Haunt Weekly - Episode 428 - Jan/Feb News

0:24] Hello, everyone. I'm Jonathan. I'm Crystal. And this is Haunt Weekly, a weekly podcast for the haunted attraction and haunted entertainment community.
Whether you're an actor, owner, or just plain aficionado, we aim to be a podcast for you.
And those of you who are good at math will know that this is an episode divisible by four.
So that means it's time to do the news. And I'm going to be blunt with you guys.
There's not a whole lot of news. No, so this one may actually come in a little under under our usual time.
If we come in too far under, I've got a topic I'm going to spring on you and we'll talk about for five, ten minutes or so. Oh, wonderful. That's great.
I'm going to ambush you. I'm great with those. I know. Your ex one.
Don't worry, I haven't had any time to think about it either.
I literally just came up with it.
Yeah, so you have the whole like 30 minutes to think about it.
I can't think about two things at once. I know how your brain works.

[1:17] Anyway, but yes, indeed, do check out everywhere that we exist. We are at home.
Hauntweekly.com, Hauntweekly on Twitter, Hauntweekly on Facebook, and YouTube.com slash Hauntweekly is the YouTube channel.
Find us wherever you get your podcasts from and pay special attention to the Facebook page. That's where we post about our live events that we do do from time to time.
It's just we haven't had one in a while. Mm-hmm. All right. So we don't have much housekeeping note.
No. But we do. The work we did for the haunt, unfortunately, is going to be nil because we have been sick.
Yeah. Not COVID. Not COVID.
Doesn't appear to be COVID. Yeah. This round, I don't think we actually took a test, so we can't verify one way or the other.
But it's just been this horrible, no energy crud. Yeah. It sucks.
Like moving through syrup. And like I was telling Crystal earlier today, I came in the front door for some reason.
I pushed the door closed behind me. The wind or something prevented it from closing, and it stayed cracked. And I remember thinking about how much energy I was going to spend to turn around and take two steps to actually shut the door and nearly cried.
Yeah. It was that kind of exhaustion.
Yeah. Like, I can't reverse my momentum. Just let the criminals into the house.
Yeah, it was sad puppy energy.

[2:40] It was incredibly bad. And it's been that way for pretty much everyone in the house to varying degrees.
Degrees um ellie has been spared the worst of it it seems yeah but she has a hyper vigilant immune system that tries to kill her in other ways so i think i'll take the trade off yeah and you know it's you know it figures because i actually took some some time off and of course i'm you know not well for most of it yeah i mean that's kind of what what really sucks about all this is we took time off we had planned on going on a trip which the trip fell through at the last minute yeah one of the reasons why we didn't like really advertise or promote it or anything that we mentioned it last week I think briefly, But it was always kind of up in the air somewhat and dependent upon some factors.

Trip Plans and Super Bowl/Mardi Gras Conflict

[3:32] And those factors did not come together. Yeah. No one's fault.
No one's to blame. It's just, well, I mean, okay, the honest reason it is is because Mardi Gras and the Super Bowl fell on the same weekend. Yeah.
And so the plans that we had fell apart.
Exactly. And that's really what it comes down to.
And it's kind of funny because everywhere else in the world has been all about the Super Bowl. Not New Orleans.

[3:58] Well, everyone else, we're all in this country. Yeah, at least.
Everyone in the United States has been Super Bowl, Super Bowl.
And we've been like. We're supposed to say Super Bowl.
Super Bowl, Super Bowl. And we're all like, uh, Mardi Gras? Yeah.
I mean, it is a very early Mardi Gras, which is. It is. And it's weird when it happens early.
Because normally we get a lot of locals at it.
And it's usually a smaller one. but this time they've actually had to shut down large portions of the city like the french quarter to traffic yeah due to how many people had just flooded the streets on it yeah for random walking parades that really aren't part of the mardi gras calendar it was also tourists just people just piling into the streets yeah we it was crazy i mean back when we were younger people and would routinely Mardi Gras yeah the general rule was the later the Mardi Gras the more tourists you got yeah because if you get it into late February or March it starts lining up with kids spring breaks yes and I mean here you don't have to worry about that every college locally gets Mardi Gras week off yeah it's just the thing that happens trust me but elsewhere it's not a thing but when it does line up with spring breaks at other schools you get a lot of people coming in and that's That's always wild and crazy.
This felt like one of those, but it's before Valentine's Day. Yeah.

[5:24] It's really weird. Yeah, it's just really, really weird, and I don't know what to make of it.
But anyways, we didn't go on the trip, and then we were sick pretty much the whole time we've been home.

