[0:23] Hello everyone, I'm Jonathan. I'm Crystal and this is Haunt Weekly, a weekly podcast for the haunted attraction and entertainment community, Whether you're an actor, owner, or just plain aficionado, we aim it to be a podcast for you. And we return to you this week, after an adventure. Yeah. We spent a significant chunk of our weekend making a.
[0:45] Modest trip, we'll say. It wasn't like nothing, but it wasn't a big deal either.
To Mobile, about a two hour away for us, we'll be able to go visit the fear exhibit there. Yes, at the Explorium. The Explorium and the Explorium Science Center in Mobile, Alabama. Apparently right off the interstate off-ramp as we learned. Yeah, it was a very odd because we were approaching it and it's like we're here. Yeah. It's like oh okay. And literally you're there the minute you exit the interstate. So we're gonna be talking about that and a few other things that happened that we noticed around town all the week and we did a few other things too that I think have some interest when I cover that but first things first if you don't want to hear about an adventure but want other Haunt Weekly there is plenty of it out there 400 other episodes, you can check them out at hauntweekly.com, hauntweekly on twitter, hauntweekly on facebook and youtube.com slash hauntweekly you can also check it out wherever you get your podcast, pay someone else to take care of that I don't think about it I've heard we're everywhere though, That's why I like it. We try to be everywhere. Well on that note we do have to take a moment though and mourn the death of a beloved member of our podcast team.
[1:59] They've been with us since the very beginning and that is, of course, Squeaky Chair.
Ah, okay. I was like, what the heck are you talking about?
I know on this podcast I've typically sat in a chair that occasionally has squeaked. I've tried very hard not to do it. Yeah. But every once in a while Squeaky Chair squeaked and nothing I did, like lubricating it or otherwise altering it, seemed to help. No. So Squeaky Chair squeaked And every once in a while Squeaky Chair would be heard on the podcast.
But unfortunately, Squeaky Chair died a very inglorious death over the past week.
It tried to take you out with it.
Yeah, no. Basically, one of the supports that holds the back up went out.
First, it hit me in the back of the head.
And then when I tried to lay back or lean back in it, it dumped me on the floor.
So luckily, no damage to people. The property was screwed.
Yes, um, so squeaky chair is no more. I'm currently on a modest hunt to get a new chair. But in the meantime, I have crystals old, Gaming chair, which I'm quite liking. I'm not hating and it doesn't squeak I can move around. I mean, yeah, exactly, I'm wiggling around no one else.
Embracing Silence: The Power of Nothingness
[3:15] No one can hear me the fact I'm shuffling and I see you trying to make it squeak really hard exactly If that's the point, there was no noise.
The point was, listen to our nothingness.
That's basically our you know should be our tagline Yeah, but just from now on all the episodes are going to be the intro followed by 50 minutes of blank time. Enjoy, What would change realistically probably the highest rated episodes?
Recap of previous questions and live stream discussion
[3:42] But yes indeed squeaky chair is no more so after that we have every week we ask a question a week now the previous one, We asked, you know, basically what questions did you have for us? Yes And y'all came back with a lot of great things there, but we covered those, Mm-hmm and the live stream we did so go check that out facebook.com slash hunt weekly It may be converted to an episode later. It ended up being almost the exact right amount of time Yeah, so it may be converted into an episode later If nothing else than just because of that.
[4:12] But yeah Right now you can go see listen watch the recording as we try to answer some real real stumpers from the audience. Y'all hit us hard. I'm not gonna lie. Y'all hit us hard.
But that does bring us to this week's question of the week, which is simple. What are you most looking forward to this Haunt season? We're getting on the right up to it. What are you most looking forward to this Haunt season? Let us know. Hauntweekly.com, Hauntweekly on Twitter, Hauntweekly on Facebook, and YouTube.com slash Haunt Weekly. Crystal, what are you most looking forward to? Having it done? No, I'm actually really looking forward to all of the creativity that's going to go into this year's haunt. Yeah. And yes, haunting for me is always a creative endeavor, but this year I get to make weird shit. Yeah. I like making weird shit. But no, I, for me, I'm not going to.
Crystal's excitement for the creativity in this year's haunt
[5:19] I think I'm honestly looking forward to A, the new layout. Even though the layout comes with some sacrifices, I think it will greatly increase confusion and make the haunt feel significantly bigger. But I'm also really looking forward to having a new haunt because for us, the haunt has been the same since October 2019, roughly. So we had the same haunt up because, like I said, closed 2019 due to road construction 2020 2021 to the ongoing global bastard um and now 2022 we're able to reopen and finally put on that show that we were going to do way back in 2019 so for us when we sit that haunt has been frozen in time for damn near four years yeah and i'm looking forward to having a new one but what that does mean is that whenever i have to go into the garage in the the dark I'm gonna walk into walls. Oh yeah. Every time we do anything with the layout I immediately start walking into walls. Well yeah because you gotta learn the new one. Yeah and eventually by the time we open I got it where I can navigate it blindfolded and spun around three times and all that jazz. But there's gonna be a period of adjustment there. I'm literally running into crap.
[6:37] And it's gonna be worse this year than usual because I've had so long to get used the previous layout. But yeah, so what are you looking forward to most in the upcoming season? I'm curious because I've been hearing a lot of mixed things about how Haunts have been doing over the past few years post-pandemic. Yeah, and you know, we even had somebody reach out to us and ask if we had heard anything about people not going back this year because of issues that they saw last year and I haven't heard anything like that. No, no. But if you have, let us know.
