IT'S FINALLY OCTOBER!! HAPPY HAUNTING EVERYONE!!

At the very end of the second season of the Voodoo Podcast, Mike has the opportunity to talk to the incredibly creative minds behind HorrorProps: Dave & Aubrey Appel. The couple are also well-known for their home haunt, Infested Oaks, & all of their homemade, yet movie-quality props on their front lawn. In this interview we cover everything from their haunt travels to their prop & lawn construction to their brand & shop!

The second interview, is Mike's very own mom, Stephanie Pfister, who recently took a trip to Scotland & had the chance to enjoy a ghost tour. She also has some incredible origin stories regarding Voodoo on Vassar & her own family as well as insight from the haunts that she has seen throughout the years!

2024 HAUNT SEASON IS HERE!!!!

Mike has the chance to break down what it takes to make the incredible Chicago Haunt Builders' List with the very people responsible for constructing the monstrosity. Amanda Stolarski, April of The Kozy Kauldron, & recurring guest Jim Slanker explain the process of organizing the Chicagoland home haunts into one consolidated spreadsheet & then into a list for the entire haunt community & its fans to enjoy! The trio also describe their own home haunts as well as charities that they support with donations & even their 2024 haunt season plans!

https://chicagohauntbuilders.com/list

Then, take a trip to Merrill, Wisconsin to meet Allyson English, Kristin Tobin & Jerry Hersil who are the minds behind the Haunted Sawmill: a non-profit haunted house that does so much for their community & even their internal haunt community! Check out all of their hard work & help them help some outstanding causes while scaring Cheeseheads to the fullest:

https://hauntedsawmill.org

Mike is privileged to be joined by one of the most notable & iconic characters in all of the haunt industry: Fluffy! The man behind the mask, Jeff Walker, does a deep dive into his haunt career starting with his parents’ nonprofit haunt, to starting as a stilt actor, to creating Fluffy at Fear at the Pier & taking him to Statesville & HellsGate! Walker also talks about his talents of world-building in the haunt industry which carries over into his day job of set & stunt designing on the hit TV show Chicago Fire.

Matt Nausid also brings one of the most important Haunters Hacks to the podcast regarding safety!

It is officially Haunt Season everyone!!!!

First up, an interview with Chicago Haunt Builders, Mike Lesh and Sara Janiszewski who are the owners and operators of Oak Lawn Haunted Barrens. Through their creativity and ingenuity, they have started their own business called Home Grown Bones in-which they create custom foam mold wall panel designs. The business and the haunt are tied to an animal shelter that they donate to  and have adopted their dogs from in Elgin.

Next up, Mike gets to talk with author, father and teacher Dane Erbach. Dane’s new book Friday Night at Humble House has some haunt elements to it by dealing with ghosts of multiple generations and various personalities. Some of Dane’s other works have a healthy mix of horror, comedy, and gore! Dane dabbles in ghost hunting, and he and Mike share stories of their real adventures, but have come up short with anything paranormal first-hand.

Check out Dane's work at www.daneerbach.com

Co-hosts Matt Nausid and Mike Napoletano sit down to recap Midwest Haunters Convention with Chicago Haunt Builders' very own Jim Slanker of Canyon Trail Cemetery. Jim & his wife, Dawn, help the CHB group connect with TransWorld & MHC to host shindigs, breakfasts, pop-up haunted houses on the show floor & even t-shirts!

The boys got a chance to hear Emma Parker of Voodoo on Vassar's take on her first ever MHC weekend & thoughts going forward with haunting & haunt conventions.

Mike also had the privilege of chatting with Kyle Miller (A.K.A. Doc from Baldwin Asylum). Kyle has been in the haunt industry since the Dream Reapers days & is in the process of resurrecting Baldwin Asylum while guest acting at Disturbia, Massacre, Evil on Erie during the MHC Pre-Convention Bus Tour on stilts, with a smoking head, a bionic arm, & forceps galore!

With Midwest Haunters Convention fast approaching, Mike gets the chance to sit down with Disturbia's very own Laney Shafer (AKA Spike). Laney also marks the first full-time stilts actor that has been on the podcast, so we get a deeper dive into what it takes & also what to expect at the Thursday Pre-Convention Bus Tour at MHC when the tour starts with Brunch at Disturbia!

Mike also chats with, unbeknownst until now, friend of the family Japes Palles who has one of the most storied backgrounds in the haunting world & still dedicates his time now to the Lost Souls Chicago Bus Tour & even the Chicago Haunt Builders MHC Haunted House on the show floor in Rosemont this year!

MHC, CHB, HHC & more acronyms! Mike sits down with Kriz Zahrobsky of Haunted House Chicago to talk about Transworld, Midwest Haunters Convention, & the origins of traveling & reviewing haunts with Kris's company Haunted House Chicago. Matt Nausid of Greenbriar Cemetery jumps back on amidst baby-prepping to give this month's Haunter's Hack on height. Chicago Haunt Builder & Warden of Old Joliet Haunted Prison Adam Brandon Cygan joins the podcast to talk about working at the prison & also doing his home haunt walkthrough, Horror on Highland! It's a long episode, so strap in, but well worth the time to get you prepared for all the haunting events coming to the Chicagoland this summer!

Mike gets a chance to sit down with the flint rod-sparking, santa costume-wearing, motorcycle-riding, fire-breathing, Most Interesting Haunt Actor in the World ("Most Interesting Man" was taken): Slider Jesus! From working at D.E.A.D Rising, to Statesville, HellsGate & some of the top haunted attractions in the country, Slider (aka Cody) has practically done it all! Don't miss this interview including small world connections with former Blackhawks goaltender, Stanley Cup Champion, and comedian Scott Darling as well as other haunt actors like Caleb Wimbush & Chainz!

Thank goodness for a leap day huh? The February episode comes to you late but with two incredibly insightful & fun interviews. The first are Chicago Haunt Builders & former Lombard Jaycee's Haunters James & Melanie Schiffer who run their home haunt, Schiffers' Haunted Insanity, in Downers Grove, Illinois. Then, Mike talks with Terry Mannix of the Lost Souls Chicago Bus Tour that visits 3 commercial haunts in a night multiple times during the Halloween season & even organizes field trips throughout the year!

The Voodoo podcast is back for 2024! An interview with Distrubia's very own Haunt Actor Chainz (Nicholas Ciraulo) & the host of Cheers to Justice: A True Crime Podcast, Austin Kaczmarek. Mike highlights some new horror movies & events coming up within the next month & even the whole year!