Myrtle Beach, SC

The radio is blaring out warnings of a huge storm front over South Carolina. I'm thinking to myself, "Am I nuts for driving 500 miles to this event?" Haunted Houses have been my passion since I got lost at Walt Disney World at age 6. A friendly cast member brought me through a back hallway to an employee area in the Haunted Mansion while others searched for my lost parents. It was at that moment I became enchanted by the fantasy of haunting. That fond recollection of seeing that backstage magic gives me the fortitude to continue on my adventure. Perhaps the storm would even add to the ambiance of the coming event. Surviving the 50mph wind gusts, that at times tossed my small truck from side to side on the highway, I finally reach my destination: Myrtle Beach. I already feel the excitement as I am eager to meet my fellow Halloween "listers" who have also traveled long distances from all over the country to gather in celebration of our favorite holiday.

The haunted gathering began with each attendee touring Mayhem Manor®. The brain child of our host for the weekend, Leonard Pickel. After entering the Haunted Attraction up a long flight of stairs, I came upon a museum commemorating the horror film industry. The walls are painted with ghoulish figures and the shelves lined with Halloween memorabilia. I am greeted by a tall man in a white lab coat who begins to tell me the terrifying history of this haunted place: "Mayhem Manor was once the research facility of Dr. Morpheus Mayhem, who devoted his entire life the study of fear and people's reaction to it" Now I am alone in the darkness. As I work my way through the maze, I realize that the high-startle, no-gore approach to design is amazingly effective. At the exit to the attraction, I am met once again by the tall man in the lab coat, who states, "Well, apparently congratulations are in order, you seem to have survived!" It is only now that the man introduces himself as Leonard Pickel. He then invites me backstage to follow him as he frightens his next victims. I am even more impressed to learn that this show is run by him alone! Because this is a summer seasonal attraction, its designed allows a single actor to execute the scare in every room of the show. On busy nights there are as many as 4 actors, in rotation, but each one takes the same group from start to finish. (For a brief description of the Pickel theory, see Haunted Attraction Magazine Issue # 16 : Delaware's Frightland.)

After the backstage tour, Leonard ushered me into a large workshop/storage area where several of the other attendees were gathered. After group introductions, Leonard outlined the weekend's agenda, and we were allowed to preview the items to be sold during Saturday's spooky silent auction, and then off into the night to visit several other area attractions. First on our list was a free walk through of the nearby Nightmares Haunted House, compliments of owner Chris Walker. Next was the infamous Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, which contains some of the most bizarre things on earth. Then on to Motion Master, a motion simulator also owned by Ripley's Entertainment. The weekend had just begun and had already surpassed my expectations.

Saturday morning: Most of the 30+ people meet for breakfast before we gather at the workshop upstairs at Mayhem Manor. My fellow Halloween-L'ers were eager to share their knowledge and their "toys." Leon Stankowski, a home haunter, showed us his hand carved gravestones and a Pumpkin Head robot. Being a financial analyst rather than an engineer, Leon admits that his creation was probably over-engineered. Albeit overbuilt, it certainly grabs attention as Leon activates it. With a push of a button the animatronic beast lunges forward, limbs outstretched, sending those seated in front recoiling against their chairs. What a hoot!

Oliver Holler of The Haunt Factory in Asheville, North Carolina, demonstrated his home made web thrower with soft "floppy blades." He even challenged the group that he could build a web spinner in a minute. Sure enough, before our very eyes he creates a very inexpensive spinner using only a small battery-operated fan, a 35mm film canister and some Velcro. Wrapping up his segment he treated us to a sneak preview of his "Fun To Build A Spinning Tunnel" video.

Gary Engle, a magic enthusiast, mesmerizes the group as he performs the "illusion of the burning nail." Wearing dark sunglasses he mysteriously rubs the outside of a box while recounting the history of a spike that is rumored to be cursed by one of the infamous Salem witches. During the weaving of his tale, the iron spike slowly starts to smoke and then burn. He has to actually throw it to the ground before it burns his fingers.

"Fun with PVC Pipe" could be the title of Cliff Martin's segment. He deftly demonstrated how to make a giant ghoulish hand, candelabra, and a pop-up ghoul using the common plumbing material. Cliff also showed us how to build an "alien power supply unit" using holiday lights and clear plastic drink cups!

