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Who's responsible for scaring all our children?
Name:
Chris Burnham I'm Chris Burnham and Madness is my home haunt. The haunt got a name in 1999, but I've been haunting my home for 11 years. The first haunts were nothing more than small scenes on the porch. Throughout the years, I've experimented with many scare tactics and moving props. The last few years have grown immensly in size and popularity, and during Halloween 2000 (H2K) we had many people come from Tennessee just to come through our haunt. My haunting experience first began in Germany with my mother. She was a pioneer of most of our neighborhood's activities and Halloween was no different. We were one of the first families to decorate and trick-or-treat in the neighborhood and our decorations proved it. While others were putting stickers on their windows and doors, we were transforming our garage into a witch's hut. My mother played the witch and created an ingenious way of hiding candy UNDERNEATH a witches brew so it wouldn't get wet. I'm still trying to figure out how that one worked. We stayed in Germany for four years, then moved to Alabama. In Alabama, we built and moved into a new house in a small neighborhood. I was old enough to take over the haunt decorating details, although my mother still handed out candy so I could TOT. After a couple of years, I decided to give up TOTing so I could work on scaring all my friends. My first attempts were small static displays which ususally involved a skeleton holding the candy in a casket. I eventually made the skeleton sit up as the kids reached for the candy (with the help of fishing line) and also "tweaked" some store bought props. Then I finally went to Hallowscream at Opryland in 1998. I learned quite alot about decorating and design from that, being as I had never been to a haunted attraction before. One of the things I most admired was the use of fishing line as webs. I was determined to use what I learned from there. When we got home, I experimented with this new knowledge with great success. More screams, more thrills, more fun! By 1999, I had moved from the porch to the garage with my displays. That year I got married (October 25) and asked two of my friends to help with that year's haunt. I decided that I had to get bigger and better to impress my new wife, so our first walkthrough haunt was born. We made a small yet efficient design of a first room, a long hallway, torture chamber, and hell hole. My new in-laws helped out and it was a HUGE success. In 1998 we figured around 850 kids came up and in '99 over 1500 kids went through! We decided walkthroughs were here to stay. In 2000, I got too big for myself. I made a storyline similar to a Frankenstein story and had six areas for scares. I also tried to get as many people to help as possible and ended up with a staff of 22. It was extremely hectic and my wife knew I was stressed so she gave me an ultimatum. I had to either shrink it down or find a new wife. So, I cut three areas out and told everyone that they could be any monsters that they wanted to be. It was popular again, but very unorganized. I decided to go smaller again for 2001. In 2001, I took away the storyline from last year and made everything run in reverse (because in 2000 everyone tried to go in the exit). I also needed less than half of last year's staff and was committed to make it a fun event.
Experience all of Madness!
Mommy,
let's go home
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