Transcript

[0:20] Hello everyone, I'm Jonathan. I'm Krystal and this is Hot Weekly, a weekly podcast for the under attraction entertainment community. Whether you're an actor, owner, or just plain aficionado, we aim to be a podcast for you. And we return to you this week with an episode that is divisible by four. Yes, the math takes a while, but it is divisible by four. So that means it is time to do the news. And I'm going to give a programming note before we jump into the question, we can comment, reminders, all your stuff. But with this one, we're actually doing the big stories. There's two big stories. One is really depressing. It's going on first. And one is.

[0:59] Neutral-ish right now. We don't know the outcome of this one, but it's a big one. And we're going to do it at the end because we want to be sure we can give these two stories time. And that way, we can hurry our ass through the middle a little bit and get this podcast to you in a timely and orderly fashion. As much as we ever do. Yeah, as much as we ever do. That's not saying much, I admit.
All right. Well, on that note, every week we do ask a question of the week, and last week's question was, what is your favorite haunt backstory? R&P Farm said they like their backstory.
I guess sensing a little personal bias there. However, I went on their site and I could not check it out. No. Sam Farrell and Isaac Schwalier said Hell's Gate. And I will vouch Hell's Gate is a great one. It's very meta. My biggest criticism I would have of it for this very short moment, is that they don't really bring it into the haunt much. Hmm.

[2:00] I don't know that I agree with you. Okay. Maybe I'm misinterpreting what's in the haunt.
Yeah, or maybe you're thinking of a different story.
Maybe. But regardless, yeah, Hell's Gate definitely has a great story. However, Isaac also noted his haunt, Abandoned Acres Farms. Now, I actually read the full story on their website. They have the whole thing, and I do mean the whole thing on there.
Good.
It's entitled blood on the corn and definitely encourage you to check it out however i think i want to do an episode where we look at actual haunted attraction stories.
And talk about good bad what you can do what you can't do and obviously will be looking at solely what is available from the web presence and marketing material.
Yeah but i think that could be a fun few trips we made the ai do our homework let's see what the humans are turned in.
Okay, that's fair. That's great of the AI's were let's see how the humans turn Yeah, so I'm gonna actually put a pin in this one cuz hey if you're bold enough to put your own story in this It's gonna get a low king. Yeah, and finally, all right, and finally Victor Royal has said vault of souls. Yes.

[3:10] That's Scott Swenson's thing in Florida the yeah part haunted attraction part interactive theater experience a haunted house experience It's it's very different is what it is and it doesn't there and Victor's right that does have a great story and they Definitely because of the interactive and the nature of the experience. It definitely comes in through every moment of the haunt Yeah, I mean everything about it is aimed to telling that story, which I love.

[3:35] All right this week's question of the week What one chain what is one change you would make to the haunt industry if you could poof and make one thing change What is it? Yes, we've asked this before but a long time has passed best.
Got some thoughts here. So I want to see what other people have to say too. So let us know, HauntWickah.com, HauntWickah on Twitter, HauntWickah on Facebook, and YouTube.com slash Haunt Weekly. What one change would you make in the haunted attraction industry?
And since you already have your thoughts together on it, I'm going to jump ahead of you and say, I would make it more inclusive. If I could poof, I would make it more inclusive. There, done.

[4:11] Yeah, definitely. I mean... And your answer?
Was actually something very much along the lines. Um, because as we're going to get into in a minute We are not inclusive in ways. We should be yeah, and we seem to be inclusive in ways. We really don't want to be, Uh, I I think we we've got to find this balance. I mean to me I think part of it is we've got to make it, The safe space for the weirdos again, Because i'm not saying it isn't but it often especially when you do these news episodes every four. Yeah, Well, we just needed to be a safe space for everybody period. Yeah, everybody with this weird hobby Yeah, not a safe space for like people who would do damage to other people.

[4:54] Yeah, you'll understand why we're kind of like an illness in a minute But yeah, let us know what all the aforementioned places, All right. It is also an even number of It is also an even-numbered episode.

[5:08] Um, therefore it is we also do conference reminders and crystal is going to kick us off for the upcoming conferences, Okay, june 8th. That's midwest hunters convention um through june 11th, sorry about that at.

[5:22] Rosemont illinois at the donald e stevens convention centered um And 2023 info is still coming. Although, We haven't updated that. Yeah, so if we're missing something it may be on next week Or the next two weeks the next even episode. We did update it's Christ. I'll get it out at some point We did update it some but we didn't go back and add that Yeah, sorry Midwest hunters convention and actually didn't they've been making a lot of the announcements this week actually, so, okay Yeah, it's actually been coming out. I've been seeing on social media I just haven't put it in the notes, but you would know that if you were following them along at Midwest hunters convention That comp great job. Then after that, it's Michigan haunt fest, June 23 through the 25th in Mews, Michigan It's at the Oaks campground demos make and takes, Remember Saturday, there's an adult $2 entry fee from the park the campgrounds learn more at Michigan haunt fest We believe calm. All right, July 15th through, 16th, it's Texas Hunters Convention in Mesquite, Texas that the Mesquite Convention Center featuring a trade show floor costume ball and, Door prizes costumes gaming all sorts of things Texas hunters convention.com for more info, All right, and then July 21st through the 23rd in Garden City, Idaho. It's horror wing con, Idaho, Some potatoes.

