me....

[NeverNeverland]

Very cool! That must have been so exciting for you. You looked so scary!

[Fishbulb]

Originally Posted by DL_beats_reality

Not to be contrarian, and I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, but can someone tell me what is entertaining about this "attraction"? Seems a bit sick and disturbing to me....

It is, you are right, if it were real. It is not very reality based but more of a hyper stylized piece of interactive theatre.

Why make that entertainment from something that you could arguably say was distasteful? Because people like to be scared for entertainment just as they like to laugh or cry. The difference is that when it is a piece of entertainment, you experience the emotion but not the consequences. In the case of haunt, you can be running from a monster, or stuck in a prison out break or running from a zombie, but you know in the back of your mind that you are perfectly safe.

If experiencing the emotion of fear is not your cup of tea then don't go to haunt. But do not misunderstand it. The monsters are there to entertain people that want a thrilling experience. The event is not there to endorse violence or depravity. It is there to entertain. The talent and the designers behind it want to put on the very best show possible. They certainly don't want to do anything else but entertain the living daylights out of their visitors.

p.s. killer avatar

[DL_beats_reality]

Originally Posted by Fishbulb

... The event is not there to endorse violence or depravity. It is there to entertain. The talent and the designers behind it want to put on the very best show possible. They certainly don't want to do anything else but entertain the living daylights out of their visitors.

Thank you for the perspective, and for taking my post in the manner in which it was intended. I've got 4 kids, and I wouldn't want them around something like the Haunt, so I get a bit sensitive to these kinds of things. Of course, I'm having the same problem with SMGG (not that I don't want them around it, but I'm afraid they'll be scared of it, and it used to be their favorite ride).

Oh, and ditto on the avatar.

[weeble]

I love, love, loved that report! That was just a great report and it was too cool seeing the behind the scences photos, transformation, and scares.

[bayouguy]

There's a great spirit that Halloween just releases. I've never done a professional haunted house but did several school ones. And it was so much fun. I do miss the planning, construction and the actual run of the haunted house. I do envy you doing the Knotts Scary Farm. It's always good to have a good bit of a scare.

[skipper]

Originally Posted by Fishbulb

I am hoping I will get the chance to hop into costume one day and terrorize as well. It's in my blood.

if you ever do this- I WANT TO MAKE SURE IM THERE TO SEE IT!

[Fishbulb]

Originally Posted by bayouguy

There's a great spirit that Halloween just releases. I've never done a professional haunted house but did several school ones. And it was so much fun. I do miss the planning, construction and the actual run of the haunted house. I do envy you doing the Knotts Scary Farm. It's always good to have a good bit of a scare.

I used to work the Haunted House at the local community theatre when I was in High School. I was doing the make up, working as a tour guide, working as a monster, I did all of it. I even built sets. When I stepped into the makeup room and caught the smell of all the cake makeup, drying latex and fake blood it just opened up a floodgate of memories. Great Memories

[elly]

howdies all

just wanted to let y'all know i just got off the phone with Jim and Diane, the afternoon on air personalities at KNX1070 Newsradio in SoCal and did a phone interview with them about this story and my experience working as a monster at Haunt. It should start airing later today or tomorrow and they are going to link back to this story!

So excited and again thanks to everyone here at MiceChat and at Knott's that made it possible for Norm and I to bring you this amazing experience

[elly]

well my phone interview with KNX1070 Newsradio in Southern California is now live, you can catch it during their radio broadcasts, if you aren't in So Cal you can listen online and hear it.

They also have featured the story on their front page in the upper right hand setion with the title "Former "Ghoul" at Knotts Scary Farm Blogs About her Experience" which links back to this page.

Such an exciting time for MiceChat and Knott's! Remember Haunt is running thru November 1st, and i believe if you go on Nov 1st there are some VERY deep discounts on ticket prices, be sure to check at the Haunt website for more info