Send a text Though tech has become an important part of almost every industry, it's been playing a unique role in the haunt industry for nearly 50 years. What started off as parlor tricks meant to impress and woo crowds has slowly turned into an integral part of haunting. Whether tech is aiding or replacing actors, whether it's a central scare or taking a background role, tech in haunting is here to stay.And tech's importance in haunting is only growing. As haunts scramble to both comply with a ...
Mar 06, 2016•53 min
Send a text It's a simple fact of haunting, while everyone loves scaring the ever-loving hell out of the customers, there's a lot more that goes into a haunt than just putting on a costume and scaring people.So this begs a simple question: How many hats do you have to fill when building a haunt?We actually started thinking about this weeks ago during HAuNTcon as we talked about all of the roles that a head haunter has to fill. Whether it's architect, engineer, marketing expert or human resources...
Feb 28, 2016•52 min
Send a text 12 is divisible by 4 so that means it's time for us to do the news!While February might not seem like a time bustling with news for the haunted attraction industry we have a couple of major stories this week as we learn of one year-around haunt closing and another lynchpin haunt that is staying put despite rumors it was leaving.The industry has also been getting some interesting attention from the mainstream media as we have a pair of articles one focusing on the plight of year-round...
Feb 21, 2016•50 min
Send a text When opening up a haunt, one of the first questions that has to be answered is whether the haunt will be a touch or a no touch haunt.This decision is crucial because it affects nearly every decision that will come later including the design of the haunt, the marketing of the haunt and the actors you get for it. It can even impact your insurance and even your zoning.So with this episode Haunt Weekly, we sit down with Kyle, our resident expert on touch haunts, and discuss the differenc...
Feb 14, 2016•55 min
Send a text This week on Haunt weekly, we make our triumphant return from HAuNTcon and present our thorough recap including a breakdown of the classes we attended and some of the highlights of what we learned.As a result, this episode has a little bit of everything going on. Expect to learn a bit about haunt marketing, makeup tips, fireproofing, fire code compliance, haunt design and much, much more. It's a jam-packed episode that even ran a few minutes long (sorry about that) but it's hard to c...
Feb 07, 2016•1 hr 2 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we are at HAuNTcon. However, since the conference is ongoing you'll have to wait until next week for our wrap up and other wonderful content.However, we aren't ones to disappoint, we have a great show this week as we bring on what we hope will be our semi-regular guest, Kyle. Kyle is, without a doubt, one of the most experienced and talented haunt actors we've met. With seven years of experience he's done everything from our home haunt, to charity haunts, t...
Jan 31, 2016•55 min
Send a text It's that time again! Another month has passed and it's time for us to cover the news. This week's episode is mostly about the biggest story in the haunted attraction industry this month: HAuNTcon. We will be in attendance at HAuNTcon (one of us will be speaking) and in this episode we have a full rundown of not just what we'll be doing there, but all of the things going on at the convention and some suggestions for classes to attend and tours to go on!In addition to that we also hav...
Jan 24, 2016•53 min
Send a text The most common question actors have when they start a new role is "What do you want me to do?" Sadly, the answer isn't always straightforward. Sometimes, what the haunt owner or supervisor wants is not necessarily what is best for that actor or the room. That's because there is a wide variety of scares actors can do and not every actor is right for every scare.So whether you're a big guy looking to intimidate, a theater major looking to get all Shakespeare or a sneaky one who likes ...
Jan 17, 2016•56 min
Send a text Websites. Your haunt has to have one. So how do you make sure your website doesn't suck? Here at Haunt Weekly the only thing we've done more than build haunts is develop websites and it's time for us to have a serious sit down about this issue because, let's face it, our industry stinks in this area. So, from two web workers to the industry, here's how we can make our web experience better for everyone.In this episode we cover: Why You Need A WebsiteThe Elements Your Site Should Have...
Jan 10, 2016•56 min
Send a text It's time to talk some business. When it comes to running your haunt, you're trying to operate a year-round business that's only open for about 6 weeks. You need to attract as many customers as possible and bring in as much money from each of them that you can.How you do that is through price differentiation, lowering your price to customers who demand it while offering more to those who are wiling to pay it. But how do you prevent your high rollers from cheaping out or your lower-en...
Jan 03, 2016•54 min
Send a text It's episode 4 of Haunt Weekly and that means it is time to get caught up on the news! We have a lot to go over this week as we're covering all of the news stories from early November to mid-December, meaning we have six full weeks of stories to go through.In this episode we cover: A Major Legal Victory for Haunted Attractions in the U.S.A Maryland City Openly Courting an "Upscale" Haunted AttractionAn Expansion to a Haunted Park in WisconsinA Slew of Christmas-Themed Haunted Attract...
Dec 27, 2015•50 min
Send a text Previously we discussed haunt safety much but now we get to the nitty gritty: How to build and design a haunt.Obviously, this is too much to unpack in one episode so think of this as a whirlwind tour the basics of haunt construction and design. Why construction first? Because most haunts are built the same way and that technique has a huge impact on design.This episode covers: Overview of Haunt ConstructionPanels: The Basic Unit of HauntingAssembling Panels into a Larger StructureBas...
Dec 20, 2015•57 min
Send a text When it comes to running a haunted house, nothing is more important than safety. At the end of the night, you want every customer and actor to go home safely.So, in the spirit of safety first, we're making our first real episode of Haunt Weekly a whirlwind tour of basic safety. While we're going to delve into a lot of these issues more deeply later, this episode covers the basics of: Designing and Building a Safe HauntFire Code BasicsKeeping Actors SafeOutdoor Haunt SafetyUsing Safe ...
Dec 13, 2015•56 min
Send a text Welcome to the first episode of haunt weekly! In this episode we introduce ourselves, Jonathan and Crystal, and we talk a bit about our backgrounds, what we want this podcast to be and, most importably, how you can help.----more----Our goal is to make this the podcast that the haunt industry wants and needs so your suggestions, advice and help will be invaluable. So leave us a comment, give us your recommendations and stay tuned for the first full episode next week! Get in Touch and ...
Dec 06, 2015•24 min