[6:52] Much like the hills at the North Expo Hall and at Expo, Idaho featuring classes targeted both at home haunters and professional haunters.
It's also have costuming, makeup, and other useful classes for you. More information at IdahoHorror.com. So yes, as we mentioned before, oh, first things first, the work we did on our haunt. Well, I always want to skip that because it's usually such a short section. And it's not that we didn't do work this time. No, we did yard work and housework.
Yeah, we're getting the actor area and all the outdoor stuff back in shape.
That's unfortunately a very necessary part because it's our workspace. Yes.
And if you know of anything that kills the most, that should have been the question of the week.
What kills the most stubborn vines out there?
Because we have this thing that's growing all over our yard and we can't get rid of it.
And we've tried and we've tried and the roots are on the other side.
That's not on our property. Not on our property. And I can't just go over there and dig it the fuck up or something. No, we've been trying for years decades to kill this thing. We've tried every... And the thing is like with some chemicals and some of our attacks we've been able to push it way back? Yeah.

[8:08] But we have not been able to a get it out of our yard not push it back all the way and B We have not been able to kill or even significantly harm it, No, like it just comes back so fast It grows really fast and it grows in the weird spurts like it'll go months without doing anything.

[8:26] Yeah, and then you'll look up one day and find out that your entire entire backyards overrun Yeah our next if we can get rid of some of it our next idea is to put down weed blocker and block the sun out of it. Because on areas where something has been on the ground for a long time, it doesn't grow. It'll grow at the top of it.
That's been our odd focus this week, getting that and our house in order. Very successful.
We should be beginning actual haunt work soon.
Yes. And we are excited. We've already done the design work. We've got not insignificant amounts to build but yeah but it's gonna be it's gonna be a good build I think it's gonna be a fun one yeah I will all right so it is an episode of Valley by four so it is time to do the news and we have an incredibly important and incredibly frustrating and incredibly sad story to start off no and I guess I'll just kick, it off basically this is an article by Ryan Graffis at WJAC in Clear County Pennsylvania, a rural area haunted attraction known as Max's Revenge Haunted Attraction. One of the owners and operators of it, Kip Kulsar Jr., age 26, was arrested and is alleged to have sexually assaulted a 14 year old victim, at multiple locations, including the haunt itself, while the haunt was in.

[9:52] Doing stuff, being haunt stuff. Yeah, why do we have so many of these stories?

[10:01] Like seriously, haunt industry, look at yourself. Why? Why? Yeah, this story really as far as like this podcast is very frustrating because on one hand it's, very important, we need to talk about it, we need to discuss it, we need to give it the time and attention it deserves because it deserves some weight and levity in time. But it's also so common and has happened so many times. My first thought is, well, just go back to the Maddie Monster episode we had. Yeah. Listen to that. I mean, is it because this is an industry that allows adults to be around, Teenagers?
I mean is there just more exposure as an industry on the whole is that why we're seeing what seems to be so many more stories i don't know.
Yeah i really really and truly do not know why we seem to have so many cases in the maddie monster episode by the way was episode three forty three sexual assault and haunting.
Yeah done way back in June of 2022. Yeah, but yeah, I Don't know why yeah, cuz I mean like.

[11:19] We shouldn't be hiring kids Anyway, but I also understand that at these a lot of these rural haunts and this one seems to be particularly, Rural and charity haunts often use. Yeah, they often use kids and it's big and some of us simply because those are the people who are free to volunteer their time.
No. Yeah, I mean, yeah, kids go to school and such, but, you know, it's not, you know, adults are much more difficult in order to schedule things with, especially for like a month long. Yeah. And I get that.
But I personally do agree that we should not be hiring feds.
But I also know this is a fact of life for many rural haunts. It is.
And this is another owner. So it's not like, you know, they could.
Background, we can say background check your employees. Yeah.
The one thing I think we can say, and this was something that came up in the Maddie Monstrel, in episode 343 again. Yeah.
When she was talking about her experience working with the Bloodshed Brothers and...

[12:19] Basically, one of the things she said that really stuck with me was that nobody knew, really what was going on, like the full story. Nobody had the full picture.
But there were a lot of people who saw them make inappropriate jokes around teens, who saw them give teens alcohol and cigarettes and other controlled substances. There were people, that saw those things. They knew something inappropriate was going on and they didn't say anything. And on one hand, I can't blame them. By themselves, those might seem like and feel like it might even be fairly minor. But that's also part of the grooming process. And that's how, you know what I mean? Oh yeah. And that's why, yeah, okay, look, I get it. You know, giving alcohol to someone who's a few days under 21 or whatever ain't the biggest crime in the world.
I'm the only person in civilized society that had his first alcoholic beverage on his 21st birthday No, I recognize that but if you see those things Especially from an owner or manager to employee and in addition those employees being underage, You need to tell someone you need to confront them. You need to do something because.