All the usual places. Oh, the other chair decided to be squeaky chair for a minute.
Yeah, I moved a little bit more than usual. Yeah, but the point is, yeah, I'm gonna be curious what people are thinking. Because I remember, I mean, Brett Hayes posted something recently about how in 2020 they opened, I'm not getting into that, but they opened, it was their biggest year ever really not getting into that and 2021 was strong but they started seeing stiffening declines in attendance and so even and then obviously we know they had to throw in the towel because of insurance reasons it's fucking bullshit yeah but regardless he was talking about how he thinks mid-sized haunts are in real trouble because of this and I don't know.
[7:54] I guess we'll see I mean I think he may be right but I think he might only have part of the reason. But nonetheless, I'm very curious what everyone else is thinking and expecting in 2023 because I, don't know what to expect. I really don't.
So anyways, it's adventure time. Now if you tuned in last week to episode 400, One of the stories we covered was about a new exhibit called fear.
[8:21] At the Explorium in Mobile, Alabama downtown Mobile, Alabama and We this was the first we'd heard about it. Apparently had been up for a little while.
[8:33] But this was the first we had heard about and we decided that on Saturday we were going to make a trip to see that, but also to catch a bunch of other, roadside attractions and odds and ends so that we could get some inspiration for our haunt. Right. Because we had done the Abita Mystery House recently, which is a major roadside attraction in this area. We'd never seen it before, like a month or two ago. Right. And that was very illuminating. Yeah, and you know, we decided to see what was along the way. Turns out, not a lot, but there were a few things that were fun to go and check out. We'll take the trip in order in a second. What's so weird about the drive to Mobile is if you leave New Orleans and you go east to Mobile, between New Orleans, once you cross the lake and you get past Slidell, what you see there in Slidell, around the other side of it, there, is jack-fuck-all between Slidell all the way to Biloxi, Mississippi. And then you hit civilization for like five minutes and Belux, it doesn't feel like long and then, it's fuck all nothing until mobile.
And so you know it's so weird because you look at your little GPS and I'll be like you're, 10 minutes away from your destination and I look up and it's like the fuck I am.
All I see is trees and rocks. And rocks and trees. Exactly.
[9:58] So yeah, I mean, but anyways, our original plan was to hit up a museum in Slidell, on the way up, but the museum in Slidell had the stupidest hours ever in human history.
Yeah, so instead we're going to save the Slidell trip as a separate trip this weekend.
I may take it this weekend, but the main... we knew that the fear exhibit was the one thing we had to do. We were super excited to do that, and we knew we had to do it, but there was a problem.
And that is we did not know how long the Explorium would take to go through.
Right. At all. We had no idea. And let's put this in for some perspective. In New Orleans, there are some museums that you can be in and out of in under 30 minutes, easy. And see everything.
Yeah. Easy peasy. See it twice. And then there's the World War II Museum.
Where you need a couple of days to see everything. I'll put it like this. They open at 9, Every day. Yeah, if you're not there by 10 a.m. Pick another fucking day.
[10:58] Yeah, is that fair? Well, even at 9. Yes, it's No, you don't have to keep a brisk pace, And go online and if you don't believe me certain go online and ask how long it takes to see it because there are people Saying that oh I set aside four hours to do it and I only saw two of the exhibits I got ripped off because yeah, no if you're going to the World War two museum, Plan for at least a day. Yeah, maybe give yourself a day and a half. No, that's not even a joke Yeah, and if you're interested in the stories behind the people fault.
[11:30] They have Interviews with people there and that will take you all day. Oh, we're just there for that, Yeah, the museum is epic and amazing. Yeah, in fact, they're just opening a new pavilion Exactly, yeah, so it's gonna get even fucking longer people. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's very.
Last Permanent Pavilion Added to Museum
[11:49] And it's still growing and apparently but they did say this is the last Permanent pavilion they're adding. Oh, but they doesn't mean they won't, Know it doesn't mean that and the the exhibits do change. Oh, yeah somewhat, I mean it is truly a great museum, and you absolutely should go, but please do set aside at least a full day, I'm not not an exaggeration at all, Luckily they do have places to eat and such right there, so you won't starve, But yeah, so we didn't know though if we were going into you know these tiny art museum, Yeah More to museum yeah, yeah, or if you've been to New Orleans, and you went to the pharmacy museum That's like a 30-minute. Yeah, if you don't do this, if you don't take a full tour, yeah, it's about 30 minutes.
If you don't do the guided. If you do the self-guided.
The self-guided is about 30-ish minutes. You're right. That's a good example. Great museum. Highly recommend it.
[12:44] In and out no time. It's a great thing to hit while you're fucking around the French Quarter, Get some air get some ac between the bars. It's great, you know, Get a little edumacation going while you're there So yeah, we didn't know if it was going to be the pharmacy museum the war two museum. Luckily as we found out, uh, The Explorium was mid-sized. Yeah, Um, and I guess we'll talk about the museum first because we saved the fear exhibit for last we did, So we should force them to do it too. Exactly. That seems fairest, The Explorium, for those who don't know, and we didn't, well we kind of had an idea, is an interactive science museum aimed at kids both really young and a little bit older too, I think. It's safe to say.
