Haunt Weekly

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're looking at the (limited) history of Halloween in Japan, including why it was hated for so long and why things are now starting to turn the corner slowly. It's an interesting look at a nation's experience with Halloween with a lot of great analogs for haunted attractions in the United States. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intr...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're mixing Jonathan's hobby with his day job and discussing not one, but two separate Supreme Court rulings that are going to have major impacts, including in the haunted attraction industry. Though one of the rulings deals with copyright and the other with trademark, the rulings both send the same message: It's getting more difficult to...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly we're doing the news and boy do we have a LOT of news to go over. There's the closure of two, if not three haunts, a new IT-themed escape room in Las Vegas and much, much more. So please, sit back and relax while we tell you all the haunted attraction news that is fit to print. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Question of the Week...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're talking about the marketing, social media and other promotional elements that get us excited about visiting a haunt. We cove a little bit of everything, from marketing, word of mouth and some good business decisions. So sit down, relax and let's focus on the positive (for a change). This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Question...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're letting you do our homework for us. You all had such a big response to our question of the week, we're making a whole episode about it. We asked you what made your eyes roll when going through a haunt and, well, there were no eyes left unrolled. So sit back and relax as we look at all the things that made your eyes go straight back... Thi...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we are continuing our focus on storytelling by looking at some of the biggest clichés and tropes in haunted attraction storytelling.  To be clear, we're not saying don't use these tropes, but definitely build off them and make them your own. They can be useful, but they aren't a story unto themselves. So, with that in mind, here's a l...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're doing the news!  For a spring month, there sure is a lot. We have another haunt owner being arrested, several updates in the story about the Hotel of Terror (Update: The City Council decided to repeal the eminent domain) and much, much more. So sit back and relax as we cover all the haunted attraction news that's fit to print. This Week&a...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're revisiting ChatGPT as we ask it to write us a series of potential backstories for haunted attractions. The results, to put it mildly, were mixed. A couple of stories were at least OK and a couple failed absolutely miserably. But hey, at least we can laugh at ChatGPT's failures without worrying about hurting its feelings. This Week's...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're bringing on a very special guest: ChatGPT We decided to sit down with the AI and ask it a slew of haunt-related questions. It did everything from telling us lines that actors should say to discussing the roles for women in haunting. So, how did the AI do, and what can we learn from it? That's what this week's episode is all about.  1...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're looking at the dead ends that the haunt industry appears to be going down. To be clear, not all haunts are doing these things, but they are all trends that don't end anywhere good. So whether your haunt is investing in uninteresting technology, marketing tho long things or trying to expand in the wrong direction, this week's episode...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly we are doing the news including the passing of a haunt legend, the closure of an iconic haunted attraction themed bar and an update on the Haunted Hotel. For a spring edition of the news, it sure is a busy one. So sit down, relax and enjoy as we bring to you all the haunted attraction news that's fit to not print. This Week's Episode Includes: 1...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're going on an adventure! After living in the area for over 20 years, we're finally taking the trip to the Abita Mystery House. We're bringing back what we learned from the trip and, most importantly, what other haunts can glean from it. However, it was one packed weekend as we both went to a mystery comedy show and attended a toy and c...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we received a very special package: Our new mask from Shattered FX. So, this week we're going to talk about this mask including why the character uses a mask, how we got to this point, most importantly, the process of getting the mask itself. It's a very thorough look at one very large purchase. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Qu...

Send us Fan Mail You might remember we sat down with Japes a few times in the past. For example, Episode 59 , Episode 46 and Episode 43 if you're curious. You might also remember that, on Episode 65 , we discussed toxic actors and repeatedly said we wish we could have Japes on this subject.  Well, our Japes prayers have been answered as the actor guru sat down with us to discuss toxic actors...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're doing the news! We have news of a new dark ride being built and another that is celebrating their 50th year. We also have news of a "Scream Break" event at six flags and a mysterious theater opening in the basement of another haunted attraction. All in all, this is one jam-packed news episode! This Week's Episode Includes: 1. In...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're sitting down with Mike and Lisa from Rotting Orchards and Igor Box. We discuss everything from the challenges of home haunting in a gated community to how their new product could make haunting more accessible. The duo have been home haunters for over a decade. However, the duo have identified what they see as a missing element in the haunt ind...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we visited a rage room and are eager to tell you all about it.  Rage rooms, also called Smash Rooms or Break Rooms, are a growing trend across the country but, should haunts be looking into joining the business?  We will be sharing our experiences and our thoughts on that topic. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Question of the Week 3. Confe...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're talking about Transworld again but, this time, we're discussing who is not in the room. While it's true that pretty much every company you can name in the haunted attraction industry was on the trade show floor, there were several types of companies that were not. So, to that end, we're examining the apparent gaps in our industr...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're shaking off the Transworld hangover and doing the news!  And, to that end, we have some heavy news this week including a lawsuit against Zombie Army over alleged pay violations, a historic haunt that's facing eviction and the latest on the CFX/AEW mask lawsuit. So, strap in folks as this is going to be a long, but important, episode of th...

Send us Fan Mail I'm going to be honest. There's not really show notes this week. We recorded this episode in a noisy hotel room, strung out from four full days of conferencing and several hours on the road. We're pretty sure that this is what a Bob Seger podcast would be like. Still, we wanted to get this out as close to on time as possible while the information was still fresh. So...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, something of a singularity for us as we have a lawsuit that involves alleged copyright infringement, the haunted attraction industry and professional wrestling. So strap in as we're going to cover the CFX/AEW lawsuit including the facts of the case, the basics of the law, what the likely outcomes are and how they could impact our industry. This Week...

Send us Fan Mail Haunted attractions are a business. Business, typically, want to make more money. However, most of the ways haunts can make more money are either expensive or time-consuming. Considering haunt owners are already overtaxed, it's often not practical. That's why we're coming at you with 9 low-effort ways that haunts can make more money. These ideas range from the simpl...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're doing the news, and we have a LOT of news to get through this week. We have an update on a haunt break in from over the summer, news that Universal Studios is opening a year-round haunt in Vegas, as well as a major haunt renovation in progress. This episode is jam packed with must-known stories, conference reminders, and one of our busiest que...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're taking a look at why we don't return to many of the haunts we visit. We're pretty avid haunt goers and, on the whole, if we're in the area, we'll try to come by. But every year there are haunts we can easily go to but choose not to make the time for. So, to show haunts what might be killing their repeat business.  This Week...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Haunt Weekly, we're coming out of the holidays to round out the year and look toward 2023.  This year promises to be a very interesting one, with COVID (hopefully) in the rearview mirror, haunts are exiting survival mode and starting to evolve. So, what ways will haunting change in 2023? Here are eight possible ways. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2....