One of the regular exhibits at Maker Faire Bay Area is a walk-through “teachable” haunted house created by the “CalHauntS NorCal” branch of CalHaunts. While the progress through the exhibit is structured loosely as a narrative to keep you in a haunted house state of mind, each of the elements are presented along with wall text and examples that present the steps required to produce each effect. For a maker, is better than a haunted house with all of the working mechanism tucked under blackout cloth and duct tape!
If you are looking for a theme for your own #electronichalloween haunted attraction, why not build your event as a teachable haunted house as well? While you may break some illusions, your guests may leave excited, inspired, and motivated, like those heading out of the CalHaunts exhibit!
Check out the video above shared by an attendee. From the CalHauntS site:
…Our meetings are hands-on workshops to build props, animatronics and other Halloween haunt related items. Each month a member will volunteer to host the meeting at their house/location and another member will volunteer to teach the ‘make-n-take’. The member teaching will usually arrange to obtain the materials. Members use our private list to RSVP their intent to attend the meeting so the correct amount of supplies will be purchased. Sometimes money is collected at the meeting, sometimes in advance. The list is also used for meeting locations, times and for volunteering food, beverages, etc. for the meeting. A meeting usually lasts from 4- 5 hours depending on the prop being made. As each member arrives at a meeting, they fill out a slip of paper with their name and toss it in the cauldron for our door prize contest. First we eat and chat at our Potluck lunch, (items you might want to bring: hamburger patties and buns, hot dogs and buns, meat loaf, lasagna, banana pudding, cobbler, fruity cakes, macaroni salad, potatoe salad, green salad, diet drinks, chips, cookies, mashed potatoes, beverages, condiments, water and ice.) then spend about 15-20 minutes discussing upcoming events and other group business, then we give away the door prizes by pulling names from the cauldron. Door prizes are donated by members and generous vendors, each month. Then we do speed demos, where 2-3 members have 10 minutes to demo a prop, tool or technique. Handouts are often included to enhance the information. The purpose of speed demos are for props, etc. that wouldn’t fill an entire workshop and sometimes, just to see if there is interest for a longer workshop. Then it’s on to the make-n-take portion of the meeting.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Each weekday this month we’ll be bringing you ideas and projects for an Electronic Halloween! Expect wearables, hacks & mods, costumes and more here on the Adafruit blog! Working on a project for Halloween this year? Share it with us on Google+, in the comments below, the Adafruit forums, Facebook, or Twitter— we’d love to see what you’re up to and share it with the world (tag your posts #ElectronicHalloween). Tune in to our live shows, Wearable Electronics with Becky Stern, 3D hangouts with Matt, Pedro, and Noe, and Ask an Engineer, featuring store discount codes, ideas for projects, costumes, and decorations, and more!
