By Karl Fields

When Larry asked me write an article on modular haunts, I immediately reacted with, "but we are NOT modular!" However, in looking at the bigger picture, I guess we are. We set up each September and then tear down each November. The point is that modular haunts come in many different flavors.

Many think of modular as meaning a kit, wall A attaches to wall B, which provides the backdrop for prop 1 and so on. While we obviously attach walls together, we do a complete yearly change over; we devise a totally new floor plan each season. I count the number and type of walls required by this plan and then compare to our inventory. Most years this means building new wall units, but which actual wall goes in each position is not determined until actual setup. This method takes much longer to construct, but it accomplishes our goal of having a completely different haunt each year.

The challenges of modular haunting are different than a permanent facility. While some, if not most, of the requirements are the same, in the modular world you must cross these hurdles each year.

Let's take fire prevention for example. Just because we are module, in a tent and have no access to water, doesn't exempt us from the requirement for a sprinkler system. Please note that this, as most regs are, is very much a local jurisdiction issue. What we do, each year, is apply to our city for a sprinkler waiver.

If it hadn't been for one person in our city's engineering department, I would not have known this avenue even existed. So here we are sitting at our permit hearing a few years ago, and the head guy asks why our sprinkler system is not on the blueprints. We are over 1000 square feet, will be up more than three days, and he states that we must comply with this in order to open - period. I left the meeting totally devastated. Other than a portable sprinkler system (an unknown that we couldn't afford at that time anyway) there was no way we could meet this requirement.

One of the City engineers later suggested that we apply for a sprinkler waiver. What a concept! In drawing up the request, we documented everything that we would do, above and beyond the normal requirements, to provide additional life/safety protection. This included a complete emergency action plan, nightly fire drills, 5 times the number of portable extinguishers than were required, six more emergency exits than mandated, multiple cell phones, in house communications system, lower occupancy count, fire alarm system and fire extinguishing training. As a last resort we were willing to have a fire watch (pump truck and crew) on site, but the hourly rate was staggering. Luckily we didn't need to bring this one up! We got the waiver approved, but the catch is because we are modular, we must apply for a new waiver each season.

Storage is a huge issue. Sure we had this great haunt up and running, but now the season is over and where do we put all that stuff? We ended up buying three 40 foot trailers. This sounds like a simple enough solution, but like most everything else in the industry, there is a lot more to learn.

In California, the cost to license a trailer is about equal to the cost of buying a good used one, and that fee is yearly. After some research we found that instead of licensing, 'trip tickets' were available. For something like $10.00 each we could get a 24 hour permit to haul the trailer anywhere in the state. Problem solved? Well, not quite. Moving the trailers also meant that they had to be road worthy. This includes tires, brakes, running lights, etc. As we discovered on our first trailer, this can add up to quite a bit of money! We now only buy trailers that the owner can transport to us. Let him get it road worthy!

So the trailers are loaded and ready to go and you have a permit and a trucker to move them. Where are you going to put them? A little too big for the side access at home. In our area, there is virtually no storage available for units of this size, so we ended up storing them about 100 miles away, basically in a cow pasture along with 100's of other trailers. Besides the monthly costs of this storage, there are no quick trips to the haunt to get a prop that needed work, or to count how many emergency lights you actually have from last year.

Actual setup can be a real test in endurance. Just unload the trailer and start construction, right? Well yes, except that the structure that you will be in must already be erected, the fence must be in place and so on. We needed to have the chain link fence setup before we started anything, this was a city requirement for safety but also afforded us some security over our 'stuff'.

After the fence was in place, then we could start putting up the tent. In our case this happens on the same day as trailer unloading, which is the same day as fence install. When you start unloading the items from the trailers, the simplest thing is pile them around the area. The first year with a trailer we had no real plan in place for unloading but after having to move the same pile of walls 3 or 4 times, we saw the light. We now go from a fairly detailed plan calling for X number of walls in the NW corner, X number at the entrance, 2x4 stacked in these 4 piles, poles in that pile and so on. This allows the construction phase to progress unimpeded as well as the various tent and fence people being able to maneuver around, while still getting the trailers emptied. Sure, we still had the problems of moving a pile to construct something, but not near the moving that we first had.

