[School Festival] Ideas for gimmicks to incorporate into a haunted house
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.
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- [For school cultural festivals] Recommended maze ideas and traps
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- Attraction Ideas for School Festivals That Only High Schoolers Can Pull Off?
- Costume and cosplay ideas to heat up your school cultural festival
- Games that rival street festivals and variety shows!? Crowd-pleasers for school cultural festivals
- [Prank] Surprise Ideas Recommended for School Cultural Festivals
- [School Festival] Ideas for gimmicks to incorporate into a haunted house
- [For High School Students] A roundup of recommended attractions for the school festival
- [By Genre] Cultural Festival / School Festival Booth Catalog [2026]
- [Cultural Festival / School Festival Theme] Carefully Selected High-Impact Recommended Phrases!
Laying props, decorations, and concepts (1–10)
abandoned hospital
Let’s decide on a haunted house concept! Here’s an abandoned hospital idea.
Even for a haunted house, it can be hard to get started without a clear theme, right? That’s why we recommend the abandoned hospital concept.
By creating sets that evoke eerie hospital equipment and atmosphere, you can instantly boost the fear factor.
Fake blood looks striking on white sheets, so it should really catch participants’ attention.
Give it a try!
Set props, decorations, and concepts (11–20)
mask
It ramps up the creepiness and sets the mood! Here are some mask ideas.
When you think of masks, many people probably imagine characters or demons.
However, the masks used in this idea are simple, expressionless white masks.
Masks that reveal no expression are unsettling on their own, but if you stick them on the wall to create a “mask room,” you’ll end up with a truly eerie space.
In the video, green light is also shining out from where the eyes of the masks are.
Give it a try!
Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek!
Let’s create an attraction where you shine lights on monsters in a dark room! Here’s an idea inspired by Monsters, Inc.
Ride & Go Seek.
A ride with seats moves around a course set up in a darkened classroom.
Attach monsters made from colored construction paper to the course walls.
Guests hold red and green lights and enjoy searching for the monsters by following the beams.
To darken the classroom, try using black-colored plastic bags or cardboard.
Jack-o’-lantern
How about making a ghost lantern? It might be easier to picture if you imagine a jack-o’-lantern you often see at Halloween.
First, prepare yellow or white construction paper.
Since you’ll be cutting it into small pieces, scraps left over from something else are fine.
Next, prepare a balloon, attach the paper to it, and then pop the balloon.
After that, attach the facial features and you’re done.
I introduced it with a pumpkin theme this time, but you can also use gauze to give it a mummy-style finish.
Zombie Prank
Zombies have always been iconic symbols of fear, haven’t they? If zombies suddenly showed up, a school festival could turn into a living nightmare… So let’s surprise both the visitors and the students running the booths with a sudden zombie appearance prank! You can pop out in front of a big crowd, or lead someone to a quieter spot on campus and scare them there—it’s all good! Getting lots of people involved so that anyone who gets “bitten” gradually joins in will really ramp up the fear.
Just like in a horror movie, let’s liven up the school festival with a terrifying prank!
rap doll
Let’s try making a mummy-like human figure using plastic wrap.
The method is simple: wrap a human body with multiple layers of plastic wrap, cut it open and remove it, then tape the cuts back together.
You’ll end up with a life-sized figure molded from a real person.
It’s creepy hanging from the ceiling, and you can also place it on the ground or combine it with other props—there are lots of possibilities depending on your ideas.
It already looks eerie like a mummy, but creating and dressing it in a costume will make it even more realistic.
Abandoned Hospital Maze
If you’re thinking about a maze for your school festival, why not incorporate an “abandoned hospital”? Abandoned hospitals are a common setting for ghostly attractions.
An empty hospital is scary all by itself.
For a school festival, you could place nurses and doctors with obvious blood effects to give people a fright.
Paint the maze walls white and prepare hospital-like props such as beds and medical charts.
The anxiety of getting lost and the fear of the abandoned hospital will surely make it a hit.
