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Special Effect from 2007, Mary Shaw House?


HHN_Fanatic
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Hi everyone, I hope this is the appropriate section in the forums to post this.

Can anyone please help me remember a special effect that was done in 2007 in a house? I'm almost positive it was in the Curse of Mary Shaw house where you were walking, and all of a sudden you were on a cat walk like structure. Then when you looked down it seemed like you were very high in the air? I was trying to describe how this was done to a friend of mine but my memory sucks anymore.

Any help, clarification would be appreciated! Thanks!

Mike

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  • 8 months later...
  • 11 months later...

Anybody remember the finale for the Mary Shaw house?

I seem to recall my group being closed off from the rest of the line when Shaw and her doppelganger appear from various parts of the room.

Can anybody clarify this?

I have no recollection of anyone being stopped. The finale room was simply a dark room with a mirror gag: the scareactor is standing to your right in a hidden hallway, with a mirror reflecting him (most Mary Shaws in that house were played by men, if I remember correctly) so he appears to be in front of you. You see him moving forward, then he suddenly appears right next to you.

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  • 1 year later...

The catwalk effect appeared in Gothic also.

Since JDW mentioned Interstellar Terror, my favorite effect from that house is one I've never seen since (at least, I swear it was from IT). The effect is that you're looking down a hallway whose floor is lined with slats. And an unseen entity suddenly rushes at you from the end of the hallway. It's unseen but you can see the effect of the entity as all of the slats break in half one by one from the end of the hall. It's as if there's a ball UNDER the slats that rolling toward you at high speed, breaking each slat from beneath along the way.

It was very cool.

Am I insane and getting this confused with Dogs of War??

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FOUND IT!

1:52 here:

As I mentioned, less than a second, but it gives you a good feel for what happens.

I recall now that this part of the maze is the "hull breach" near the end. People just came out of a vortex tunnel and enter the hull breach. You pass a crew member who is being sucked out of the breach into space (around 1:48), so there is a massive black void behind him and he is actually lying on a dolly on his side. Then to the right is the cool effect I was calling an "unseen attack". I now think the effect is supposed to represent the hull bucking in on itself. Unfortunately the video has no house sounds, but I imagine we'd be hearing metal bending and snapping. As I type this, I really think that's the case, since the gist of the story is that the crew went mad and attacked each other because of some organism the ship picked up, so an invisible monster attacking the crew doesn't really make sense.

So, now that you can see it, does anyone recall this effect being used in any other year? Only other place I saw something similar was in 2005 at the Bates Motel out in Lancaster, PA. They purposed a staircase so that it looked like a massive invisible creature was bounding down the staircase toward you, with each step breaking under its weight. They even had the breaks staggered so that it looked like a pair of feet was doing the damage.

Also for the catwalk effect, here's a really nice walkthru of IT by Michael Roddy with set lights on only:

Catwalk is around 4:10

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Thank you for posting the video. Excuse me for misspeaking, now that you showed me the video I clear as day remember it.

Funny you mention The Bates Motel, I have gone a few times when I lived in NJ. Still go back when visiting family, though other haunts are now catching my eyes there since TBM doesn't change much.

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Would you agree it represents a hull being crushed?

You mention the Bates Motel not changing. I just watched a recent full walkthru online and man, it's totally different than I remember in 2005. You used to enter through a side door and the foyer was a couple of rooms in. That's where the staircase effect was. Now it looks like you start in a mausoleum of some sort, then walk through an outdoor cemetery and then into the main house. Only a few things looked familiar. but that was 9 long years ago.

When I was there I went to Jason's Woods (meh), ESP (perfect location but just ok haunt) and Field of Screams (my favorite hayride in the US)

If you get a chance, visit Dead Acres (aka Haunted Hoochie) in Columbus, OH. Outstanding. Also the Haunted Schoolhouse/Haunted Laboratory in Akron. I can't speak highly enough about that one.

Sorry to moderators that I hijacked the DEAD SILENCE thread...

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Would you agree it represents a hull being crushed?

You mention the Bates Motel not changing. I just watched a recent full walkthru online and man, it's totally different than I remember in 2005. You used to enter through a side door and the foyer was a couple of rooms in. That's where the staircase effect was. Now it looks like you start in a mausoleum of some sort, then walk through an outdoor cemetery and then into the main house. Only a few things looked familiar. but that was 9 long years ago.

When I was there I went to Jason's Woods (meh), ESP (perfect location but just ok haunt) and Field of Screams (my favorite hayride in the US)

If you get a chance, visit Dead Acres (aka Haunted Hoochie) in Columbus, OH. Outstanding. Also the Haunted Schoolhouse/Haunted Laboratory in Akron. I can't speak highly enough about that one.

Sorry to moderators that I hijacked the DEAD SILENCE thread...

Sorry, I've only gone since about 09 on. There were some changes to the attractions but overall it felt quite similar. I'll have to look at the 2005 videos.

Jason's Woods is meh, ESP is horrible (and humid as hell), and FoS was surprisingly great (tho I didn't get to do the hayride when I went). Will try to peep the other ones, too. Have you gone to Shocktoberfest, Pennhurst Asylum, Headless Horseman?

