The season for scaring is upon us.  For those who want to terrify friends and neighbors this Halloween with a haunted house, all it takes is a few of the tricks that the professionals utilize every year.

For years, the horror movie industry has been able to make our hearts pound and palms sweat, and the haunted houses that appear during the Halloween season have been able to terrify those brave enough to enter their doors. There are many ways to scare people with a haunted house, but it all boils down to a few simple tips to make a space into a house of horrors that is directly linked to common natural tendencies that people exhibit.

The first key to effectively utilizing an area is spacing. Have people walk in areas that can accommodate only a couple of people at a time. Not only does this create more space for decorations and the people scaring, but it also plays upon the fight or flight instinct. When in a small space it is easier to make a person feel cornered and unable to obey the instinct to run, which is very important when trying to scare somebody. This effect can be seen at all of the professional haunts, as the majority of mazes constructed around Halloween time have narrow hallways that normally allow for about one to two people to fit in the hall itself and an actor to briefly pop in and scare them.

This is also seen in horror movies, though in a slightly different fashion. In these instances the victim will encounter a dead end or locked door in a confined space like a room or narrow hallway. These scenes are utilized to add suspense and dread before the moment when the victim is caught by the antagonist, playing upon the audience’s fear of being trapped in order to make the next action more effective.

Another way to make an effective haunt is to properly utilize lighting. In horror movies, the main action tends to happen in darkened areas and Halloween haunts are always dimly lit inside and take place at night. The reason for this is simple. People have an inherent fear of the unknown, and nothing plays with this fear quite like the dark.

For the most effective lighting, try to keep the lights as dim as possible while still allowing for people to see where they are going. In addition, make sure that the people doing the scaring are in the dimmest areas while fake props are kept well lit. People have an automatic tendency to look at the brightest lit object in a room and ignore dark areas, which means that the most effective scare comes from a dark corner.

Celebrate Halloween this year by creating your own variation of a haunted house and using these tips.