50 Haunted House Employees Share The Things People Did To Make Them Break Character

One night this couple comes in with a 3-4 year old girl. She is throwing a huge fit, kicking, screaming, crying, the whole 9 yards, she doesnt wanna go in.

Now, a logical human being would see this and say, "well I guess we dont go" but not these two f**kos. They keep trying to force little girl to go through the house, but she wont budge. This is causing a bit of a scene as well as backing up the line. Myself and one or two other monsters tell them "look, you gotta either get her to go in, or you gotta leave, you're holding up the line" but they are adamant that she has to go through and she is not having it. Now were pissed off because, why the f**k are you trying to make this small child go through when she is obviously terrified and scared out of her f*****g mind? We realize something has to happen, so we seek out one of the girls from further down the house who was a witch we called Baba Yaga since she was the most human looking of us. We told her the situation and asked if shed help walk the girl through the house, and she agreed.

So we bring Baba to the little girl, and she goes into this cartoonish russian accent "HellO leetle gorrl, I am Baba Yaga the gOod weetch! I am going to heyalp you scare all the mon-stors awaY!" She takes the little girls hand and off they go. We run off through the house spreading the word, "If you see Baba with a little girl, let the little girl scare you". Sure enough, whenever they got to where one of the monsters was hiding, the little girl would yell "BOO!" and whoever was there would lose their marbles. Screaming, running around in circles, falling all over the place. Sometimes there be more than one monster and they'd run into each other like the Three Stooges, all to the delight of the little girl, who was now giggling and jumping up and down, clapping her little hands, it was adorable. The adults that were with her look annoyed, but f**k them, the rest of the group that got lumped in with them were having a great time as well watching this tiny child scare the mean ugly monsters away.

I've never seen an entire house break character like that, but it was fun to be a part of.

I (M) was playing a grim reaper statue that comes to life and lowers my (fake) scythe blade in front of guests from behind. This college age girl walks up to me and, convinced I was just a statue or a prop, grabs my *parts* to prove to her friends it was safe. I looked at her slowly and asked "So do you take me to dinner now or..." that was the best scream we got all night.

I was "the ring girl" back in the day. Had my own little scene set up an open maze type format. Essentially you walk into an outdoor opening of trees, giving the illusion of being lost in the woods (it was blocked off though). In the middle there was a styrofoam well that I would..well...creep..out of (strobe light effect). Anywho, there I am, mid October, barefoot with wet hair cuz I'm a teenager doing my best.. and I'm standing alone in the trees waiting for this next group to come through. It's nearly pitch black aside from the strobe, the group walks in and those who are gonna freak out are already doing so. I liked to split the groups up by running though them in the open maze. I had sufficiently broken up a big group and was sneaking up behind a boyfriend/girlfriend duo attached to each other..had them isolated..in the dark.I get behind them and right before the big scream, I start to lose my footing..because.. barefoot on a hill at night. I do this cartoonish backwards- trying- to -catch- my- balance thing..the couple sees me, starts screaming/running but by now I've completely accepted that I'm gonna eat s**t. Right before the back of my head cracks on the ground, a set of hands catches it. I look up, skinny old guy with a big mustache just holding my head. Had a fireman's ball cap on. I said thank you feeling like a dork, gushing a little.. he just kindly nodded, smiled a little and kept walking while everyone else is screaming in the distance, running around the maze. I realized that to everyone else I was the scary, but to him I was a teenage girl about to bust her head open in the woods.

A friend of mine caused a lady to break character. Near the end of a local haunted mill a woman in demonic type makeup jumps out of a pentagram/summoning circle thing. Shrieks "I will teach the meaning of true pain!" and my buddy just goes "Lady, I've been married for 20 years, you ain't got s**t".

She burst out laughing, gave him a hug and told him to get the f**k out.

So I was stationed in a small room just off to the side of a long hallway with a strobe light at the end. It made it hard for guests to see down towards me, but very easy for me to see them. So one evening a group of a five teens come through; four girls with one guy leading them. Just as they enter the hall, the guy turns around to talk with them. Having just been handed a golden ticket here, I sneak up right behind this guy. The girls all go stone silent and when the dude realizes they're looking at something beyond him, he turns around and finds me standing within inches of his face. I give out the most guttural scream I can, and in response, the guy LEAPS backwards and knocks down all four girls behind him like they were bowling pins, leaving them all a tangled pile on the floor.


I literally could not hold it together. I had to run off into a staff only area because I was laughing so hard and could not stop. Easily one of my favorite memories from that place.

Not an employee, but the source of a broken character.

I was going through one of the Halloween haunted houses at Busch Gardens with my girlfriend, and the girl being devoured by the vampire near the end was an old friend from high school.

Me: Hey Kate, how have you been?

Her being devoured by vampire: Oh, hi Mike. I've been better.

Me: Well, good luck with that.

Her: OK, bye.

