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In the News

Closer Inspection: Scare tactics

Markoff’s Haunted Forest in Dickerson in Montgomery County (Markoffshauntedforest.com, $20-$30, through Oct. 31) draws about 25,000 visitors each October. How do the organizers spook their guests? — Kris Coronado

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Markoff’s features two quarter-mile trails with 13 scenes each, including a discarded Ferris wheel and a 24-foot-tall chapel, a wooden frame covered with fire-retardant foam panels that are painted to resemble stone. Nick Markoff and younger brothers Alex and Matt began the Halloween attraction 20 years ago. “On our first night, only 24 people came,” recalls Nick Markoff, 43.“That was after handing out fliers everywhere.”

Benjamin C. Tankersley / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Outside the chapel, the four-foot-tall foam gargoyles were made by Helton Bros., a set design and prop manufacturing company in Livonia, Mich., for the band Black Sabbath’s 2007 “Heaven & Hell” tour.

Outside the chapel, the four-foot-tall foam gargoyles were made by Helton Bros., a set design and prop manufacturing company in Livonia, Mich., for the band Black Sabbath’s 2007 “Heaven & Hell” tour.

Benjamin C. Tankersley / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

A goat head sits on a track. “It can chase you. It can bite at you,” says Kevin Alvey,owner of Indiana manufacturer Gore Galore, which has produced props for Six Flags theme parks and TV’s “Law Order: SVU.”

A goat head sits on a track. “It can chase you. It can bite at you,” says Kevin Alvey,owner of Indiana manufacturer Gore Galore, which has produced props for Six Flags theme parks and TV’s “Law Order: SVU.”

Benjamin C. Tankersley / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

The head moves with help from an actor. The creature’s jaw opens and roars, and his eyes light up. Be wary, folks: He can reach out to the path pedestrians will cross. “You can get bitten by it, so to speak,” says Paul Brubacher, the Haunted Forest’s vice president of operations.

The head moves with help from an actor. The creature’s jaw opens and roars, and his eyes light up. Be wary, folks: He can reach out to the path pedestrians will cross. “You can get bitten by it, so to speak,” says Paul Brubacher, the Haunted Forest’s vice president of operations.

Benjamin C. Tankersley / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

This is the head of a 12-foot-tall wendigo (based on a beast from Algonquian mythology), which is new to Markoff’s this year.

This is the head of a 12-foot-tall wendigo (based on a beast from Algonquian mythology), which is new to Markoff’s this year.

Benjamin C. Tankersley / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Four telephone poles sunk 4.5 feet into the ground help keep the wendigo’s legs stable as the hydraulics-powered creature swoops down on visitors.

Four telephone poles sunk 4.5 feet into the ground help keep the wendigo’s legs stable as the hydraulics-powered creature swoops down on visitors.

Benjamin C. Tankersley / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Faux skeletons pressed into a tree stump are “supposed to look like they have been unearthed,” Brubacher says. Elsewhere in the woods, a bone yard includes remains of Markoff farm animals collected over the years, he says. Markoff says many haunted attractions depend on blood and gore for their scares. “We’re more like the woodsy, dark and primal fear,” he says.

Faux skeletons pressed into a tree stump are “supposed to look like they have been unearthed,” Brubacher says. Elsewhere in the woods, a bone yard includes remains of Markoff farm animals collected over the years, he says. Markoff says many haunted attractions depend on blood and gore for their scares. “We’re more like the woodsy, dark and primal fear,” he says.

Benjamin C. Tankersley / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Markoff’s orders 60 to 100 skeletons year, a mix of anatomically correct and cheaper hollow plastic models, Brubacher says. Brubacher says the woods contain about 350 skeletons, which are transformed using such material as cotton soaked in latex, which, when dry, looks like skin, and dried glue to resemble sinew. “It takes time to get a really good one,” he says.

Markoff’s orders 60 to 100 skeletons year, a mix of anatomically correct and cheaper hollow plastic models, Brubacher says. Brubacher says the woods contain about 350 skeletons, which are transformed using such material as cotton soaked in latex, which, when dry, looks like skin, and dried glue to resemble sinew. “It takes time to get a really good one,” he says.

Benjamin C. Tankersley / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

The junkyard, one of the attraction’s final scenes, includes a bus that was the Markoff brothers' first haunted attraction in 1992. Nick and Alex Markoff converted it into a traveling haunted bus that stopped in D.C. area neighborhoods.

The junkyard, one of the attraction’s final scenes, includes a bus that was the Markoff brothers' first haunted attraction in 1992. Nick and Alex Markoff converted it into a traveling haunted bus that stopped in D.C. area neighborhoods.

Benjamin C. Tankersley / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

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