Wonderful school festival / cultural festival

[School Festival] Ideas for gimmicks to incorporate into a haunted house

10 years as a kindergarten teacher / elementary school teacher / junior and senior high school teacher / childminderkepiko
Graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Faculty of Music (now: Department of Music Culture and Education, Early Childhood Music Education major). In elementary school, my homeroom teacher was Jun Kusaba, a game researcher. After graduating from university, I worked as a kindergarten teacher for 10 years and as an after-school childcare instructor for 7 years, then took a position as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I engaged in activities that introduced Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational activities, working with many children. Later, through freelance writing, planning, and editing at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and sharing. Drawing on the perspective cultivated in the field of education and my experience as an editor, I provide practical information with an emphasis on both input and output, mainly in areas related to music and children. My hobbies include instruments, singing, handicrafts, toys, drawing, traditional games, the outdoors, and books. My special skill is spinning-top tricks.
Deputy Editor of RAG MUSICsasashina
Deputy Editor of RAG MUSIC. JFC-certified fact-checker. I’m Sasashina, a mom currently raising an elementary schooler and a preschooler. During my student years at Kyoto College of Science and Technology, I studied a wide range of fields including sound, lighting, and video technology, building a foundation in comprehensive stage production and creative expression. After graduation, I joined a music production company, where I still work, consistently building experience in production and engaging in a variety of music-centered tasks. Currently, I mainly handle articles for children, drawing on what I’ve learned about parenting and what I feel and discover through daily interactions with my kids. I hope my work can be of help to you, even in a small way!

Have you ever seen that moment at a school culture festival haunted house when a friend looks confused and says, “Wait, who is this person?” In the dark, people swap places, the floor turns wobbly under your feet, and when you approach a creepy doll, its head suddenly spins…

Successful haunted houses hide lots of clever tricks that keep participants on edge.

From cardboard-made tombstones and talismans for spooky effects to floor pranks, with a bit of ingenuity the entire venue can be filled with screams and laughter.

Here, we introduce a variety of fun haunted house ideas.

Sound effects, audio, and visual effects (1–10)

Horror Sound Tour “Senjyu-sama”

Horror Sound Tour “Senjyu-sama” — Honancho Haunted House Obaken × Sound AR app “Locatone” — Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya

Horror Sound Tour “Senjyu-sama”

The horror sound tour depicts a story through immersive sounds heard through earphones and expresses the sensation of fear drawing nearer.

Recreating this at a school festival is quite challenging, so treat it as a reference and try building an experience that focuses on sound.

What’s important is the fear that appears in everyday life and the feeling of it gradually approaching, so it’s crucial to structure the piece with attention to sound distance and how it’s perceived.

Muffled conversation with noise mixed in, and within it a creepy laugh that steadily comes closer—those elements really stoke fear, don’t they?

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Horror Sound Event

Fear-inducing sound: BGM for ghost story events, horror-themed izakayas, and haunted houses — “Grudge -on-”

Horror Sound Event

When it comes to haunted houses, that feeling of fear drawing closer is a key point, and the question is how to stage it.

This BGM skillfully expresses that creeping sense of approaching terror using a variety of sounds.

Its foundation is a combination of uniquely floating tones and high-pitched sounds that stoke anxiety, and by intentionally avoiding harmony, it conveys instability.

It also effectively incorporates environmental sounds that evoke water and wind, enhancing the sensation that fear is closing in around you.

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Sound Effects, Audio, and Visual Effects (11–20)

Haunted House Cafe

Serve eerily grotesque-looking foods and have ghosts wait on customers… Even though you’ll feel chills down your spine, you’ll somehow end up feeling warm and fuzzy—so let’s try running a haunted house café.

Keep the room dim with spooky décor, and pay special attention to the costumes.

Even ordinary drinks can look like suspicious concoctions if you serve them in, say, a lab beaker.

With a series of small, clever touches, you can turn it into a high-quality haunted house café.

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scary text

Do you know about Bon-go? It’s another name for Sanskrit, and its unique script feels a bit ominous, doesn’t it? It’s not specifically linked to “curses” or “fear,” but if a whole wall is covered with characters that look like slightly scary Sanskrit, it does give off a creepy vibe.

Writing it in red paint is perfect for setting the mood! Even impersonal, subject-less, eerie phrases feel scary when you see them inside a haunted house.

If you let the paint drip as you write the characters, it cranks up the scariness even more! For decorations involving lettering, try asking the calligraphy club for help.

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Scary pictures/photos

I’ve heard that the “Terrifying Paintings” exhibition held at the Ueno Royal Museum in 2017 ended in great success.

Traditional depictions of hell are also scary paintings, aren’t they? Maybe everyone really does want to look at “scary paintings” out of sheer morbid curiosity.

Decorating the inside and outside of a haunted house with scary paintings and frightening photos would also help set the mood.

You can amp up the fear factor by using paintings where a hand bursts through the canvas, only the eyes in the picture swivel, or screams can be heard from within the painting.

It’s also a good idea to ask the art club to create original scary artwork.

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A wall with handprints

A wall covered with handprints is an easy way to create a super scary atmosphere.

The method is very simple: put red paint handprints on a cardboard wall, or stick sheets of construction paper with handprints onto the wall.

You can also apply the idea to signs by adding handprints to them.

If you want to make things feel really creepy, definitely give this a try.

Another big plus is that kids of all ages can join in.

Let’s have fun making handprints together.

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Play a sound effect with a motion sensor

[Free Sound Effects Campaign - Part 2] Spine-chilling! A terrifying melody to play on summer nights!

Play a sound effect with a motion sensor

Recommended for students planning exhibits for school cultural festivals! Why not play spine-chilling horror sound effects in the background of your attraction? They’re available as free downloads, so they’re easy to use.

Classic haunted house and ghost story effects are great, but if you combine a giant maze with horror BGM, you can deliver an even more terrifying experience! You might also try creative touches like using motion sensors.

Both creators and participants are sure to have fun, and it’ll become an unforgettable memory! Give it a try.

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