Yeah, I think the average age was around 10. Yeah.
[13:30] But there were also teenagers there and there were younger kids too.
So there was definitely a wide range.
But basically it's an interactive science museum. they have two major areas. The first, which is the first one we did, is, but it's their interactive hall, basically. And that's where you get to play. You get to learn all about physics.
Yeah, I get to play with physics, things like pneumatics, gear ratios.
Making bubbles in different liquids of various viscosities.
Learning about how crappy a four-digit lock is if you can't repeat numbers.
Yeah, I'm glad that exhibit was there and can teach some little bastards about you know, Why combination locks are often shit for security?
[14:17] They can be all right, but they got it done. Well So yeah, there was a lot of neat interactive stuff there. Yeah, I would have loved it as a kid Oh, yeah, and that's just I was talking with Ellie about this earlier today, There was this phase in the 90s where they were were building these types of museums or these types of exhibits in a lot of places and it sucks because I was born in 1980 so when they were being built I was just a wee little bit too old to be in the truly enthusiastic about it range.
Yeah.
So I think that the the ones that were built near Dallas were built earlier than what you're Oh.
Fun and Challenging Museum Exhibits
[14:56] Thinking of because I remember going to them and having a blast. Well that's true I may have had a mid I was in a mid-sized city not a large one so it's entirely possible I came to it late.
[15:06] So I don't dispute that at all but man they are very very cool very fun to learn about pulleys and things like that too. They had a lot of interesting exhibits there. They also had a small section of animals that you could go and meet the animals kind of thing a little reptile type exhibit yeah unfortunately when we tried to go in it was locked yeah with no I guess if I'm gonna like talk about things that I didn't particularly like the signage in the museum was lacking yeah was in general I, think because like there was no sign saying exhibit closed come back at X time. No, it just said push. It just said push. So we pushed and then we nearly broke the fucking door.
Yeah. We didn't push that hard. You didn't push that hard. No, apparently I don't know my own strength. But you weren't very strong. But no, that's just, yeah. So the signage in general, was a bit rough. And there were a fair amount of exhibits not functioning or not functioning properly, which was sad. Yeah. Because there were a few things that like we were really eager to do because they had the interactive lab interactive room and they had an upstairs portion of it too where you could play with K'nex and Lego and all that and honestly I could I could see like 10 year old me just running up and playing with the K'nex for three hours and yeah exactly I.
[16:28] I want one of those earthquake machines at home you know with the block so you can just learn I could learn how to build buildings yeah this is the second museum we've been to in like two years that has had one. Yeah and it's just a vibrating floor. I mean, you know, I mean that's, That's all it is, is one of those little ones.
Blocks but yeah it's with one of those like wooden block sets yeah yeah so yeah it the, there's a lot of neat stuff to do there they did have the interesting decision of taking about a third of it that section and blocking it all for under three or four years old i remember it was was the super young ground on the first floor yeah the first one i'm saying yeah it was um, it was a playground yeah and it was not being used by anyone because apparently the age range didn't really extend that low. Okay. I didn't see anyone. I thought I saw a couple of people, but maybe not. But it was definitely not as crowded or as busy as the rest of the museum.
No, no, no. So that was what I think of as the main part of the museum. Yeah.
[17:31] And honestly it was a lot of fun. There's a lot of neat stuff there. Yes, and I was grateful for the numerous hand sanitizer stations because everything was touch-based. Yeah. The other half of the non-fear part was about the human body and how it functions. Yes, learn your body. And apparently it's connected to some local health group where you can scan your patient card and it'll record your blood pressure and heart rate and things like that. Yeah. And put it in your medical record. Don't do that. No, that sounds like a terrible idea. Because I put my hand on the thing to do the heart rate for example it told me my heart rate was 180. Now I do sometimes have a slightly higher heart rate and I had been doing a decent amount of physical activity so I'm willing to believe it was elevated but a hundred and eighty no it was under 80 I feel pretty confident that's at least a hundred points. Yeah it told me 121 and my watch said I was at 70. I just didn't get a good read on either of us and so we have very different hands so I have no idea what it was I think the machine just.
Inaccurate Readings and Technical Difficulties in Health Exhibit
[18:43] Wasn't working and that this was the area where a lot of stuff wasn't working right unfortunately like they had an AR thing that theoretically kind of cool where you lay down these little cards about the human heart and you get a 3d image of the heart doing that phase of it it was struggling the camera where the camera to capture the AR stuff was not centered correctly.
Well, I think that part of that is that it wasn't marked where to put the carts.
Yeah, that's true.
And so you kind of had to play with it to figure it out. And this goes back to signage not always being super great.
[19:18] But yeah, it was interesting. They had a lot of good exhibits there to learn about the human body.
They had a giant heart that was pumping and it was cool.
I liked it. They also had a giant, um, I guess it was called a graduated cylinder filled with fake blood to see how much blood is in your body based upon your weight. Yeah, you step on a scale and it fills up a tube with blood. Which, I mean, A, it was an interesting visual, I have to admit. Yeah.
[19:47] But also kind of weird. I have a lot more blood than Jonathan, apparently.
