Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're wrapping up our 2024 haunt season and covering the news. This includes discussing how our Halloween night went, our trip to the 13th Gate and, of course, the latest haunted attraction news. So please sit back as we cover all the haunted attraction news that is fit to print. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Question of the Week 3. Conference Reminders 4. Our Halloween Night 5. Our Visit to the 13th Gate 6. Haunted Hilltop Reopens One Week Afte...
Nov 06, 2024•55 min
Send a text Though we know many of you are at the tail end of your season, we just got our first two nights in the books. And what amazing nights they were. A full crew, a good crowd, tons of great scares and a haunt that worked just about perfectly. You can't ask for anything more. So that's what we're going to talk about this week: our first two haunting nights, our visit to Decomposed Haunted House, and how much we love the Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2...
Oct 30, 2024•1 hr 9 min
Send a text Sorry for missing last week, everyone, but we've returned with an overlong episode with much to discuss. We need to first update you on our haunt season. Then, we'll discuss our trips to three haunted attractions in the New Orleans area. It's a long one, folks, so strap in as we have a LOT to go through. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Question of the Week 3. Update on Our Season 4. The Mortuary 5. New Orleans Nightmare 6. Rise Haunted House. 7. Conclusions All in all, this...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr 22 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly is a double-length episode as we discuss our recent trip to Kansas City and St. Louis, which included three full nights of haunt visits. First, we visited The Beast and Edge of Hell in downtown Kansas City. Next, we checked out Darren Lynn Bousman's creation at Exiled in Bonner Springs. Finally, we returned to Waterloo Sportsman Club with family in tow for a third and final night. So yes, you get double the Haunt Weekly this week, but in our defense, we had ...
Oct 09, 2024•1 hr 31 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're recapping what has beeen one of the best weekends of our lives for visiting haunts: The Lost Souls Chicago Haunted Bus Tour. To say it was an amazing weekend is an understatement. Not only were there six great haunted houses, but an amazing bus trip plus some great time with a good friend and friend of the show. In this episode, we're recapping the weekend that was and, along the way, discussing why these kinds of tours are so great for customers and ...
Oct 02, 2024•59 min
Send a text Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone does dumb things while they are learning. However, it's a very special kind of mistake that makes you want to smack your past self across the face. Yet, every year, we are confronted by just such mistakes. So we're going to talk about them. Here are eight mistakes we made that really make us hate our past selves. 1. Intro 2. Question of the Week 3. Update on Haunt Visit and Plans 4. 8 Reasons We Hate Our Past Selves 5. Conclusions All in all, this is...
Sep 25, 2024•51 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're talking about the week that was, including our experience with the hurricane and our recent haunt build. However, for those who want something to do when they aren't working or acting, we have a suggestion: Happy Escape Tycoon. The game's name is a misnomer. It is actually about running your haunted attractions and goes into surprising depth about doing so, especially for an idle/tower defense game. So sit back, relax, and let us break it down. This W...
Sep 17, 2024•53 min
Send a text By its very nature, haunting is an up-and-down business. Sometimes, the queue lines are packed, and other times, it's impossible to get a crowd. After a few gangbuster years, things started to look scruffy, and there were a lot of indicators that should have given the haunters pause. No matter what the economy is actually doing, perception is 9/10s of reality. So, let's examine the challenges the haunt industry will face this year and what, if anything, we can do about them. This Wee...
Sep 04, 2024•53 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're doing the news! We have news about a haunt destroyed by arson, updates from Knotts Scary Farm and a series of celebrities getting involved in the haunt business. All of that and much, much more! This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Question of the Week 3. Conference Reminders 4. NC Haunt Destroyed By Arson - - GoFundMe Link - https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-rebuild-john-jarmans-wicked-haunted-attraction 5. Old Courthouse Catacombs Moving Due to R...
Aug 28, 2024•49 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're discussing the game Crime Scene Cleaner, recently released on Steam. The game isn't your standard cleaning simulation game. Instead, it's a masterclass of storytelling through one's environment. A great deal of thought went into the placement and setup of the game, making it one haunters need to pay attention to. So strap in and hang on as we discuss this game and why haunters should be paying attention: Crime Scene Cleaner: https://store.steampowered...
