[0:20] Hello, everyone. I'm jonathan and this is haunt weekly weekly podcast.
We honored attraction, haunt Entertainment community play, your actor owner.
We're just playing aficionado. We aim to be a podcast for you and this week we come to you again, feeding you your own stuff.
Yeah, basically you all out there wrote this, the, the vast majority of this episode. You all wrote.
You just don't know it yet. Well, you might actually from the, uh, the title, I guess you might have figured it out because this all comes from comments and questions from you guys conversations that were taking place last week.
Thanks in no small part to my excellently written, beautifully done.
Question of the week Epic. Just Epic.
And if you would like to see more of my beautifully done work, please check it.
It's just gonna kill me. Please check us out at all the places we exist, haunt weekly dot com, haunt weekly on Twitter, haunt weekly on Facebook and youtube dot com slash haunt weekly.
Finally find us wherever you get your podcast from and pay special attention to that Facebook page because we have some announcements coming up that'll be primarily there hopefully soon.

[1:33] Well, as we mentioned every week, we have a question of the week and last week's question of the week was when going through a haunt, what makes your eye?
You roll your eyes?
And this turned out to be a really popular question.
So they're actually just doing the episode on. So we're not covering your answers here.
No, we're gonna skip, you, come back to you and do all the other housekeeping stuff first.
Yeah. And there were a lot of great conversations going on.
So if you want the full conversations go over there dot com slash home.
Yes. As I was reading through them, I'm like, I have comments on this. Yeah.
And it was bad because I don't, I don't like using the term viral because what is viral in our industry varies heavily.
Yeah, we're, we're small, we're a small industry but it got a lot of traction and we started out trying to keep up with it, join the conversation and then we just got steamrolled.
It just ran away. So if we didn't like or react to your comment, I'm sorry. It is not. Probably because we don't feel that way.
It's because this was actually the fastest way to respond to them was put as many as we could in this.

[2:47] Um But that brings us to this week's question in the week. We're gonna try the opposite. Exactly.
What is the best thing or your favorite thing to see in a haunt? Let us know.
Haunt with dot com. Haunt me on to Twitter help weekly on Facebook, yada yada yada.
I'm gonna go into it. All right. We have two items. I don't wanna say housekeeping because neither really are housekeeping but we should discuss.
I feel, um, the first is the, uh, unfortunate announcement from Brett Hayes that Fear Fair is closing for good, you know.

[3:19] Uh, that, that sucks. It does and it sucks. The reason sucks.
Yeah, we're gonna have a lot more on this on the news episode, even if there's not actual news coverage of it, which I don't know why there wouldn't be, um, we're gonna talk about it there and go into more detail and I, we know, uh, we have some gaps in our knowledge here that we're hoping to fill because we want to come back to this and future episodes.
Um, but yeah, apparently according to Brad and once again, we only have Brett's side and all this, I have no reason to mistrust Brad, but we only have Brett.
So take it for what it is. He says that they had a rock wall there and someone slid past the staff to climb the wall, I'm assuming without a property fixing the safety harness and all that stuff.
They're like, I climb rock walls, I can do this and snuck past the staff climbed the wall and got injured.
Um, and that person has filed a lawsuit against basically their insurance company.
Now, their insurance company has dropped them even though this is the first claim ever.
And I don't see too many reasons the company should be worried.
I mean, this is, maybe I'm a simpleton, maybe, I don't know this area at all.
But it seems to me if you literally bypass the warning signs and security and barriers and whatever else to use something without permission or a payment, I'm gonna assume, you know, you, uh, Yeah. Yeah, you kind of take your life in your own hands a little bit.

[4:47] I'm surprised a lawyer took this case honestly. Yeah, because you actually worked in a law office and, and, and slip and fall cases were the type of thing that came a lot through the door.
Yeah. And the problem is is that you have to like prove intent or you have to prove extreme negligence.
Yeah, some other intent which is you're not gonna prove that or some reckless negligence, which a is rarely happens and b is impossible to prove even when it, Yeah, like a spill was down for days and like still wet and slippery or something and proof that you had reported it to the manager multiple times.
Someone from the staff dropped the banana peel themselves could be a hat or whatever.
I mean, dropped it slippery, slide down obviously and said I'm going to put this here so that we can have a cartoon moment, and you got it all on video and then that would like, that would probably stand up and that's at least down here. Yeah.
Then we don't know what the exact laws are. In are in their state.
Um, but yeah, uh, he apparently has tried repeatedly to get other insurers to take him, they refuse to do so.