[19:53] Yeah, well, I also, uh, once again didn't realize that was a scale and might have stepped off too soon. So, well, yeah, you did because, yeah, well, but yeah, it was a mixture of physical and digital interactivity, but I think pretty much, and this is something that gets very important in a minute, I think every exhibit in those two areas were interactive to at least some degree, except maybe like the giant heart. Yeah, but everything was interactive to a certain degree. Yeah, yes. Now after we hit everything on the ground floor and that little additional area on the top floor, we finally went up because the fear exhibit, and it is literally called fear. Yeah. It's just one word is fear. The subtitle is an immersive exhibit and we'll be, be getting back to that. But basically it was on the second floor above the medical staff basin, very much by itself and out of the way. Yeah. And what happens is you go up the stairs or the elevator to it, it doesn't really matter, they both lead to the same place, you're greeted with what every haunter will immediately recognize as a panel-based construction. Yeah. Using 10-foot panels, They did not faff about with their panels. No. At least in terms of the size and the height. Yeah, so walk out of the elevator and it's like, that's familiar. I know what to do here. Yeah.
[21:21] And there was an entrance and an exit and obviously you go in the entrance. Yes, and kids screaming.
[21:27] Yeah, and there were actually a lot of spoopy noises coming from it. Yeah, there was. There There was a lot of noises coming from it. So yeah, you know, we went in.
And I've got the page for the exhibit up because I'm going to be referencing back to it I'm sure.
But yeah you go in and the very first thing you see is that yeah they're talking about phobias like everything I mean because it says in the marketing it talks about you know facts phobias myths and more it talks about other things like we'll get into crypto zoology and it talks about urban legends but it talks about them in connection with phobias right so like phobias are the framing device for everything in this yeah because it it starts with the basic definition of a phobia and how the body responds yeah and that's actually outside of the exhibit even that's on the wall right nearby it's before you even go in they start making a distinction between a phobia and a fear, and I think that he might have had an overly broad definition of a phobia for my taste, but, You know at the same time, I don't know. I'm not an expert in this one. Call Margie. Someone call Margie Kerr. Yeah, that's what she thinks.
Exploring Different Types of Phobias
[22:43] But anyway, so I Actually really enjoyed the phobia discussions because even though I thought I knew a lot about a lot of different types of phobias, There were plenty in there. I had never heard of yeah, Yeah, I would agree with that and I always like learning about what scares people and there was not only the what but sometimes the why people find it scary.
That was really interesting for me.
But yeah, and like I admit like going through it, it seemed like the distinction between certain phobias was very arbitrary.
The the the phobia for reptiles is considered distinct of the phobias from snakes.
[23:29] And that just strikes me as peculiar because it seemed like one is a subset of the other.
[23:35] You know what I mean? Yeah, but one of the ones that I don't think either of us had heard. Yeah.
Was Sedonglophobia. Okay, and what is it? That is the fear of cotton balls. Yeah.
And the reason is is that they look... cotton balls... and I'm just gonna read off of the little plaque. Yeah, we took a photo of the plaque. They resemble eggs of creatures like lizards, cockroaches, and snakes, and other creepy crawlers, and, that triggers the danger response in people. And it's apparently especially common in the Pacific Islanders. Yeah. Pacific Islander cultures where those types of creatures are more common. So and on an exposure to cotton balls didn't come until later. Right. So yeah it makes a degree of sense when you think about it. But yeah so there were a lot of very weird phobias in there but of course they also covered the greatest hits. Your claustrophobias, your agoraphobias.
I did not realize until I was here that one out of every five people has a fear snakes yeah I did not I mean I knew it was a common phobia but that is common yeah I mean if you get five motherfuckers in your haunt group odds, are one of you has a fear of snakes yeah just stop and think about that if you get five random people in a haunt one of them probably has a fear of snakes yeah.
[25:01] That's crazy it is it's not me no it's not me but we've been to thoughts with snakes with people who have a snake phobia. And it's a very, it does hit very different, I will say that. And it's one of the reasons why I actually don't like catering to phobias in The Haunt. Because they don't hit everybody. Because they don't hit everybody, and the people they do hit get over scared so quick. Yeah.
[25:28] Because, you know, we like getting the right amount of fear. We want people to, be scared, we want them to scream, but we want them to leave smiling.
People with phobias don't leave smiling.
No, not usually and that's so yeah, like the one year we did spiders and apparently spiders are a super common one, too Yeah, we I mean, I mean and the thing is like we knew fear of spiders was a thing, Yeah spider thing, but we did not realize that it was that common.
[25:59] And that intense in some people I'm like even very obviously fake spiders. Yeah, Well, we'll set off the trigger warnings. Thank you. We had more, Surrenders that year than I think we had any other just because people will go into the first room see the spiders and just nope The fuck out, You know, yeah, I'm not sure it was it was a we we had a real problem with that that year, There's one another reason I don't like, Hitting phobias, but then again, you know, it's also kind of impossible to avoid them, Because people have a fear of dark spaces, Well, that's just called a haunt Haunt is a dark space. People have fear of confined spaces. Claustrophobia again. That's called a haunt.
The Challenge of Catering to Phobias in a Haunt
[26:42] Yeah, you're gonna have some tight spaces. So yeah, and then there are some really really weird obtuse ones out there that you just can't predict and, Sorry, you know, you know, we can we can not hit the obvious ones and the more common ones like claustrophobia Which is the fear of clowns?