Aug 21, 2024•48 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly we're doing a topic that, for us, has been a LOOOOOONG time coming: Aphantasia in haunting. What is aphantasia? It's the inability to form pictures in your mind. Where most of the population can picture a beautiful beach or a country cottage, people with aphantasia see only words, letters or numbers. Though this was originally discovered in the 1880s, it's been getting a great deal of attention irecent years as more people have woken up to the idea that not ...
Aug 13, 2024•56 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're discussing building or improving your haunt character. It's the perfect time of year for this conversation, too. With just over a month before haunt season, many actors are trying to nail their characters down. This includes veterans looking to up their game and newcomers looking to hit the ground running. So, we'll discuss how to build your haunt character and what you should think about before you start scaring. Article: https://www.dabblewriter.com...
Aug 06, 2024•48 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're doing the news! Sadly, this week's lead story involves you-know-who being arrested on some serious charges. However, we also have some haunt openings, announcements from Six Flags and much more. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Housekeeping Note 3. Question of the Week 4. Conference Reminders 5. RM Arrested on Attempted Murder and Rape Charges - https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2024/07/22/mckamey-manor-owner-charged-with-rape-attem...
Jul 31, 2024•43 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're discussing the TV series The Walking Dead and examining the lessons that haunters can and should learn from it. From scare tactics to sound design, the show offers much to learn about scaring people. So, we will break down all the things you can learn from the show. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Work We Did for Our Haunt 3. Question of the Week 4. Intro to the Topic 5. Lessons from The Walking Dead 6. Conclusions All in all, this is one ep...
Jul 23, 2024•53 min
Send a text AI is still the big marketing buzzword for the 2020s. However, as the hype and fear begin to fade, it's time to look at what AI can actually do and how it might be able to help. To that end, most of AI's improvements are more iterative than revolutionary. However, that doesn't mean that AI is useless, just that one needs to be smart about how they use it. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Work We Did for Our Haunt 3. Question of the Week 4. Conference Reminders 5. Intro to th...
Jul 16, 2024•45 min
Send a text Every haunt has a theme, even if they don't realize it. Sometimes, the theme is no theme; sometimes, it's a generic "Haunted Hosue" theme. Other times, it's something even worse. As haunts begin working on their themes and promotions, we'll discuss themes and the mistakes we see haunts, including some good ones, make when picking a theme. While a haunt may not need a theme to excel, no haunt has been worse for having a good one. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Question of t...
Jul 09, 2024•45 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're doing the news! It's a busy time for haunt news as we ramp up the preparation for haunt season. However, that doesn't mean we don't have a few stories from outside the industry that could have major impacts on haunted attractions. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Question of the Week 3. Haunted House Actor Admits to Killing Friend - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13553707/Haunted-House-actor-Brandon-Risner-admits-murdering-disembowe...
Jul 02, 2024•45 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're discussing day jobs—or rather, why day jobs should hire haunters. Haunting is hard work, and even those who've done it for years or decades may not view it as "real work." However, we should be more proud of our work and hiring managers should take note of the skills we've learned. After all, if we can survive a few seasons as at a haunted house, we can probably deal with Janet in accounting. And not that way... This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro ...
Jun 25, 2024•45 min
Send a text Haunting is hard work, but it's much more difficult when unprepared. In this episode, we will discuss 13 things that every haunter should own. They can make haunting easier, more comfortable and, in some cases, safer. So sit back, relax and take some notes. You probably have a few things you'll want to buy. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Work We Did for Our Haunt 3. Question of the Week 4. Conference Reminders 5. 13 Things Every Haunter Should Have 6. Conclusions All in al...
Jun 18, 2024•48 min
Send a text A haunted attraction is basically a magic act. Though everyone knows it's an illusion, we don't share how it is done. However, we're throwing open the curtain a bit and looking at 13 secrets that pretty much every haunter knows, but doesn't tell their customers. Some are standard, some are wholesome, and a few we'd probably rather not get out. But we will share them all here! This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Work We Did for Our Haunt 3. Question of the Week 4. 13 Secrets We ...