[5:58] Um, and so they've made the difficult decision to close.
They're in the process of setting up a non-profit and dealing with the sale of everything, but it's, it's winding down now.
Uh, Brett Hayes has asked for basically peace.
Um, he's thankful that people are trying to suggest things he could do, but we've known Brett for a while now.
A he's a lawyer and b he's an incredibly smart guy.
I, I can't think of anything that he hasn't already thought of a million times, I'm sure.
So I wouldn't even Dane to offer advice.
Um and he's not seeking it anyway.

[6:35] Um Yeah, so please, you know, back off of him, let him go. It's, it's a hard time for him. I can imagine.
He seems to be taking it relatively well on Facebook um from what I've seen, but please yet give him his distance, let him deal with this.
He's got, he's got some rough months ahead.
Um But yeah, we do wanna do an episode in the not too distant future about haunt insurance.
This is not an area we're well versed in. So we want to bring someone on who can talk about it.
So if you know anyone who would be good to speak to on the topic of haunt Insurance, please let us know you've heard me say all the places you can do that.
We'd like, you know, your suggestions for who to talk to here.
And ideally, we would like someone with more of a focus on the haunt industry.
If possible, they can speak directly to that intersection.
But obviously anyone more in general, business and liability insurance can probably help.

[7:27] That makes sense. It does. Ok. And the second thing, the second kerfuffle, um was we got plagiarized.
Now, I've said another podcast and I meant it when I said it.
And I mean, it now too that we don't mind when the topics and the ideas we put out there get picked up and run with.
That's not we. I mean, OK, is it sometimes a little frustrating for us to spend a lot of time prepping show notes on something?
And then a week later we see it as a, a completely separate discussion on a different group or in a different podcast or whatever.
And it's like you could have at least on the slide. Thanks haunt weekly for putting this topic in my head.
But even without that, I don't care because that's just our influence getting out there. That's right. That's not what happened here.
No, that is not what happened here. I like the idea of us putting shit out into the ether and I was picking it up.
Would I sometimes appreciate attribution. Yes. But do I get angry when I don't get it?
No, this was direct copying of our question of the week and including the question of the week moniker followed by the exact word capitalization.
I did the terrible phrasing of the question. I did Jesus Christ, jonathan.
Were you sober when you wrote that? I hope not because you probably had a stroke.
Um And chose the, the back.
It was an exact copy paste the same as if they had just shared the post. Yeah.

[8:49] And it was not attributed or linked to us in any way or, or anyone.
Um And I ended up confronting the guy who posted it.
I don't, that's not sharing their name or anything. I don't really care.
It's not that um but he said he got it from someone else who didn't attribute it and you know what? That could very well be true.
It's social media. I don't know what happened.
Um But the main thing for me is that post got taken down.

[9:18] Fine. Um, but here's the thing, uh, with the question of the week and things like that, if you want to share it or post or public, just share it.
And there's a very simple reason to do that.
We can follow the conversation.
Yeah, we can see if you want to share it in the hunter's hangout or whatever, or hunter's two bucks or whatever group do it, please feel free to share.
But that way we'll get an alert that it was shared and we can go see what people are saying there and maybe include more stuff like that.
Yeah, because I mean, I actually did include one comment that I saw that was before, um, the post was removed, was removed and I don't know if the O P removed it or if the admins removed it.
I don't know who removed it, um, for the record.
Yeah. But, but I couldn't attribute the comment or, or get the, uh, exact wording because if I hadn't seen this post by complete accident, I would have been completely unaware of its existence and none of the people commenting on it or would have, you know, I, I wouldn't be able to include any of them, you know.
So yeah, one of the things we can do, we're a small industry.

[10:25] We should be attributing each other whenever we can just in general.
So, like I said, I stand by all the stuff I said previously about uh when our ideas get put out into the ether and all that, that's still great and fun.
But no, grow on a bill. Do new things, please. It's out there.
We're not, we're not claiming ownership of that our ideas.
But man, you know that copy and paste stuff, it's different.
It does, it does. All right. Well, the next item on our to do list is conference reminders and I'll kick us off this week because I actually updated this one.
Um, coming up June 8th through the 11th. It's the Midwest haunt convention in Rosemont, Illinois at the Don Lee Stephens Convention Center.
The preconvention bus tour visits Hush haunt attraction, Eloise, Asylum and Erebus.
That's a damn good run.