Missed Trip and Illness Recap

[5:35] Yeah. Really struggling to do anything.
Yeah, today's the first day I feel halfway decent, so.
Yeah, and I think I'm in the same boat. I woke up this morning, even though, you know, drinking the night before, I should not have felt good.
I felt actually really good when I woke up.
Still a little tired, but nowhere near what we've been going through.
But anyways, that's enough for that. Every week we do ask a question of the week.
And last week we asked, in what way has haunting empowered you?
And we got a lot of great answers on this one.
Roberta McClellan said, I'll second, well, talking about the use of power tools. Basically.

Haunting as a Learning Tool with Power Tools

[6:16] Um she learned how to use power tools because of haunting and that is something that was a repeated theme through all of us by the way was that people were never would have really become good with tools if they hadn't had haunting to fall back and i understand that yeah because that's true for me to a degree but it's great because haunting is kind of a low risk way to learn how to use power tools yeah you're not working on your actual house you're not building building anything hopefully super expensive.
Or, you know, like gifts or something that somebody's supposed to use and treasure. Exactly.
You know, and if you damage it, it's kind of ambiance.
Yeah. If you fuck it up a little, it's fine. Exactly. You're just stressing it earlier.
But she goes into saying that, I've always been a little dramatic, so now when I burst out into song or add crazy lines or accents, it's just somehow more fitting.
Yeah. And that's finding haunting is a place for that type of person to fit in 100%. Yeah.
Okay. Christian Ristow said, I've become more confident in myself and my talents.
I have found my voice to speak up instead of staying in the background.
Ground excellent that is a very good thing marion marilyn jesus christ jonathan there's an ellenette.

[7:28] Marilyn gilliam haunting has given me a place to fit in i was never the popular girl in school or the favorite child growing up so having a place to feel safe and love me means the world to me haunters are my family and friends yeah the haunt family yeah i probably should have moved that to the bottom that's a great one yeah i mean the haunt family thing like we've talked about before If it's done well and organically, it's wonderful.
If it's forced and toxic, it's horrible. But no, most haunt families are like that in my experience.
Yeah. Sam Farrell said, how to find creative solutions in an incredibly fast timeline.
Agree 100%. You've got to be able to think on your feet.
Improvise, improvise. We're going to improvise. Yeah, make some shit up.
Yes, let's make some shit up. Even outside of the haunt, there are often more than just a plan A and B solutions in many life solutions decisions.
Because of this, I find that I trust myself to be decisive.

From Haunting Projects to Basic Household Repairs

[8:29] Um, Joe Singletary said, in my pre-haunting life, I didn't have the confidence to use power tools or attempt even basic household repairs.
Thanks to haunting projects, I have mastered Saul's drills and such implements of destruction.
Baby, don't call them implements of destruction. Oh, they sometimes are.
They sometimes definitely are, but maybe not focus on that.
Um, this week I built my first scissors prop, and then next week I'll be replacing a broken step on our deck.
Those seem to be related. Yeah, I have questions.
Questions but anyways and finally and amanda amanda hughes said it has allowed me to unleash all of my rage and stress at strangers so i'm much nicer to people i have to deal with in my real quote-unquote big girl life also nowhere near as self-conscious as it used to be that's good and that's having that outlet again yeah oh and as far as the the building a step for your deck deck and all that.
I was just thinking, aren't we going to be installing a handrail soon? Yeah. Maybe?

[9:30] Possibly? Thinking about it? Yeah, we need to order it.
Yeah, we need to order it because it's got... But no, I mean, the broken step on the deck seems like it's a direct, you know, result of testing the scissor prop and not expecting the impact to be so hard.
Maybe. All right. Well, what's been on our brain this week? So the question we're coming to you is what's your self-soothing ritual when you're sick?
When you've got that haunt crud and you still need to keep moving, what are you doing? Let us know.
Hauntweekly.com, Hauntweekly on Twitter, Hauntweekly on Facebook, YouTube.com slash Hauntweekly, and wherever you get your podcasts from.
Yeah, as far as like, we're bad about the self-soothing thing, if we're honest with each other. You know what I mean?
Well, I have two things for mine. Okay.
I sleep as much as I possibly can Because I know if I allow myself to rest, I'll probably get over it faster. That's fair.
And two, hot tea.

HauntCon Recap and Conference Reminders

[10:32] I like some hot herbal tea. Okay.
Well, HauntCon is in the books. Yes. We got to see lots of photos and lots of people going out. It looks like it was a great time.
But there's still more conferences, so we've got to do conference reminders. Are you ready?
I'll take the first one then. Coming up March 7th through the 10th, it's the big show. Not the wrestler, the big show.
Just a show that is big.
Trans World is March 7th through the 10th in St. Louis, Missouri at the America Center featuring a zombie showdown.
Showdown challenge. Party at City Museum. Also, you can check out the Christmas show. And I highly recommend that you do if you go.
Details at ha-show, H-A-A-S-H-O-W dot com.
Fear Expo Live is April 12th through the 14th at Owensboro, Kentucky.
Owensboro Convention Center. Free admission. Mission, Ultimate Haunt Tour featuring six different haunts, Costume Contest, and more.
FearExpoLive or FearExbollive.com FearExbollive. FearExbollive. Exactly.
It's a very weird kind of olive.