We can avoid those but we can't cater to The one phobia that is some one of the random signs in the back of the exhibit basically, right?
[27:13] Because that was the thing I did find interesting Was like I said, they used the phobias as a framing device, but when they came to like the fear of monsters, They then went into an aside about Various urban legend monsters or crypto zoology basically went on to a crypto zoology to side and they talked about Bigfoot, they talked about, Loch Ness monster they talked about mothman even had a mothman in the ceiling Yeah, they also had the bunny man the bunny man. Yeah and costume and axe. Mm-hmm, and they also had, They also talked about and this was the one that really stood out to me is odd slender, man yeah well and they all so they talked about the.
[28:02] The origins of the different legends and why they were included in the exhibit. Yeah, So I think that they tied it together all very well. They've been then overall they did I said, I'm I am still dubious about putting Slenderman in a cryptozoology exhibit, though, Just because he was never intended to be seen as something that was real.
[28:26] You know that wasn't the creation story. I don't know. I don't know. To me Slender Man is still a video game character.
Yeah, but it became a social media craze. And it did get way out of hand. And then it started popping up with legends around cities of a Slender Man showing up and killing people for real.
Yeah. You know, it grew from the video game into real life. And the creepypasta that was big when it was...
I and I get that and maybe it's just I I don't want to feel old by knowing that a crypto, Zoologist creature was created and popularized in my lifetime in my adult lifetime, Yeah, like like lizard man in South Carolina went down when I was a kid, You know, I'm cool with lizard man because I was a kid when he was invented I was a fucking grown-ass adult by the time slender man was the thing, Yeah, well, you know, there's got to be new legends that come out or else future generations won't have legends Yeah, you know the old ones. Yeah, Bigfoot still hanging around. I know I don't know how, Yeah, but we're gonna put in you know into our haunt this year. Are you going the long way or the short way?
Yeah, it's true So and I don't see why everyone's so confused by the Loch Ness Monster Everyone knows that was me skinny dipping in Loch Ness and doing the backstroke No.
Museum exhibits on urban legends and infamous murderers
[29:50] Back to the museum. So yeah, they had an exhibit on that. And they also had an exhibit on urban legends.
Which was a separate part of the exhibit, an exhibit with an exhibit.
And that one covered like Bunnyman, I think was actually in that section.
Because this guy dressed as a bunny was the murderer. But they also had the murderer clown, which that was just called John Wayne Gacy.
Yeah, they also had... so here's the thing, it was a mixture of rooms that had just, placards or very sparsely decorated to very elaborate scenes. Yeah. Like the, Fear of Death, it had the full casket, the chair, the prayer bench thingy in, front of the casket, curtains, and it was it was a beautiful scene. Yeah and Like we got a photo op with me in the room of clutter. Yeah, they put a lot of energy into that room Yeah, and also into the dental room that I got the photo op of me there, with ancient dental me.
[31:02] Quality Machinery. Yeah, which was really freaking cool. Oh, yeah, and it was the ancient shit, too This is stuff that would not have looked out of place in the Pharmacy Museum in New Orleans going back to that Yeah, would have looked totally in line there, So they had they had a bunch of rooms that were just plaques and maybe some small displays and scary lighting and then rooms like this but that were these were mostly photo ops.
Yeah.
[31:31] And then there was we wound up two kids and their mom bumped into us right as we were reaching the creepy dolls yeah which and so both jonathan and the girls sit there and find the creepiest doll yeah because i mean that's the closest thing i have to a phobia so i of course i gotta sit there and needle at it because that's who i am yeah but uh um the sound design was good yeah it didn't overlap from room to room. Yeah, they did a great job. I think they were helped by the fact that did use 10-foot panels with this because the sound was coming from higher up and dispersing more downward. So I think that actually helped them a lot with that. But like you said, when we were in the clown, creepy clown room, there was circus music playing, but you didn't hear that one room back, which I believe was the funeral? The dolls. Oh, it was the dolls. But you didn't hear the music in the previous or the next room. Yeah. They did a great job with sound design and they did a decent job with lighting too. You could tell they were working with.
[32:32] A limited lighting rig. They had track lighting, but they made it work. They found colors and you could tell they honed in the brightness. Everything was easy to read, but everything still felt appropriately dim. Yeah, it felt eerie. And, you know, we found out on exiting, because we ran into one of the museum workers named Pat. He let us know that that was fully built by them. And I'm not surprised to hear that and I don't mean that as an insult. No, it wasn't a traveling show. They came up with the concept. They came up with how it would be be displayed and installed.
Yeah. and.
[33:12] It definitely had that home-built feel and I don't and that's not a slam. That's not meant as a knock Yeah, that's just meant as an anchor statement ways No, I would say if you're an adult and you want to go and check it out, They do have 21 and up hours. Yeah in the evenings, so I would, Definitely consider doing that if it were within our realm of possibility of plans That's probably what we would have done, but that's not what we didn't even know about until we got there. Yeah. Basically. Basically, yeah. They do have, you know, time in which you can go and basically roam the entire thing. Mm-hmm. And they do it, they seem to do it once per month. Now, this exhibit runs through Halloween.
Educational focus on fear with sociological and psychological perspectives
[33:56] Mm-hmm. And so, they have two after-hours dates coming. Well, no. Well, no. Okay.
Apparently, they've already done their August one.