I was the customer. Local pumpkin patch had a haunted forest that you go through. I hate hate scary things and refused to go. Well the people I was with (church group; ironic) kinda coerced me to go “it’s not that scary” “how do you know you’ve never tried” etc. Cue the first jump scare and I was so scared I kinda had a panic attack. Like paralyzed with fear, can’t walk, and bawling my eyes out. Two of the adults literally had to hold me up to get me to move. But it concerned the monsters enough to break character and ask if I was ok. Then they all backed away so I could get taken back out (we weren’t far in so they just had us turn around and go back the way we came).
When I helped with a elementary field trip to a pumpkin patch recently I happily volunteered to stay with anyone who didn’t want to go through the haunted house. Definitely stood up for the kids who were getting teased for being “scaredy cats”.

Not a worker, but I got to witness it. The worker was dressed as a crazy doctor. We enter the room, and the worker says "Are you ready for you autopsy?" in a really creepy voice. My friend responds "...Yes?" The worker's face just changed from menacing to complete confusion, then she dropped the act and asked "Do you know what an autopsy is?" My friend did not know, so we had to explain it to her.

I worked in haunted house for many years. Lot's of examples when someone made me and other actors break character. Some were people's ridiculous reactions, like giant guys crying to people pushing their children down to run away, or because of their behavior like people trying to hit us or having medical issues like people throwing up, or because of trashy parents bringing toddlers inside (please don't do that!). However, the one the sticks out the most is when a woman came through alone, walking really slowly with her down while dragging her nails really hard along the walls. And I mean HARD. I could her scraping before I saw her. I should mention, these walls were made from cheap particle board full of splinters and decorations. The weird thing is that as she approached, I realized I didn't hear any of the actors before me, which were my que to get ready. Just creepy music and nails on the ragged walls. When she finally got to my scene, as I was about to do my jump scare she came straight to me and touched my costume and mumble something. Her eyes were glazed over and she was just not there. She just turned and started scraping the walls again on the way out. I didn't even get a chance to perform. I just stood there utterly speechless. Since I was the last actor in the haunt, as soon as she left, a bunch of the actors ran to me and said the same thing: WTF was that?!?! Somehow, she managed to scare/creep out over a dozen veteran haunted house actors. Looking back, I am pretty sure she was on d***s, but I can't help to think that she must have absolutely destroyed her fingers, gotten a bunch of splinters or even ripped her nails off.

TL;DR: Woman legitimately freaked out a whole cast of seasoned haunted house actors.

I made someone break character. I went to the local haunted house on a date. The guy and I got to the haunted hotel and outside of it a family stopped him and started to ask how his wife and kids were! He told them they had the wrong person but he put his hood up and rushed us inside. He then proceeded to go so fast that I got lost and said "f**k this, he probably IS married" and frankly I was a little annoyed at his allusions to favors in corn mazes.

I found a cast member and quietly asked for the staff exit.

I got to the front of the hotel and the front desk zombie started to give me s**t for taking the coward exit. I told him that I got ditched by my apparently married date and just wanted to go home. His voice rose at least an octave and he goes "Oh honey, f**k that guy. Go home and get a drink or something."

He was right, the wine was much better than my previous company.

As a haunted house customer...

I walked into a room full of female performers dressed as asylum inmates, with crazy hair and tattered straightjackets and everything, all muttering "They're here, they're coming," stuff like that. One got right up and glared at me and for some reason my brain said "So... what time do you get off?" I definitely saw a little crack-up.

I thought I had a pretty good shot at it until the guy with the chainsaw got her.

As a haunted house customer...

My Type 1 diabetic girlfriend and I were waiting to enter and begin the actual house. This was after the line to get in and the holding area for parties to be able to go together. There was this big demon tree thing that had an actor actually talking to us.

"Tell me, mortals. What do you think your souls taste like?"

I looked to my girlfriend. Just a sheepish grin and a shrug. Then I chime in and respond

"Well, I don't know about me, but her soul would be pretty sweet because she has diabetes."

".... That's.....awful."

Still one of our favorite memories but that whole evening was just lovely and pleasant.

I said "I'm gonna skin you b***h!"

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She replied, "no you're the skinny b***h!"


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I broke character and told her what I really said.


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Maaan, I was there to scare not bodyshame.

-.

I was an actor at a haunted house years ago. We had separate rooms connected by hallways for guests to walk through (like, there was a haunted house room, a circus themed room, and a zombie room). I worked in the zombie room, and played a zombie.

The room was made up to look like a living room of a house that had been broken into by zombies-- furniture toppled over, lamps laying on the floor, the door hanging off the hinges, a broken window, blood everywhere, and a half-eaten body lying on the floor. I was to be hunched over the dead body, pretending to munch on it when the guests walked in. And I'll say, our make-up crew was skilled. I looked like something from The Walking Dead.


