Haunt After Hours

This week Heather, Janice, and Tony spend a few days at MIDWEST HAUNTERS CONVENTION 2022.

Hear about fun behind the scenes stories.

Janice talks about the fun of the convention. 

Tony gives us a weird list of Illinois laws.

Gary's Horror History is, The Taking of Deborah Logan. 

Heather talks about the phenomenon of loved ones who've pasted-away that visit those who are about to die.

Introduction to Midwest haunters convention

Molly is BACK! And, we have a special guest, Anthony who runs the Louisiana Ranch of Horror Haunt. Today we talk about what ROH does when someone NO SHOWS. 

Car accidents. Surgeries. A dry docked ship. Oh my! Haunt After Hours fills in the blanks of our 3 week hiatus. 

How we make our paintball attractions a success, and the do's and do not's we've learned along the way. 

We discus working with nonprofits in the Haunt industry.

Topic: Working with competitors to better each others Haunts. 

A few of us went to Transworld and discuss what it was like this year.

The Halloween & Attractions Show opens for business March, 17th-20th, 2022 at the America’s Center in downtown St. Louis.

TransWorld’s Halloween & Attraction show is the ONLY industry trade show of its kind in the world. There is no other show that has as many exhibitors and industry related products. For four decades TransWorld’s annual Halloween & Attractions show has created the marketplace for the Haunted House industry. Each year the Industry gathers to network, get new ideas and purchase products. This show is a MUST ATTEND event if you are thinking about opening or currently operate a haunted attraction, corn maze, farm, pumpkin patch, paintball field, family fun center, amusement park, zoo, aquarium, Halloween retail store or anything Halloween-related. We have everything you need to make your Halloween season a success. Each year, the show continues to grow with NEW EXHIBITORS, NEW PRODUCTS and more buyers on the show floor. The Halloween & Attractions Show combines the products and knowledge of hundreds of exhibitors that you need to see this March!

This is how we form our calendar in our year. What is something different that you do? HauntAfterHours@gmail.com 

This week we talk about rewarding your cast; party, food, merch!  

Keeping up morale during the long hours of a haunt. 

We go into detail about what makes a successful brand / logo design. 

CEO/CMO and Co-Founder of Conjured Media is with us talking about how his Company leads the haunted attraction industry into a new era of growth. The help haunt owners achieve their business goals, and innovate scares.

You can find Conjured Media at www.conjured.media  

Ranch of Horror discusses their experience with bad weather. And we talk about Heather's husband smelling hair. All this and more on Haunt After Hours. 

Marketing in big box stores. Haunters resolutions. Park resolutions. 

Talking about what inspires us as haunters. 

Christmas Haunt's, a short lived attraction or the next big thing? 

How to handle bad reviews

In this weeks episode:

Nanni Janie shares a feel good story of the week.

Director Gary fills in for Cody with a K. Cody was out shooting our new Ranch of Horror movie and got over heated. The crew shares a few stories about Cody that they probably wouldn't share with him being present. Poor guy will probably never miss a podcast again.

Director Gary fills us in on some horror history as we delve into behind the scenes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This lower budget production was filmed with actors who had little to no experience- similar to the movie Gary is working on right now. Will Ranch of Horror be the next horror flick with a cult like following?

The group discusses que line entertainment. Things we have done in the past, things we have seen and things we would like to see.

Molly Poppins shares her marketing tip of the week.

Heartless Heather's paranormal story is derailed when Molly shares a story about sticky sour patch kids leading her to set up cameras in her home. Molly doesn't eat sour patch kids and she hasn't had any guests over to leave the mess- so how did they get there?

If you have any suggestions, stories or want to be a guest, please email:

hauntafterhours@gmail.com

Let's stay connected!

---This episode is sponsored by . Anchor: anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hauntafterhours/message Support this podcast: http://anchor.fm/hauntafterhours/support 

In this episode we discuss the pros and cons of make-up artists. Where are they needed? Is the end product worth the expense? 

If you have a perspective on this topic,  that differs from ours we would love to hear from you! email hauntafterhours@gmail.com. 

Nannie Jannie shares stories from her haunts auditions. 

Big Ants calls Sober Dave, a new member of the amputee community, this weeks boo of the week. You wont believe what Sober Dave asked his doctor before his amputation. Even better, is what Sober Dave's mother started requesting the doctor do. 

Cody with a K ditches the podcast for a date on the lake, but the rest of the haunt after hours crew fill in with props we love and want to see come to life. 

Molly Poppin's shares how vendors can help with marketing. 

Heartless Heather shares a common phenomenon that people near death and people that recently lost loved ones have experienced. 

If you enjoy the episode, don't forget to share!  

"Haunt love" it is a thing- every year there's a juicy affair formed during haunt season. What causes it? Our guess is working in close quarters with someone who shares your interest, because let's face it if your working in the haunt industry you're probably pretty passionate about what you are doing. Is it real love? From our experience the answer is no. Most of the relationships that start during haunt season don't last forever. So our advice is not to walk away from your happy home for a seasonal love, like one of our cast members preaches from experience now.

This episode we discuss haunt love. 

Nannie Jannie shares her love for haunters who support each other across the country and around the world. 

Big Ants share a story of a mom who dyed her kid green for Halloween not realizing that the next day was picture day at school. As a group of haunters we would like to rally together to petition that schools do not have picture day the day after Halloween (or any day in October for that matter). 

Molly shares how haunts can use their casting calls to promote their upcoming event. 

Cody with a K unboxes new clown shoes for a character he is developing. 

Heartless Heather give you 7 tips to help you determine if you are in fact being haunted or maybe you're just paranoid. 

This is a fun episode. Please share it! 