As much as I enjoy the technical side of things I have to admit that I love hamming it up in front of the gathering. Allan "BoneDaddy" Erush of Grisly Gothic Gables in Philadelphia, PA showed up with his Grim Reaper costume for show-and-tell. Allan chose me to model the fright costume! Through my unique perspective I get to appreciate how light, comfortable and fun a costume can be.

What a surprise it is to discover that Jim Kadel, a retired science teacher and now Internet entrepreneur, is making a living selling an ever-expanding line of electronic devices specifically intended for haunts through his company Haunt Master Products, Inc. His incredible products range from event timers to LED eyes to fright lights, his products can affordably enhance any haunt. I wish I had some these things as a kid to use in my garage haunt.

Mike Tucker plays soundtracks of spooky introductions used in his charity haunt The House of Horrors in Augusta, Georgia. And Leonard finished off the show-and-tell with how compressed air, copper pipe and mineral oil can be used to create a simple fog machine.

After all of the presentations, Leonard treated us to another tour of Mayhem Manor. This time, with the lights on. Like kids given keys to the candy store, the group swarmed over the attraction, leaving no button untouched.

Oliver and Terry Holler of The Haunt Factor, graciously invited the group over to their clubhouse for a barbecue. Originally intended to be a haunted luau, the heavy rains keep the party indoors. The weather did not dampen our spirits though. Conversations flowed, personal photos, haunt scrapbooks and videos were passed among the group. We spent the evening having a great time getting to know one another.

Sunday morning: Leonard arranged a lights-on walk through the Haunted Hotel, a dark ride in the nearby Pavilion Amusement Park. As he guides the group through the building, he recounts the attraction's 24-year history, which included an extensive renovation to the ride by Leonard himself in 1992 and 1993. This tour was a great ending to an even greater weekend.

As I drove away, two thoughts ran through my head: "I am grateful for my renewed passion for haunting." and "How am I going to explain my recent acquisitions; the 500 pound compressor and scantily clad animated skeleton which are riding home in the back of my truck?"

The scene was like that from a science fiction movie. Joe Jensen is behind a desk surrounded by five 17" monitors. Keyboards, a mixing console, video monitors and a least 5 computers sit around him on the floor in various degrees of disassembly. Wires and cables run back and forth to the nexus of Joe's workspace, in an ordered chaos. Sharon Marzano looks over his shoulder reviewing some of the new content. It is obvious that these two have worked together for a long time, as sighs seem to communicate as much as full paragraphs do. I had come to Chicago to ask what the future holds for the Haunted Internet Site, and I found myself now staring at it. Animated logos hideous creatures, interactive pages and amazing audio all being weaved by this talented crew into the next revision of Haunted America.com.

"Everything Haunted - Everything Halloween"is Haunted America's stated purpose on the 'net, and its goal in the market place. Now in its fourth year, the premiere Haunted Web Site is in a pivotal season. "This is the year that the net gets animation and audio" remarks President, Sharon Marzano, " As the internet has grown it keeps opening up new media." The first of these was simple text, then a few years ago the net became fast enough to download graphics and now, audio and limited animations are accessible to 80% of the web audience.

"Think of the Internet as Cable television at its beginning " explains Sharon, " And we are like MTV!" The difference is that Haunted America is promoting your Haunted Attraction instead of music, and now they can promote your show by giving people a sample of what they can experience. "We are creating music video like previews for Haunted Attractions," Sharon explains "except instead of video we are using special technology that combines music, streaming still photos and graphics. This will allow us to create even better programming and content that will attract more people to Haunted America and in turn attract more people to your web page on our site."

"In the next year people will be able to actually visit your Haunted House from their home." Joe continues, "This will give them a direct way to see the quality and depth of your event, and show how much fun they really are. But most importantly, this will allow every haunter to have a second market for his or her creative content via the Internet. The detail we put in the scenery, makeup, and acting can be captured via video and our new Flash technology to create products that will be able to be attended in the cyber space. (See side bar) This will give haunters an incredible promotion tool and a second source of income for this effort." According to Haunted America, this is just the beginning of the real revolution in New Media and the Internet. Over the next few years the Internet will become 20 times faster, with the addition of new modems and faster computers. Soon, full screen video will be as easy to download from the Internet as pictures are now.

