Send a text Dealing with the press can seem like one of the most daunting tasks for haunters. However, it doesn't have to be. With a little effort and some planning, you can get excellent media coverage for your haunt... for free...The idea of dealing with the media can feel daunting to many haunters, especially newcomers. However, there's really nothing to be afraid of and getting good media coverage for your haunt is actually very easy. In this episode we're going to look at public relations f...
May 17, 2021•53 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly it's time to do the news and we have a lot for you. From haunts shutting down, haunts helping with tragedies and haunts opening new attractions, this has been an amazingly active spring for the industry.Learn more about how Easter State Penn is rebounding from the pandemic, changes for Disney's upcoming Halloween celebrations and much, much more!This is one jam-packed news episode to be sure!This Week's Episode Includes:IntroHousekeeping NotesQuestion of the...
May 10, 2021•52 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly we're sitting down with Alex Berland from Conjured Media (https://conjured.media/) to discuss haunt marketing and ways to supercharge it through storytelling.Conjured Media is a full-service marketing firm that works with haunted attractions to not just build campaigns, but great backstories and experiences. Alex is here to talk about his experience helping haunts build better stories and the impact that those stories had on their bottom line as well as tips...
May 03, 2021•1 hr
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly we're talking straight to new haunters and offering some of our best tips, tricks and hints from 20 years of haunting and 15 years of running a haunt.Many of the tips in this episode are from past episodes and many more are from reader suggestions. So thank you all that sent in some great ideas that we got to include.So, whether you're a new haunter or an old one, sit back and relax as we take you through a collection of our favorite tips.This Week's Episode...
Apr 26, 2021•55 min
Send a text Launching a pro haunt is an incredible amount of work. There's all the usual challenges of starting a business plus issues of financing, staffing, building, decorating, marketing and much, much more.But what if I said there were ways that you could ease the transition from home to pro haunter? What if there were some roads less traveleled, that might help you get on your feet more quickly? Would you be interested?If so, this is the podcast for you as we go through half a dozen less-t...
Apr 19, 2021•56 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly we're doing the news and covering all the haunted attraction news that's fit to print, or talk about, from the last four weeks.To that end, it's been a surprisingly busy month for haunted attraction and adjacent news. We have an update on the shooting at Erebus, news about COVID spikes following Halloween and much, much more. So, sit back and relax as we take you through all the haunted attraction news you need to know!This Week's Episode Includes:IntroQuest...
Apr 12, 2021•59 min
Send a text You've seen the memes, you've laughed at the jokes, you've ouched at the prices. There's a crisis in the world of lumber and it is starting to hurt haunts badly.We're going to take a deep dive into that crisis as we find out what is causing it, when it will likely end and what, if anything, you can do about it right now.So, buckle up as we're going to talk a lot about lumber, market forces and international trade. Much excitement. This Week's Episode Includes: IntroQuestion of the We...
Apr 05, 2021•49 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're talking about conferences. As the world starts to open up from Coronavirus-forced lockdowns, that means new haunted attraction conferences, such as Transworld in May.So we're sitting down with Japes Palles to discuss haunted attraction conventions, what newcomers can expect and what rules one should abide by while on the tradeshow floors.It should be an interesting episode for any convention attendee, especially newbies making their first trip to a ha...
Mar 29, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly we're looking at that sinking feeling we all get when looking at something that's human-ish, but clearly not human.That's right, we're talking about the uncanny valley and all the ways it can add a little unease to your haunt. We're going to explore how it works, why it is so effective and ways that you can exploit it.So sit back and relax... or try to relax at least. This one might make you feel a bit... uneasy.This Week's Episode Includes:IntroThe Question...
Mar 22, 2021•59 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly we're doing the news and, much to our surprise, it's a VERY busy month for haunted attraction news.We have a haunt owner that was charged with child sex crimes, a police department being sued over an incident at a haunted house and, yes, the latest news from Halloween Horror NightsWe also have an update on our new store (plus lots of new items and a new coupon code!) as well as the latest on what is going on in our lives.This Week's Episode IncludesIntroQues...
