I'm an actor at a haunted house (well obviously not rn because it's January)

Ever had the roles reversed - as in, you get scared because of a guest?

So this wasn't really a guest but it still scared the crap out of me,

It was one of my first nights and we have actors that keep the queue line active and they sometimes go through the house to make sure people aren't getting stuck. Well it's was getting near the end of one of my first nights and I wasn't expecting someone to use my sliding door scare. But while I had people in my area one of the actors from the queue line open my door and scared them. The sad thing is that it didn't completely scare the guest but me instead.

As someone to phobic and aggressive to go in one, what are sliding door and drop down windows you mention

Sliding doors are doors that just slide from left to right instead of opening forwards and backward.

How often do you or the other actors get hit or pushed by scared guests?

I really depend on which position you are in. Say I'm a drop-down window scare, someone could be messing with it and accidentally hit me. However, if I'm someone with a little more room you may get bumped every once in a while (or maybe even punched) but nothing too serious.

Lol I did hhn Orlando this year and I accidentally head butted a drunk guest.

The majority of the time it was a drunk or high person.

lol that was pretty much every other person.

Yeah pretty much.

Halloween in January? What an excellent idea!

Good idea in theory.

Hey fellow monster/actor.

What costume has been the most effective for you in terms of customer fear? Which was the least effective?

For me, I was a killer klown one year with a mask over another more realistic mask. Got a lot of double and triple scares that year ripping off my "face" to reveal another clown face. My least effective was a generic Jason.

Ok, so this one is more for guys.

Wear. A. Dress. (so yeah crossdress horribly)

If not I was always in some sort of Red Neck outfit in our outside area.

What's been one of your best scare reactions you've gotten out of someone?

I had a group of 4 people come out of the previous room assuming that the house was over. I then proceeded to jumpscare them & they screamed. I then proceeded to go around a corner and scare them again. I then got them a third time with my first jumpscare (it's a door that I can slam open and close). I got them one last time with me charging through the flaps for the next area. I believe one of them said " He got us 3 TIMES and now a 4th ". I was laughing my ass off after wards.

Worst Reaction?

One of the areas I was in had a room next to mine which was full of fog that's meant to mess with your head. I usually hear people fake cough and or complain about it but people usually shake it off because there's a big guy jumping at them. Well I had a couple of times where I started a scare then proceed to have a person complain about the previous room. It was a total buzzkill.

Another time I was in a door that I slammed with chains that shake on it. I then proceeded to use a dropdown window on that door. The thing is that you needed to pay attention in order to do the scare due to little to none heads up , and little to none visibility (2 little eye holes that were down at my chest). It so happens to be that 2 little kids walked past my door without me noticing, their father walks past & I start doing my scare. I then do the drop-down with little kids telling me that I wasn't scary. (once again a major buzzkill) the worst part is that they screamed at some fences moving right after my scare.

Fences are scary af!

Wood or chain link?

Wood.

Have you ever scared someone so badly that you felt it necessary to break character and comfort them?

Yeah, on my own I scared a little kid to a point where I broke character and asked his father if he wanted me to show him an exit.

But last year (by this I mean 2019) there was a group of three that were being escorted out and I wasn't aware of it ( it was a scenario where my area is right next to the queue line and people sometimes think it's the entrance so I promptly scare them off ) . The actor (who is a complete veteran) that was escorting them because the group was 2 kids and their mother. I only made the crying worse, So I broke character and told them that they were almost to the exit. The actor that was with them yelled at me, so I used the counterpoint of I was just doing my job. She then apologized after the night was over.

Around here they used code words to announce people being escorted out to prevent this sorry of thing. "Casper coming through!" "Kentucky!" Etc

Maybe I should bring up something like that for my group.

An amusement park near my uses light-up necklaces for children or other people who don't want to be scared. It makes sense there because they have rides and fall activities in addition to haunted houses.

Yeah, that’s nice to have to tell who’s not a big fan of scaring.

But last year (by this I mean 2019)

What else would last year mean?

Well since we’re only one month into 2020, it’s reasonable to clarify when using “last year.”

that and he could have thought I was talking about last haunt season (2018)

What's an absolute no-no you would never do to the visitors?

Overall, touching.

With kids, most likely swearing ( We tried to keep it PG-13 if kids were there )

Edit: I forgot to mention try avoiding being on your phone (unless you know no one is coming)

Do you ever think of your character's story? Like how did they end up being a scary monster in a haunted house?