Upcoming Haunting Conventions on the East Coast

[11:49] Jesus fucking Christ. Alright, then April 25th through the 28th, it's the East Coast Haunters Convention in Oaks, Pennsylvania at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center.
A brand new conference.
Get details at EastCoastHauntersConvention.com. Hey, on April 26th through the 28th, it is Spooky Swap Meet in Los Angeles, California at the Heritage Square Museum.
It's a great place to purchase gently loved items, including costumes and decor created by co-founder of Midsummer Scream.

[12:27] SpookySwapMeet.com for more info. Sounds great to me.
A lot of neat stuff coming up. And a lot of geographically dispersed stuff. Yeah.
Now there's probably a conference somewhere near you. Mm-hmm.
Unless you're in the Gulf Coast. In the middle of the Gulf Coast.
Well, we had a Hong Kong. Hong Kong was Gulf Coast-ish. Yeah.
That's why I said the middle. Oh. Because we're kind of in the middle. Yeah.
That was But still 10 hours away. Jesus Christ. Okay, so that's the same as going to St. Louis. Yeah, exactly.
I did not actually look at how close it was. I did because I...
Oh, yeah, when our plans fell apart.
When the plans fell apart, before we knew we were sick, we thought about going.
But then that didn't happen. And it was a brief conversation about, hey, we could go to HuntCon.
Make last minute arrangements. Just take the money we were going to spend to go there and redirect. Yeah. Yeah.
But it ended up working out well, considering we got sick, though. I mean, honestly. Yeah.
I'd rather stay home and sleep here than in a hotel. Yeah, because like you said, your soothing ritual is to sleep as much as possible. Yeah.
I am either sleeping or playing video games. Yeah.
Exactly. Because, I mean, and specifically the brain-deadest video games I can play.

Escaping the Dum-Dum Part: Introduction and News Discussion

[13:46] Nothing too complicated, nothing too think. You don't try to get into, like, Baldur's Gate 3 or anything like that, you know.
Something that allows you to shut the dum-dum part down and just go, you know? That's what I want. Yeah.
All right. So, anyways, as we indicated earlier, it is a week divisible by four.
That means it's time to do the news.
And, Crystal, you said you're taking the odds because you're the oddball.
Yep. I haven't made that joke in a while.
No. Why don't you go for it? All right. So this is from Reuters.
It's an article by Albert Gia and Horaci Garcia.
It is about the world's smallest escape room, which is inside of a coffin.
This is separate from the coffin ride. This is not a coffin ride.
It is an escape room inside of a coffin. There's a big difference there.
So it was developed by a Spanish company, Horrorbox, in Barcelona.
Barcelona, and it's called catalepsy, which is a reference to a medical condition that Poe actually used a lot in his writing.
Yeah, it was a big fear back then. This is why they used to install the bells over graves and shit like that.
Exactly. So if you were alive, you could ring it and let people know to dig you up.
Of course, then they might think that you're a zombie or a witch or something because you're ringing the grave bell. What's the saying?
My funeral, everyone cried for me to come back, and when I did, they ran away. Exactly.

[15:14] They ran away screaming. Yeah, but the way the game works is that there are two caskets side by side, and the participants have 30 minutes to free themselves using teamwork with their partner over loudspeakers. That's how you communicate.
So it looks like a lot of fun, and I'm glad to see an escape room specifically for two people.
And there was some custom tailoring that you could ask for for each type of game so that was pretty cool you know I was thinking about this because you were the one who found this article, and like I did the coffin ride once I've never felt the need to do it again it was alright but one piece of advice is make sure you are not feeling very gassy before you go into this.

[16:04] Because you can imagine farting lots of times when they're in that cult and trying to talk to your partner on the loudspeakers.
Don't eat beans at the lunch before the escape room. Before you lock yourself in, too.
Yeah. But no, I'm going to be curious to see how people respond to this.
Because claustrophobia is one of those fears that you either have or you don't have, it seems.
Seems um i'm lucky i don't seem to have it in fact if you go by fears that run in my family we have the opposite we're my dad is an agoraphobe yeah um pretty severely he hates open spaces.