[11:15] And the Friday Night haunt tour goes to the old Joy Light haunt Prison, Jesus Christ. All right.
That's once again, good. There's after parties, costume contests, all that stuff you'd expect.
Learn more at Midwest Hunters convention dot com. Ok.

[11:34] June 23rd through the 25th. It's Michigan haunt Fest at Munich Michigan at the Oaks campground demos and makes and take.

[11:43] Um meals are not provided because it is like a campground, a campground. Yeah.
Uh, it's a Saturday event and adults are charged $2 entry fee into the campgrounds.
Um Bid haunt fest dot weebly dot com for more info.
All right, after that July 15th, then the 16th in Mesquite, Texas is the Texas Haunters Convention at the Mesquite Convention center featuring a trade show, floor costume, ball door prizes and lots of other fun stuff.
Texas Haunter convention dot com. For more information.
Ok. In July 21st through the 23rd.
It is horror Con Idaho. Yeah, I just realized how you got stuck with the one that's impossible to pronounce on the first pass.

[12:28] That was very good. Uh It's in Garden City Idaho at North Expo Hall at Expo, Idaho featuring home haunting classes.
Woohoo uh pro haunt classes also. Woohoo uh and costuming and makeup in classes.
And the link for that is gonna be Idaho horror dot com.
Yeah, I, I, I guys, I'm sorry, I know you're working with the state name, Idaho.
It's messing up everything here. I mean, there's been jokes about that since the state was named.
So you know, when, when you're trying to do Idaho horror, your tongue doesn't want to do those sounds.
I've noticed that, that when I've had to read it in the past, it's like my, my, my tongue just rebels at that collection of syllables and I do not fully understand why.
But yes, those are some great upcoming conferences for your summer haunting fun.

[13:20] Just, just haunt conference season. Is it not all right?
Well, that brings us at long last to this week's question of the week or last week's question of the week and this week's topic because like I said, y'all steamrolled us.
Uh Y'all steamrolled us. We didn't think this would get such a great collection of answers. So, what we're gonna do?
Is a first of all. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
You all are great. We love you all. So many good answers to comments.
If we didn't include yours, just understand there was a billion other great comments not included too.
It was a lot, but thank you all. Um So yeah, this is gonna be what we're gonna do though is we're going to look at the conversations that happened, um And sort of jump in and chime in a little, I guess.
Yeah. So why don't you kick us off? All right. Page.

[14:19] I just screwed you again without even thinking sorry, sorry.
Yes, sorry page. Uh When someone may have noticed we're from another haunt and say rude things or just don't act had someone tell me that they were missing their break because of us.
How fucking childish. I mean, you're there to be a haunter and this is a great answer because we've seen some actors handle it this way.
Um You know, in including actors we were working with, they're like, oh well, the big haunt is coming through.
We're not gonna be able to scare them. We may as well just, you know, Jack off and not give our best and then you see the opposite, which is what we do is like we're gonna give the absolute best show we can.
We're going in real hard and both are wrong.

[15:11] I'm sorry, both are not good because ok, go ahead. Sorry, I'll get to my point in a minute. Yeah.
Well, like I know with um.
Whenever haunt and con visitors came to our little home haunt the first time, uh, we changed and in the second time too, we knew we probably weren't going to scare anybody.
These are haunters. It is hard to scare haunters.
But you can impress new curtains for our apartment. I mean, yeah, you can impress and you can entertain and that's what we did.
You know, I got laughs from a couple of people but that's something you do anyways.
When people aren't getting scared, that's your natural pivot.
So it's not like you did anything that you don't do for other regular visitors.
Exactly. And that's kind of the, here's the thing. I, every haunt thing, like 99% of haunters will agree with what I'm about to say.
I don't think this is like this might be the coldest take and all of coal takes you ready.

[16:10] Um, when hunters make time to go to another haunt, they're not working on their hunt or not working their haunt and they go to another haunt, what they want is to be treated as close to a regular customer as possible.
They want to see that haunt as it is being seen by its customers.
They want the uh O G, they want the original experience.
They don't want you to all give up and just go, can't scare him.
I'm gonna do this and they don't want, and you to go hard or try out a new character.
Do you think? You know what I mean?
They, they want the experience, the pay the regular customers get because we want to see your haunt as it is meant to be seen.
And I remember like, ok, like this is going back away, but when house of shock was still open.

