Corn Trail Atmosphere

[ShadyHallows]

I need a little help with some ideas of new things to add to our cornstalk trail this year. Basically what it is and always has been is a trail winding through the back yard lined with cornstalks. In previous years we haven't had too much for scenes mainly just some fog, a couple lights, chainsaws, and scarecrows. This year we are lucky enough to have over 150 wood pallets to use! Could I please get some suggested ideas of things I could do with the pallets and different types of scenes/scares I could maybe add? Also, I don't feel it's necessary to make a new topic for this so could I please get some good trail music suggestions? I love the piano music kind of like midnight syndicate or the Halloween theme but they are kind of overused. Thanks!!

[jaege]

Pallets could make a really spooky fence with very little work. Beyond that, I am not sure.

[fritz42_male]

Well using the pallets to make a creepy 'barn' is the only thing I can come up with. It will be a lot of work though but nice to have the trail ending at a barn 'where bad things happen'

Your trail already sounds freaky and simple is best so maybe don't spoil it. From your original post I got this great sense of foreboding as the TOTers wind their way through high corn, very little light (but what there is is spooky), rustling noises with voices just on the edge of hearing, silhouettes of a building in the distance with the perspective wrong (& maybe a cat on the roof), a scarecrow with a head that turns to follow them as they go past, maybe a just glimpsed form shooting across the top of the corn and then at the end of the trail. a bridge over a stinking pond with mist and bubbling from the pond and ....the barn!

For this to work, there shouldn't be much light around. Are there a lot of streetlights in your street?

[KINGS CRYPT]

Glad you posted this, because I'm also planning to do a little corn maze at the end of my haunt too. I would use the pallets to make a creepy little "shack", and if you have an actor with a chainsaw they can hide in there. Maybe put a rocking chair with a wiper motor next to the shack, to seem as if a ghost is sitting there. I have always had this idea of having like 3 scarecrows on wooden crosses, and have an actor dress up as one of the scarecrows. You can make the cross out of some 4'' by 4'' wooden beams and add a small support where the actor can stand on so it looks as if he's just hanging on the cross, then of course he can jump off and scare the crap out of someone.

[hauntkid]

150 pallets!!! dam that alot!! there are many things u can do with them as some ppl stated pallets are great for setting a nice creepy atmosphere and will work nice with your corn maze.

pallets were a huge necessity in my haunt but we only had 20-30!! we were able to make walls with them, a tunnel that ppl had to bend down to walk threw, and we scattered them around and used them as hiding spots for actors. we hung fishing wire which was a great simple scare to alot of ppl and pallets also are great cuz u can stik stuff threw them wich makes the victims feel uncomfortable as they walk threw.

hope to see some pics of what u build

[Eeeekim]

You could make a butt load of coffins!
A Creepy out-house or 3.
A gallows.
A wall of the dead. Have mostly static corps props tied the wall with a few real people mixed in. Like the Tree in 300. That was way cool!
A bridge with troll a under it.
A hell hole for the devil to jump out of.

The possibilities are endless!

I also agree with those guys a shack or barn would be very nice.
Have zombies attack it when the people go inside.

Let us know what you do with all those things.

[joker]

One of the pro haunts I went through last year used pallets to make a maze/fence for their cue lines to navigate through. It was only a single pallet high, but it worked well for keeping the line in the allocated space.

[kprimm]

I am thinking of using some for the delapilated old shack idea with a crazed person in there like in the movie Madman. You could also dig a small hole and have a couple pallets laying on the ground over the hole and have a zombie or some creature come popping up out of the hole.A werewolf charging at them from somewhere out of the corn would also be great.Maybe build an old raised platform that can be seen in the distance up the path and have a witch there casting a spell, then when they have thier attention on the witch, have her say rise my minions or some such thing and have a pack of zombies or skeletons charge them from behind.

[ShadyHallows]

All great ideas! fritz42_male:There is one or two, but they are barely seen from the backyard.

[fritz42_male]

Sounds good. I'm a big fan of letting the imagination do the work - as an example I'm not keen on the current trend in NCIS and CSI to show gory post mortem work.

Set the right conditions and you'll have the TOTers peeing themselves for virtually no work at all.

Darkness is always frightening to kids because they can't see what they 'know' is out there waiting for them!

[spinwitch]

We build most of our scenes with "pallet walls". Take two 2x4's, screw two pallets between them, and you have a wall panel. Dig two postholes and drop the "wall" in. Cool thing is--you can have them tilted or leaning if you dig the holes deep enough and tamp the dirt in firmly--they're secure but they look like they might fall over.

I'm envious of your find. We take the truck and go driving behind stores looking for pallets.

[RAWR]

YouTube- Knott's Scary Farm's CORNSTALKERS Maze Flow-Through

You might like this video. It's from Knott's Scary Farm's "Cornstalkers" maze. It has that eerie what's around the corner feeling.
One thing you could do with the pallets is make out houses. I know it sounds weird but it could serve as a great hiding place. It would also be really cool if you walked through a shcak with all the cropping tools. Just a matter of finding them or replicating them.
oh and for music. you could try the "creeper's tale" from Jeepers Creepers soundtrack. also the track that's in the beginning video.

oh and you should also check out themeparkadventure.com which has pictures of the maze. http://www.themeparkadventure.com/corn2008.htm