Mar 15, 2021•54 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're having to shift plans. We had wanted to talk about a topic but it turns out that, not only had we done it, we did it a year ago and with most of the same points.So, the new point that was added we decided to expand into a new episode and take a look at the future of escape rooms. Escape rooms, obviously, have had it rough during the pandemic. Many have been forced to close outright, others went all-virtual and some found ways to keep operating. But, w...
Mar 08, 2021•57 min
Send a text To many, haunting is just a silly hobby. To others, haunting is a business. However, very few people make the argument that haunting is important in a societal way. The argument is pretty straightforward: Art is important. Haunting is an art. Therefore haunting is important. However, haunting has ways that it is important beyond any other kind of art.So sit back as we explore this issue today and discuss why this weird business or silly little hobby actually matters a great deal. Thi...
Mar 01, 2021•52 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly we're taking another look back at episode 77 (https://www.hauntweekly.com/77) where we talked about the possibility of crowdfunding your haunted attraction.However, crowdfunding was in a dark place then and our discussion about it came across as excessively negative. So, we wanted another crack at this topic where we could talk about the successes as well as the pitfalls. So, with that in mind, sit back and relax as we sit down and discuss the nuances of cro...
Feb 22, 2021•58 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly we're finally getting caught up on the news. Fortunately, it's been a bit quiet these past few months. With so many other things dominating the news, haunted attractions haven't exactly been making headlines. That said, we still have a lot of haunt-related news to go through plus some things you as a haunter definitely need to be aware of. So, without further ado, here's a look at what's going on in the haunt industry. This Week's Episode Includes: Intro Que...
Feb 15, 2021•55 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly we're finishing up our (current) interview run by sitting down the Teddy and Jared from the Code Yellow Podcast (https://www.codeyellow.info/).In this interview we first and foremost learn more about htem and their podcast(s) as well as their haunting history. But from there we dive into the themes of the past few episodes as we talk about building a better haunt community and making our space more welcoming for all.So sit back and relax and listen as we go ...
Feb 08, 2021•58 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're tackling yet another difficult subject: Bullying.Bullying is a subject that has touched many haunters personally and it's also not an issue that magically goes away once someone hits a certain age.Fortunately, there's a great charity named Don't Be a Monster (https://www.dontbeamonster.org) that has been taking a powerful message about bullying to schools and, best of all, it's one that your haunted attraction can get involved with and help out.So, to...
Feb 01, 2021•54 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're looking at virtual events and haunting. This includes why you might want to host virtual events and how you can do it successfully. Though we've talked about this in the past now it's time to get down to brass tacks. We discuss the reasons for such events, the tools you need to make it happen and the pitfalls you need to watch out for. So sit back and relax and we'll give you the need to know information for running your own virtual event. This Week's...
Jan 25, 2021•55 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we sit down with Paul Lanner, the founder and operator of Haunters Against Hate. Haunters Against Hate is a charity that promotes LGBTQ+ inclusion and acceptance within the haunt community. As events over recent years have illustrated, the haunt community has work and effort to put into this space. To that end, Haunters Against Hate has been raising money for LGBTQ+ causes all over the country since 2016 and has provided a great outlet for LGBTQ+ haunters a...
Jan 18, 2021•55 min
Send a text Building a haunt community is tough. Building a haunt community that is supportive, inclusive and productive is even more difficult. To help us understand the whys and hows of building a community, we're bringing on an expert: Patrick O'Keefe Patrick is a leading expert is community administration and management. He hosts the podcast Community Signal (https://www.communitysignal.com/) and wrote two books on the topic Managing Online Forums (https://www.managingonlineforums.com/) and ...
Jan 11, 2021•51 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we’re looking at the issue of simulated violence in haunted houses and discussing what boundaries should be set and what is best for your haunt and your customers.There’s not much doubt that most haunts contain at least some implied violence. Severed limbs, dead bodies, gruesome injuries, etc. However, most of those injuries happen away from the customer and very few feature significant explicit violence, especially gory violence.There are a lot of reasons ...
Dec 28, 2020•54 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly we're doing the news and, after one of the busiest seasons of all time, it's actually kind of nice to have a quieter news episode for the first time in nearly a year. However, that's not to say there isn't a lot going on. We have news that Erebus is up for sale as well as an update on one of this season's shootings. It's still a very busy news episode, just a little less crazy than the ones that preceded it. So sit back, relax and let us go over all of the h...
