Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're examining one of the most difficult and most common questions we ask ourselves: Should this be our last year haunting? In this episode, we will discuss the reasons to make 2025 our last year, the reasons to keep going and also some talk about this podcast. It's a difficult episode, but maybe not as di…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're taking a virtual trip to Alaska to examine The Great North's latest episode, The Ghost Boat. When we saw this episode, we knew we had to discuss it. It represents haunted attractions in a fairly positive light and expresses a feeling that every haunter knows: Dealing with VIPs. So, how did the Tobin f…

Send us a text Are you looking for a way to experience the thrill of running a haunt in a card game? Well, Scream Park may have just what you want. With fantastic artwork and colorful characters, it replicates the building of a haunt in card game format. While some bumps could be ironed out, it's an interesting game that I am sure many a haunter wi…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're doing the news. Though there aren't many stories, we have several important news items to share. First, we have details about the upcoming Universal haunted attraction in Vegas year-round. A major international player is buying up US theme parks, and one haunt is a finalist for a special award. It's a…

Send us a text Have you ever been in a place that just felt "off?" A place that looked lived in but felt abandoned? Then you've visited The Backrooms. In this episode, we're looking at The Backrooms, a meme that's been around for 6-7 years but has remained relevant. Best of all, it has some real potential for haunted attractions. So we're talking a…

Send us a text We are in the post-Transworld hangover period. With Transworld behind us, the photos all posted to social media, and us awkwardly explaining why we couldn't go, it's time to recap Transworld, our trip to St. Louis, and some other stuff to fill the time. So get ready for a potpourri episode as we discuss the Transworld aftermath, our …

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're discussing Transworld and sharing some of the things we wish we knew on our first trip. So, whether you're a veteran or a first-timer, this is a great way to get caught up on what you need to know before heading to St. Louis. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Housekeeping 3. Work We Did for th…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're doing the news. This episode includes a haunt that has failed to issue refunds, another shuttered by a deep freeze, and one haunt that's also a movie theater. All in all, this is a surprisingly packed episode filled with the latest haunted attraction news that's fit to print. This Week's Episode Inclu…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're reliving the nightmare that was a New Orleans Superb Owl but taking the opportunity to find ways haunts can be better neighbors. Having a home or a business near a haunt isn't always easy. But there are many things we can do to make it better and get fewer complaints along the way. So strap in as we t…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're discussing tariffs and how they might impact the industry in 2025. So yes, this is another sad episode. However, our industry is not immune to this issue and could face serious challenges should the tariffs proposed come into effect. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Housekeeping Updates 3. Qu…

Send us a text Many 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. Intro 2. Our Crazy Past Week 3. Questi…

Send us a text This 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. Intro 2. Question of the Week 3…

Send us a text This 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 202…

Send us a text This 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…

Send us a text This 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 mo…

Send us a text This 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! Th…

Send us a text This 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…

Send us a text Last 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 …

Send us a text This 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 Incl…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're wrapping up our 2024 haunt season and covering the news. This includes discussing how our Halloween night went, our trip to the 13th Gate and, of course, the latest haunted attraction news. So please sit back as we cover all the haunted attraction news that is fit to print. This Week's Episode Include…

Send us a text Though we know many of you are at the tail end of your season, we just got our first two nights in the books. And what amazing nights they were. A full crew, a good crowd, tons of great scares and a haunt that worked just about perfectly. You can't ask for anything more. So that's what we're going to talk about this week: our first t…

Send us a text Sorry for missing last week, everyone, but we've returned with an overlong episode with much to discuss. We need to first update you on our haunt season. Then, we'll discuss our trips to three haunted attractions in the New Orleans area. It's a long one, folks, so strap in as we have a LOT to go through. This Week's Episode Includes:…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly is a double-length episode as we discuss our recent trip to Kansas City and St. Louis, which included three full nights of haunt visits. First, we visited The Beast and Edge of Hell in downtown Kansas City. Next, we checked out Darren Lynn Bousman's creation at Exiled in Bonner Springs. Finally, we returned …

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're recapping what has beeen one of the best weekends of our lives for visiting haunts: The Lost Souls Chicago Haunted Bus Tour. To say it was an amazing weekend is an understatement. Not only were there six great haunted houses, but an amazing bus trip plus some great time with a good friend and friend o…

Send us a text Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone does dumb things while they are learning. However, it's a very special kind of mistake that makes you want to smack your past self across the face. Yet, every year, we are confronted by just such mistakes. So we're going to talk about them. Here are eight mistakes we made that really make us hate our…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're talking about the week that was, including our experience with the hurricane and our recent haunt build. However, for those who want something to do when they aren't working or acting, we have a suggestion: Happy Escape Tycoon. The game's name is a misnomer. It is actually about running your haunted a…

Send us a text By its very nature, haunting is an up-and-down business. Sometimes, the queue lines are packed, and other times, it's impossible to get a crowd. After a few gangbuster years, things started to look scruffy, and there were a lot of indicators that should have given the haunters pause. No matter what the economy is actually doing, perc…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're doing the news! We have news about a haunt destroyed by arson, updates from Knotts Scary Farm and a series of celebrities getting involved in the haunt business. All of that and much, much more! This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Question of the Week 3. Conference Reminders 4. NC Haunt Destroye…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're discussing the game Crime Scene Cleaner, recently released on Steam. The game isn't your standard cleaning simulation game. Instead, it's a masterclass of storytelling through one's environment. A great deal of thought went into the placement and setup of the game, making it one haunters need to pay a…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly we're doing a topic that, for us, has been a LOOOOOONG time coming: Aphantasia in haunting. What is aphantasia? It's the inability to form pictures in your mind. Where most of the population can picture a beautiful beach or a country cottage, people with aphantasia see only words, letters or numbers. Though …