[16:46] Which is like weird to me it's like why there's too many options of where to run worried about indecisiveness i've never understood it but it is the way he is and um Um, so yeah, but I just, I don't know, man, it's going to be weird to see how many people like nope out of this just because it's too tiny for them. Yeah. Too constricting.
So I don't know. It's a neat idea though. And I did like the fact it could be customized. And I do also, like you said, a two person escape room is such a good idea.
Yeah. Cause we have tried escape rooms with two people that you said, oh yeah, sure.
You can do it. Two people can do it. Two people is doable. No problem.
So we get like to the last puzzle, the last puzzle.
And we run out of time and they're like you got way farther than any two people have ever gotten it's like well then it's not fucking possible you have no evidence it's doable by two people, because just because it may be mechanically doable by two people yeah doesn't mean that the amount of stuff can be done by two people because we were tearing through it some bitch yeah we got stuck on one puzzle we got stuck once but we got a hint and got out of it fairly quickly and then we had I had one where physically I couldn't get it to work. Like, I understood what to do.
Yeah, exactly. But I was getting it to actually... It was moving a chess piece along a board.
And what I... Because when I play chess, I pick up the pieces and move them.

[18:06] But this was a magnet that you had to slide. And it took me way too long to realize, you know, this isn't about getting the pieces in the right place.
It's the physical act of sliding the piece. Yeah. Yeah.

[18:19] And I don't remember if they had any clue about, oh, he slid his pieces across the board or whatever.
No. But anyway, that was just, that room pissed me off so bad.
Because like you said, you guys did so great.
You got further than he or two ever tried.
Yeah. You fucking assholes. Yeah. You could have at least warned us that no one's actually done it with two.
Yeah. Let us make an educated guess if we want to try it. Anyway.

[18:45] But no, that is really, really cool to have one designated for two people.
Though, like, you know, being in a three-party relationship, I guess that kind of sucks for us.
Yeah, but we all, so when we were doing that one, we were on a haunt trip.
Yeah, and Ellie wasn't with us. She was working.
And we had time between dinner and haunts opening. So that's when we snuck that in.
We literally, in that trip, we literally walked past the escape room on the way to dinner, where we were getting dinner. I think we were going to Dave and Buster's. Yeah, we were doing something.
But we were literally walking past the escape room. And when we got done with dinner, you want to see if they have an opening in the escape room?
Exactly. That was literally the conversation. That's kind of how we travel.
If you ever travel with us, the basic approach we have is we see something and we just yeet ourselves at it as hard as we can.
What's the biggest landmark? Let's head towards it and see what's along the way. Yeah.
That's literally how we did Budapest. I know. Anyways, moving on.

Petrified Forest at Megacon Orlando: Family-Friendly Haunt Experience

[19:44] A petrified forest is bringing a new scare to Megacon Orlando.
Now, Megacon's not one that's on our conference reminders, but maybe it should be. Well, maybe it should be now.
Yeah. Because previously, it was just like a toy conference or a meet the actors conference kind of thing.
Yeah, a generic Comic-Con style pop culture convention. Exactly.

[20:07] And we don't include those usually. Not usually.
Not unless they have something that definitely is interesting to haunters.
But this might be that thing. Exactly.
But this is an article by Ashley Carter at News 13, and I apologize, the previous article was by Reuters.
I did say that. You did? Okay. But anyway, Petrified Forest in Florida is doing a show specifically for Megacon to try and appeal to the specific fandoms that they are anticipating will be there.
You will walk through a large castle that houses a purgatory with several levels featuring pop icons.
And basically, a huge amount of people to bring the Petrified Forest through will also be on the show floor.
Yeah. Sort of helping promote it, too. Now, they are stressing that this is a family event.
We want you to bring the kids. It's going to be laser tag. Is laser tag still a thing?

[21:05] Apparently. Apparently. Apparently, advertising food trucks and you can even go pet kitties and doggies.
That makes it family friendly. Unless you have allergies and then it gets scary.
Or unless pet kitties and doggies are a euphemism. Yeah. But no, it's a.
But no, this is actually pretty neat. And I'm of two minds when I hear about these. On one hand, oh, cool. They're doing something custom to the conference.
Yeah. They're doing something that directly speaks to that conference. but the haunter in me is like no this is my only opportunity to see your show yeah i want the regular show i want it to be as close to the show as i can get yeah but i mean it also wasn't for a haunted house convention it was exactly a popular culture convention exactly why i keep going back and forth on it because like we talked about it like when we were at um trans world i'm not trans hands were at haunt con um that one of the frustrations we had was haunts were we were visiting we're doing special things and not really showing us what they do normally and, yeah because if you're a haunter we're lucky we're home haunters and this is one of the reasons we're staying that way yeah it's because we like going to haunted houses too much to get that up.

