Designing and Decorating

Haunts for 30 years

         Since childhood, John L. Burton has loved the Halloween season.  Each year the entire family cooperated in building displays in the garage and front yard of their Orange, California home. While in elementary school, he took the leading role in the planning and construction of more elaborate scenes. Often so realistic, children were too frightened to come to the Burtonís door for treats...even while accompanied by a parent.
      John Burton has been designing haunted houses since 1971. Originally his company went under the name Chamber of Horror, but so many attractions used that name for their haunts, John decided to change his operation to Theatrical Terror. He has an extensive background in decorating and his strongest assets are designing, conceptualization, and decorating. John says that he has no favorite set or theme to design into his haunted houses, itís simply about creating an entirely different atmosphere. ìThe decorating for me is trying to create illusions of reality. Taking something that is fake, and making it seem very real.î John goes on to explain in great detail the necessity for decorating with accuracy. ìTake a new building with new walls and make it all look like the inside of an old Victorian style house. Use the proper chair railing and fluted trim around the walls with the rosettes. If itís that old, itís going to be a lath and plaster house, so we break some of the walls to make it look real. Distressing has to be done because itís an old Victorian house that has been sitting for a long time with dead things in it and youíd expect it to be distressed. Leaving an outline of dust on a wall where a picture once hung, also a blackened smudge on a wall where candles used to hang. Itís all very important to create that illusion of reality.î 
     In 1988, John began a four year run producing one of Southern Californiaís hottest haunted attractions. In June of 1990, he was contracted to design, build, and decorate a Halloween Ball and Haunted

House for the American Physical Therapists Association. In 1993, he was the Consultant, Director, and Art Director for ìHouse of Terror,î which was eventually selected as the ìOfficial MTV Haunted House.î 
     In 1995, John designed and created the ìIndustrial Nightmareî for a Louisville, KY firm. This event gained #1 status recognition after their first year. In 1996, John worked with Ed Edmunds of Distortions Unlimited to design and create a unique event. The results of that endeavor was the world of ìBrutal Planet.î In 1997, it was the ìSilo-X Haunted Housesî at Boston and Chicago in which they redefined the meaning of the word ìscary.î No detail is left unobserved when it comes to John setting up a haunted house. ìMy favorite part of all of this is seeing how real I can make this (scene) look. How much can I shock people with the realism.î 
     I asked John if he ever interacts with the customers as part of the show once the design end of the work is completed. His response was, ìI basically do everythingóyíknow back in the early daysó like my first haunted house was in 1971. Back then I was chief cook and bottlewasher. I designed the thing, ran it, played a character, and even told the other characters what to do. I still operate and run shows, only now theyíre sometimes a little more stressful for somebody thatís 41 years old, overweight, and has bad knees. I ran a Tom Savini house last year at Spookyworld after working there for three months. I had a good time! I ran a crew of about 13 to 18 characters each night, all within a 4,000-square-foot haunted house. I guess the brag on myself would be that we did a damn good job of scaring people. As Dizzy Dean used to say, ëIf yaí ainít done it, it ainít braggin.í I dressed up as a handyman on Halloween night. I had blood splattered all over myself and I called myself ëDick, the new guy.í I was the most obnoxious character youíve ever seen, sneezing and blowing snot on people, and walked around like I was fixiní stuff. As customers flowed through the hallways, Iíd pop through yelling, ëDick the new guy, get out of my way so I can fix stuff!í Iíd work the Q line, retail store, and hassle the cops while doing Dick the new guy thing.î 
     John normally does the full spectrum of consulting on marketing, production, and operation. He writes S.O.P.ís (standard operating procedures) and advises on any and all areas of operation. He says that decorating is still the most enjoyable part of what he does. 
     Starting in 1995, Johnís work had shifted more toward the east coast. For this reason, he has relocated his residence to Arkansas where he is more readily accessible to his clients. John also has a close knit extended family and several of his relatives have moved to Arkansas to escape the congestion of southern California. He enjoys this normal family life while planning, designing, and perfecting his abnormally scary skills.

by Jeff Glatzer