This week we discuss haunt themes - what is overplayed, what would we like to see?

Nannie Jannie Brings a feel good story of the week, as she discusses the young "hauntrepreneurs".

Big Ant actually shares two stories this week about people doing questionable things. One guy was a busy driver hauling mentally ill, lost the passengers and picked up a group of people waiting at a regular bus stop. Took them to the mental institution that was awaiting their arrivals. Can you imagine the mess? "No, I don't belong here!" "Ya, that's what they all say buddy!" Listed to the show - this is a great story!

As a haunt with several attractions we have done all sorts of themes. We discuss the pros, cons and ideas for future themes.

Cody with a K gives us a sneak peak inside his crate of toys. Find out how to honk your light ;-)

Molly Poppins shares a marketing tip of the week - making a haunt video!

Heartless Heather shares an eerie experience that she had babysitting as a teenager. A creepy girl came over to play, this was before cell phones. The girl was familiar with the house and the child, but when pictures were developed of the girls playing the parents had no idea who the girl was- she was never seen or heard from again- but the creepy pictures still exist.

This is a fun episode! Be sure to listen and Share!

In this weeks episode creator of "People in the Sand," Gary Duffey, joins the podcast to pitch a movie idea for our affiliated haunt Ranch of Horror. This is our 1st roundtable meeting- but we are excited to see how the project progresses moving forward.

Nannie Jannie- shares a story about her dedicated cast members.

Big Ant - shares a funny story about firefighters being called to a nudist camp on Halloween.

Gary Duffey- Pitches his big idea.

Cody with a K- Shares fog machine tips and tricks

Heartless Heather- a marketing tip that brought over 360,000 views to their website last season and a creepy story about her 1 yr old and it's obsession with the cemetery in their neighborhood.

This week we are talking about Transworld- it is Cody with a K's first time attending and he has high expectations! 

Molly introduces us to the 7- P's of marketing.

Heather shares a story from Springfield, LA that she first seen on Unsolved Mysteries only to learn that many people have inquired about the episode and producers are saying no such episode exists. 

Don't miss this weeks episode. Check out our facebook page @hauntafterhours. 

Send a message if you have an idea for the show! 

In this episode we talk about customers who seem to go above and beyond to ruin their experience. 

Sober Dave fills in for Big Ant in the You Might Be a Boo segment- where the heckling customer deserves an Academy Award for best performance and gets this weeks - boo title! 

Nannie Jannie shares a fun story about how Sober Dave got his name-  spoiler alert- Dave doesn't drink- he just plays a drunk hillbilly who escorts recruits to a quarantined town to try to save surviving humans from a zombie apocalypses. 

We all share an experience with a customer who just pushed limited to far! 

Molly Poppins shares her Marketing Tip of the Week-working with local restaurants and bars- allowing customers to continue a fun night out even after the haunt.  

Cody with a K's compares two different poppers to show how effective the poppers are. He uses them as scare tactics in que line entertaining and on character grams. They are great for making sure the customers stay six feet away. 

Heartless Heather shares another paranormal story, this one is not a ghost story. This is a real live "UFO" maybe FO encounter in 1997ish. She also compares some experiences from her childhood that are actually mentioned by other people around the world, in fact a whole movie "The Fourth Kind" highlights a few things she has personally experienced. 

Next week we are discussing character bios? Do they matter? Do the customers care? Does it help actors get into character? 

We all know an entitled cast member - this episodes sheds light on how to work with the entitled cast.

1:00 You Might Be a Boo- Big Ant shares a story he found online about a man who volunteered in a corn maze and got locked in! 

4:00 Let's Have a Talk About It- Nannie Jannie shares a story about her granddaughter who just so happens to also be an entitled cast member - but she's only 6 and has a passion for the haunt industry already. 

7:00 The Entitled Cast 

17:00 Molly Poppins shares her marketing tip of the week- cross promoting! Not everyone is on bored with cross promotion though. 

22:00 Cody with a K's Crate of Toys- Cody had a really cool toy custom made for a line entertainment prop. It's a common toy, that we are all familiar with, that was transformed into a unique one of a kind prop. 

27:00 Ghost Story- Heartless Heather shares another creepy story from her past- she doesn't have video proof this time but reports of what she experienced have been experienced by others around the world. Are you familiar with Hat Man?

32:00 Down The Rabbit Hole- now we are going down the rabbit hole to share a few other ghostly experience and creepy shows you can watch that are based on true stories. 

We know everyone is sick and tired of hearing about Covid, this week we delve into how Covid impacted the haunt industry in both a negative and a positive way. 

Intro

:41 You Might Be a Boo - Big Ant share haunt stories of cast members who just don't get it- tonight's character actually quits in the middle of a scare! 

3:34 Let's Have a Talk About It- Nannie Jannie shares feel good stories of haunters in the making or haunters in action. Tonight we are introduced to Creepy Casen a 4 yr old haunter in the making. 

6:09 Topic of the night- Tonight's episode we discuss the negative, and positive (yes, we believe there are a few positive) effects that Covid has had on the haunt industry. 

21:27 Molly Poppins Shares Marketing Tips- tonight we focus on the unique way Ranch of Horror in California, Louisiana and Missouri marketed their haunts through out the year, kept their characters working year round and kept their social media accounts buzzin' during the off season. 

24:25 Kody's Krate of Toys- Cody with a K, is known for his prop collection, tonight he shares a prop that got two grown fire fighters to leap with fear- a good four feet! 

27:34 Heartless Heather's Ghost Story- Every week Heather is looking for a ghost story to share. Tonight, she shares a personal story, of what appears to be a ghost figure caught on camera. 

32:00 Sign Off- We will tell you what's in store for next week! 

If you like the podcast please share!