Scary Hayride Ideas
- The thought of what might be lurking around the corner is often more frightening than actually seeing what's there. The sounds that your guests hear in the distance can make the ride more scary. Place speakers throughout the path and play sounds that might scare people -- a cackling witch, a howling wolf, twigs snapping, rustling leaves and unidentifiable monster noises, for example.
- Though looking at things can be scary, you can increase the creepiness factor by making the hayride a more tactile experience. A sudden burst of air from an air gun is sure to startle people, as will fake spiders or snakes hanging from the trees. If you set up fans behind a large block of ice, it will blow cold air at your visitors -- a sure sign that ghosts are around.
- As the guests go around in the tractor, they expect to see scary scenes, so create a wide variety of these. For example, you can set up a graveyard and have zombies half-buried and coming out of the graves. You should also have a murder scene -- this is sometimes more creepy when it looks realistic, like a nurse killing a patient. A witch could create a brew that has a horrible stench -- again, catering to alternative senses -- and ghosts might peek out at guests from behind the trees.
- While looking at your scary scenes might frighten some people, others won't be phased at all. If you want to scare all of your guests, you should incorporate a few startle scares. Have people hide behind buildings, trees or bushes to jump out and scare the people as they go by. Alternatively, have your workers hiding behind a curtain down low as your guests enter or leave the hayride, then the workers can reach out and grab the feet of the guests.