No, they just didn't do one in August. No, they did, it was August 5th. No, it was, okay.
But anyways, they have one coming up in September and another one coming up in October.
So, you can absolutely check it out then.
[34:21] And that may be the better way if you're an adult and don't have kids.
But honestly, this exhibit was perfectly appropriate and fine for kids.
I would say it's even fine for kids who might be, you might think of as too scared to go through a haunted house, because the clear focus on this was education first.
They were genuinely trying to teach you something about fear, and part of it was more normalizing fear, but also looking at it both from a psychological and a sociological standpoint.
So that was pretty cool. And it was really, and I really did enjoy the exhibit.
I mean, I'm going to sound negative in a second, but I want to make it clear that I did enjoy it. I am glad I saw it. And when we talked to the nice gentleman afterward, I was completely honest with how I felt.
I did say I enjoyed it and I did.
But as I was walking away, I realized that I was feeling a wee little bit let down.
And I realized it was because nothing in the exhibit really is designed to make you scared.
[35:33] And I think their marketing is a bit off on this and it presents it maybe not in the most accurate light.
And I don't think it's like they're lying or they're doing anything wrong.
But you look at the poster for it, it looks like a modern horror movie or a modern haunted house. It's fear colon an immersive exhibit is the name of it and they advertise in the text that it's an interactive exhibit. And on the poster it says are you afraid yeah are you afraid.
[36:11] In the end, especially compared to the rest of the museum, it was not interactive.
Yeah, you got to pick up a phone. Oh, I forgot about the ringing phone.
It was a ringing phone in the very first, where they talked about, you know, the killer being inside of the house and where that actually came from, based on a true story.
[36:34] Turns out, yeah. I actually didn't know that. No, so I felt like I'd learned a lot here and you know, as you said, the focus was education, so job done there. Yeah, and it was also fun. Yeah, but it was also not the kind of fun, the poster and the marketing material, let me believe I was going into. Right. And so I think you should go into it with a mindset that you're going to see an educational thing that's going to be goofy, slightly cheesy in places fun, but also some cool exhibits and some cool scenes. I also like the room where you go down the hallway and they have the projector set up to make the hallway.
[37:09] Look like it's extending. Yeah. They actually, given how low-tech that setup was, they pulled off that effect remarkably well. They really did. Um, but yeah, it's, it is not, I, the poster and the marketing around it was, I did not connect it with what I went to. I would have honestly, given especially how much they talk about phobias, I think it'd have been cool to go with with like a b-movie vibe yeah or no it's gonna be a little silly and look fun but also kind of scary type thing and go that angle with it because that's what it really was and I love that shit yeah I eat that up for breakfast I mean I'm an MST3K head I've watched b-horror movies my whole life usually with robots making jokes over it so yeah I'm totally down for it I'm not sad we went I did fully enjoy it. But yeah, it was not what I expected and I've had to sort of go into my head.
[38:07] And retroactively adjust my expectations. Yeah, that makes sense. It does. And I think that's the biggest issue I have. So if you go, and I do, and my thing is this, I think maybe New Orleans was a wee little bit too far, but if you're in Biloxi or Mobile or Pensacola or somewhere nearby in the the Gulf Coast area yeah I would absolutely go yeah and it was not an expensive no it was not um so yeah I would highly recommend it it's just go with the mindset that you're going to learn you're gonna see some stuff that is you're gonna see a lot of static props they're only two interactive things were the phone and the buttons you could push to make sasquatch sound suppose it's sasquatch sounds unless you're counting the photo ops as interactivity which I personally don't but I mean maybe they are because they do seem to really hype on the photos and the photo ops were probably the most memorable part yeah because those were really cool like we got the photo of you in the dental chair, me in the clutter room.
A Museum Visit with Mixed Feelings
[39:12] With the casket. No, but it was a photo op. It was a photo op, but you weren't supposed to get in the casket, No, just the chair. No. Yeah, they were they were very, yeah, but so they had a lot of photo ops and the reason we didn't take a photo with the caskets because we can do that every haunt season, But yeah, they it's a really neat exhibit. I do think you should go. I think everyone should go, I just questioned some of the marketing choices behind it. I think it sets up expectations that, aren't even what it was trying to do. And if you do go be sure to explore the rest of the museum because it is fun. Yes. And you might learn some.
Exactly. Another negative I'll say about the museum was the gift shop though.
Oh yeah. We got to touch on this real quick. Because we talk about gift shops a lot.
Yeah. I know this is the moment hundreds of people are going to throw their hats on the ground and stomp on it and say that son of a bitch can't be made happy.
They didn't have anything marked as the Explorium in any way in the gift shop that we saw.
Yeah, if we if it's there we didn't see it and we missed it.
Yeah, it was a lot of kitsch. It didn't look like locally made kitsch either.
It looked um... And that was I think the bigger problem was that everything in there looked like stuff we could buy off of Amazon or Walmart.
[40:31] Or whatever and probably for a lower price and none of it like none of it I could take home and go this was something special I got at the Explorium and I could not have gotten this anywhere else.
Yeah.
Um, so yeah, I didn't particularly like that either, but it was, like I said, the museum itself was good. I recommend it. It's a short visit.
It will not take too long out of your day. And I know that because we ended up, um, you know, having a very full rest of our day.
Yeah. Because we'll kind of tear through the rest of the trip, admittedly, but from there we started hitting roadside attractions.
