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This week on Haunt Weekly, we're talking marketing!

Specifically, we are talking about our 2022 marketing plan. As many of you know, we've been closed forcefully since 2018. First it was a road closure and then two years of COVID. Now that we're coming back, that's the message we need to get across.

So, how are we going to do that? That's especially difficult with our meager budget. So let's talk marketing plans and what we're doing this year to get the word out about our haunt.

This week's episode includes:

1. Intro
2. Question of the Week
3. Conference Reminders
4. Work We Did on Our Haunt
5. Planning Haunt Visits
6. Intro to the Topic
7. Advertising
8. Public Relations
9. Social Media
10. The Eng Goal
11. Conclusions

All in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!

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Email: [email protected]

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Preservation is not a topic that haunters talk about a great deal. We talk about building, tearing down, scaring everything that goes into them, but rarely do we think about how future generations will share in this experience.

The truth is, haunts are temporary things, and much of what makes them special is impossible to preserve. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. 

To that end, here's our thoughts on what we, as an industry, could and should do to preserve our history.

This Week's Episode Includes:

1. Intro
2. Last Week's Question of the Week
3. This Week's Question of the Week
4. Update on Our Haunt
5. Intro to the Topic
6. Haunts Are Temporary Things
7. Shout Out to the Dark Ride Project
8. VR and Video
9. Behind the Scenes Video Blogs
10. Props and Items
11. Some General Thoughts and Tips
12. Conclusions

All in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!

Get in Touch and Follow Us!

Facebook: @HauntWeekly
Twitter: @HauntWeekly
YouTube: @HauntWeekly
Email: [email protected]

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Note: Though we waxed poetic about our love for the Lost Souls Haunted Bus tour, we have to caution that they SOLD OUT of tickets before we published. So please follow them and stay tuned for next year!

This week on Haunt Weekly, it is time to do the news! And we are inching ever closer to haunt season that means we have a LOT of great news stories for you including some innovate haunts opening this year.

This Week's Episode Includes:

1. Intro
2. Last Week's Question of the Week
3. This Week's Question of the Week
4. Conference Reminders Return!
5. The Headless Horseman in Ulster Park, NY is Celebrating 30 Years - https://hudsonvalleycountry.com/headless-horseman-in-ulster-park-ny-celebrates-30-years-in-scares/
6. New haunted attraction coming to Anderson Jockey Lot - https://www.foxcarolina.com/2022/08/08/new-haunted-attraction-coming-anderson-jockey-lot/ 
7.  Aspiring Scare Artist Haunts Macon Walmart Parking Lot - https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/aspiring-scare-artist-haunts-macon-walmart-parking-lot/93-926c8f41-f3d9-4dfc-9f74-2a36b0d64658
8. New Owners of a Haunted House Attraction in Scottsboro Bringing New Changes - https://www.waff.com/2022/08/01/new-owners-haunted-house-attraction-scottsboro-bringing-new-changes/
9. HellsGate and Statesville to Combine Casts - https://www.facebook.com/HellsGateHauntedHouse/posts/pfbid0wPDBCXPKtrdBjubpv3j5rZzrXvr6T3vW7YdpDVjCcCfARVMwaGRr34LgbUuMgFTSl
10. Dark Hour’s Makeup Artists Talk About the Art and Process of Making Up Monsters - https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/face-on-haunted-house-dark-hour-spills-horror-makeup-secrets-11796497
11. Behind the Screams: What it Takes to Get Dent Schoolhouse Ready for Halloween - https://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/2022/08/25/dent-schoolhouse-the-method-behind-the-madness-opening-in-september/10227035002/
12. Connecticut's 'Haunted' Attractions Gear Up for Halloween Months in Advance - https://www.ctinsider.com/living/article/halloween-attractions-connecticut-2022-17345892.php
13. Horror-Comedy ‘Teddy Told Me To’ Drops Teaser Trailer -  https://frightnerd.com/2022/08/01/horror-comedy-teddy-told-me-to-drops-teaser-trailer/
14. Scream n’ Stream Drive-thru Haunted Attraction Gets a New Florida Location - https://attractionsmagazine.com/scream-n-stream-drive-thou-haunted-attraction-gets-a-new-florida-location/
15. Haunted Attraction Coming to Historic Birmingham Theater This Fall - https://www.hometownlife.com/story/life/2022/08/19/birmingham-8-theater-becomes-haunted-house-for-halloween-this-october/10300904002/
16. Petition to Save Dead City Haunted House - https://www.change.org/p/save-dead-city
17. Former Scary Acres Organizer Brings ‘Haunted Gallows’ to Burrillville - https://nrinow.news/2022/08/23/former-scary-acres-organizer-brings-haunted-gallows-to-burrillville/
18. Conclusions

