The Shocker is a simple effect that can either be done with alot of detail, or very little detail and have the same effect on people.
First you will need the chair, if you know of someone with an old wooden high back chair it should work just fine, we build our chair it makes it look more cruel....all we use is 2x4s and nails to make ours. Just make it look like an old style electric chair.
Second you will want to touch it up some, we added straps for arms and feet and several wires and misc. stuff to make it look real. After this is all done you can move on to the setting.
The Setting:
For the setting we just had a room about 10 feet by 10 feet square and placed the chair in the middle of the room with a 1 foot high barrier in the front to seperate the audience from the scene it also conceals the strobe light we used for the chair.We rigged a pressure switch to the chair right where the actors hand would rest so he could control the light (email me if you need instructions on bulding a pressure plate or order the haunted house handbooks by Shawn Baines, Brains of Baines) behind the scene we had a tape player ready with electric noises, turned up very loud.
The next thing we do is place a fake lever on the wall and label it in big letters HIGH VOLTAGE this is just for looks, and we place a executioner by the lever, our actor in the chair is wearing overalls and a black hood, the straps are just layed over his hands so when he gets out of the chair the audience wont hear it.
THE EFFECT:
The audience gathers in front of the dimly lit room, they see a man strapped into an electric chair, and to his left a man in executioner clothes with his hand on a switch....the executioner speaks "For crimes commited against past visitors you are here by sentenced to death by electricity"....the man in the chair moves around trying to free himself...the light go off and the strobe light comes on the same time the air is filled with the sounds of electricity...the man in the chair thrashes around screaming...then it all stops and the audience is left in total darkness....they stand waiting...(this is when your actor from the chairs gets up and quietly moves to the side of the group)....the executioner turns on a flash light and points it at the chair...no one is there....he then points it to the audience...and suddenly the actor screams loudly from behind the audience and moves toward them.....into the next room they RUN!!!