Yes. And the first one we hit was actually on the other side of Mobile Bay.
[41:20] And it was the largest dental mirror and dental pig in the world, a statue of both of them about eight feet tall, but they were laying down.
Yeah.
And we got some great photos with that. I think it was actually 13 feet.
Oh, it was. It was big.
But yeah, so we went very quickly, got photos of that and picked up a geocache while we were there.
Crystal reminded me that geocaches are a thing. We haven't actually done serious geocaching in a while.
Maybe we need to get back into that. Whenever it cools down.
Yeah, not really. Maybe not in a second.
Yeah, because we nearly died doing this. Oh, actually, we forgot about lunch, but I don't think that's terribly important.
Oh, I was wrong, too. It's 16 feet.
Oh, I was half. I was off by half.
I was only half the length, Jesus Christ. They are very giant dental tools, to be very clear.
I don't know whose mouth they would work on. Yeah, and it was built in 2016 and it was commissioned by the dentist there.
Margaritaville's Massive Video Game Arcade
[42:24] No, so yeah, we saw that and then we drove back to Biloxi Where we hit up Margaritaville for a very specific reason because they have and we did not know this until recently, They have the largest video game arcade in America supposedly. Yeah, and it was large It was giant. It was genuinely very very large and it was easy to get lost and separated in addition to the spate of video games it had like a, ropes course thing It had a rock climbing wall that was I think several stories tall It had, what else was there, a VR room, specifically the VR.
And of course a shit ton of video games. Now one thing that I was frustrated by was, it was very very big but didn't have a lot of different games. Right. And there were very few games there that were truly unique to there that I had not seen somewhere else. But yeah where a regular arcade might have one of those piano keys machines that we played, they had like six. Yeah.
It was you know, it was this issue of it was very big. We did have a great time We dropped 40 on there and all we got to show for it was a couple of stuffed dolphins and a uh, What was the thing you got the little magnet guy magnet guy? We put the hair on the dude. Yeah. Yeah.
[43:46] So, you know, that's all we got out of it from a price standpoint because we're not very good at ticket gathering, Well, we also didn't optimize for it. We didn't optimize for it. We played other games that were just fun, And reminded us of going to the arcade when we were you know first starting dating. Yeah, cuz they had a, Zombie shooter game. Yeah, it was a Walking Dead game with a crossbow, which actually yeah, that ended up being really fun It was I thought that game was gonna be rockin stupid, but no it ended up being a lot of fun, And also in the same vein, I actually kind of enjoyed that rabbit shooting game. We played to yeah I mean, yeah, okay. That one was rocking stupid, but it was fun stupid this time around Yeah, it was it was deliberately stupid, which is fine. And the thing is is that Marty?
Margaritaville is Is its own type of roadside attraction and if you don't believe us, There's a whole video series two videos Yeah, look up these two guys Eddie and Ted. They're on YouTube. They did They hit every single Margaritaville in the country and that's where we got the idea for going by there because they talked about the video Game arcade in this because this resort was originally a casino resort, Mm-hmm, and they decided to convert it to a family resort, So they pulled all the gambling machines out and just turned the casino floor into a giant video game arcade.
[45:07] Yeah, and it's awesome. It is highly it was actually a really cool thing We spent way too much money there between that and a brief snack Yeah, I spent way too much fucking money there, but had a great time and then.
The Shed: A Unique Roadside Attraction
[45:21] After that, we ended up, we went to get food, but I think we may have wandered into the most roadside attraction of all the places we went. Because we had heard about it for a long time. Yeah, we know of its existence. Yes, but we went and visited the shed, and I know that haunters already know about the shed. I've seen your photos of it, but it was very much a roadside attraction into itself. It had miniature little exhibits outside sprinkled around, different cars that were decorated. Lots of wacky crap everywhere inside the shed itself.
[45:58] And very interestingly, even though we are in the southernest southern Mississippi, and this is a roadside attraction with a lot of kitsch and a lot of things like that, nothing offensive. No. Like we didn't find anything. We were worried. We were worried because there's always the danger there's nothing or nothing there that nothing should offend anyone honestly, that i saw um honestly i was it was very it was a it was actually a very very funny yeah they actually had a good sense of humor about things and it worked it was a great roadside attraction i think they highlighted you know what this type of place can and should be in terms of Both a business because they sell barbecue the barbecue is fucking good by the way. Yes, it was. Yeah, we're still eating on it, We yeah speaking of we spend way too much money ordering a godforsaken amount of barbecue. Yes, no regerts. Nope.
[46:53] No regerts at all on that one um, But yeah, it was fun. It was a fun place to be and I enjoyed hanging out there What we got a beer piece and sat there while we waited for the to-go order So we want to take it back and eat it with ellie in new orleans Um, it was great. I just had a great time there I think in a weird way that is like the highlight of this trip in some ways was being there. Yeah.
[47:17] But of course after that we had to make one more stop Yes to see the world's third largest rock Yeah, And you know, it's the third largest because at one point it held the record but others have been built So yeah that are apparently bigger one thing I did find interesting about the world's third largest The acetyls were very close to Biloxi right here.
It actually was nearly destroyed in Katrina. When Katrina hit, it knocked the chair over and stripped all the paint off of it.
But they put it back up, repainted it.