[22:20] But for most professional haunters, they never get a chance to go to other people's haunts and see what they're about.
Or they get very few chances over the course of the season.

Haunts teaming up with conferences for special events

[22:31] And, yeah, I don't know. But I also think this is really, really cool to bring it in.
And as a one-time event, that adds a little FOMO to it.
So even if you've been to a petrified forest recently, a reason to go to this as well.
I overall think it's pretty cool. but yeah i'm always going to be of two minds when haunts do special shows for conventions it's always gonna it's always gonna give me like you know yeah kind of anxiety well and i think the difference here is that they're they promoted it as a special event yeah not as a regular show you know what that's a valid point they're putting it on the tin so to speak they're advertising it that way and i do love the idea of all the people being on the trade show floor and and bouncing around, taking photos, I'm sure. And that's really, really cool.
But the main point, I think, from this article is it got me thinking about how haunts maybe should team up with these types of conferences.
Yeah. I mean, why did none of the local haunts do anything with New Orleans Comic Con? Well, that's a giant one.
Yeah, I know, but I am absolutely sure that they would have worked with New Orleans Nightmare or Mortuary.
To do, like, shuttle buses and... yeah something have a special event like discounted rates or something yeah yeah, could work. And that is a great way to, because you're going to get tourists who've never seen your show.
Yeah. Because people do, for New Orleans Comic Con, people come from a long, long ways away. Oh, yeah.

[23:59] But, yeah, you can, I don't see why they don't do that.
I don't see why this isn't more common, and especially in areas, like we went to that comic convention on the North Shore that one time. Yeah.
That would be a great one to pair with a haunt in that area.
Or. If there is one. Yeah, I don't think there is one, but but they could pair with the Abita Mystery House. Yeah.

[24:21] Do some kind of special show there. Yeah, they could do something there.
I think this is a great idea for marketing and promotion.
And for, once again, as long as you're promoting it as something special, I think you've hit the nail on the head there.
Okay. Okay, moving on. All right.

Spec Ops shooter-style game with haunted house elements

[24:39] RockPaperShotgun.com has an article from Ed Thorne about Contain.
It is a Spec Ops shooter-style game, but has haunted house elements in it.
And so when the guy was playing the pre-release material... Yeah, it's an early access, basically. Yeah, it was early access.
It wasn't a lot of material to play through.
It got him thinking about all the other games that also include jump scares and haunted house elements.
And that's, so, like, Rainbow Six and SWAT and Call of Duty.
Yeah. Honestly, yeah.

Co-op Horror Games on the Rise

[25:24] There has been a recent surge in co-op horror games. And there's one that I have not tried yet.
I'm trying to remember the name of it. Lethal Company. That's it.
I want to try it desperately. Crystal and I will have to do it together because it's a co-op game.
But it's basically like Deep Rock Galactic, but horror.
Yeah. And Deep Rock Galactic has horror elements in it. Yeah.
Those bugs are fucking terrifying.
Yeah. Especially like the literal ghost.
Oh, yeah, that fucker. I hate that guy. Some bitch. There's a reason we don't do haunted caves.
It's funny. We play Deep Rock Galactic, and the mission type we avoid are haunted caves.
Yeah. You'd think we would be like... When we first thought it, we're like, yeah, haunted cave.
Gonna see the ghost. Gonna see the ghost. Yeah, gonna see the ghost.
Gonna see it, like, decorated as a haunted house type thing. No. None of that.
No, it's just a cheap sumbitch that can't die again, apparently.
That wrecks your shit if he gets too close. Yeah. Yeah, it's one of the detonators that we killed previously. Yeah.

[26:26] Or supposedly the urban legend in the Deep Rock community is that he is a detonator that died of old age rather than exploding himself.
So now he's haunting the cave because he didn't get the glorious death he wanted. Yeah.
That's the theory. But anyways, yeah, DRG is a great study in sound for fear.
Yeah. Because how many times have we been going, what the fuck was that? Yeah.
That doesn't sound good. Yeah. But no, I do want to try Lethal Company with you. But there's been a Dead by Daylight.
Other haunted horror-themed co-op games are on the rise that aren't just straightforward shooters.

[27:00] Yeah. So, yeah, I think this is good for haunted houses because those types of games can really help whet the appetite for a more real-world experience.

[27:11] Exactly. I think that can be a very, very cool thing indeed.
So, yeah, I'm really excited for these games, and I do want to get my hands on Lethal Company. And if we do, we'll make an episode about it and what we learned from it.
Because one of the things about Lethal Company everyone says is that it is a really scary game with, like.

[27:29] Like, Game Boy graphics. The graphics in it are... I mean, I've seen, like, photos and videos of it.
They're not exactly the most realistic graphics in the world.
They're kind of goofy-looking, you know?
But it still manages to be abjectly terrifying, according to most people.
Yeah. So, yeah, I think it'll be kind of interesting.

