The Shovel Newsletter Archives

A few weeks ago I wrote about catching lizards and toward the end mentioned that one of these days I'll tell you what happens when you catch one. Today is that day.

To recap briefly - lizards run fast. If you try to catch them they run away (unless you know the secret...). But, if you do catch one do you know what it will do?

Nothing. That's right. Nothing at all. It just sits there. Calmly.

And if you put if down it will climb back up on you; it's as if the second you (the scary beast that only moments before caused the lizard to run for its life) pick it up, the lizard realizes you pose no real danger and you can now be the best of friends. (Although they never write.... )

This is why it is so very important to keep people moving through your haunt.

You see, once the scary monster has jumped out, and maybe chased them around for awhile there isn't much more the monster can (legally) do. So the tension starts to go down. And soon the customer has seen the worst that can happen. And they lived through it just fine; now they've faced their fear, and they realize that the "monster" is really just a little sophomore drama student trying to earn some extra credit.

Once the magic is gone from the experience, it's much harder to bring it back.

In your haunt, chase the lizards, but don't catch them.

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Sean and Adam Murray