What Makes a Good Haunted House?

My friends and I went out the night of Oct. 30, 2021 to check out some of the decorated Halloween houses in Winnipeg. It’s one of my favourite things to do during Halloween and given the pandemic circumstances, it’s nice to be able to drive by and take a look.

Based on what we saw, here are 5 things that make a great haunted house!

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Amount of Decorations

Decorations are expensive, but when there’s enough of them on a lawn it does add to the interest factor! Although we agree more decorations doesn’t always mean “better”, having more to look at in a decorative display is always a plus.

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House Theme

There’s something to say about homeowners who go above and beyond to theme their house decorations. All in all, when a house has a theme, everything seems to come together that much more. Sure, it’s cool to have a bunch of animatronics, but if that’s all there is… is that really THAT interesting?

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Lighting

This may seem like a given, but if you can’t see the decorations, they aren’t very fun to look at! Houses that had lights throughout the displays looked nicer and told a better story. We want to see all of those lovely decorations you put time into making or buying!

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Effort

We gave extra points to houses who were clearly putitng in the effort even if they didn’t have a consistent theme or the most high-tech decorations. Sometimes trying is good enough when celebrating the spirit of Halloween!

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Walk throughs

Walk throughs won bonus points in our books for sure. Although we only got to walk through ONE yard on Oct. 30 – it was pretty damn impressive. Walk throughs add to the overall immersiveness of the house.