Yeah, I like to make up lore as I go. One character I played already had some lore behind him which I added onto.

Not every job can be 100% perfect, so my question is what is the downside to working at a haunted house?

Pay is crap (in my area at least), extremely odd hours, a chance you could get injured, sometimes may have to deal with cold or rain, and (depending on the house) fellow staffing is unfriendly and or owner doesn't care about staff.

Hows the pay? And when theres no work do you do something else?

Honestly, that's a pretty big grey zone when it comes to places. Some places do minimum wage, some do below, and some nothing at all. Our system is near the end of the season they give away visa gift cards. Another one in my area does 3 bucks an hour, and I think there another that does more (but it's a 40 min drive so). However, some houses give canned food and or money to charity so it could possibly count towards some sort of service hours for school.

And like I said, I live in a smaller state so in bigger states/cities pay may be better.

what's a normal shift like??

We had 2 different shifts

One was on like a weekday or Sunday which was 7:00 - 10:00

And Friday-Saturday which was 7:00 - 12:30

However, we may have cases where people are still in line which may result in staying extended.

Has anyone ever attacked you after being scared?

I was kissed a couple of times, cursed out, and lightly hit a couple of times but nothing to major.

Have you ever applied full makeup outside of work to scare someone? What happened?

A lot of times after my shift was over I went to a local gas station. Granted this was around 11:30 pm to 2 am so, the workers were completely unfazed and didn't care. In fact, they may even sometimes make a joke about it. But a couple of times I went to a sit-down place after and they were indeed impressed with the makeup.

Any thoughts on the work of David S. Pumpkin?

Any questions?

Who is David Pumpkin? is he from a movie? or.

Any other roles you play except for a zombie?

Yeah, I play a redneck, a doctor, A ghoul, a victim, and even a trap.

I could have done clown but we had people better to fit the role and most of the stuff didn't fit me (to tall)

A trap?

They lay on the ground with metal teeth in a circle. If someone steps on them they close

Mr. Peanutbutter

Comedy Gold.

That is not a zombie. That is just your run of the mill farming accident

Actually yeah, it's not a zombie. Just some redneck not taking care of hygiene

What’s something challenging About the Job you didn’t expect?

A couple of things.

First off, our haunt doesn't currently have a forever home and was using a parking lot every year as our location. So every year we build and take down the home. The build can take up to 4 months and tear down can take 1 month at most. So I wasn't expecting to do that.

Next, some scenarios take a little practice for the role to make it look good. So you have to think about what to say, do, and sometimes work with another person.

Lastly, The chain saws actually take some practice and effort to actually use.

Have you ever literally scared the shit out of anyone?

Not yet...

It looks like you have some skill in makeup. My question is two part:

1: Does the cost and time of doing the make up out weigh the profits you make by acting? Or is it just a fun hobby of yours?

2: With that skill have you done anything with movies or television?

Edit: 3rd question. Does anyone help you with the makeup?

1. I really don't do the makeup, & this is sort of a hobby and something I wanted todo.
2. Nothing professional
3. The makeup artist does a great job with this stuff.

(sorry my guy)

Why can’t you be an actor at a haunted house in January? I’d go to haunted house in January if there was a good one near me?

Idk lol. I don’t go to any now but maybe that’s because there aren’t any good ones!

The house I work at doesn't have a forever home so everything from it is in semi-trucks.

But if we did I would love to do it during January

Is the make up as annoyingly uncomfortable as it looks? How well can you breathe with it on your mouth and nose like that?

It's honestly like a second layer of skin once it's on there. Breathing was fine & talking wise I was able to talk but just not completely open my mouth.

Do you get to play different roles and how often do you swap around?

You could swap around every night if you wanted to but the majority of the time if you like it and are good at it you stick with it.

How often did you get punched on the job by scared guests?

Maybe at most 1 a week.

Where do you see yourself haunting in five years? Ten years? One hundred years?

In five, most likely.

In ten, maybe?

In one hundred, i really don't know.

In 100 years, you might be haunting places for real!

I see this as an absolute win!

Don’t you think we need Halloween stores in January?

It would be nice, but not completely nessacary.

Do you keep your make up on after work and just pop to the shops?

Yeah, I just wash it off at home

Have you ever see someone wet or shit their pants in fear? Has anyone ever fainted in fear?

Nothing yet (but at the first house I did make someone wet themselves)

What are some of the unspoken rules of acting in a haunted house? Also, how does one become such an actor?