Well, this dude walks into my zombie room, he sees me hunched over the dead body, and I did this creepy thing where I slowly look up at him and stare with my mouth hanging open. He goes "Oh, HELL no!" and stumbled backwards onto the couch, tried to scramble off the couch, only to trip over the lamp that was on the floor, and wound up falling facedown on the floor.

I have to admit, I broke character and laughed. I couldn't help it.

Not a worker, but as a customer, my sister and I once took a wrong turn in the haunted house. We were cornered by a dude in a hockey mask who was revving his chainsaw as he approached and we were screaming in terror...

Then he took his mask off and said in exasperation, “guys you’re not supposed to be back here.” Then he shooed us back into the main hallway. Lol.

I was in very well one of the best spots in the house. We call this one “mineshaft,” where the only light comes from the night sky or sparks, other effects we have in the house, and it is themed around a (you guessed it) mineshaft.

Well, in this particular instance I was the first scare as the people came through. I enjoyed the spot where I was because it was pretty much pitch black, and having dark clothes on I blended right in. There is this long corridor that at my end, where the light is completely pitch black, they turned to another section in the house, and at the other end is this corridor that makes up the entrance, so I can see the light and the people coming but they couldn’t see me. It was such a great spot because I would be right in front of them as well, and because of this I was able to scare them head on. Some people jumped back, some people almost tripped and fell, groups of girls screamed, people laughed hysterically because they were so high, and other people just stared.

What made me break character was this boyfriend and girlfriend, looked to be in high school, and I saw that the girlfriend was grabbing her boyfriend very closely and looked to be unnerved by the whole house. Boyfriend kept telling her that it was alright and reassuring her. By this time they were walking down this corridor that I’m facing down, and comes my turn to scare. I can make a really good sort of “zombie screech” and it’s exactly what I did. To my surprise the boyfriend jumped back but the girlfriend just stood still for about 5 seconds. She then slowly started walking back and collapsed to the floor, sobbing hysterically and wouldn’t move. The boyfriend went up to her and tried to reassure her but she kept crying.

At this point I broke character and asked if she was okay and if I could help. It took about two minutes of reassurance before we both helped her out of the house, still sobbing. It definitely looked to be a panic attack and I was glad I was able to help, but also a bit bummed about ruining their night and causing that distress to the girl. It all comes with the territory for sure though.

Probably the time a guy came in drunk as f**k and kissed me on the lips did I mention I am a guy I said if you want to go any further you're going to have to take me out to dinner and that made his group laugh so hard they nearly pissed themselves and no I am not gay.

I was only about 17 and took a job at a hauted house. I would travel the waiting line and try to creep people out. Long black robe, great ghoulish makeup. A little girl got VERY upset with me and began crying miserably and her parents tried to calm her. I dropped to my knees and took my hood down and showed her that it was just makeup by removing some with my fingers, speaking calmly the whole time ("It's okay, it's just me playing, I'm sorry I scared you, etc"). She was fine after a minute or so, but that was the last time I did that bit. I remember how the movie IT got to me so hell no. I still wonder about her every Halloween lol.

Not a worker but...

I was at a haunted house with a few friends one of their names was Christian. Well Christian was messing with a girl in our group who was really scared, and he pushed her to the front of the group just as one of the workers jumped out. she screamed and a yelled "f**k you Christian!" The worker stopped and said in an confused/offended voice "did you just call me a f*****g Christian?" It was pretty funny.

I worked at Field of Screams (in hindsight, a terrible place to work, we were unpaid volunteers and treated worse than that).

ANYWAY, I worked at the very first section of the Nocturnal Wasteland (an outdoor haunted trail). And I was one of the first scares. It was great. Nobody expects to be jumpscared that early, so my scares were 90% successful.
So I have two stories:

1. A girl and her parents wanted to find the exit as soon as they stepped past the entrance. Like the girl was coming out of the entrance screaming in fear. I guess the entrance triggered a panic attack. I didn't know what to do. I tried my best to not break character, so I just used hand signals (I had a mask on and it was too loud to talk anyway). I held my hand up to stop the rest of the group and motioned for the terrified family to break away, then motioned for the group to continue. I led the family to the "exit" which was a narrow walkway the VIP members use to skip to the front of the line. It was the only exit that was this close to the entrance that would cause the least trouble, as the regular line was full. The parents thanked me and I nodded and went back to scaring. Nobody trained us for those situations.

2. One of the scares I did was crawling on the floor and grabbing at the victims feet (without touching them). It was outside after dark and very low lit, so I was always a surprise to everyone. One time, after scaring the crowd, I was clawing at the ground and howling and whatnot to keep them uncomfortable. This lady, completely straight faced and unphased, just full on stomps on my hand. I was dumbfounded. What made her think that that was okay? I wasn't touching anyone. She wasn't afraid or acting out of fear, she just straight up smashed my hand and kept walking like she was tough shet. I was a frail timid 13 year old little girl. I couldn't do anything but shrink away and scamper back to my hiding place/break station to collect myself.