Never in my life have people shunned me so much. There they go, decent folk screaming and waving wildly at me to stay away. All I did was stand and stare at them.

It's strange how a white face with bloodied lips peering from behind long, straggly hair can cause such extreme reactions in people. Imagination sure runs riot inside the darkened confines of Lynton V Harris' Scream Park at the Sunway Lagoon theme park in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia - especially when ghouls and special effects are thrown in.

Flashlights beckon. Here comes another batch of hapless people to scare. I totter over to a dark corner to await them. Coming in from the sunlight, they are disoriented in the dark. Timid footfalls signal their arrival as they grope their way through the dim hallways. I jump out.

"Aaaaaaaah!"

"Oh my goodness!"

"My God!"

Scared, screeching folks scurry past me. My fellow zombies Airol and Zam grin. Scaring is satisfyingly fun!

Back to school

Now how did I end up being that creepy little girl among the 30-odd ghouls employed to haunt the Scream Park?

I was scanning the classifieds on a Saturday afternoon. One ad jumps out - GHOSTS WANTED. Do I think I could be trained at Scare School as their new pontianak, pocong, zombie or Terminator?

So I turn up at the auditions conducted by Dominic McChesney, our tutor. McChesney is training director for the New York-based The Sudden Impact! Entertainment Company that runs Scream Park which specialises in haunted live attractions based on hit movies such as Van Helsing, The Mummy and Tomb Raider.

"We take scaring seriously," explains McChesney, a trained English actor.

"Scare School teaches actors how to scare. Like any job, the right attitude is important. A good ghoul shows up on time, is presentable, works well in a team, and doesn't mind acting like a fool, because the job, after all, calls for acting.

"The eerie setting is conducive for a good scare. But ultimately, a haunted attraction is just a house of wooden boards with atmosphere. Trained actors are the ones who take the experience to a higher level of entertainment."

The first of our 40 hours of interactive classes over a week is spent on team building. It takes team effort rather than a lone ghost to max up the fear factor.

We are taught breathing exercises and given vocal training. Ghosts shouldn't shout like a mad person, for that would be more annoying than scary. A perfectly timed and aimed hum, growl, roar or jump would be more effective.

Different types of ghosts invoke various responses across cultures, we learn. The hopping pocong is terrifying to locals and Indonesians, as is the pontianak's cackle. But Westerners may find it a silly Halloween gag.

"The trick is to anticipate their reaction," says McChesney.

"Sometimes a whisper of, 'I am behind you,' in the dark can yield awesome effects."