Why all on the same day? Well the other obvious difference from a permanent facility is time, there just isn't enough! Not only does all this construction have a finite time period, in our case 30 days prior to opening, per city ordinance, but all of the detailing and fine tuning must be done in a very limited time. We must get it setup ASAP in order to finish by opening.

Our haunt is detailed to the extreme, we believe in very theatrical type sets with a lot of computer and air effects. To achieve this we really have to bust our butt each year. Mentally we are always thinking what a pain it is to be reconstructing the base units, and to know that it will be torn down again at the end of the season. We have tried to label and mark the more complex elements like the rocking ship and the numerous ramps, but nothing ever goes back together quite the same. We also try to pack like items together in the crates, and labeled as to their contents. Makes it easier for us for the next year to find all the black lights together, the scrim all together and so on.

I don't mean to sound like we actually get everything done. Never happens! However, each day before opening we get more things complete (or working) so the haunt really is slightly different each night of our run. Some things never get finished, and those are candidates for the maybe list for next year. This list is reviewed after the season to determine if it is something we really wanted after all, would have been worth the effort, would have fit in the allotted space and so on. It might not be on the to-do list for the next year. Of course this part is not much different than at a permanent facility

All of this tearing down and moving of takes a huge toll on the props, wall units and scenes. It doesn't matter how carefully tear-down is done, something always gets broken, bent or misplaced. There are only so many times that you can screw and unscrew a wall before it becomes unusable as a wall. So things tend to need replacement, or at least some TLC, far more often than if they were permanently placed.

Every year, the modular haunt usually must look for location. We were extremely fortunate in securing a long term commitment for our location, but it still must be negotiated each year. The additional burden of having to advertise what new location you are going to be each year is something we can only sympathize with those haunters needing to do this.

In our case, accepting certain deficiencies in the location is the tradeoff for site longevity. There is no power, water, sewage or even an address. Minor little things!

Electricity is a large expense each year accounting for 10-12% of our budget. This is in the generator rental (70VKA), diesel fuel deliveries and various wiring harnesses. In our situation there is actually a benefit to the generator in that the inspectors view it a temporary power (which it is) and don't inspect us to the code they would for a building. To try to keep these costs down, we also use a small 5000 watt gasoline generator for the initial setup and tear down periods.

While port-a-potties are not terribly expensive, we must negotiate the number of units with the city each year, then arrange for delivery and servicing. Nothing quite like going into a stall right before opening and realizing it's full - you can't just flush it! We also get an extra unit delivered out back for the crew, as it's hard to stay in character when nature calls.

Some of our sets rely on lots of water; we have 'rain' pouring on tin roofs and falling into swamps or a harbor scene. While we love the water, it all must be either trucked in or run on hundreds of feet of hose from a neighboring business. We could do without this, but the haunt would not have the atmosphere that we are looking for. To be able to turn on a faucet is in one of those dreams we have.

Another item, on the modular envy list is security. I can't imagine closing for the night and simply locking the doors and go home! I can only wish! The more you have invested in your show, the more precautions you take with site security. What we have done is parked an RV on site that one of us lucky haunters gets to stay in, and what a thrill that is! Luckily, my day job doesn't really care where I am, just so I have internet access and a phone. Without utility supplied power, there is no phone service, so this forces us to use cell phones but we needed to put in a microwave internet dish on one of the trailers. All in all this worked out very well except it was very tempting to work on the haunt instead of day job.

Then a new city inspector 'dropped by' and informed me that having sleeping quarters on site was in violation of city ordinance - go figure! Explained that the RV was simply for an office and that I actually worked all night. A small lie perhaps, but in desperate time ones takes desperate measures.

The other bane of modular haunts, especially those of us in tents, is the weather. While a good rain will dramatically affect the customer count at a permanent location, it can easily close us down. Wind and tents don't mix well and rain, when located on a dirt field is, well, to be nice it's really messy. No real tricks here, other than we have started to lay down a bed of wood chips outside the tent, which worked pretty well this year. Lots of tricks on tent setup can help immeasurably, but I won't go into those here.

Would I trade for a permanent haunt? In a heartbeat! But in the meantime, the modular world allows us to have our haunt until we can find that just right permanent location.

Karl Fields
www.piratesofemerson.com