Behind the scenes: How to scare people safely


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OREM — As Halloween approaches, more and more people all over Utah are looking for a scare and heading to haunted houses. House operators need to make sure their actors don't get smacked around by frightened customers.

Scaring people is a blast. Admit it -- you loved scaring your siblings when you were a kid. Of course, the occasional smack you get after scaring someone isn't fun.

Castle of Chaos CEO James Bernard said, "I've been hit a lot, but I've never been injured. I've never had a bloody nose."

Bernard says, in his 12 years in the industry, he's never seen anything like what happened to the employee at Nightmare on 13th who was punched in the face by a Layton man. He's talking about the accidental reflex that happens when someone sees a chainsaw murderer coming their way.

It's a natural reaction.

"You come up on someone, especially from behind, you scare the crap out of them, and they have that fight or flight reflex," Bernard said. "Some of them have the fight reflex, and they throw their hand back toward whatever it is that just attacked them."

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The Castle of Chaos has classes for their actors to help them practice backing away immediately after scaring someone. Bernard says if you get in someone's face for too long, it gets annoying and the customer becomes too familiar with the actor trying to scare them. Plus, they can't just run up to everyone and scare them the same way.

"It's kind of like poker. You read them. You say (to yourself), ‘That guy, I have to watch out for. This girl is already freaking out, so she's not in control of herself, I have to watch out,'" Bernard said.

Take, for example, a teenage girl who is already scared and hiding behind someone because she knows a monster is coming her way.

"I will go straight at her and then at the last second I'll veer off and attack the biggest guy in her group because they have no idea it's coming," he said. "Then, when you're done with the guy, then you turn on the younger girl."

What about the group of guys who don't want to look weak in front of their friends?


Once they're familiar with you, it's not scary any more.

–James Bernard


"Scare them from behind. It's the easiest way," Bernard suggests.

Scaring takes quite a bit of practice. The lead make-up artist put me in full zombie garb, with green skin and fake blood dripping down my mouth. When I went out there for the first time, nothing. I got no reaction.

Eric "E.K" Kepoo has been scaring people for 18 years. He said, "When I grab them, I'm (growling) and everybody is saying, ‘Oh, it's a big show.'"

Kepoo can get a scare any time he wants. When the customer gets too scared, sometimes he'll have to break character.

"I'll say, ‘Relax. This is just part of the fun. I'm not going to hurt you," he said.

After that, he'll pick the customer up and pretend to take them away. Seriously, people actually pay to let that happen to them.

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