[13:32] You might only be seeing a tiny piece of a much bigger much darker picture. Yeah, and, And I think that's I think we're going to find a lot of that happened here, too, And I know I don't want to put blame on those people because they obviously are sitting there probably as shocked as anyone else, But that's why you tell all these things why you speak out on these things. Yeah, because it is.

[13:55] Inappropriate and this is and it's often hiding or leading to exactly this type of behavior So yeah according to, The police report, the reports by the way, all these obviously are allegations, innocent until proven guilty, so on and so forth, allegedly forced the victim to perform sexual acts while working at the haunt.
He is currently being held at the Clearfield County Prison. His bail was denied.

[14:26] Why do we keep having this problem? I mean, I think some of it may be exactly what you said, that this is an industry that that, it's an access it's it's much like you know becoming a teacher or becoming a priest or becoming some other any other trusted official and yeah i know i'm picking on pedophile priest on accident but i was just thinking who are these trusted adults that have unlimited unfettered unguarded unchecked access to kids yeah that's i was just thinking like that yeah um but.

[14:59] But yeah, is it that maybe I think that could be part of it or, you know, did he like launch this haunt or join this haunt or come on to it with the intent of doing it or was it just something that, you know, happened?
I don't know. And but the best thing, like I said, from that episode of Maddie Monster, and by the way, Maddie, if you're listening to this, thank you again for that.
No. your responsibility to educate or to do anything. I could have, everyone would have fully understood if after your experience you said screw haunting, I'm done. Never even looking at a haunted attraction again. No one would have blamed you. And the fact that you continue to try to help us be a better industry, you know, I'm very, very amazed at that. But the great thing that came from that episode, like I said, was the thing about saying something even if it's not overtly sexual at the moment. Yeah. And that's anything that you see. Like with the alcohol, we live in New Orleans. It is not illegal for parents to give their kids alcohol. Not other people's kids, but their own. It's not illegal. And so, if you see that, make sure the parents know even.

[16:23] LBW Yeah. KRS Talk to the parents. Hey, do you know that this is going on when you're not here?
Like, don't make it a secret little club, because secrets cause problems.
And I think that if you have that.

[16:39] I don't know. I just, there's maybe a way to ask. Maybe I should go back and revise my answer to the question of the week to say I would make us a fully transparent industry.
No.
Because I'm willing to bet a lot of the aforementioned problems, including the diversity and the problems we're talking about now, would either be eliminated or severely mitigated through real transparency.
No. Um, but we're very much not a transparent Industry and that's very much by design, No, we don't we never wanted to be I mean it took us until like recent years Just to talk about how to build props with other haunters. Yeah.

[17:19] You know, we're we're not we we've never been on the cutting edge of transparent and sitting in business, No, we've always been bringing up the rear pretty hard um So yeah, it's such a frustrating story, We're going to be following it obviously to see what happens, but the problem is, is when the story comes up in my news feed next, I know the first thing I'm going to think is, going to say haunted attraction owner, you know, sentenced to or released or whatever, whatever happened to the next phase is going to say haunted attraction owner, blah, blah, blah.
And my first thought is which one we have so many, right? I'm going to have to read the whole fucking article to figure out which case we're talking about now. sad and so frustrating that it is true.
So happier stuff now? Yeah. Ken has happy story, please?

[18:14] All right. So every Alton Towers ride reviewed. This is just a review of ours.
And it's talking about some new stuff.
This is by Tom Vigar and Steve Wollaston at cheshire-live.co.uk.
Yeah, it's a UK. This is a UK theme park. It's basically what we're getting at.
Yeah, but um.

[18:43] So basically they reviewed the newest rides at Alton Towers, the Curse of Alton Manor, and it could be, quote-unquote, the best dark ride in the UK.
Which raises questions about how many there are. Are they the only one? Because they are the best.
How stiff is the kind? They're also the worst, though. I know, right?
We want all the superlatives.
It's like, hey, it's like my cousin. I kept telling him to apply to colleges, saying he was second in his class, because it was true, but there was only one other person. Really small school.
Really small school. Smaller than you're thinking. Yeah.
Basically, it was a homeschool where other kids came by at this point.
Yes. And there was a paid teacher. There was a single paid teacher. I'm actually not exaggerating.
Yeah, but it tells the story of Emily Alton, a child whose parents preferred partying to parenting.
That's the exact quote from the article, by the way. That was a great article.
A great quote. I like that one.
Yeah, and the parents disappeared, and so now she's haunting this manor?
Yeah, the article did not make that clear.
Like, is she looking for her parents, and they've just gone?
And it's not clear that the parents died. It just said in the article once again, I didn't actually go to their site. Maybe I should review their backstory.