Dec 21, 2020•52 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly we're setting aside the haunt talk and tackling something much more important: Tearing down Santa Claus. So sit back and relax while we drop all the reasons that Santa Claus is evil and his myth is likely doing more harm than good.It's a bit of a rough ride I admit, but a very important one to go on. This Week's Episode Includes: IntroQuestion of the WeekHousekeeping NotesWe Have a New Store (https://www.hauntweeklystore.com)Our Personal Stories About SantaS...
Dec 14, 2020•58 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're doing interview time as we sit down with Donnie Hoover and "Meathook" Jim Millspaugh of Wrestlehorror to talk about the intersection between wrestling and haunted attractions. This interview covers a wide range of topics including what haunters can learn from wrestling, the overlap between wrestling and haunt acting and why haunters should study wrestling. It's a wild an intersting hour of wrestling, horror and haunted attractions that should be very ...
Dec 08, 2020•53 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're not actually talking much about haunted houses and instead are looking at one of our holiday traditions: The Anti-Christmas PlaylistOur Anti-Christmas playlist is a (nearly) 20-year tradition that started on burned CDs for our car and has grown to a mammoth YouTube playlist with over 80 tracks and 4 hours of music.For the first time ever, we're opening that list up to you and the world, you can view it here: https://tinyurl.com/antixmas2020If you want...
Nov 30, 2020•1 hr 3 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly we are doing the news! It has been a particularly busy four weeks for haunted attractions as we have the conclusion of the 2020 season, easily the weirdest haunt season ever, and get to talk about some of the aftermath of it.So, with that in mind, sit back, relax and let us tell all about what is going on in the haunt industry.This week's Episode Includes:IntroQuestion of the WeekHousekeeping NotesWhat We've Been Working OnRaven's Grin Inn GoFundMe (https://...
Nov 23, 2020•1 hr 3 min
Send a text With the 2020 haunt season coming to a close haunts everywhere are shutting down, evaluating how the season went and starting planning for the new year. But, while a LOT happens in the off-season for haunts one key thing does: Earning money. For most haunts, not being opens means no money at all coming in. However, that doesn't make any sense. Sure, haunt season is only 4-8 weeks long but there are many ways that haunts can make money year-round if they are just willing to try. To th...
Nov 16, 2020•58 min
Send a text To say 2020 was an unprecedented season is a cliche at this point, but it is also a grand truth. That said, getting through tough times can carry with it lessons for the better times and that's what we're on a mission to find. The question is simple, what lessons from 2020 can haunts take with them to 2021 and beyond? It turns out there's a lot and we're going to discuss just five of them this week. This Week's Episode Includes: Intro Question of the Week Raven's Grin Inn GoFundMe To...
Nov 09, 2020•56 min
Send a text This year's Halloween was never going to be an ordinary one. We had already canceled our haunt due to COVID-19 and city regulations but had hoped for a spirited night of trick or treating and socially-distanced festivities. Then, Hurricane Zeta hit the city. Instead of the anticipated mild tropical storm or modest hurricane, we got a solid category two with little time to prepare. This brought an early end to our Halloween celebrations and gives us the topic for our episode. So here'...
Nov 02, 2020•53 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly it's time to do the news. That means we get to bring the most unusual haunt season ever to a close by covering the last four weeks of news stories. However, it's been kind of a rough four weeks, setting aside the myriad of fluff pieces about COVID precautions taken by haunts, we have three shootings to talk about, several injuries and several haunts being forced to close or change their process.Ultimately, this is one of the busiest news episodes we have eve...
Oct 26, 2020•1 hr
Send a text The headless horseman is one of the most iconic images of both Halloween and haunting. His namesake haunt is one of the best known in the country and his tale is many a child's first introduction into spooky stories. But where did this legend come from and how much truth is there to it? Also, are there other headless horsemen around the world? These questions and more will be answered in this episode. This Week's Episode Includes: Intro Question of the Week What We've Been Working On...
Oct 19, 2020•56 min