Flash Since its introduction in 1996, Flash is on the cutting edge for creating high-impact vector-based Web sites that deliver sound, interactivity, graphics and animations, flawlessly across multiple browsers and platforms. Last month Macromedia, Inc. announced a free downloads for the "Flash Player" at www.macromedia.com speeding its incorporation into the next generation of Web-enabled computers. Flash dramatically streamlines the development process with to help Web developers create bandwidth-efficient Web sites that combine the production values of television with the immediacy of the Internet.

This is the 3^rd year that America Online is featuring HauntedAmerica.com as its "Keyword: Halloween" from Sept. 15 – Nov. 1. Last year 110 haunted houses participated in the program and received a free web page with a link to their web site in exchange for placing AOL's logo on their promotional materials.

"We had twice as many haunts involved last year than the year before and they raised twice as many verified logos to our sponsor AOL." Boasts Sharon, Impressed with 1998 results AOL is offering Haunted America a multi-year contract which includes a re-signing bonus for those 60 haunts who sent in documentation last November. Last October Haunted America had 8 million hits representing more than one million visitors to its web site. Presently, they are attracting almost 3 time as many visitors per month as they did in 1998 during the same time period.

It has taken 4 seasons for Haunted America to build their sponsorship/marketing triad. Now with Fox Family Channel who reached 42 million households last October, and an undisclosed retail chain with 700 stores on board, Haunted America is expecting to attract between 3 and 6 million visitors during the Halloween season of 1999. "Content is King," explains Joe, "We are beginning this year with Internet radio and limited haunted videos. We want to attract kids and parents to Haunted America, to come celebrate Halloween and to show them which Haunted Attractions to visit in the real world. Flash gives us the tools to do that, and for the future, we have created the infrastructure to be a part of the next millennium." With 2,000 web pages, 90 minutes of streaming audio and video, Haunted America is positioned to be courting the Halloween Fan for a long time to come.

William Hunt is an actor with 10 years of haunted attraction experience. He is a performer, magician and new media artist. His work can be seen on HauntedAmerica.com in its "Dagon's Fright Site" section. Email him at Info@HauntedAmerica.com

The Haunted House Guild was formed with one purpose: to cooperatively cross-advertising between the area Haunted Attractions for the equal benefit of all. The Guild contracted Brainstorm Studios to create a full-page ad under the banner The Official Rocky Mountain Haunted House Guide. On top of stunning background graphics, each of the eight member attractions of the Guild got an inset about 2.5" x 3.5" to advertise their own show. The insets ran along both sides of the ad and in the center was a map with the major cross-streets of Denver and marked locations of the Guild member attractions.

The ad ran for 30 days straight that October, in the Entertainment Section of the Rocky Mountain News. The cost of such an ad schedule in the main Denver newspaper was huge: over $75,000. However, after negotiating discounts for this bulk buy, then splitting the cost between the members, each guild member paid about $8,700. The results that the ad campaign produced were phenomenal at each location. At our Haunted Attraction, the Castle of Fear, the promotion beat out our radio, television, and movie screen ads. Even sponsorship promotions, like our quite effective McDonald's tie-in ($1 off coupons in bags and on the counters of one hundred McDonald's locations for the month) paled in comparison.

It has been four years now and the Rocky Mountain Haunted House Guide ad campaign is going strong. In '98 we expanded it to a two-page color spread on Fridays and Saturdays, with the one-page black & white weekdays, 33 days straight.
Currently the Guild has six members, and the program runs $14,000 per member. A hefty price tag, but without question, worth every dollar. Major sponsors, like soft drink companies and grocery chains are now approaching us to get their logo in the ad. With millions of impressions, those logos could net substantial revenue, which will help to offset the cost of the ads.

Yeah, yeah, I have heard all of the arguments. By being involved with the Guild I help promote smaller Haunted Attractions when I should be crushing them with my huge ad budget. Trust me, that just does not work. While overall attendance of Haunted Attractions is decreasing in some cities, attendance to the Denver attractions has grown in the years since the Guild has been in effect, and I believe strongly that the Rocky Mountain Haunted House Guide has encouraged that growth.

There's a lesson to be learned here. You do not have to trust your competitors to cooperate with them in building the local market for haunted attractions. You can save a huge amount of money while making each precious ad dollar most effective. Get together with the professional competitors in your area. Try it out. Then, of course, beat them all by having the best production in the region.


Mark Matthews-Simmons is Owner of DiaboliCo, which operates the 50,000
square foot Castle of Fear in Denver and manufactures Saf-Tex fire
resistant scenery, props and costumes and Diabolic electrical effects.