Don't touch people, don't break character (unless it's totally needed)

You look around for haunted houses in your area and most of the time they should have an email to contact them. They will most likely

Say here: https://www.dreadwoodhaunt.com/index.html

They have an option to contact and or volunteer there.

Also, most of the time they will have an audition on a certain date and or boot camps

How much time does it take to apply the make up?

Depending on if they use liquid latex 5-50 mins.

Do you have any advice to make brains taste better? I hear eating pineapple is supposed to work, any truth in that?

I just smoke it with a little rub with it.

Once I was on a children’s “scary” ride thing with my son. The guy inside comes around the corner and says a very non threatening “boo”. I didn’t know about this and screamed so loud he dropped the act to laugh... anyway how often does this happen or am I broken?

I haven't done anything like that but I've been very close.

Have you ever seen a teen getting tough and abusing an actor to impress his girl?

Silly question. Of course you have.

How do you deal with it?

Wordwise we just let it be, (if the guy wants to act tuff against an unpaid actor he can)

​

However physical wise, We have a nice zero-tolerance policy we just wait for them to pass by and then proceed to either grab a security guard or the owner and let them take care of it. (unless you know that it was unintentional, but in this case very unlikely.)

I once accidentally brought a wall down with my antics. Have you ever had a similar experience?

I broke a door that I slammed open, I short-circuited a piece of metal which made a shock. and during tear down, I dropped a wall.

Does it ever get old for you?

At slow times yeah.

Wait, houses can’t be haunted in January?

I mean, they can.

How true is the movie Hell House LLC in regards to company/team size, scouting for a location, overall choreography and setup of the event?

I'd say it's pretty decent. But for us, it's a "tent" (the tent part is just the roof we have real walls, props, etc.) that we set up every year and take down.

What do you do when it's not Halloween season?

Work, school, robotics.

Someone told me that haunted house actors are trained in proper vocal screaming techniques so they don’t damage their voices when scaring people. Is this true?

Really it depends on location. My haunt doesn’t do that and just kind of hopes you know how to scream decent

How do you budget so that the money made for the month or 6 weeks of acting at a haunted house floats you all year long?

As much as this pains me to say, you most likely won't be able to do that. If you make any money at all, it's probably going to be at most around 500 I'd say. Maybe more but money is in the gray zone for me, because in my area money isn't huge. But if your living with someone like your parents and you don't have to pay rent you can probably get through the year with money made.

Is that your real face?

With the mouth, yes.

Do people stare at break time?

Sometimes yes but most of the time people don't see us during break (however they may see someone going through the house after a break)

Do you have your best list of horror movies?

I like saw, and other famous horror movies like that.

Also, like watching really cringy ones.

Do you like horror movies/games too?

the cringy ones, and game-wise I don't really play em ( i just never really go to it )

You have a beautiful smile , what is your secret ?

brush.

Brush hard.

What was the most unexpected scream ever? Like where the scream and the persons physique does not match at all.

Just the usual big guy scream like a little girl.

Does your throat get soar after awhile?

Yeah but we prep with cough drops & water for ourselves

What do you do during the rest of the year for money? Does acting in the haunted house interfere with your normal work?

For me, I currently go to college and work. and it follows the case of School comes first.

I say that & the owner says that.

But to work around work I maintain it due to working during my off day at college.

Ever commented on reddit?

Yeah. I just did.

Do you occasionally kill guests?

I wish.

Nah but for the majority of my victims( other actors ) I can “torture”

What color is your toothbrush?

Green

Which ghost is your favourite?

The spoopy ones.

Any serial criers?

Just a few little kids.

Are you offended by people cursing at you? If so, I'm sorry, I don't hit anyone but I curse a LOT when I get scared.

Nah, infact I would say that a do indeed swear a decent amount of the time. Plus that is usually the reaction I get from people.

How’s your day been?

Alright.

Do you brush or floss?

Yes, I gotta keep my pretty whites.

Are you going to start an AMA and only answer one question? Or are you going to do an AMA... I'm definitely scared for you. Good work.

Edit: He is now answering. Disaster averted.

I probably going to call it quits for tonight (it's 3 am and I have to wake up at 5:30 am.) but I plan on still answering questions.

Why start an AMA this early?

yes.

Jesus Christ. NSFW that thumbnail, yeah?

I didn't realize that the photo became the thumbnail (thank you for telling me)