Haunt Weekly

Send us a textMany haunted attractions claim to be actually haunted. Some have reasonable claims to the title. Others, less so.But is it a good idea? What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a truly "haunted" attraction? That's what we're looking at in this episode.This Week's Episode Includes:1. Intro2. Our Crazy Past Week3. Question of the Week4. Cards on The Table5. Advantages of Being Haunted6. Disadvantages of Being Haunted7. ConclusionsAll in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!Get in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: info@hauntweekly.com

Send us a textThis week on Haunt Weekly, we're doing the news. This includes tragic news from Malaysia, updates from Cedar Point and Disney as well as the closure of Party City. If it's haunted attraction news, it's in this podcast. That includes good news, bad news and weird news...This Week's Episode Includes:1. Intro2. Question of the Week3. Conference Reminders4. Teacher Allegedly Molests Students in Haunted House - https://www.msn.com/en-my/news/national/teacher-nabbed-for-allegedly-molesting-students-at-school-carnival5. TikTok Update6. Former Fear Fair Wiring Stolen - https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14juBdAJE4/7. Fear Factory and Local Dentist Give Actor $20,000 Makeover - https://www.morningstar.com/news/globe-newswire/9333305/fear-factory-and-station-park-dental-partner-to-give-andrea-mangum-20000-smile-makeover8. Ralph's Haunted House Sparks Religious Protests - https://www.worcestersucks.email/p/breaking-ralphs-haunted-attraction9. Cedar Point Confirms Changes - https://ww

Send us a textThis week on Haunt Weekly, we're making our 2025 predictions and looking back at the ones we made in 2024.So what chaos will 2025 bring the haunt industry? Who knows! Certainly not us. But that won't stop us from making ten predictions about the upcoming year.Of course, it wouldn't be complete if we didn't also look back at our 2024 predictions to see how wrong we got them.So please sit back and relax as we think about the future.This Week's Episode Includes:1. Intro2. Housekeeping Notes3. Work We Did on the Haunt4. Question of the Week5. Our Predictions for 20256. A Look Back at our 2024 Predictions7. ConclusionsAll in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!Get in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: info@hauntweekly.com

Send us a textThis week on Haunt Weekly, we're talking about digital security and what you can do to ensure that you and your haunt are safe from professional hackers and drunken customers alike.Haunts are in an unusual place when it comes to digital security. They are very exposed but, as small businesses, don't usually have the expertise or the manpower to lock things down.Fortunately, we're here to help with a few simple things you can do to improve your digital security.This Week's Episode Includes:1. Intro2. Housekeeping3. Question of the Week4. Conference Reminders5. How I Drunkenly Sabotaged a Bar's TVs6. 5 Areas of Cybersecurity Concern7. ConclusionsAll in all, this is one episode that you do NOT want to miss!Get in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: info@hauntweekly.com

Send us a textThis week on Haunt Weekly, we're celebrating the holiday season by discussing scams! Okay, that doesn't make sense, but we were visiting the grandbaby and didn't have time to come up with another idea.Still, haunts are uniquely vulnerable to scams and 'tis the season for them. So that's what we're going to talk about, some of the more common scams haunts can face and how to avoid them.Happy holidays to all! (Scammers not included)This Week's Episode Includes:1. Intro2. Update on Where We've Been3. Question of the Week4. What We Aren't Talking About5. 6 Common Scams That Target Haunts6. ConclusionsAll in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to missPS: Here's the Rifftrax short we referenced twice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tc0f1hU1XIGet in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: info@hauntweekly.com

Send us a textThis week on Haunt Weekly, we're doing the news. It's been a busy month, but we get to report on the opening of The Haunted Mansion in Disneyland, a haunt that is failing to give out refunds and two separate studies about the benefits of fear.We also have some big conference news, a haunt that needs our help, and much, much more!This Week's Episode Includes:1. Intro2. Question of the Week3. Conference Reminders4. Conference News5. Disney Haunted Mansion Sets Reopening Date - https://gamerant.com/disneyland-haunted-mansion-reopening-date-when/6. Fear Fest Customers Claim They Haven't Been Refunded - https://www.komu.com/news/midmissourinews/fear-fest-customers-say-haunted-house-hasnt-given-refunds-after-closing/article_776201da-a784-11ef-af60-b3a9bda9ad30.html7. Illinois Actor Wins Award - https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/young-local-actor-lorenzo-skinner-201700120.html8. Dr. Giggles in Alberta, CA needs Our Help - https://www.change.org/p/save-dr-giggles-house-of-pain-a-co

Send us a textThis week on Haunt Weekly, we're wasting perfectly good money for your entertainment by buying random haunt garbage from Temu.How bad is it? Well, there were a couple of decent times, but the inflatable sex doll, I mean tarped dummy, probably says it all.Fortunately, our misery can be your entertainment as we review our recent buys.This Week's Episode Includes:1. Intro2. Housekeeping Notes3. Question of the Week4. Our Temu Buys5. What We Learned6. Ranking Our Buys7. ConclusionAll in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!Get in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: info@hauntweekly.com

Send us a textLast week on Haunt Weekly, we reviewed the 2024 season and gleaned lessons from it. This week, we're turning our gaze forward and examining the things we want to improve next year.All in all, this was a tough list to make. Most of the 2024 season went great, and the things that didn't were outside our control.But that doesn't mean that we can't improve on success. So, with that in mind, here are eight areas we hope to improve in the coming year.This Week's Episode Includes:1. Intro2. Work We Did for the Haunt3. Question of the Week4. Conference Reminders5. Intro to the Topic6. 8 Things We Want to Improve Next Year7. ConclusionsAll in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!Get in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: info@hauntweekly.com