[16:56] Um we went once with the chamber of horrors crew and one thing that people don't know if the hell is a shock is when they were open, they had signs everywhere.
This is a no touch haunt, do not touch us.
We will not touch you. Big fucking block letters say over the P A.
This was like drilled into your head every second you're on the property there and understandably so they obviously had a problem with that with customers.
So OK, fine. I agree with them.
We go in one of the first rooms. Diana pig masks sees us, picks me out for some reason, and literally just buries his face into my chest and pushes me against the wall and I'm just putting my hands up like, hey, I am not touching you.
I'm not forcibly removing you.
You know, that's not, I'm not gonna break the rules, um, here and he eventually gave up and left.
But that's not something I can guarantee you, I can guarantee you.
That's not something he did for regular customers.

[17:52] I can guarantee that he did that because he knew we were from another haunt.
Yeah. And, and that's just it. I mean, we get the same thing because of whenever we were doing reviews we would get different treatment if people recognized us.
You know, it's always interesting to show up and then hear all everybody on the radios. They're here, they're here, they're here.
Oh, the car horror people. Yeah, we need to do more reviews. Yeah.

[18:18] Yeah. But it also, like, it can lead to dangerous situations.
Changing up. The show can lead to injury.
And the most scared that I've been after the fact was when a real knife was pulled on me because we were, oh, they're cool.
They're cool. Like nobody's scaring them. I'm gonna be the one to scare them and they did it because it was an actual physical danger and it drew a tiny scot of blood to the way it was. Well, it, it left a mark.
It did not, you did not tell me in the moment and for very good reasons you did. Absolutely right. To keep everyone alive.
Um, you did. Absolutely. Right. So, I didn't know about it until later, which was very smart on your part because, um, well, the haunt weekly would not exist if she had told me, um, at the moment.
But, yeah, I agree with this 110% when haunters are come through, um, you don't treat them as special, just give them the show.
But on the same time, be sure you have pivots for, if you don't get the scare. Right.
Those are two separate things. Yeah. And there's, and there's two other points here.
One, if you are a hater and you're going to visit another haunt, be polite.

[19:40] We have seen, we were at a haunt with, we just happened to be there on the night another haunt was visiting and we saw them take paintball guns and shoot buildings that were not part of the scenes.
These were like the storage plays. You don't fucking do that.
Um And you know, and, and this was for the zombie paintball attraction to be clear. Yeah.
Well, the other problem is, is if you're not giving them the same show that you're giving everybody, we were in line right behind them.
At that time, we were early enough, we weren't recognized every time we went.
So we were not recognized and every scare was timed for the people in front of us.
They weren't caring about where we were in line and they weren't resetting for us. It, it.

[20:31] And we were in the next group and it was frustrating. Yeah. Then that, that exactly is it is, it makes a worse experience for the customers and does not make for a better experience for the owners.
It's all, it's all negatives.
All right. Well, moving on, Roberta mcclellan said, Silent stalkers, I'll just read the quote.
Look, you've got an opportunity to do something but instead you walk alongside and that's it.
Uh, say something the weirder the better. Yeah. And then jape chimed in and said, yep, one level energy is rarely successful unless you're constantly going for soft targets.
That shit may work on some customers who are already scared.
And then, uh, he also gave a shout out to Rammy Martin who is largely silent, but awareness is off the charts.
Well, and just because your character is silent doesn't mean your character can't make noise, you can bang things, you can jump on things, you can hit, you know what I mean?
You can make noises a variety of ways. You can have a honk clown horn or some shit, right?

[21:35] And during opening night or during the nights that were open, I actually play two sides of the character.
The first one is talkative, like I talk to you whenever you're in the scene, but then I hang back just, just out of eyesight just in that, that corner of your eye. Like, you know, I'm still there.
And the reason I do that is for safety um because I need to make sure everybody is getting through, the actors are hitting their, like the actors are hitting their cues, especially the first few runs.
Um But that if anybody gets really scared, I bring a shovel with me and I scrape it along the ground as I run towards them.

[22:20] And that will get the movie no matter how scared they are effective or getting people out of a haunted house and probably also effective as a laxative.
Um Yeah, it, it, yeah, but I mean, but no, and, and that's the point you're playing the role of a zone captain at that point, you're basically watching to make sure everyone's hitting their marks, like you said, being there for safety and those are your primary functions and any scare function is secondary only if there's a problem, I'm just being weird and creepy in the background and this is after you start.
And I think one of the things that comes up a lot in this conversation is people trying to use the distracts for the scare.
Yeah, because that's one things that Jake's pointed out is that this can be a great distraction. Get people looking over their shoulder.
Oh, Jesus Christ. There's a person there and then boom, other side. Yeah, exactly.
Like, and.

