It's almost October, and you know what that means...it's haunted house season!
This week, Redditor JXSTYLES asked people who had worked as "scarers" at haunted houses/mazes/hayrides to share their best, most historic scares. And BOY did they deliver!
Here are some of the funniest, most epic scares people shared:
1.
I worked at an all-volunteer haunted house and one year we have like 10 teen guys show up dressed as the Grim Reaper. The organizers decide to put them all together in a corridor and make people walk through a gauntlet of menacing scythes.
This one young woman is really freaked out as she edges through the rooms; senses on high alert, visibly shaking. As a living mannequin, I decide to just say a quiet “good eeevening” which sends her scrambling away from me into the Reapers’ corridor. They all converge eagerly, scythes flashing...
...and she shrieks and drops like her strings got cut. She’s passed out cold.
All the Grim Reapers are standing over her uncertainly, shocked. Then from one skull comes a wavering, really worried: “Oh, shit. We killed her.”
2.
I worked as a generic scarer where my creepy makeup was having one of my eyes blown out. So I had mountains of goo on my face every night. A guy got freaked out and basically face-palmed me right in my fake non-eye. He then looked down at his hand covered in sticky fake blood and gore, gagged, and said, "Oh God." Ran out of the exit.
3.
Simple one. Regular old jump scare. Lady screams, makes an "oh no" face, then quietly says, "I just...peed on myself."
4.
I worked in the area that was a haunted butcher shop, I was in a room that was supposed to be where everything got gutted and the wall had this thick fake gore with a person shaped outline. I wore a suit that had the same fake gore on the front. In the dark light I was practically invisible.
One girl was on her phone and totally not paying attention, but her friends saw right through my camouflage and motioned for me to hop in line behind their friend. I followed them for a little ways and finally this chick looks up from her phone and starts to turn to talk to her friend, not realizing that I was mere inches behind her. She turns and we're close enough that I can see her pupils as they widen. She jumped probably a foot in the air and sprinted through the rest of the maze. Her friends couldn't stop laughing on the way out.
5.
Worked at a haunted house when I was younger as a youth job, it was a lot of fun. I had to sit in this narrow hallway in a doll costume and sit perfectly still, then when people passed me I would suddenly move, making it look like I was trying to grab them, and do my best creepy voice saying stuff like "come play with me" or "stay with me, FOREVER." I got some great reactions, though some stand out more in my memory.
This dude tried to scootch by the opposite wall while muttering "nope, nope, noPE, NOPE" and when I reached for him, he did this weird jump thing, the kind you see cats doing in videos while yelling, "FUCK NO ANNABELLE LOOKING BITCH".
God being a scarer was fun, 10/10 would do again.
6.
The coolest room I ever worked in was the last room in a "fairy tale" themed house. It looked like the inside of a little storybook cottage. Cutesy music was playing, there was a fake window with a meadow painted outside it. On a wall was a chalkboard with a line down the middle that said "Were you scared?" at the top and gave you the option to mark yes or no on either side of the line. That's where I came in. The chalkboard was actually a drop panel (essentially a hidden window that loudly slams open to reveal a cast member on the other side). I was painted up like a horrible, gory Snow White. When I'd drop the panel, it also triggered all the lights in the room to go out except for black lights which revealed hidden evil drawings all over the walls and an air cannon would blast people from behind, making them feel like something was touching them.
It was just the best room because people felt safe, they finally let their guard down when they saw this cheerful space and when they went to put a mark on the chalkboard, bragging to their friends, "That wasn't scary," that's when BANG! Blackout, satanic scrawling everywhere, air cannon smacking their heads and Evil Snow White was cackling in their faces all in the span of one second. They always ran out shrieking bloody murder. Never trust the last room.
7.
Had a dude once come through who jumped a bloody mile in the air when I scared him. He just stopped with this far off look and said, "I just shit myself." I stayed in character until the smell hit me. I broke and asked if he wanted an escort, dude seemed to snap out of it and said "nah, I pinched the rest back" and off he marched.
8.