Send us a textThis week on Haunt Weekly, we're looking back at the now-finished 2024 season. It was a wild one for us, and it felt like an uphill battle, both literally and figuratively.However, with the season in the books, we can pause, catch our breath and discuss some takeaways that we hope to carry with us into 2025.This Week's Episode Includes:1. Intro2. Work We Did for the Haunt3. Question of the Week4. Recap of the Season5. 7 Takeaways from the 2024 Season6. ConclusionsAll in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!Get in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: info@hauntweekly.com

Send us a textThis 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. Intro2. Question of the Week3. Conference Reminders4. Our Halloween Night5. Our Visit to the 13th Gate6. Haunted Hilltop Reopens One Week After Fatal Accident - https://www.local3news.com/local-news/update-one-child-was-killed-in-an-accident-at-the-haunted-hilltop-gofundme-created/article_43149a9e-8a08-11ef-9f78-ef0240b8215f.html7. Harvest of Horror Hayride Cancels Season After 13-Year-Old Dies - https://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2024/10/16/minnesota-halloween-hayride-canceled-after-13-year-old-dies/75702957007/ 8. Orchard Accident: 25 Hurt as Hay Wagon Overturns on School Trip in Wisconsin - https://www.wisn.com/article/chippewa-orchard-wagon-roll

Send us a textThough 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. Intro2. Question of the Week3. Our First Two Nights Haunting4. Our Visit to Decomposed Haunted House5. Revisiting the Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival (https://adamgryu.itch.io/pumpkin-carver)6. Conclusions.All in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!Get in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: info@hauntweekly.com

Send us a textSorry 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. Intro2. Question of the Week3. Update on Our Season4. The Mortuary5. New Orleans Nightmare 6. Rise Haunted House.7. ConclusionsAll in all, this is one episode that you do NOT want to miss!Get in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: info@hauntweekly.com

Send us a textThis 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 triple the amount to talk about!This Week's Episode Includes:1. Intro2. Question of the Week3. The Beast and The Edge of Hile4. Exiled: Crooked Rose Woods5. Waterloo Sportsman's Club6. ConclusionsAll in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!Get in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: info@hauntweekly.com

Send us a textThis 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 can also help out the haunts themselves...This Week's Episode Includes:Intro Conference RemindersOur Experience Planning our Atlanta TripWhy The Lost Souls Haunted Bus Tour and Ones Like It Are So GreatFriday's TourSaturday's TourA Big Thanks to Japes and TerryConclusionsAll in all, if you're a fan of haunts, especially in the Chicago area, this is one episode that you do NOT want to miss!Get in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: inf

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. Intro2. Question of the Week3. Update on Haunt Visit and Plans4. 8 Reasons We Hate Our Past Selves5. ConclusionsAll in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!Get in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: info@hauntweekly.com

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 Week's Episode Includes:1. Intro.2. Update on the Hurricane3. Work We Did for Our Haunt4. Question of the Week5. What is Happy Escape Tycoon6. Why You Should Try It7. ConclusionsAll in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!Get in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: info@hauntweekly.com

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 Week's Episode Includes:1. Intro2. Our Disastrous Weekend3. Last Week's Question of the Week4. This Week's Question of the Week5, 5 Warning Signs for This Haunt Season6. What We Can Do About It7. 5 Positive Signs8. ConclusionsAll in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!Get in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: info@hauntweekly.com

 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. Intro2. Question of the Week3. Conference Reminders4. NC Haunt Destroyed By Arson - - GoFundMe Link - https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-rebuild-john-jarmans-wicked-haunted-attraction5. Old Courthouse Catacombs Moving Due to Radon - https://www.14news.com/2024/08/21/old-courthouse-catacombs-moving-new-location-due-radon-levels-building/6. More Than 20 Injured in Ferris Wheel Fire - https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/ferris-wheel-fire-highfield-festival-germany7. Knott's Scary Farm Announces Return of Elvira - https://www.fangoria.com/knotts-scary-farm-2024-new-mazes-elvira-returns/8. Knott's Scary Farm Waxworks Back for One More Year - https://www.presstelegram.com/2024/08/09/knotts-scary-farm-brings-back-wax-works-maze-for-one-final-year/

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.com/app/1040200/Crime_Scene_Cleaner/1. Intro2. Spirit Halloween Talk3. Question of the Week4. Intro to Crime Scene Cleaner5. Why We Like it So Much6. Why Haunters Should Play It7. ConclusionsAll in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!Get in Touch and Follow Us!Facebook: @HauntWeeklyTwitter: @HauntWeeklyYouTube: @HauntWeeklyEmail: info@hauntweekly.com

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 everyone sees things the same way in their mind.So what does aphantasia mean for our industry? How can we better serve customers with it and, perhaps most importantly, work with oher creatives who have it? We brought in our girlfriend and and partner Elli, who is one of the few with aphantasia, to answer these questions and more.This Week's Episode Includes:IntroConference RemindersBackground Info on AphantasiaAphantasia in Haunt CustomersWorking with People with AphantasiaConclusionsAll in all, this is an episode