Two-Way Mirrors: A Haunted House Must-Have

You’ve seen them in haunted houses – eerie mirrors that seem to be haunted with some terrifying, ghostly presence. Just how do they do that?

As they say in show biz, it’s all done with mirrors! Also known as a a transparent mirror, a two-way mirror is a piece of glass that’s been treated so that one person can see out, but a person on the other side can’t see in. It’s a traditional trick for haunted houses everywhere.

Placed between a darkened room a lighted room, a two-way mirror allows a person in the darkened room to see through the glass, but the individual in the lighted room sees only his or her own reflection – eerie!

You may know of this type of mirror from crime shows. And yes, they’re actually used for that purpose. Here, though, we’ll show you how the mirror becomes transparent to produce ghostly images that are PERFECT for your haunt.

Read on to make a spooky two-way mirror of your own

But First…Here’s How You’ll Use It

If you’ve ever gone through Disney’s Haunted Mansion and been amazed by the hitchhiking ghosts that seem to sit beside your reflection, you’ve seen a two-way mirror at its fullest spooky potential.

You can create a similar effect in our own haunted houses without too much effort. The mirror does most of the work for you!

Just set your mirror into a false wall in your haunted house and place something spooky behind it. Then find a way to click on the lights at just the right moment for the maximum scare effect.

Depending on the size of your mirror and what you have available, you can hide a person in a costume, an animatronic or just a scary portrait behind your mirror.

Your victim will walk down the hall and at first see only hisreflection. Then, when the time comes, light up your ghostly apparition and let the mirror do its work. Your “victim” will suddenly see what is behind the mirror. Eek!

We find that strobe lights work well for lighting up your apparition – some of them can be set to timers, and others have foot controls. For smaller mirrors, a flashlight under your chin is the simplest and most effective method for getting that traditional scary face.

Let’s Get Started

It’s fairly easy to buy a haunted mirror online, and it’s not too expensive. If you don’t have much time on your hands before Halloween, go ahead and go that route. But if you’re feeling creative, here’s how to craft your own totally awesome two-way haunted mirror.

You will need:

• Picture frame of your chosen size and style
• Privacy window film (mirror style)
• Adhesive spray
• utility knife or razor blade
• squeegee

If you plan on putting a person behind your mirror, you should choose a larger-sized picture frame. You may want to use a poster frame, but the thicker the frame, the better.

If you can find a large antique-looking frame (try a second-hand shop or check around at garage sales), that would be ideal. A neat idea is to paint your frame black or crack the paint to make it look distressed. Just don’t damage the frame so much that you can’t get the glass back in!

After removing the glass from your frame, you will apply the privacy film to one side. Follow the directions in the package to apply the film to your glass. See our video below for a tutorial. It’s easier to attach the film to a loose piece of glass than a window because there’s no measuring involved. Just lay your glass on top of the film and cut around the edges.

Make sure you cut the film so that you have an extra inch on all sides. Next, you may want to ask a friend for help, as it’s easy to crease the film or get it stuck to itself when you work alone. Apply the film and squeegee it as flat as possible, removing any bubbles. When you trim the excess film off the edges, it doesn’t have to be perfect, as the edges will be hidden beneath the frame. You may want to hold the squeegee on the edge of the glass when you pull the excess away, as it tends to stick and pull up what you’ve already squeegeed down.

After you’ve trimmed and dried the film, place the glass back into the fame with the film facing forward.

Installing your Haunted Mirror

False walls are the key to a great haunted house. Monsters can hide behind them and spooky hands can reach out from them to grab (and terrify) haunt visitors.

To hang your mirror, you will need to cut a hole in one of your false walls. The hole should be smaller than the outside of your frame, but larger than the visible glass so you can hide the seam of the wall behind the frame.

Your guests should not be able to tell there is anything strange about the wall. It’s such a great effect!

Ghostly images

If you want to get really advanced (or just don’t want to sit around behind a wall for hours) you can put a TV or computer screen behind a small mirror and loop a spooky video on it. You can make your own video if you like – It should be black most of the time to allow for the appearance of a normal mirror. Then create bright, ghostly images that emerge from the blackness. Do this by simply moving into a beam of light (flashlight under the chin works) and make a scary face! You don’t have to limit yourself to just faces – get creative, you can put anything behind your mirror!

After your get your video up on the screen, you will want to turn the contrast way down because even when the screen is black it can emit a glow that will alert your guests that something’s up. You may also need to cover the sides of your screen with black cloth or paper (paint it black if you have an old spare) and make sure all lights on the knobs and power button are hidden and won’t glow through. Then push the screen up behind the mirror and let it work its magic!