[20:08] But basically, it's like the parents disappeared. No indication if that means they died and got bricked up in the walls or some shit, or if they just decided to get on, to go follow the fucking Grateful Dead on tour. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I don't fucking know.
Yeah.
Yeah, so the article suggests writing it three times to fully appreciate everything.
Yes. And gave it five stars of fun factor and four for fear.
Which, I mean, that's interesting that the Haunted Attraction has a lower fear factor score than fun, but okay, it's fine.
Well, it sounds entertaining at the very least, assuming that it's five stars and not ten.
And I gotta say that the suggestion of writing it three times, and that tells me that there is definitely a lot of attention to detail in this. Yeah.
Because that has always been my frustration with dark rides a lot or most dark rides I've been on is they're not very detailed. And then part of it's because the dark rides I've been on have been those roaming carnival dark rides that got taken down put back up. Yeah, yeah. Well, if you put too much detail on those, I think it would start to break with all the moving.

[21:16] Like it would wear and tear super fast. Yeah, it's really frustrating, but so, yeah, they've definitely apparently ramped up the detail on this and I'm very interested. I looked at the photographs in the article, looks pretty cool, though I never judged by photographs of haunts because haunts look way different in photographs than they do in person with your own naked eyes. So, because we've been over how difficult haunt photography is for that exact reason. All right, another story that makes me a lots a bit sad.
Alice asylum proposal rejected by ea american mcgee ends the project this article and mike wilson a bloody discussing basically american mcgee, have been pushing for a while including launching a patreon to make a third alice game, i'm gonna alice asylum which i mean i'm really jump to arkham asylum send me a game but anyways is neither there, But EA has rejected that and basically said that they do not think the IP is valuable enough to it to do this.
And it's sad to us because we have an Alice poster in our foyer.
I love Alice, like the games. The first one was buggy.

[22:31] Like they didn't finish the graphics and things, but it was still fun.
Yeah, there was a very diamond in the rough situation.
Yeah, and it was an immersive, you could tell that they wanted to build an immersive experience.
It reminded me a lot of a more bloody, more violent Psychonauts, in that it was this very weird, trippy world, I mean, it's Alice in Wonderland, it's basically shorthand for weird, trippy world.
Yeah. But they did a great, they did a great job with it, but yeah, the first one was rough, between the bugs and some control issues, and the fact that I couldn't tell if I was even hitting with any of the weapons in that game, but the atmospheric ambience and a lot of the puzzles and challenges kept it interesting. We both finished it basically.
Yeah, and the second one I got, I don't think you played the second one. Yeah, I did.
Okay, but yeah, the second one was just beautiful. I mean, it was absolutely gorgeous.
And they did better on the bugs with it. We still had some issues running it initially on our computers.
Yeah, and there were still... So my main memory of... Because this came out a while ago. Yeah.

[23:43] My main memory of a complaint was that they had one particular enemy that was just all over the game and, there could have been some Some variation there. Yeah, I mean these games have always been very putting the art ahead of the game part Yeah, and you know that has a right to exist in and the story, There's a lot of story in it too. And and this one part of its in a, of a mental asylum.
Like it was really good. Like I really enjoyed it. And I'm really sad that we don't have it.
Not only do we have the poster, but we also have the Alice figurine and the Cheshire Cat figurine. Yeah, we have.
Yeah, we have loved this series.
And to make it even more sad, it's not only that we're not getting new Alice, American McGee has said he's leaving game development totally.
Exactly. So there will be no more American Mickey. I should really check to see if it's a, Graphic novel series. Yeah, because I think that would translate really well into that. Absolutely, Yeah, it's always been very pretty very artistic. We love the aesthetic of it. No, Um, even if they weren't the best games to play at every point, Still sad not to see a third. Yeah.

[25:09] Yeah. All right. So our next article is from James Bartlett at LA Mag.
The Museum of Death has resurrected itself in Hollywood.
The Museum of Death actually started in Hollywood originally. Yes, in 2008.
Yeah, in 2008. And they closed its doors so that they could build the New Orleans location.
That and the pandemic didn't help them, I'm sure.
Yeah, but we did go to the New Orleans location. Yeah, we actually did a review of it on Haunt Weekly, I believe.
Yeah, it was part of, that whole day was weird.
Yeah. And it really changed our minds about this kind of attraction.
Well, I think they didn't handle it very well. I think it was a part of it.
Exactly. Compare that experience to the death house in Budapest. Yeah.
Yeah. Very different experiences. Yeah.
Sorry, go ahead though, please continue. So they've gone back and it's operated by a husband and wife team, JD Seeley and Kathy Schultz.
I think that's supposed to be Kathy Schultz.
Kathy Schultz. I don't know. I don't know.

[26:22] It contains a variety of curiosities and death-related memorabilia.
And it looks like the one in LA is less serial killer focused than the one here.
Yeah. Because the one here, it really felt like it was a glorification of serial killers, more than an actual death museum.
Right. And I remember whenever it first opened, it caused so much controversy, the one in LA, whenever it first, first became a thing.
I mean, all of New Orleans were like, eh. Yeah, because it was you know, a lot of people said exactly that that it was glorifying serial killers and murdering people and and I mean i'm a, A definite supporter of death positivity. Yeah, I love caitlin dodie to death. Yeah, Um, don't do that. That's a good point. We want her alive. Um.