How to Host a Haunted House: An Anarchist's Guide

[27:46] All right, this was... Next one was an article on the site called CrimeThink.
Now, I don't want to get into the political discussion about anarchists.
Yeah. For a lot of reasons. But this one actually was interesting.
Basically, the article is entitled, How to Host a Haunted House, A Guide for Anarchists with a Video Walkthrough.
And basically what this article does is it tells the story of how this relatively small group managed to raise about $10,000 with two-night haunted house, that they just simply had in a warehouse space that they use for a books-to-prisoner program.
So they had some space. They built a haunted house in it just using what they had available to them.

[28:33] And they charged a sliding scale admission of $5 to $10 per person.
It was not a long walkthrough.
You can watch the video on the link. This is one of the times where I think the link is really a good place to go because I can't.
It's a very long article. There's no way we're getting all of it in.
But basically, they put together like a five-minute walkthrough.
Most of the video is, ironically, the guy explained the rules of the haunted house.

[29:01] Yeah. But basically, they took it as an opportunity, A, to raise the money for the defense fund, the legal defense fund they were raising for, and also as a way to introduce people to their message.
And they did bake it into the haunted house itself. in ways that are not completely overt, but still very, very recognizable.

Building a Haunt without Hierarchy and Message Delivery

[29:33] So there's two things about this article that got me interested as I went through it the first time.
The first was that it was interesting to see how they built a haunt without a real hierarchy.
Because they talked about even the building that they used as a quote-unquote federated building where a whole bunch of other groups have access to it.
And they had to work around what the other groups had already reserved.
So they didn't have the full use of... So that's interesting.
That's interesting enough.
But they also didn't... I mean, they're anarchists. Hierarchy ain't exactly their bag. Yeah. You know?
So they worked together and built this without the traditional structure of...
Top guy, top people telling other people what to do.
Yeah. So that was fairly interesting. But also it was interesting how they used it to get their message across.
Because the only time I've ever really seen that to get any message across has been Hell Houses.
And Hell Houses are known for being hilariously.
Yeah, they're hilariously bad at getting their message out there.
Hilariously bad. And at least looking at the video, once again, I'm not in the moment, so I can't really judge it from a video.

[30:48] It seems like they were at least a little more subtle about it.
And it didn't ring quite as, you know, just.
Yeah. Well, I also think that it's interesting, the sliding scale admission.
That's something that I've thought about for years is, you know, if we had a community driven haunt, then we could do things like that you know give some of the community input into the haunt and have it um scale down based on you know age or something yeah that'd probably be the most fair, or or be like that museum we went to in newcastle which where you have a suggested donation and then you you can give more we'll give more if you want or yeah you know or just walk in and pay nothing I think we gave exactly the suggested donation.
Yeah. Just don't put five euros on the 10 if you don't want five euros.
Or five pounds. Sorry, it was five pounds. It was Newcastle, England.
Yeah, don't put five quid if you don't want five quid. You're not going to be happy with it, right?

[31:54] But, yeah, the sliding scale of mission for a charity haunt, I think, is an interesting idea and a way to make it more accessible to people in the community who might not otherwise have that experience.
Yeah. Now, one thing I will caution on is these are anarchists.

Cautionary Note on Safety and Learning Resources

[32:10] I'm going to guess they did not secure fire code or other permitting.
Yeah, yeah. Like, you know, there's some good ideas in it, in the article.
I don't agree that the best way to get some foundation material is to go to the library and just check out a lot of books on how to build a haunted house.
Like, I think that was kind of silly. Yeah, YouTube exists.
But then again, they were telling a story from years ago. So we don't know how recent. I mean, it looks like it was relatively recent from the video.
But they were mentioning this from years ago. Yeah.

[32:51] But no, YouTube exists. I think YouTube is honestly the best resource for learning how to do things, learning how to build haunt stuff. Yeah.
Honestly, I mean, I'm pretty sure if I YouTube searched how to build a panel right now, I'd have like five or six guides.
Yeah. Each with different ideas on how to do it. Also, Haunter's Toolbox is out there. Yeah. Give a shout out to them. Yeah, Haunter's Toolbox.
They've got a lot of ways of great classes. And that was what I was about to say next was various Facebook groups and websites, too, that also are sort of havens for it as well.
Yeah. That's the biggest change I've seen in the haunted attraction industry in the 20-ish years I've been connected with it in some way.
Is we went from being an industry where everyone is so fucking secretive all the time for no discernible reason to one where all information is shared.
A lot of it, yeah. Or at least nearly all of it, it feels like.
And that is such a good change.
Such a good change. All right. And our last story for this week.