[23:14] So you may not know it if you've met me in person, but I have quite a presence when I want to and I scare the crap out of people and have my entire life just by existing.

[23:32] I'm serious. Like when I was a kid, everybody was scared of me.
Um It's not because I'm like the horrible person or anything.
It's just that I have energy. People aren't used to it.
It, it's, yeah, but I, I, I agree with this one.
The silent stalker character does nothing but follow people close and invade their personal space.
I don't get that. I find it annoying. I mean, Joe, I'm not even attempting your last name, Joe.
I'm sorry, because I'm pretty sure I would have because I'm pretty sure we've offended at least four countries.
Um But, but yeah, just leave me and let me enjoy the haunt. You had your moment.
There's got to be a group behind me.
You know, why, why are you, why are you harassing me? Well, and that is something that, that I do also like if you seem cool and not scared and it's not the first like half hour of running and I know that everybody's hitting their marks.
I'm not gonna follow you all the way through because you're not gonna be a problem.
And I can tell, you know, you, you, you shouldn't have to stay behind someone for that long to either get the scare or to make sure they're safe and passed into the next zone.

[24:50] And we should have warned people, James is gonna be all over this podcast.
I flashed the Jape symbol and I got Japes.

[24:58] All right. Next up. Dusty Lynn Morton said, running at me and stopping, kill me or go away.
Don't just stand there and scream or stare.
Yeah. OK. And a runner up is black walls, black walls. We'll take black walls separate in a second.
Uh The running stopping. I love this answer because this is an example of how even the best actors with the best timing can fail to get a good scare because they didn't do their tactics properly because OK, if I'm running up to you like say ops of a court or a situation, so you're, you're at one end and the evil clowns at the other, right? Evil clown starts charging.
You've seen that clown running at you for 5, 10, 15, 20 paces. Who knows how long?
There's no surprise when they're in your face. There's none you're there.
You might not know for certain what's gonna happen when they clear when they clear the distance.
But you know they're coming.

[25:57] And that kills the surprise. I mean, yeah, you can do a lot of impressive things with the sun stop and really intruding in people's space and all that.
But it's what you don't have is the element of surprise that's so important here because they're expecting something unexpected, which means they're expecting whatever you do.
Now, if, if the charging person is the distract. Hey, great distract.
Yeah, I could like, I could see like going back to the clown thing, clown on the hall, grab the clown charge and have a drop panel right beside where they're standing and waiting for the clown charge and then just hit the drop panel right as the distance gets covered and just bam.
Oh, that would be squeak because all you know where those eyes would be in the tunnel, fucking vision, right?
Oh, that would be, that'd be sweet. See, once again, the distract, it could be the startle.
Probably not. And black walls. Yeah.
Yeah. And, and Jabe said, yeah, don't make a threat. You can't follow through, which is I agree with you. I'm gonna murder you and throw you in the swamp.
You're not, you would have gotten your haunt shut down. If you did that, you'd be in jail somewhere.
Um, and, yeah, black walls. If I, I don't like that and I don't like haunt that are too dark because I, I find it personally lazy, but I am a designer and the black wall thing.

[27:23] You know, it makes a haunt feel unprofessional to me.
It feels unfinished and hurried. It, it makes it feel like, oh, I didn't have enough time to set this scene.
I'm just gonna put up some black walls and a lot of times that's exactly why they're up.
We've been to several haunts where we won't know. Damn, there's a lot of black walls in this and then we go and we find out that they had like two weeks to do it and they pulled off and they pull a rabbit out of their ass just to get done what they got done.
That very often happens. And, and I think the thing is, I, I believe pretty much all haunt builders agree with us, but money time and people, you need three things to build a haunt.
If you run out of any of the three, that's how black walls happen. Kids. Right.
So, yeah, I mean, that, that one, it makes me roll my eyes less.

[28:17] At the haunt or the actor. But more at, oh, this must have been a rough situation. This was a rough build.
You know what I mean? Because I don't think I've only been to one haunt where I genuinely believe they chose that aesthetic.
And that was Bulo Fun Park.
I believe that selection was the choice. It was intentional and it was as ugly as stupid as it sounds because they used all black walls.
But hey, it was great to have a showroom floor of the Fright props catalog rule, without having to go to Trans World.
All right. Uh Next up several people. We're, we're just gonna, we're gonna bring everyone together here.
Um Said the use of cliche phrases. Uh come play with me. Why are you here?
Help me get out boo.
Yeah. Just gonna throw boo in because like I have to.
Well, OK, so you wouldn't have had to, but we heard it three times last haunt season.