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're discussing building or improving your haunt character. It's the perfect time of year for this conversation, too. With just over a month before haunt season, many actors are trying to nail their characters down. This includes veterans looking to up their game and newcomers looking to hit the ground run…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're doing the news! Sadly, this week's lead story involves you-know-who being arrested on some serious charges. However, we also have some haunt openings, announcements from Six Flags and much more. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Housekeeping Note 3. Question of the Week 4. Conference Reminders…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're discussing the TV series The Walking Dead and examining the lessons that haunters can and should learn from it. From scare tactics to sound design, the show offers much to learn about scaring people. So, we will break down all the things you can learn from the show. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. In…

Send us a text AI is still the big marketing buzzword for the 2020s. However, as the hype and fear begin to fade, it's time to look at what AI can actually do and how it might be able to help. To that end, most of AI's improvements are more iterative than revolutionary. However, that doesn't mean that AI is useless, just that one needs to be smart …

Send us a text Every haunt has a theme, even if they don't realize it. Sometimes, the theme is no theme; sometimes, it's a generic "Haunted Hosue" theme. Other times, it's something even worse. As haunts begin working on their themes and promotions, we'll discuss themes and the mistakes we see haunts, including some good ones, make when picking a t…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're doing the news! It's a busy time for haunt news as we ramp up the preparation for haunt season. However, that doesn't mean we don't have a few stories from outside the industry that could have major impacts on haunted attractions. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Question of the Week 3. Haunt…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're discussing day jobs—or rather, why day jobs should hire haunters. Haunting is hard work, and even those who've done it for years or decades may not view it as "real work." However, we should be more proud of our work and hiring managers should take note of the skills we've learned. After all, if we ca…

Send us a text Haunting is hard work, but it's much more difficult when unprepared. In this episode, we will discuss 13 things that every haunter should own. They can make haunting easier, more comfortable and, in some cases, safer. So sit back, relax and take some notes. You probably have a few things you'll want to buy. This Week's Episode Includ…

Send us a text A haunted attraction is basically a magic act. Though everyone knows it's an illusion, we don't share how it is done. However, we're throwing open the curtain a bit and looking at 13 secrets that pretty much every haunter knows, but doesn't tell their customers. Some are standard, some are wholesome, and a few we'd probably rather no…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we are doing the news! We start talking about one haunt that tragically burned down, several haunts that are expanding, and a new experience that an escape room offers. In short, this is one busy episode despite the summer normally being the quiet season. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Work We Di…

Send us a text Injuries are a part of haunting, or so that's what many haunters say. Sure, we've all had the magic bruise that appears out of nowhere and the random cut that we can't explain, but serious injuries suck. If nothing else, they keep you from haunting. Fortunately, most haunt injuries can be easily avoided. All you need to do is follow …

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're celebrating the retirement of our longest-running partner, our recorder. So we've decided to honor the little recorder that could by remembering how and why we started this podcast and looking back at the ideas, plans and visions we had all the way back in 2015. So take a trip with us down memory lane…

Send us a text If you search the web for haunted attractions, you'll likely get the Wikipedia entry as your first result. So, after 400+ episodes and thousands of searches, we're finally reading it. So, does the entry do us justice? What did we learn from reading it? What do we disagree with? We discuss that and much more in this episode. This Week…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, it's an episode divisible by four, meaning that it is time to do the news! The news has been surprisingly busy this month, with a haunt scoring a major legal win, the Queen Mary making a comeback, and some haunts getting an early start to the season. So sit back, relax and enjoy as we go through all the hau…

Send us a text The haunted attraction industry is bizarre. In many ways, it more closely resembles a sport than an industry, partly because of the importance of amateur/home/charity haunters for sustained growth. That said, a few professional haunters still look down on the home haunt crowd. So, we will talk about why home haunters are important to…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're talking about shadowcasts, including what they are, why you should check them out and what haunters can learn from them. For those who don't know, shadowcasts are when performers pantomime the film while it is being screened. Most commonly associated with Rocky Horror, many other films have been getti…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're donning our hazmat suits and diving deep into the two lawsuits filed by Russ McKamey of McKamey Manor fame. What is he suing for? How solid are his arguments? How could these lawsuits impact the haunt industry? We're going to discuss all that and much more. This Week's Episode Includes: 1. Intro 2. Wo…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly it is time to do the news! And we have a LOT of news for you this week including an update on McKamey Manor, an attraction closing at Niles Scream Park, a major Halloween Horror Nights change and much more. We even have a summer camp for little haunters, a new video game to check out and, perhaps most import…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly we're flipping the script and reading some happy reviews of haunted houses. This includes reading some 30 reviews from the nation's biggest haunts and a few from our own. So let's all join around and have a feel good moment as we share the love from our happiest and most vocal visitors and learn both what th…

Send us a text This week on Haunt Weekly, we're talking about ways that our brains are dumb and how haunters can exploit those tricks to make our scares more effective. With this episode, you can stop living in the past by recognizing that you are always living in the past. You can also learn that your visitors are as well that knowledge can give y…