Jun 11, 2024•47 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we are doing the news! We start talking about one haunt that tragically burned down, several haunts that are expanding, and a new experience that an escape room offers. In short, this is one busy episode despite the summer normally being the quiet season. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Work We Did for the Haunt 3. Question of the Week 4. Conference Reminders 5. Illinois Haunt Destroyed in Fire - https://www.kwqc.com/2024/05/21/barn-collapses-afte...
Jun 04, 2024•49 min
Send a text Injuries are a part of haunting, or so that's what many haunters say. Sure, we've all had the magic bruise that appears out of nowhere and the random cut that we can't explain, but serious injuries suck. If nothing else, they keep you from haunting. Fortunately, most haunt injuries can be easily avoided. All you need to do is follow a few simple rules to save your back, your voice and your appendages. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Work We Did on Our Haunt 3. Question of t...
May 29, 2024•47 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're celebrating the retirement of our longest-running partner, our recorder. So we've decided to honor the little recorder that could by remembering how and why we started this podcast and looking back at the ideas, plans and visions we had all the way back in 2015. So take a trip with us down memory lane. Not advised if you have an allergy to cringe. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Work We Did for the Haunt 3. Housekeeping 4. Question of the We...
May 22, 2024•55 min
Send a text If you search the web for haunted attractions, you'll likely get the Wikipedia entry as your first result. So, after 400+ episodes and thousands of searches, we're finally reading it. So, does the entry do us justice? What did we learn from reading it? What do we disagree with? We discuss that and much more in this episode. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Question of the Week 3. Reason for Choosing This Topic 4. Section-by-Section Breakdown of the Page 5. Conclusions All in...
May 15, 2024•55 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, it's an episode divisible by four, meaning that it is time to do the news! The news has been surprisingly busy this month, with a haunt scoring a major legal win, the Queen Mary making a comeback, and some haunts getting an early start to the season. So sit back, relax and enjoy as we go through all the haunted attraction news fit to print. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Work We Did for the Haunt 3. Question of the Week 4. Conference Reminders 5....
May 06, 2024•48 min
Send a text The haunted attraction industry is bizarre. In many ways, it more closely resembles a sport than an industry, partly because of the importance of amateur/home/charity haunters for sustained growth. That said, a few professional haunters still look down on the home haunt crowd. So, we will talk about why home haunters are important to the industry and how pro haunters can help their home haunt community flourish. This Week's Episode Includes: 1: Intro 2. Work We Did for the Haunt 3. Q...
Apr 30, 2024•51 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're talking about shadowcasts, including what they are, why you should check them out and what haunters can learn from them. For those who don't know, shadowcasts are when performers pantomime the film while it is being screened. Most commonly associated with Rocky Horror, many other films have been getting the shadowcast treatment, including Repo the Genetic Opera, The Room, Dr. Horrible and more. So sit down, or rather stand up, as we discuss the art of...
Apr 23, 2024•50 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're donning our hazmat suits and diving deep into the two lawsuits filed by Russ McKamey of McKamey Manor fame. What is he suing for? How solid are his arguments? How could these lawsuits impact the haunt industry? We're going to discuss all that and much more. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Work We Did on the Haunt 3. Question of the Week 4. Disclosures and Background 5. Analysis of AG/Fire Marshal Lawsuit 6. Analysis of the Hulu Lawsuit 7. Co...
Apr 17, 2024•56 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly it is time to do the news! And we have a LOT of news for you this week including an update on McKamey Manor, an attraction closing at Niles Scream Park, a major Halloween Horror Nights change and much more. We even have a summer camp for little haunters, a new video game to check out and, perhaps most importantly, a happy ending for the actor who played The Unknown at the terrible "Willy Wonka" event in Glasgow. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Work...
Apr 10, 2024•52 min
Send a text This week on Haunt Weekly we're flipping the script and reading some happy reviews of haunted houses. This includes reading some 30 reviews from the nation's biggest haunts and a few from our own. So let's all join around and have a feel good moment as we share the love from our happiest and most vocal visitors and learn both what they did and did not mention in their reviews. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Work We Did on Our Haunt 3. Question of the Week 4. Intro to the T...
Apr 01, 2024•51 min