[29:15] Like, I don't know that I had heard it.
Do you realize when Hondas are called Booze online? It's meant to be dismissive and derisive.
Yeah. It, it's just be more creative people. I mean, come on, here's the thing.
I, I, I really think for most haunt actors, what they would benefit from is not saying anything unless they want snarl or something or do a generic ill and instead use your environment to make the noise, because a save your throat and be it ain't like you're a good, it isn't like you're the best talker in the world.
So yeah, unless you happen to be, unless you happen to be there, then by all means use the gift of gab.

[30:03] I'll say this. I have met a lot of Great Haunters, but the Great Haunters that were also great talkers that overlap is not as big as you would think.
The skill sets have only the tiniest overlap.
Um So, yeah, generic lines and this is something that James is big on.
This is something I know that Jon Ferrell is big on here.
Um uh We, we, a lot of haunt owners are finally cracking lies to this and are finally going through their haunt and telling people don't say get out, don't do that, don't, you know, correcting this.
Find something else to say fresh meat. No, no, not that, that, that's on the list too.
And because the problem with it is the real problem with it isn't necessarily that I hear fresh meat or get out once in a on is that if I hear it once in a haunt, I'm probably gonna hear it 20 fucking times.

[30:57] Yeah. You know what I mean? Find something that your specific character would say.
If you gotta say something, find something that really fits your character and is unique. No one but your character would say it, you know what I mean?
Be unique, make it so that if anyone else takes that line, it just doesn't make fucking sense and watch how that improves the reaction to your character because now you're giving because once again, haunts are about subverting expectations.
I'm pretty sure in the year of our Lord, 2023 most people expect to hear.
Get out fresh meat. What are you doing here? Those types of things.
Let's subvert that by giving them a whole lot of new weird shit to say, listen to Yeah, let we can subvert that.
We know they're coming in with that expectation. Let's use it.
And what all we have to do is write some new lines and like I said, make it unique to your character, you know.
Yeah, I, I, I love that and I really think that is, this is an area the industry broadly needs to deal with and please, you know, if, if you're having an issue with all your actors saying one of these lines go talk to James.
Yeah. And the other thing is, is that so phrases get.

[32:10] Are like disease because everybody wants to use it and, and, and like spread it around because nobody's creative. Exactly.
So if one actor says something and another one hears it and says, oh, that was a really cool line. I'm gonna use it in my scene.
Five minutes later. Haunt. Yeah, it's like phone or something, you gotta put it into that kind of stuff.
Yeah, this is, and this is one of the reasons why I like I'm talking about Jon Ferrell again.
One of the reasons I really have a ton of respect for him is he went through his haunt multiple times the night we were there, we saw him go through twice.
He went through on multiple occasions to check for shit like this.
How are their timings? How is their positioning? What lines are they using and making corrections and adjustments? And I love that.
That is a real passion for the quality of the product.
And yeah, so I have mad respect for him doing that.
I think that's something all haunt owners or managers should be doing.
Don't just delegate that to your zone captains because they won't have the full picture they know what's going on in their zone.
Oh, yeah, I've only got one person saying get out. It's not that bad, but if one person in every zone saying it, yeah.
Now you got a problem. Unless you're the size of our haunt. Unless your size of our one, then.

[33:27] All right. Next one. All right. Uh, Maximus Christian Bryant said, haunters and pop windows who are just hanging their heads staring instead of resetting?
Oh Jesus fucking Christ. Yeah, I, I, yeah, go ahead.
All I need a minute. Oh OK. Well, James chimed in said uh scare, reset, scare and Jeremy back said this might be an issue with rookie haunters um forgetting to reset and not being taught to do so.
Yeah. OK. We pop windows or drop panels as we've always called them.
Um Is this like, like soda versus pop, do like different regions have different names for these?
And we need like a map of the United States to see what it's called.
OK. Probably not. Um.