Petition to reopen beloved haunted attraction in Ohio

[33:59] This is on change.org. It is about a petition that started by Tyler Schiltz to reopen a beloved haunted attraction in Washington Court, Ohio.
And the attraction's name was House of Pain.
And the reason we're including this, because they originally announced that they didn't receive their permits to open in 2018.
So their last season was 2017.

The frustrating closure and noise complaints of a haunted house

[34:28] But they're at 193 of the 200 signatures needed.
Or requested. Or requested. I don't know what needed. Well, it's to get to the next level. And I don't know what the next level is, but that's where they're at.
So it's obvious that people remember this haunt.
And it's worth reading the petition because it is a love letter to the haunted house industry and their community.
And you can tell that they really miss this.
Yeah, and the circumstances of their closure were so frustrating.
Yeah. Yeah, because basically what they said, and admittedly, we're getting one side of the story, but this is a familiar story to us living in New Orleans.
Yeah. So I'm not really casting doubt on it either.
They had been there for 20-ish years, haunting away. Exactly.
And then someone built a new house 100 feet away from the haunted house and then filed constant noise complaints, including calling the sheriff's department up to 60 times per night.
Yeah, sometimes when they hadn't even opened yet.
And the sheriff's department agreed with them that the noise they were making wasn't loud enough to enforce. Yeah.

[35:43] So, you know, somebody builds a house next to a haunted house and then is surprised in October when there are noises. Yeah, when it's busy, when there are noises.
Yeah. Yeah, and this is NIMBYism at its fucking worst. Mm-hmm. It just, it flatly is.

[36:02] And once again, the post is a love letter. It talks about how they helped get the town attention, get recognition that it would not have otherwise had.
Yeah. Very true. True. There have definitely been towns we have visited at various points in our travels that we never would have gone to without the haunted house.
Mount Carroll, Illinois comes to mind. Absolutely.
Yeah, but they also did work for their community. Yeah.
They did charity work at disabled schools and helped kids. And these are their words.

[36:32] Help keep the kids in the community off the streets by giving them something to do on the weekends.
Weekends and you know yeah it seems like they were really loved by the community and whenever they posted this there were a lot of reactions from the community of people being very upset for them yeah this is and it's incredibly frustrating and like like i said living in new orleans we have been exposed to this exact kind of nimbyism before yeah there is a club now we've We've been to a few times called Bufa's. Yes.

Similar NIMBYism experienced in New Orleans with late-night concerts.

[37:05] They are famous for both having amazing hamburgers. They do have really good hamburgers. Fucking amazing hamburgers. Yeah. Jesus goddamn Christ, they're so good.
Amazing hamburgers. I forgot what I was saying. Yeah, you got distracted by food. Hamburger.
It is getting close to dinner time. Yes, it is. But no, they're famous for hamburgers and also having late night concerts.
Yeah. Like shows that start at 10 or 11 sometimes.
And go on until sometimes 2 in the morning. They've always done this.
This place has been there for decades and decades and decades.
Yeah. Well, someone, not going to name who, moved into a house, I believe that was across the street.
Yeah, it was somewhere close by. It wasn't like directly next door. I remember that.
Oh, that's cool. They have a webcam for the back room of Bufa's where they have the concerts. Yeah. That's cool.
I was just pulling them to see when they actually, you know, they're started. Yeah, I know that they've historically done later shows, though. Yeah. And started complaining about the noise.
1939. Fuck me, Tinder!
They opened in 1939.
Fuck me, Sideways. Fuck me, Tinder. Fuck me, True. Fuck me, Black and Blue.

Noise Complaints and Decibel Meter Experts

[38:22] Anyway, so yeah, these people moved in. They've been there for a minute.
They've been there for a while. And they started filing noise complaints.
And then next thing you know, the whole fucking city is becoming experts on decibel meters.
Yeah. I mean, there was a very weird phase where we were talking about, are you measuring your decibels with the A pattern or the B?
And like everyone just suddenly like fucking quantum physicists became experts on sound on how on how to track decibels and basically it kind of ended in a stalemate it sounds like um i think what really happened was the pandemic shut everything down for a time yeah and then when it came back the fight just didn't resume yeah i think it was like 2019 shit went real real sideways there. And then the pandemic happened.
But yeah, we've seen this, is what I'm saying. Yeah. We've seen this.
It is incredibly frustrating.
And it was basically all the bars in that area. Yeah. Because this is Frenchman Street. If you've been to the city.
No, this is on Esplanade. Esplanade and Frenchman Street. Oh, yes, right. It's on the intersection of Esplanade. Yeah. You're right.
Yeah, because Checkpoint Charlie's is at the corner. And Dragon's Den is further down, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, but, so basically all of the little bars in that area were threatened with having to shut off music at 10 p.m. Yeah.
Like, that's not, no.