[27:12] Uh, but so no, I I I definitely think there's a lot of room here like the muter museum, Yeah, the museum was done in better taste. Yeah, and that had a lot of untasteful things in it Yeah, including you know, I love the fact that they tied, you know Pieces of people's bodies with stories from like fairy tales, you know, like they had, Cinderella's Cinderella was one of them where they they showed how Women would bind their feet to make them smaller and what it looked like after yeah, but I mean then that's the thing It's like they did this museum with the intent to educate and inform exactly. I mean very educational, The fact is the Munir Museum may be the draw what gets you in there But it's not what you walk away with no, and I really love that experience. So my favorite museum experiences. I've ever had Yes. Oh, yeah. I um, I always think twice before I put that nail in my mouth to hold it.

[28:19] Anything yeah, it doesn't stop me from doing oh, no, it doesn't stop me. I just, Should be really careful right now this giant cabinet filled with shit people choked on, And it's it's it's very entertaining But also very, maybe I shouldn't put pen caps in my mouth like I constantly do out of habit.
Yeah.
Anyway, so yeah, the reopening, they've got some new items. I would suggest, if you're interested, if you're in the area and interested, I would suggest checking out the article.
The article. We're not going into details of what's new.
Uh, next up an article, I think I understood like four words from, That makes sense because this article is by scotty d at fago lovers l-u-v-e-r-s dot net, Uh city more alien haunt in the mist juggalette pageant announced for the gathering of the juggalos, Uh, basically the animal will get handle annual gathering of the juggalos will be held made. No, not may july 5th through the 9th in thornville, ohio And I'll feature the usual trappings half of which we just went over in the headline.

[29:29] But for us in the haunted attraction industry the most item of interest is the alien encounter sci-fi on a, It's called alien counter colon a sci-fi on, Because you didn't know that alien counters was sci-fi movie. Yeah, I see. That's just it. I, I Follow the Yahtzee Crowshaw rule here The only time you get to do a colon like that is when you have when the was before it is some kind of series, You know, I mean or some kind of, Some kind of trilogy or whatever that goes together I don't in fact, I know last year's haunt wasn't named alien encounter because it was named, the house of horrors, Mm-hmm and the same team that did the house of whores is doing the alien counter one and the alien counter one fits in well with the theme for the year as, Gathering the jugglers 2023 and the subtitle to that. See that's a good example colon subtitle there. That would make sense, But no, they subbed the actual title of it is clowns from outer space So they're doing a sci-fi theme on everything. It seems on the gathering of juggalos. Why don't they just do?
Killer clowns matter space, you know.

[30:45] Like bright and colorful and fun and seems much more juggalo friendly Back to the juggalo community. No, it's actually one of the few, Rabid fandoms I actually have respect for because they do actually try to use their rabbit fandom for a lot of good, That's why I don't get the music. I don't get the band. I don't I really don't get the love of Faygo, Tried it once not impressed But hey, you know, like I said, the fandom overall has been it's been I think a force for relatively positive positive change and, I Would a hundred percent show up dressed as one of the killer clients matter space to sell the masks Yeah, so what have you know about doing the makeup or anything? Thanks by the mask. Yeah and show up in that, I think that would be absolutely absolutely hilarious. And if no one does it at the Gallium Jugglers, I'm very disappointed in your group.
I think it would be hilarious to go as a giant cotton candy.
Because from what I've heard, there are illegal substances consumed at this, And I think a giant cotton candy walking around would either would be epic in.

[31:54] In one or two it's it's also related to the movie for those who have actually seen the film i wonder what the fuck we're on about yeah exactly it's directly connected to the movie i'll just say.

[32:07] Um that would be funny but yeah i mean like i said i i i have a lot of respect for the juggalo community but yeah and also i do not understand your speak i'm sorry it is very confusing but But anyways, moving on. All right, Ben Hur's school for the quote feeble minded is now a tourist stop in Spring City. And this is from Holly Herman at Patch. And this is in Spring City, Pennsylvania. So it's going to be the haunted house part of it is going to be open during the regular Halloween season. But there's a three hour walking tour of the asylum, which is historical and educational in nature. Yeah, they pulled the reverse Eastern State Pen because Eastern State Pen opened as a museum and a historical site and that added the Haunted as a fundraiser. They opened it, at least in an administration building, as a haunted attraction. They did that in 2010 and it became a museum in 2017. So that's the reverse pen.
That's the reverse. Damn it. Yes, the reverse. Um, but yeah.
They both have pen in the name and penhurst pen is in the beginning and he straight pen pen is at the end Is that why it's a reverse pen to state pen? Yes, that's exactly it.

[33:27] The asylum Was open Until 1987 as frightens the piss out of me. Yeah, like I was alive. I can't remember.

[33:39] Yes, we have memories from that year. Yes um, but yeah, apparently it was a, it was a interesting time and place. Yeah, apparently all of I Mean, I did not know much about it before this article and I still don't feel like I know much but at least I know more the basic thing this was a very rural asylum and they basically encouraged people to send all varieties of, People needing care like then secluded disabled children the mentally ill there and this place was chronically understaffed and chronically at three times its fucking capacity. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like a pretty fucking horrible place to me. Yeah. To put it mildly. I have not heard of an asylum that was not a horrible place. You know. Especially from this time period. But you know the thing is the system needed fixing and instead we got rid of it. And now it's It's like, yeah, now it's everyone's problem.
Now it's now it's now a lot of people who need medical attention and mental health care, end up in prison instead of getting the care they need.
And it's basically impossible to get the help you need in a lot of cases.