All in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!

Get in Touch and Follow Us!

Facebook: @HauntWeekly
Twitter: @HauntWeekly
YouTube: @HauntWeekly
Email: [email protected]

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It's ticket buying season for us haunt lovers, and that means a myriad of things. It means spending hundreds of dollars, it means scoping out the best deals possible, and it means realizing the ways haunts put the screws to their customers.

However, much of this is, most likely, unintentional. It stems less from a desire to put one over the customers and more of a desire of not thinking through all the potential consequences of a policy or action.

So, that's what we're going to focus on today, some key ways haunted attractions can and do unintentionally screw their customers.

This Week's Episode Includes:

1. Intro
2. Last Week's Question of the Week
3. This Week's Question of the Week
4. 5 Ways Haunts Unintentionally Screw Their Customers
5. Online Ticket Sales in General
6. Selling Tickets Before Announcing Dates/Times
7. Requiring Customers to Choose Dates/Times Way in Advance
8. Unfair Cancellation Policies
9. Not Being Upfront About Content
10. Conclusions

All in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!

Get in Touch and Follow Us!

Facebook: @HauntWeekly
Twitter: @HauntWeekly
YouTube: @HauntWeekly
Email: [email protected]

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The 2022 haunt season is coming on strong. Haunts are already announcing their dates, builds are wrapping up, and it's getting very close to spooky time.

For us, this will be our first normal haunt season since 2018. Cancelled in 2019 due to road work and then again in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, it'll be our first open season in four years. 

However, it will also be our first normal season visiting haunts since 2019, so our first haunt visit run in three years.

So we're looking ahead and discussing some of our big wishes for the 2022 haunt season, both at home and elsewhere.

This Week's Episode Includes:

1. Intro
2. Last Week's Question of the Week
3. This Week's Question of the Week
4. Update on Conference Reminds
5. Intro to the Topic
6. 5 Hopes We Have for Our Haunt
7. 5 Hopes We Have for Haunts We Visit
8. Conclusions

All in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!

Get in Touch and Follow Us!

Facebook: @HauntWeekly
Twitter: @HauntWeekly
YouTube: @HauntWeekly
Email: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

This week on Haunt Weekly, we're pulling out our magic lamp, blowing on a dandelion and tossing a coin into a fountain as we're going on a wishing spree.

We love the haunted attraction industry, but we think it is capable of so much more. However, to get to that point, some major things are going to have to change and that is where our wishes come in.

So, this episode we are going over six of our biggest wishes for the haunt industry and why they could change the craft forever.

This Week's Episode Includes:

1. Intro
2. Question of the Week
3. We Love the Haunt Industry
4. Our Six Wishes
5. Conclusions

All in all, this is one episode you do NOT want miss!

Get in Touch and Follow Us!

Facebook: @HauntWeekly
Twitter: @HauntWeekly
YouTube: @HauntWeekly
Email: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

This week on Haunt Weekly it is time to do the news and boy do we have a lot of news to cover!

We have an urgent plea from one of the nation's oldest Jaycee organizations, another major charity haunt closes, Fear Farm moving and Spookers having new owners.

In short, it's a month of big changes in the haunt industry, and we are here to cover all the shifts and alterations taking place.