[34:17] Regardless. Um Yeah, we've largely dialed back on regular draw panels. We used to use them a lot.
Yeah. Well, they were easy to build and they were cheap and easy to build.
They were cheap. They were good on safety because the actor is always physically removed from the custom and has an instant retreat space built in.
Um And if you don't, if you're unsure how good an actor's timing is, that's an easy scare to figure the timing on and just get it to work consistently if you do it right.
Um That, so there were a lot of good reasons to do it, but we did a, we did overdo it, to be honest with you. That is overgrowing.
Early years. We overdo it, we don't overdo it. Now. We may like if we do a drop panel, it's gonna be like that stall door, that's a unique panel.
Yeah, I, I don't consider that a drop panel. It has a similar mechanism.
But yeah, but in some similar mechanics, same effect.
But the mere fact it sideways makes it feel totally different. I agree. Yeah.
But yeah, I the, the issue here is sometimes groups don't space out the way you want, even in the best time and the best controlled haunts, that's the thing.
And so like, for example, crystal and I have had this routine where we bump into the group ahead of us.
I don't know why I feel like we're going through the haunt slower and shit, but apparently this shits constipated.

[35:42] So we hit the group in front of us and then you'll see what they describe.
Someone hits the drop panel and they are trying to get the group in right in front of us, but of course, we're already in the hall and so we see them so they don't reset, they just go.

[35:57] And hang your head out the window or it's been, you know.
It's been built to where it's a more enclosed space and it's really hot.
So they may be trying to cool off and not realize somebody's coming down.
I will say, I think some of this falls on haunt designers a the comfort factor you discussed. Yeah.
Haunt designers and haunt. Um Yeah.
The second thing I think uh because here's the thing if you put, if you place the drop panel, well, like around the corner is typically the best place.
Um then even when groups get bunched, you can hit them multiple times on the same drop panel because nobody can see the drop panel, then we can hear it, but they don't know what's around that fucking corner.
So as long as it's around a blind corner, you can actually rapid fire get people because they can't see it coming.
We're in the middle of a long corridor, everybody 40 ft back can see it sometimes.
And that's a problem. So some of it's the haunt design, as you mentioned, a lot of times it's because those rooms do get hot. I know I used to work one.

[36:59] Um And a lot of times it's just inexperienced actors who don't, who do not get drilled the reset part of it as they talked about.
So I think those three things combine um Japes.
Now, we're getting to James's actual thing, not just jakes responding and everyone else um engaging without a plan, in other words, asking a question or making a statement, but with no follow up if the customer engages back.

[37:29] Um Basically, if I go through a haunt, I don't negate if they engage, I respond and typically respond straight.
I don't throw curveballs should be hard to respond to.
It's very clear when actors haven't played aren't quick enough to respond.
Uh Rich Albrecht said, um can this be taught?
I'm gonna jump in here and say no, here's uh James also said, no, no.
And here's the thing and this is not a knock on anyone.
Everyone's brain fires at a different speed.
It doesn't mean you're smart. It doesn't mean you're dumb. It doesn't mean anything.
Some people's brain fires really fast and they're able to come with quick witty retorts and da da, da da da and engage like that.
Some people, they could be fucking geniuses, but their brain takes a minute to catch up to things. They cannot.
Well, and the other thing is is if you have social anxiety, you're already overthinking everything that comes out of your mouth.
So that may take an extra second also. Well, and see the anxiety thing can actually work two ways one is what you described where, oh, you're overthinking, you're lost in your own brain.
Anyway, other times you might have just sat there because of your anxiety during downtime or before stroke planning every possible outcome.
Yeah, I do both. And then when I'm throwing a curveball, I'm like, then my, my little hamster falls off it. But here's the thing, like.

[38:51] If you say I'm gonna lock you in a cage once again, going back to don't make a threat, you're not gonna do.
But I've actually had this happen in a haunt and I said, OK, it wouldn't be my first time today and I offer him to take me away and put me in the cage.
I don't know how to respond to that.
Someone agreeing to do with what you just threatened to do to them should be one of the first responses you plan for someone going along with it just he could have just sniffed me and said, never mind. I don't want you stinking up the place.
That's an easy one, right? Just to take a quick sniff and pretend like I stink.
That's OK. That would have been really creative. But no, I I this guy just blew his fucking mind.
So either you have to really prepare and plan, which oftentimes you just have to do through experience unfortunately, or just be one of those quick fire people.
And honestly, you know, not every hunter needs to engage like that fact, most hunters should not because only one or two can do it at a time realistically.
And so, yeah, I to me, yeah, this is so this is incredibly frustrating and I just get, I get the feeling though that they put the wrong actor in that role, because if you're making this a highly engaging position that requires a lot of improv, make sure you've got an actor can do that even if they're not necessarily the best look or physical fit for the role.