[34:59] But yeah, so the actual news part of the story is that they are hosting, um, are hosting the Paracon and Oddities Expo, May 19th to 21st, not really directly haunted attraction related, even though it's at a haunted attraction, because this is really focused on the historical side, of Pennhurst, but it does mix in some of the paranormal ghost hunting type things with it too.

[35:25] I would go if I were there. I would definitely at least swing by the con if I was anywhere nearby.
It does sound interesting, but yeah, so it was neat to read more about Pennhurst, and it was also cool to learn that they're doing more on the museum side now.
I did not know this, and it sounds like they're making a real push in this area.
I think that's a great thing. Yeah.
All right, well then it takes us to our next story in Las Vegas. Viva Las Vegas.
Fear Factory makes a quote-unquote killer donation. This is an article by ABC4.

[36:04] What Fear Factory did for the record is, I think, very, very kind of them, a very good thing.
They paid off outstanding lunch balances for children at two local elementary schools.
This is part of their ongoing effort to fight food insecurity. They've made donations to other area efforts to reduce food insecurity, and they usually make those donations at Halloween, but they felt this is an opportunity they had now, you know, out of cycle, so to speak, to really tackle this. I just want to know why the fuck lunch debt is a thing.

[36:38] I mean, that's not a knock on Fear Factory. They did great. I'm looking at you, school district.
Why the fuck is lunch debt a thing? Why are we not feeding kids?
That That's a nationwide problem I know it is but it's like I'm it's like I'm very happy for fear factory that they were able to do this and get a Little publicity out of it. Yeah, and I think that's great This is a good example of how you ingrate yourself to the community and how you ensure your long-term survival, but And also just a good thing to do in general, but Jesus Christ At least lunch debt does not sound like something the local haunted house should be paying off.
No. Um. These are kids.
Yeah, and lots of... there's...
There's a lot of food insecurity in the world. Yeah, and studies have shown that whenever, Kids are hungry. They don't do well in school, which is the biggest no shit moment. I can think exactly, Yeah, how good are you at fucking work when you're hungry not?
Pleasant to be around in general. No, no, no one is No, one of these kids are acting up and having trouble focusing and shit. If they're hungry, that's a perfectly valid excuse. Yeah, so.

[37:57] If you need to I know people don't like raising taxes, but if it provides free lunches for kids, I'm willing to pay a little bit more, even though I don't have kids.
I have never shot down a millage or voted no on a millage in our city where the money would go to helping kids. Yeah. And that includes after school programs. Directly. Yeah. There's one to fund after school programs. There was one included, which that included food. Yeah. That was one of the reasons I voted for it was because these are after school programs. They're designed I think they run from like four to seven or something like that. Yeah, and they provide food, Yeah, yeah, that's a good thing. You know what that means the extra 40 bucks a year that cost me go for it That means that kids who have parents who work late are getting two meals a day, Not just one and yeah, And I remember it during the start of the pandemic when the schools had to shut down Uh-huh, and everyone went to remote learning One of the big challenges was how do we feed these fucking kids for home?
I mean technically and those programs depending on all of these schools here have school breakfast, But they could theoretically eat three meals a day. Yeah, exactly at school and you know what?
I mean, that's that you know what I'd rather I don't care. I'd rather them eat than not eat. Yeah, exactly, I don't care what it is. No, you want to eat a box of cornflakes you eat a box of cornflakes, you know, but eat.

[39:17] For the love of God, no kids should be hungry. And this makes me sad that fear factory had to do this Yeah.
Yeah. They're factory, way bueno, very good. Yes.
The district... what the fuck?
Seriously. Moving on. All right. So there were several articles about halfway to Halloween openings at haunted houses, but this one, was the University of Florida opened Halloween in April.

[39:46] That's just a random event, too. They weren't even necessarily targeting halfway to Halloween from what I can see.
Yeah, their campus group named the Swamp Hunters hosted The Swamp Hunter, sorry.
No, great group name, by the way, I'll let on that.
But their haunt was titled Crimson Carnival, had an abandoned carnival theme with a vampire twist.
The photos look pretty cool. It was a really short walk through, 90 seconds, but they said that that's typical for the area. So I know which area I'm not going to, if that's true.
Yeah, I mean, okay, but fair enough.
No, I think they might have a point Because we've been told that the HHN haunts are roughly that length, a lot of times, the individual haunts at HHN.
Well, and honestly, it depends on, you know, what the price is, too.
Yeah, we've had people that I swear to fucking shit just teleported to the other side, because there was no way they were in our haunt that long.
Yeah. A little bit of timing all the way through the walk. Yeah, but they had 36 people operating the haunt, so that's a lot of actors for, like, a short period of time.
Yeah, you can get a 90-second walkthrough on our haunt, our 625 square feet.
Yeah.
So anyway. Um, but it was completed with $5,000 from the Department of Mechanical Aerospace Engineering, and $5,000 in donated materials.
These are, these are kids after my heart, man. Yeah.
Running a small haunted house with scrap money you can get laying around.
Exactly. Dude, that's the story of my haunt experience.

