Victorian Seance Parlour?

[Aelwyn]

The spare bedroom is going to be made into a Victorian Seance Parlour.

I plan to clear the knick knacks and all but the "old looking" books off the shelves. I'll put old books, "curios" (ie. bottles of ectoplasm, skeleton hands, etc), crystal balls, crystals, and other "mystical" knick knacks.

I will cover the futon (in it's couch phase) with a rickly embroidered coverlet (in greens, creams and yellows). I plan to put up velvet curtains over the window, as well as over the closet doors. There'll be portraits of Victorian people and post-mortem photography on the walls and shelves.

I would LOVE to have the haunted chandelier (http://www.halloweenmart.com/halloween-decorations/lights/haunted-chandelier), but unfortunately it is out of my budget. If I can find something like these books (http://www.halloweenmart.com/halloween-decorations/animated-props/possessed-book-motion), I might get those.

So, what I need are ideas to make it more creepy, maybe an EASY surprise prop (a ghost of some sort) for the room. Anyone??????

[Hauntiholik]

A ouija board?

[divaann]

How about a haunted ouiji board if you have any mechanical know how. Found this on you tube?
YouTube- Bloodthirst Manor 2007 Ouija Board Table Prop
I saw one one on ebay last year (pricey) but there is instructions on this site.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Animated-Haunted-Ouija-Board/

[Hauntiholik]

One of our own members has a how-to on this http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=11132&

[Aelwyn]

I have a hand made ouija board, but don't plan to make it mechanical (I want to use it during "seances").

[Lady Nyxie]

Sounds like you have a good plan. It should turn out well.

[Aelwyn]

Thanks Nyxie---I just feel it needs something with more oomph....LOL!

[Eldritch_Horror]

How about hanging some nice heavy drapes/curtains on the walls?

[Aelwyn]

How about hanging some nice heavy drapes/curtains on the walls?

I was thinking about that, since the walls are just flat icky white paint (like the rest of the house....yay rentals.... :p ). I DO have a staple gun that I can use for that.

What about lighting? I plan to make those PVC pillar candles for in there, and perhaps hanging some lanterns from the ceiling with flickering battery tealights.

[JohnnyL]

Lots of antique's around the room (just hit up swap meets and goodwill). Tassels on the heavy curtains, maybe rig up some lightning outside the windows to go off when the spirits are awakened, some knocking sounds to also go off at certain points.

All in all, it should be pretty simply looking, just a lot of fabric hung up on the walls to cover the white, maybe line the entire room with maroon colored bedding sheets or fabric, and then hanging up some ornate fabrics in certain spots. Also a huge old rug in the center of the room to cover up your current flooring.

Checked Craigslist too, maybe you'll score some old vintage-looking chairs.

http://davelandweb.com/hauntedmansion/HM_Madame_Leota.jpg

[Aelwyn]

Thanks Johnny! I LOVE the lightening idea!!!! I'll have to hit up Value Village tomorrow (everything is 50% off) too see about some maroon sheets or fabric.

[divaann]

How about some creepy organ music playing softly in the background to help give a spooky effect? Would not have to be very loud. I keep thinking of a ride that I was on that shot blasts of air when you least expect it. Scared more people that way than the other effects they had going on. They had it shoot out at your ankles and everyone did the jig.

[Aelwyn]

Organ music sounds good. I wanted to have something where spooky ghost voices would turn on during the seance. The blasts of air sound awesome, but again---I'm technologically impaired.

[Professor Vlad]

Best thing to do for a seance think old and dusty as in your grannies victorian. Think back to THE ORIGINAL PSYCO. run the scenes when your in the main parlor. Old dusty dolies and rockingchairs massive glass shades on the lamps and when all else fails add some cobwebs and a few disembodied voices pumped in via hidden speakers under a sofa or my fav trick in a throw pillow....small speakers sewn into a throw pillow and placed around the room lol very spooky, specially if they are discolored and stained with blood.......

[Aelwyn]

Best thing to do for a seance think old and dusty as in your grannies victorian. Think back to THE ORIGINAL PSYCO. run the scenes when your in the main parlor. Old dusty dolies and rockingchairs massive glass shades on the lamps and when all else fails add some cobwebs and a few disembodied voices pumped in via hidden speakers under a sofa or my fav trick in a throw pillow....small speakers sewn into a throw pillow and placed around the room lol very spooky, specially if they are discolored and stained with blood.......

I like that idea. I could hook up my MP3 player and stick it in a pillow. Doilies are a GREAT idea. I'm going to VV tomorrow, so I'll see if I can find any old ones.

*rubs hands together gleefully*

You guys all rock....great ideas!!!!!!

[Aelwyn]

I got some awesome golden velvet fabric, and some gold brocade fabric, for the seance room. I'm thinking of using it as curtains. I have a comforter that will go over the futon that is gold/green/cream in heavy embroidery (very Victorian), so I thought it would go well.

I also bought some doilies and photo frames to put photos of creepy Victorian people in.

Yay for 50% off days at Value Village!

[Nephilim]

We did a show in our garage that was essentially a seance. It was a huge hit.

What you might consider doing is some black light puppetry. If you dim the lights during the seance, and only have a black light, puppeteers dressed all in black (or things supported only on black rods) become invisible. Using black light puppetry, you could have bells ringing by themselves, instruments floating around (a'la the conservatory in the Haunted Mansion), and even have ghosts appear.

For more info (plus video!) about our show, visit our haunt page (http://homepage.mac.com/nephilim/imagineerieing/), and browse the links under "Madame Sarita's Spirit Parlour" under the "Featured Attractions" heading. You might especially be interested in the behind-the-scenes page (http://homepage.mac.com/nephilim/imagineerieing/2004/seance_behind_the_scenes.html).

[Aelwyn]

We did a show in our garage that was essentially a seance. It was a huge hit.

What you might consider doing is some black light puppetry. If you dim the lights during the seance, and only have a black light, puppeteers dressed all in black (or things supported only on black rods) become invisible. Using black light puppetry, you could have bells ringing by themselves, instruments floating around (a'la the conservatory in the Haunted Mansion), and even have ghosts appear.

For more info (plus video!) about our show, visit our haunt page (http://homepage.mac.com/nephilim/imagineerieing/), and browse the links under "Madame Sarita's Spirit Parlour" under the "Featured Attractions" heading. You might especially be interested in the behind-the-scenes page (http://homepage.mac.com/nephilim/imagineerieing/2004/seance_behind_the_scenes.html).

Awesome, thank you SOOOO much! I'm not much of a technical person, but I'm sure I can rig a bell ringing or something. ;)

[Nephilim]

Awesome, thank you SOOOO much! I'm not much of a technical person, but I'm sure I can rig a bell ringing or something. ;)

Heh. Seriously, you don't need to be a technical person. All you need to be able to do is get a black light in there and make it dark otherwise. After that, it's just painting some stuff with fluorescent paint, dressing in black, and moving it around.

Really, the only hard part is recruiting people to be your puppeteers. If you've already got some friends conscripted, you're home free. :)

[pennywise]

Is this going to be a walkthrough or are you really going to sit people down and have a Seance? I spent some time a few years ago working on a Halloween seance where people came in and gathered around the table and the seance would commence. All sorts of things were planned to happen, but I never finished writing it up. If you are just having people walk through the room, then only some of the seance effects I planned would work, but they would still be creepy. Like maybe as the guests walk past a picture on the wall, it suddenly crashes to the floor :D