sleepy millcreek hollow (cont'd) Scares o en From 3 Carter's Crazy Corn Maze, in Garland, accomplishes this by removing the earth beneath people's feet. "We dig a hole and bury a mattress," owner Lisa Carter said. "We cover it with straw, and people get scared thinking they are falling into a hole." Even a very slight drop leaves people rattled and feeling off-kilter, Carter said. That sets the stage for scares to come. • Help people conjure up their own worst fears. "We don't rely much on chain-saw killers or movie monsters," Bodily said. "If we can make people think about what really frightens them, they will imagine one of those behind every tree." At Sleepy Millcreek Hollow, Bodily sets the stage with a character named Josiah, a mysterious gravedigger who greets guests and'tells them some kind of monster roams the woods, but that not too many visitors survive to report details. That leaves them free to interpret a low growl as a zombie, a monster, an alien, or even a cougar. "Maybe you tell them there's been dead livestock that looks like it's been eaten," she said. "They can imagine what scares them most, whether it's something in nature, like a bear, or it's something supernatural. ERIN HOOLEY/Standard-Examiner Josiah Willowhill is the gravedigger at Sleepy Millcreek Hollow in Marriott- Slaterville, which ends after this weekend. Our job is to scare them, and let them come up with what scares them most." Bodily prefers "mind games" to literal in t e r p re ta tiori s"oTstc )Ck characters. "I went to one haunted house, and a guy with a chain saw jumped out," she said. "I've worked with chain saws, and they don't especially scare me. And before it was over, there had been five guys jump out with chain saws. It actually got kind of boring. And if people use too many animatronics, it starts to feel like a ride at an amusement park." Bodily has about 25 "monstrous" workers, and likes to scatter trails with authentically spooky props, such as coffins and sections of wrought iron fence. • Spark all of the usual fears. Haunted Hollow relies more on presenting embodiments of common fears. "We go to a convention or two in March, and we lay out our plans," McCalmant said. "We see what is scary, like clowns or zombies or ax murderers, and we decide what we should have." At Haunted Hollow, characters are scattered throughout a fabricated, 300- yard tunnel. More characters await beyond the tunnel, where the scarefest spills out into the secluded woods. Guards patrol, not only to keep guests safe, but also to keep.monsters in character. Many of the 45 to 65 workers are teenage kids, McCalmant said, who need an occasional nudge to stay on task. The haunt is more than a mile long, McCalmant said. New for this year is a haunted house entrance, a facade that will gain more interior detail over the next few years, he said. "We try to make sure there's something for everyone." • Use special effects. Effects don't have to be all that special, McCalmant said. "Setting the mood is important," he said. "We do that with sound, like ambient noise, and lighting is a huge part of the effect. You can use lighting at home, by lighting certain things and leaving others in shadows. People think, 'Is there something there? What am I seeing?'' Music can add tension without being overtly spooky. Or you can be obvious, and play the Halloween classics, such as wolf howls, cat screeches, ghostly moans and menacing growls. • Keep them guessing. Carter has noticed that people traveling through a maze will keep their eyes focused on the path ahead. That's why she likes to fool with their feet. "Making something move near their feet will always startle them," she said. A favorite gag is a stuffed skunk, drawn across the outdoor path by pulling a string. Halloween or not, the sight of a skunk will send anyone into a panic, Carter said. She also likes to rearrange props in her corn maze. "People tend to memorize things," she said. "They might remember to turn at the coffin, so we move the coffin. We switch thines around to kf^n it interesting."