This Week's Episode Includes:

1. Intro
2. Question of the Week
3. Update on Wicked World Scarygrounds
4. Portsmouth Jaycees Face Possible Closure - https://news.yahoo.com/saving-easter-hunt-santa-011900339.html
5. Fear Farm Moves to New Location - https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/arts/fear-farm-haunted-attraction-has-moved-to-glendale-heres-why-11733530
6. New Escape Room Experience Opens Up in Central New York - https://wibx950.com/are-you-brave-enough-to-enter-the-newest-escape-room-in-central-new-york/
7. North Charleston Brewery to Open Haunted House - https://www.counton2.com/news/local-news/haunted-house-attraction-coming-to-north-charleston-brewery-this-fall/
8. The Weeknd Get Halloween Horror Nights Haunt - https://pitchfork.com/news/the-weeknd-announces-after-hours-inspired-haunted-houses/
9. New Haunted Mansion Merch on Sale - https://wdwnt.com/2022/07/haunted-mansion-headstone-bookends-and-pins/
10. Some Bonus Stories
11. Conclusions

All in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!

Get in Touch and Follow Us!

Facebook: @HauntWeekly
Twitter: @HauntWeekly
YouTube: @HauntWeekly
Email: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Haunts put a lot of thought and effort into marketing and trying to build a brand, but far too often sabotage it with unforced errors and simple mistakes. 

You work hard to make sure your customers think highly of you and want to come back year after year. However, one small misstep can damage or even wreck all of that goodwill. So, it's not enough to have a good brand strategy in place, you need to watch out for pitfalls that you, your actors or your marketing can fall into to damage it. 

To that end, here are some of the more common ways we've seen haunted attractions sabotage their own brand unintentionally.

This Week's Episode Includes:

1. Intro
2. Conference Reminders
3. A Quick Update About Us
4. Intro Into Branding
5. Inconsistent Design
6. Irrelevant Merchandise
7. Lack of Social Media Rules
8. Inappropriate Content for the Brand
9. Advertising Things Not in the Haunt
10. Rogue Actors
11. Character Control
12. Conclusions

All in all, whether you're the brand manager or just an actor in the haunt, this is an episode you do NOT want to miss!

Get in Touch and Follow Us!

Facebook: @HauntWeekly
Twitter: @HauntWeekly
YouTube: @HauntWeekly
Email: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Due to COVID, this week's episode is a redux episode, but it's an important one as we revisit when we sat down with Paul Lanner in January 2021 to discuss Haunters Against Hate. 

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This week on Haunt Weekly, we sit down with Paul Lanner, the founder and operator of Haunters Against Hate.

Haunters Against Hate is a charity that promotes LGBTQ+ inclusion and acceptance within the haunt community. As events over recent years have illustrated, the haunt community has work and effort to put into this space.

To that end, Haunters Against Hate has been raising money for LGBTQ+ causes all over the country since 2016 and has provided a great outlet for LGBTQ+ haunters are well as for haunts to show their support for the community.

So sit back and relax as Paul explains not just what he does, but how haunts can help make their homes more welcoming.

This Week's Episode Includes:

1. Intro
2. Interview with Paul Lanner
3. Conclusions

All, in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!

Get in Touch and Follow Us!

Facebook: @HauntWeekly
Twitter: @HauntWeekly
YouTube: @HauntWeekly
Email: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

This past weekend was Haunters Against Hate: The Event in Lexington, KY. 

This is the second year for this particular conference that focuses on eliminating hatred in the haunt community and supporting members of the community that are often targeted by prejudice. 

The conference itself was three days of vendors, talks, drag shows, goatmosas, and much, much more.

We break it all down for you in this week's episode.

This Week's Episode Includes: 

1. Intro
2. Blow by Blow of HAH The Event
3. General Wrap Up
4. Conclusions

All in all, this is one episode you do NOT want to miss!

Get in Touch and Follow Us!

Facebook: @HauntWeekly
Twitter: @HauntWeekly
YouTube: @HauntWeekly
Email: [email protected]