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I did not do Shocktoberfest. I had 2 days in PA, and a tight schedule. I was told by other haunt owners that it was not worth the time. When I visit a city for haunts, it's usually as stops on my trip home to California from Orlando. So I try to hit 2-3 haunts in an evening, which may be 40 miles apart. When schedules are super tight, I contact haunt owners to ask if I might be able to be VIPd through the line so I can get in and out ASAP. Randy Bates is an awesome guy, and let me come early and walk through the house with lights on before the event opened and take as many photos as I wanted. He then made sure I had VIP status when it opened. That's one extreme. Pennhurst was the opposite end... The owner wanted proof of press affiliation, and wouldn't even let me BUY some sort of line pass. I told him I was a haunt lover who traveled across the freakin' country to visit his damned haunt. He was not impressed. So I decided to skip it. It's not like I'm going around looking for freebies. I always buy a ticket and if they sell a VIP pass, I buy that, too. Some haunts still aren't up to speed on VIP access. And even VIP can mean an hour wait in a VIP line, so that's why I always contact the owner.

As for Headless Horseman.... Jeez, what a personal waste of time and money. Not the haunt - mind you. When I went out there a major storm hit and closed EVERYTHING. Visibility was near zero. I had no chance to cancel. I flew into JFK in the daytime and things looked OK weather-wise. I got my car and drove a buttload of miles. By the time I got to the event, it was a downpour. I couldn't turn back either because my return flight was out of frickin' Albany, so I was pot-committed. My first and only visit to New York and the only landmark I could see was the GW Bridge. And I could barely see that because of the rain. HH is so far out of the way from any airport, it makes it very difficult for me to justify it.

While in the city, I did get to go to a crapfest haunt. It was called something light Nightmares: Ghost Stories. Something like that. Absolute utter garbage.

If you go to Ohio, make sure to skip Seven Floors of Hell. It has a slick website and Larry Kirchner has given it WAY too much press. And for some reason, it gets good reviews. Nice owner, but my God, the haunt... It's a textbook case of how NOT to execute a haunted house. Really strange, because the concept is certainly not bad - 7 completely different themed houses. Each fairly long. The problem is that every single room in each house is exactly like the previous room. Every hallway in the house looks exactly the same. It's as if someone with OCD built it and had to make every room perfectly identical. No variation other than the themes of the houses. Never seen anything like it.

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That's odd because as far as I am aware Randy Bates is the owner of both. Unless the actual on-location manager isn't him since he's probably at The Bates Motel most of the time. Pennhurst is a really good haunt, though. The drive into rural PA, the walk along the gravel path with trees that lurk above you and torches on both sides, etc is amazing. I went two years ago and the only thing i did NOT like was they were playing dance/rock music in the center area where the bonfire is. That's dumb and does NOT set the mood whatsoever. I swear, sometimes I am curious if they're trying to make a haunt or a Hot Topic event.

Damn, Headless is so good, sad you missed it. The attraction wreaks of Halloween atmosphere. I'm a sucker for rural haunts so this one is no exception. Probably one of the only haunts I know of that sell out in advance.

Checked out the Seven Floors of Hell website and I wasn't impressed! The photo section looks terrible - the layout of the photos are odd and the photos themselves show TERRIBLE facades. I couldn't bother.

I question the validity of the America's Top Haunts awards. Some of them are stellar but from when I spoke to one ranked haunt owner he told me the politics and money behind it is disgusting.

Which is your favorite you've been to?

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I don't think Randy was associated back when I tried to go. Haunts get sucked up by bigger haunts, which is what I suspect happened.

Rocky Point Haunted House in Salt Lake City was hands down the best in the US. Every room was movie-ready. Made HHN look like a carnival haunt, and I'm not exaggerating. Gone now. I got to go on their final year.

For detail, today among the best is Haunted Schoolhouse in Akron and Netherworld. Any time you can have a permanent building you can pretty it up all year.

Other really good ones:

Scare for a Cure (the theme changes yearly). Great interactive haunt born from the legendary Britannia Manor (look it up).

The Darkness - the guy self-promotes like crazy, but his haunt can back up the hype.

Edge of Hell/The Beast

Erebus

Edited by zombieman
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Yeah sorry the Camera was in my hat and I was trying to be inconspicuous. I tried slowing the video down when it got to something that was worth seeing.

FOUND IT!

1:52 here:

As I mentioned, less than a second, but it gives you a good feel for what happens.

At the time I thought it was supposed to be something under the floorboards. But hull collapse, especially after the guy being suck out, makes sense.

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^^^Headless Horseman was one of the best attractions I've ever been to. It is a bit out there though. We enjoyed it so much, as soon as we were done, we got back in line and bought another VIP ticket.

Bennett's Curse was another attraction that had some animatronics and masks that were quite incredible.

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^^^Headless Horseman was one of the best attractions I've ever been to. It is a bit out there though. We enjoyed it so much, as soon as we were done, we got back in line and bought another VIP ticket.

Bennett's Curse was another attraction that had some animatronics and masks that were quite incredible.

Oh yeah, Bennett's Curse is sweet. I live about 30 minutes away from it, so it's a must for me every year.

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