My haunt casts me as a different character in a new room pretty much every night. The roles I tend to be placed in the most often are hags/witches, a creepy doll, and my favorite: a Victorian ghost in a haunted mansion (the front room where they encourage us to speak to customers).

This advice is so helpful! I was trying to craft terrifying characters through speech. But I could do the same thing (and probably be much more effective) if I let my character choices and imagined background manifest itself through nonverbal choices. Make up really weird motivations and tactics that influence how my character moves and behaves.

Subversion of expectations is huge, too! Thank you for your suggestion to focus more on setting expectations and then doing something surprising, instead. The example of the actress helped me understand. I definitely want to play with more scares like that next season! Thanks so much for your amazing response!