I actually knew a couple of the actors in a Fright Night event at a farm about an hour away and, when I entered the first of like 12 scares, I tried to comfort my older brother by saying, "It's okay [brother's name]," and putting my hands on his shoulders.
One of the actors heard me say this, unfortunately for my brother, and followed us for the entire scare, screeching his name at every turn. Even I was shitting myself.
He didn't partake in any of the other scares, needless to say.
9.
My now-husband and I worked for a rather popular haunted house/hayride/corn field. It's made the Travel Channel shows a few times.
So one night, we were doing our thing, scaring people and whatnot, when this kid comes BOOKING it through the scene. He's all alone and just fucking terrified, but he gave us about a second to try to scare him as he flashed past us. Well, the ground was uneven and I think a little damp and he slipped and fell and slid to a stop against a barrel right by the exit door.
My husband and I are like, "Oh shit." If someone ever said "I can't do this, I want out" we'd have to exit character (the only time we were allowed to) and escort them out. We walk over to him and I'm like, "For real, dude, not playing. Are you OK?" He quickly nods, eyes still bugging out. I'm like, "You sure? Do you need to leave?" He takes a second, but shakes his head. I look at my husband and then back at this kid and scream, "THEN GET UP AND GET THE HELL OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OOOOOOOOUTTT!!!!!" That kid jumped up like he had rockets strapped to his back and fucking hauled ass into the mine shaft, leaving me and my husband rolling.
10.
I remember a guy who was poking stuff and laughing, and he tried to poke through a cage I was in. I reacted like a robot for long enough that he got bored, and just as he went to go I grabbed his fingers, started waving a knife around like mad, and pressed a foot pedal for some sounds.
This 6-foot-plus guy ran out back towards the entrance screaming and my manager came back in to have a laugh, we actually shut down for 20 minutes or so because the guy's raving in the lobby caused so much fuss. Some thought he was a paid actor, kids started crying and the line doubled up.
11.
One year I took a large pumpkin and hollowed it out through the bottom. I put the pumpkin on my head and dressed in over-sized clothes, stuffing them with leaves. Everything was topped off with a nice black cloak, and then I taped a pair of monster-hand gloves to my wrists to hide my actual hands and make me look like I was essentially a scarecrow, and I had a real — but very dull — sword. I then took my place in the field with the other decorations but I made sure I was reasonably close to the edge where people would walk by.
My first one was the best. A family walks up with two kids. The kids are telling the mom that I am real. The mom is telling the kids I am not real and she decides to show them by coming up and touching me. She looks back at the kids saying, "See, it's not real." At which point I raise the sword and reach for her as I step forward, and the kids lose their shit. She turns around and sees me and just falls on her ass screaming. The kids run. The dad was doubled over in laughter, literally in tears. Once the mom got herself under control, I offered her a hand and helped her up. The kids, who had stopped about 15 feet away, are yelling, "We told you so!" And the mom is fake-hitting me as she half-laughs and curses at me. The dad could still hardly breathe.
12.
Worked at a haunted attraction for several seasons. My first year I was on the hayride portion of the “top haunted attraction in America” and I was given the role of a woman begging for her life before getting beheaded. I had to scream and beg for someone to help me and then ultimately my head would get chopped off. One night during one of these performances, I accidentally butt-dialed my mom's work phone and ended up leaving a voicemail of me screaming my usual, “Please help me!!! He’s going to kill me!” Fast-forward to the next morning, mom goes into work and listens to her voicemails on speakerphone as she normally does. Then my voicemail from 2 a.m. starts screaming at her. She and all her coworkers freaked out and she had to call me to make sure I was still alive.
13.
It's been 20 years, but I'll never forget working in the haunted house at this major amusement park. I was wearing a fuzzy, full-body monster suit. I sat on some stairs right as you entered. One bro comes in, says, "There's a guy in that suit," and pushes me. So I fall over. "Oh, guess not." As he turns to walk away I slowly reach out and tap his shoulder. He turns around expecting to see one of his friends and finds the monster's face right up in his own. He literally shit his pants, turned, and shuffled out the entrance. I could hear his friends laughing the rest of the time they were in the attraction.
Note: Some stories have been edited for length or clarity.