[39:51] We party a little bit later than that here. New Orleans music culture does not work that way. No.
It flatly does not. And I say this as an old man that doesn't go out that much.
That's bullshit. That's bullshit.
It's incredibly bullshit. So I was glad that Bufos was not forced to change.
I'm glad no changes were enforced.

Frustration and Support for Bufos, Change.org Petition

[40:11] I don't really see how you could do that without destroying that scene in that area.
Yeah, in that community. Yeah, there's no way.
Yeah, there's just no stinking hiccup. There's no way at all.
So, yeah, but this is frustrating.
So, yeah, give a look at the change.org petition. We're going to drop a link to it in the show notes.
Hopefully something, hopefully, you know, we'll get more signatories for it.
I don't know if they, did they say if they were looking for just local people to sign or if anybody can sign it? They, I didn't see.
Okay. I didn't see anything in the text either.

[40:49] But yeah. I was starting to feel bad by the time I got to the end of the notes. Got it.
Regardless, it's well worth checking out. Yeah. The Change That'll Work petition on this.
And honestly, what I found so impressive was they've been gone for seven years and they've got so much love and support for them, even after that extended hiatus.
So, yeah, I'm incredibly, I'd be incredibly moved and I'm moved for them.
Yeah. Well, that's all we have for news. Yeah. I think we've done enough.
I won't spring the topic on you.
I was going to ask, though, with all the craziness in Mardi Gras, is there anything from Mardi Gras that haunters can learn?

[41:35] Oh, definitely the costuming. Costuming. I was going to say, like, crowd controlling. Crowd control.
Haven't we done... Yeah, we did an episode on it, like, eons ago.
Yeah. But I was just saying, whenever there's anything new, because this one, like I said, this year has been a little crazy.
This year has been crazy. There have been lots of reports on social media about fights breaking out and people, like, getting into fisticuffs over throws, which is stupid.
I mean, don't do that. Don't be a dick.
Yeah, Mardi Gras has changed a lot from when we did it.
And the people setting up tarps and tables on the parade route had me pissed off.
You don't get the reserved spots on the parade route. No. That's not how anything works.

[42:18] There's been a lot of dickishness this year. And, oh, the other lesson I guess we should be passing along to all the kind people out there is don't fire a confetti cannon at Power Transformers.
I know that feels like something I shouldn't have to explain.
Also, if you're moving something underneath a tree, make sure it'll fit so that your float doesn't get stuck. Yeah. Or your truck or whatever.
You know, this is still better than 2020.
Oh, yeah. No, it totally is. Yes, two parades were shut down because some idiot fired a confetti cannon.
This year? Yeah. Yeah. It happened twice this year. Yeah. And once last year.
Yeah. Yeah, and there was the float that got stuck under the tree.
Yep, that happened this year.
And there's been multiple stops for the large parades today.
Yeah. You know, because we're recording on Mardi Gras Day. Happy Mardi Gras. Happy Mardi Gras. Yeah.

[43:18] Yeah, it's just, it's crazy. Oh, also, make sure that if you have...
People who are in charge of their costumes that it fits with your core beliefs and your theme. Yeah.
Because if it doesn't, it could go sideways. There were multiple reports of random writers on floats throwing out Confederate flag beads. Yeah.
Someone, I think, said they got a White Lives Matter bead or something like that. Yeah. Where the fuck do you even get that?
Basically racist fucking shit. Yeah. And some of the riders have been called out and dismissed from the cruise. Yeah.
Honestly, I mean, I always thought that riders had to buy the beads from the cruise.
No, they buy them themselves. They just have to meet a quota. A quota of like $600.
It's a high quota. Yeah. I think you have to buy like the initial pack that's the crew, but then you can buy like special ones to throw that you just want to throw.
Okay. On top of that. Okay. It's not a package deal.
Where you just buy them all at the same time. Here's $1,000.
Give me a pallet full of beads to throw. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, it is that, and it's, you know, people are going to bring their own, you know.
Basically, don't let people bring their own shit.

[44:39] Anyways, on that note, everyone, on that bombshell, thank you very much for listening to us the past 45 minutes or so. Greatly appreciate your time and attention.
Check out other stuff from Haunt Weekly at hauntweekly.com, Haunt Weekly on Twitter, Haunt Weekly on Facebook, Facebook, and YouTube.com slash hauntweekly.
Also, check us out wherever you get your podcasts from.
Until next time, I'm Jonathan. I'm Crystal. And we will see you all next week.
Hopefully, A, feeling better. Yes. And B, on time.
And C, well, just those two. See you all then.