[47:52] Fixed it up patched it up and it still stands today. Yes, and that is 35 foot tall Yeah, it was like, okay, That is one of those things like with the dental pick and the mirror You can kind of get an idea of the size of it and photographs, There's no conveying the size of this in photographs. No, they're just flatly isn't, Every took photos of it, but it's like yeah, it doesn't sell it Mm-hmm, and you seeing that on your fucking, you know, eight eight inch phone or whatever, It doesn't it doesn't hit you how big it is because we pulled into this desolate parking lot It was dusk when we were there right the Sun had functionally just set but there were still light out, And it's lit and it's lit at night too. It's very well lit So even even though we stayed after it went fully dark We were still able to see it But it's like you just don't realize you need to was so wild because you're pulling off this very, Nothing road. Yeah, there's nothing around like with a dental pick you were in a very very business area, This was a very busy stretch. Yeah suburban suburban business like the strip mall type place here There's fuck all around You pull off this it feels like you're pulling off onto a dirt road almost the way you do it because it's a gravel lot And then there's just this giant fucking rocking chair there, and it's like wow.
[49:18] So I guess what I'm saying is haunts need to get a world's biggest something or another in front of their home Yeah, Yeah, and 12-foot skeletons aren't doing it because everyone's got those exactly lots of people have 12-foot skeletons, But yeah, no it was so wild and we took a bunch of photos in front of it, And then we went home and ate the barbecue. Yes, and that was a another excellent part of the day. So, yeah, Honestly, I think getting back to the fear exhibit for a minute. So we're gonna start wrapping up, I really do think if you're in the area you should go. Yeah, I really really do. I do think it's worth it It's worth it. It's good. You should see it, but I also do think you should maybe shift your expectation Maybe I'm the only one that looked at this marketing and felt this way. Yeah, I, I read it and read educational and phobias and um, I I, But I see the words immersive interactive and immersive because you're walking through sets.
Overhyped Interactive Elements
[50:15] The interactive was lacking. Yeah, I still think there was I think they overhyped those elements and, Which is bad because it's not what the exhibit was trying to do, No, they put the focus on the the wrong elements. It was very educational. It was very fun I do feel like I learned a fair amount I got a lot of great photos and we got some good ideas for crypto zoologics One of the things we're doing with our hot this year is a roadside attraction theme so cryptozoology will be making an appearance.
Yes. So we got some more monsters we can put in and confuse the ever-loving piss out of everyone in New Orleans because they're not going to recognize a lot of these.
I'm focusing more on the ones that are local.
Yeah, as we should. But it's just funny because, yeah, it was a very, very cool exhibit.
I really do enjoy it.
And I do think, like I said, if you're close enough to go or if you're passing through any time between now and Halloween, give it a drop in. I mean it's worth it. And the museum, we did the whole museum including the fear exhibit in under an hour and a half. Yeah.
[51:24] And we and we went slow as fuck in the fear exhibit to be clear. So you could probably shave at least 10-15 minutes off of that. Honestly it's not a huge museum but it's also not so tiny.
I wouldn't recommend you going. You know it's in that nice comfortable mill around where you can Plan to do other things with your day like we did, But still take in the whole thing and not feel like you missed anything. So yeah, I think it was a really good exhibit, um I will warn that if you want to do other um.
[51:54] Museums in the area everything closes at four. Oh, yeah the museum Oh, yeah, if you're gonna if you're gonna make this part of a museum trail, you're kind of fucked, yeah, because As you noted every other museum in the area close as even worse hours than the Explorium does.
No. And the Explorium, hang on a second, I forgot to look up the...
10 to 4. 10 to 4 on Saturday.
Tuesday through Saturday. It's right at the top. Yeah, they all have hours that bad or worse. Yeah.
And that's just like we saw that there was a Mobile Mardi Gras Museum. We got a little bit curious about it, but then realized it was already closed by the time we left the Explorium. Yeah, same with the Medical Museum because I like going to those. Those are interesting. So yeah, Making this part. I don't think mobile is gonna be the place to do a museum crawl. Mm-hmm. I wish, Cuz that's the type of shit I do love. I, Mean, yeah, I love a good bar crawl, but I also love a good museum crawl And that's just not something I think you can realistically do with these hours, especially right now when it's so fucking hot It's like we needed all day Sunday to recover from heat.
[53:08] Between all the stuff we did outdoors. Yeah between walking to the museum walking to lunch, hanging out at the shed which was outdoor, all that stuff. Yeah, we needed some time. Yeah. To recover. We got heat damaged. All right, but on that note everyone, thank you very much for spending the past 50-ish minutes with us.
Hope you enjoyed it and hope that at least some of you will check out the fear exhibit. I do think it is interesting. Just go in with the correct mentality. Say, well, you don't have to be like me and retroactively fix it. If you, If you want to hear more Haunt Weekly, check us out at HauntWeekly.com, Haunt Weekly on Twitter, Haunt Weekly on Facebook, and YouTube.com slash Haunt Weekly.
All the episodes there on the YouTube channel for easy access.
Can also get us wherever your podcasts are from. That's Apple Podcasts, Google Play, whatever, wherever. Give us a listen.
But until next time, I'm Jonathan. I'm Crystal.
And we'll see you all next week with another episode of Haunt Weekly.
I have no fucking clue what this one's going to be.
See you then.