[41:15] Mm-hmm.

[41:17] All right. All right, um, I realized I just I forgot to mark up one of the stories. Yeah, sorry. It's all right, Uh, you want to skip it and come back?
Sure We'll come back to it next week as anyways, our final story this week is actually four stories in one, And it deals with the hotel of terror in springfield, missouri, Um, so yeah Uh, if you've been listening to the news episodes for a while, this is not the first time you've heard that name.
They have been in what can only be politely described as a pitched battle against their own city council. Yes.
Basically, the city council there WANTS...

[42:03] To take the land that it sits upon, because apparently it's right along the river, and they're wanting to do park and open space near the river, beautification, fine, perfectly reasonable. They've been negotiating for apparently years on price, and they've just remained very far apart on price. And in fact, the owner of the haunt, Sterling Mathis, says that, basically the amount they're offering is not enough for us to move our stuff out, Secure another place and reopen. Yeah, and you know what that shit's expensive. I don't actually doubt that, Yeah And one of the things that he's been, Struggling to get across to the city is that part of a haunted house is its walks, Yeah, and the stuff that's built into the walls. Yeah, it's not just the props and things. Yeah, It's not like you can just go in with the truck on moving day Yeah, clean out everything and then that's your aunt you just move it to a new place No, it is like you said it is stuff in the walls and then that includes that includes everything you can think of in a haunt, Yeah, exactly. It includes pretty much everything from the electrics to the, To the sound design to any special effects. They're probably coming from insane. I mean, so yeah, It's you can't just take the paintings off the wall and call it a day. No, So, yeah Anyways, the city decided to move to an eminent domain, the property, and that's where the city can force the owner to sell at a price determined by a third party.

[43:30] So they moved to do that, but the Hotel Mathis and others, I'm assuming with Hotel Tierra, used a provision in the charter, which meant if they could get the signatures from 10% of the registered voters in the city, then either the eminent domain would be cancelled or be put to a full vote.

[43:52] Right. They collected enough signature, they thought they had one, got told no, had more time, beat the deadline by seemingly just hours, but got it. Yeah.
They actually got the signatures they needed. And so that brings us to where we are now.
Well, there's a little bit in between where we are now.
Now because on April 17th it was reported that vandals had spray-painted the sides of the building.
Okay, that's actually the next step. Okay, because basically they got the signatures and it was going to be put to either a vote or to they're going to cancel it. Okay, so that was a positive development.
They seem to have at least stayed, but then like you said on April 17th, vandals basically it sounds like they tagged a wall. Yeah. Doesn't sound like it was a super intense vandalism.
But it was a vandalism and a very oddly timed one It's unclear if this had anything to do with the eminent domain fight, But police have no leads and it just sucks that in addition to this goddamn eminent domain stuff They have to deal with this. Yeah, and then came on May 5th the big drop.

[45:07] That we have right now. Yeah, is that the hotel of terror?
Are, if they do the election route, if they go the route, and here's the thing, we don't have the conclusion to the story.
No. Because that meeting is happening as we are recording. Yeah.
I'm not kidding. We actually held off the recording in hopes that maybe we would hear something.
We have not.
So sorry, gamble didn't pay off. But regardless, the meeting is going on literally as we're speaking.
The city council has to decide which of those two paths are taking.
There's a problem. If they go the election route, it's been revealed it will cost a quarter of a million dollars. And whether they have it on August 8th or push it back into November, either way it's an off election and this would be the only thing on the ballot. Yeah, you can you can ask us about how often we.

[46:02] Have to vote and how many people show up for it. We had our six election or six voting day, I should say, that election, but six voting day this year, two weeks ago?
Yeah. I think it was two weeks ago.
Yeah, it's crazy. I think it was April 30th, so yeah, two weeks ago. It's crazy how often we vote. We've literally, in this area, we've legitimately gone to the polls six times, and we're just now in May. That should make you go, what? Yeah, what? I agree. So yeah, would be a very costly vote. Yeah and the thing is whenever you have that many elections and you have.
Like, you notice whenever it's like the fifth or sixth election of the year, they try to sneak things onto there.
Yeah, they try to sneak a tax increase onto our last one.
They try to raise a not insignificant amount for the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office.
And here's the thing.
Different from the New Orleans Police Department. Yeah, those are two very different things.
The Sheriff's Department here runs the courts, the jail, that type of stuff.
They do process service.

