During my time with Six Flags America in 2021, Hall Manor (one of the premier haunted houses) was slated for a full renovation. As a result of COVID, it had been abandoned for the 2020 season and being an outdoor trail the elements had taken a toll on the structures. Two of the buildings were crushed by a tree, while the remaining were filled with bamboo growth and traces of animals. Our team quickly jumped into the idea phase, where we would develop a story, consider trail routes, and begin constructing new props and facades.
Early on, we elected to follow the story of Eleanor (a young girl who passed away while a resident of the house located within the haunt and is buried on site), and use that as the basis of the haunt. We considered crime scene themes, paranormal investigator themes, even at one time the idea of a cult-like colony was floated. Ultimately, the theme chosen was similar to this: Ever since the death of their beloved Eleanor, the Hall Family has forbidden guests from stepping onto their estate. Tonight, the gates once again opened. Beyond those gates, visitors of past report seeing and hearing children play, mysterious figures in the forest, and an eery sense of calm. In the distance, Eleanor’s father can be heard begging for answers. In denial of her passing, he pleads with guests to answer what they did to her.
Of course the theme/story does not always come through loud and clear to guests, but the general basis of returning to their estate would be easy to bring to life. I started sketching, and using the historical records of the property to draw inspiration for interior and exterior design – knowing that the majority of our resources would be what was on-hand, so careful consideration of possibilities was necessary.
Seen above is a picture from the “Hall Corridors” of the home, the inside of the manor. Due to the building collapsing decades ago, guests are not permitted within a state mandated distance of the structure, so years ago these hallways were constructed to “simulate” entering a building. Made of 3/4″ OSB board and 2×4 framing, the weather has not been kind to them – originally painted completely black, the decision was made to give a “faux wallpaper” finish to them, with one day allocated to the job. With one can of each color and hundreds of square feet to cover, we slapped up a trim board at waist height to reduce the area and improve the aesthetic, and brought out a paint sprayer to make for an efficient, even application process that would utilize the paint much more sparingly than rollers. Two layers of red were sprayed, followed by using a yellow and stencil to apply the oriental marking – originally a lace shower curtain was the plan, but when unable to find them we used a stencil and I admittedly loved the result! It’s not as good as I originally envisioned, but for an outdoor haunted house, it was good. Not to mention it was a huge upgrade over the all-black, unthemed walls!
A unique choice was made to have the attraction split in the middle – creating two unique experiences that shared the first half of their trail, but would then divide guests to ensure group separation. The premise was that upon arrival to the facade of the manor (comprised of brick paneling, the visions were much bigger but time ran out!) a groundskeeper would either deem you worthy to enter, or send you away – so you would walk around the grounds of the manor instead. This began with the above photo, the Hall Family Cemetery. Located nowhere near the actual grave site (that would just be wrong), this section of trail was heavily fogged and we had placed many statues, graves, and natural overgrowth (some transplanted from nearby) to sell the illusion that this has been abandoned for decades. Around the corner would be the family stables, an old games booth with a new facade constructed entirely of pallets.
Ultimately, due to a fallen tree and staffing, this portion of the second trail was never opened, and the second half of the first trail was never completed, so there was ultimately only one experience available for guests. However, that did include a new effect – a train horn/spot light system installed to startle guests. It may not have fit thematically, but it was our pride and joy due to the number of people startled.
This video is shot backwards, in reality the light and horn are not in front of the guests, but rather behind, to set up a jump scare opportunity if guests turn around to investigate the sound. A full page with a write-up on how this effect was created is in the works, but it was quite simple in practice! We took a 12V power supply (30A, so 360W) and used that to power a 12V off-road vehicle LED light and a train horn compressor. To switch the effect, an Arduino Nano was originally employed, but a ESP8266 based board would ultimately replace it due to an accident which fried the original. The micro controller would use a motion sensor, and wait for a signal indicating a person was detected, and then use a series of relays to trigger the effects for a set time. To avoid a constant operation, a “cool-down” period was added preventing the effect from running without waiting a set interval between cycles. It also would default to “B Mode” if it was not receiving a signal from the sensor for a suspicious amount of time, triggering itself every 10 minutes. A fun fact: this train horn clocked in at 135 dB, which is insane! We were able to move objects using it.
Finally, Hall Manor would include a pallet church and a doll house, which were all created from pallets and shipping crates – the church was built many years ago, before my time, but the doll house was new for 2021!
And that’s pretty much Hall Manor! Of course, on the ruins we did have lightning – which was super cool, but that is covered in the following post:
Once I find the files, I can include some of the concept art too. I’m not an artist, but it will portray some of the ideas that existed but were cut due to time. Working on these attractions is incredibly fun and rewarding, but a challenging project for sure.