[47:12] And they are law enforcement, but they're not the primary police, you would say, that you think of when you think of New Orleans police.
But regardless.
But here's the thing. I'm remembering the tolls.
Because the recap, or cap, I guess in this case, it's not really a recap.
Basically many, many, many years ago, there was a toll on the bridge from where we live on the West Bank side of the river to the East Bank, like the brotherhood, that's where French Quarter, the Central Business District, Garden District. We're the only New Orleans neighborhood on this side of the river, Algiers. And so if you wanted to get anywhere else in New Orleans, you had to pay this toll. Toll was not much money. It was a dollar if you didn't have a toll tag and 40 cents if you did. So it was never about the money for us. And it was put into place to pay for the original construction of the bridge. Yeah, because it used to be just one bridge and then they built a second bridge so they could basically double the lanes and that second bridge was funded through tolls and that bridge is now paid off. We own the bridge. I do not have a bridge to sell you anymore. So that bridge is paid off, but they wanted to continue the tolls past the date that they'd promised it would end. And like I said, it was never about money. It was about the traffic snarls, the inconvenience and how much it delayed getting over there.
And it caused a lot of fucking problems. Yeah.

[48:34] Bye. You The first time they voted on it was during a November 8th, November big election, a presidential election. Yeah, it was a presidential election, so everybody showed up. Everybody and their brother was there. Very, very high voter turnout. New Orleans tends to be a city with pretty high voter turnout of registered voters. We have low registration, but high voter turnout among those, who are registered, is my understanding at least. And yeah, very high turnout. The vote on the tolls was so goddamn close, and this is a shit you not moment, that the election was invalidated.
Because they're able to prove enough people didn't get the proper ballot when they should have.

[49:18] And basically they could not determine the winner of the election. It was like separated by 10 votes. And this is after half a million people voted. Yeah, I was thinking it was less than 10 votes in like half a million.
It's literally the closest election I've ever been any part of at all.
Yeah, it was crazy pants. It was crazy close. And so they said we'll have to have a redo on some random all shit motherfucking hell in January, I think it was. Yeah.
And here's the thing with those elections, only the people that care about that topic, Show up. Mm-hmm and all the people that cared about the tolls, Wanted the tolls the fucking go. Yeah, and so it went from damn near perfect 50-50 to, Like it was like 70 30 or 80 20 or something. It was an ass-whooping Yeah, straight fire ass-whooping and get rid of the tolls and now there's no toll so.

[50:15] Yeah, if they hold a special election on the Hotel of Terror Only the people that really care about the Hotel Terror showing up and I'm pretty sure the people that care about the Hotel Terror Want to stay yeah, so this seems like a losing gambit to me like, you know, you've got the signatures already Yeah, those people are gonna show up. They will actually probably show up. So yeah, I mean, I don't see I would say the likelihood of them winning the vote. I'm in a domain vote So my hope is that when I get off this recording, I pull up and we'll find out that, they decided to just end the process and continue negotiations.
Because they did say that negotiations would be ongoing. Because like I said, the owner's not being hopelessly unreasonable.
It's just a dispute over the amount that they're going to sell the property for.
They're perfectly willing to get out of the way of the progress.
Mm-hmm. It's just they need money to fucking move. Okay.

[51:18] Well, I think that's everything for right now. Yeah. Yeah, we're out of time. We're out of time, We had a few extra stories just in case but Tell a terror man y'all have had a hell of a month. Yeah, No kidding Rooting for you. And I I think you have the upper hand now pretty significantly, And oh, I did not know this but as I was reading the articles related to this, Not only has this never happened in springfield. Uh-huh. It's never happened in the whole of the state of missouri, Wow. You know, the city, the state with like St. Louis in it. Yeah. It's never happened. So that's, this is crazy. And the other question is, if they can't, if they don't have 250,000 to do this election, how are they going to build this giant green space? All you're doing is you're, you're just going to tear it down and make, and let nature claim it. That's really what you're doing. Yeah, I, I, honestly, if this, I think that too, you would think a quarter million dollars would be not significant to this particular project from how big they're talking about it.
Yeah, exactly. Because they were already offering 550,000 to pay, um, to buy the property. And I'm pretty sure the, uh, third party, you know, ombudsman or whatever that would come in, in an eminent domain situation would rate it higher. Because, I mean, I don't think Mathis This is like coming pulling nothing pulling this rat out of his ass randomly, you know, you know.

[52:44] So yeah, the the story is wild. We'll tell you next week We'll briefly dip into it Well, you know what the outcome of the student of the City Council election vote was election the vote was but I I'm thinking that They're just gonna abandon this because this isn't gonna work, You're gonna lose that election the math has even said that if they take it to a popular vote, he's never fucking leaving Yeah, everything shuts down all the negotiations all the cooperation goes bye-bye.

[53:15] So that doesn't seem like a winning strategy city of Springfield I will wager right now that if it goes to a popular vote you're screwed, Huh, but on that note everyone, thank you very much for joining us this this week greatly appreciate it Come check out more home weekly home. We can calm home We can Twitter home with kind of Facebook and youtube.com slash home weekly, Find us at all the places we are, pay special attention to the Facebook.
We will be doing live shows soon, we'll be keeping them, keep having to push them back, but we will be doing one shortly.
But until next time, I'm Jonathan, I'm Krystal, and we will see you all next week.
Maybe we'll be grading your human backstories this time. It could be fun, right?
See y'all next week.