[40:18] Yeah. And then that's a whole another topic like putting actors based on their skill set, not on how they look. That's a whole another topic.
We'll get into it one day. All right. Next item.
Um Sam Ferrell said edge Lord haunt tactics like being overly sexual vulgar, violent equates to being scary.
And yeah, we, we, we have not seen this one so much locally.
No, thankfully we did have one case where a Q line actor went all in on a rape humor which was not, not good, not good.
Um But we don't really get that. I this is, I think as straightforward as you can get, I don't have much to add to it because if you, because I can't remember who said it.
But if you have to be gory to be scary, you're not scary. It was the original phrase.
Well, I would also add if you have to be sexual vulgar or truly violent to be scary, then you're not scary.
I think the same thing applies to that. Exactly. So, yeah, I, I agree 100% with the same problem.
If you can't get a good scare with content that would be rated P G or P G 13 at the most.
You're not scary. I think it's that simple.

[41:36] Adam Drel said, actors thinking it is scary to scream in your ear as loud as they can also, when they make threats, they couldn't possibly follow her.
We've already hit that one.
Um So we won't cover that again, but you had to scream in the ear.
Holy shit. Do I hate that? Yeah, I know.
Ok, I am special case here. I admit this. I have very dropping some, uh, personal info here.
I have severe U station tube disorder. Apparently I've had it my whole life.
I do not have functioning ear drums. Now, this has two impacts.
One is, it means my hearing is about 10 decibels worse than most people.
I can still hear a conversation.
I'm not using a hearing aid here and I don't really feel the need for one, but my hearing is objectively worse.
And the second thing is stuff like that physically hurts really badly because it's literally just straight, rattling those tiny bones in my head.
Do not pass, go do not collect $200 straight into there.
And I so fucking hate this because here, go ahead. Go ahead.
No, I was gonna say, and you may be thinking, well, jonathan, why don't you just wear, you know, earplugs when you go to haunt?
Like we're gonna fucking remember that.
And also, then I wouldn't be able to hear the more subtle stuff in the haunt.
Exactly. No whispering. Why don't I?
Yeah. So what I'm supposed to wear earplugs when I watch TV, in case a commercial is really loud.

[43:01] Now I can't hear the fucking TV. Asshole. Yeah. And the thing is this is a safety issue as well because some of these screams can get into the ultra high decibels including like 100 and 10 and above which can cause hearing damage with zero seconds of exposure.
So yeah, you could be actually damaging people's hearing permanently doing this.
Yeah, I, I think the worst um.

[43:28] Loud noises and haunts is like a topic also that we should probably talk about at some point because, the worst that I've seen is we were put into a metal elevator and one of the really loud flash bang thing, was, was shot off, man.
What's wrong with you, Mississippi? Sorry. It was Mississippi.
I, I had the right haunt wrong state.

[43:58] Yeah, Mississippi. What the fuck is wrong with your state? Um Yeah, that, that, that was rough and it was so loud and there were, it wasn't just us in there.
It was our entire group.
So it was like six people in there and they, yeah, they, they, they detonated a concussive device basically and concussed quite nicely.
I mean, and that's not scary. It's just dangerous. It's dangerous and painful.
It is extremely painful. It's so, and someone who is now very worried and very protective of his hearing.
This, this, this, this is what I'm most afraid of when I could have a haunt these days.
Literally, I'm not afraid that I'm gonna get physically hurt or that I'm gonna fall to a floor, get trapped in a fire.
I'm afraid that someone is going to harm my hearing either by screaming in my ear or using a prop inappropriately.
And that I'm going to have additional permanent hearing damage because of it.
And I'm gonna be inching closer to a cochlear implant.
You know, that's what I fear.

[45:05] All right. And finally the owner hang out one. Yeah.
Seth. Sorry to whoever this was the post was deleted before we could get your attribution.
Yeah, they um so basically someone said, uh that the thing that made them roll their eyes was lighting up people of color who are not in clown roles.
They said clown roles are possibly the only acceptable role.
And they pointed out that when people of color die, they turn like tan, not white, it's not like they're sucking the color out of them. You know, when you die.
So white zombies or vampires just shouldn't exist. They shouldn't be a thing.
We watch black you, we, we watch be Yeah, we've got our educational black vampires.
But no, that, that was such a good comment. I agree with that completely because.

[46:02] I mean, and, and that's one of the things I would encourage hunters to do, especially the makeup artist is to look at how, because like when you look at pictures of decomposition or you know how bodies change over time, 99% of the time you're looking at pictures of white people and the reasons for that are varied.
Yeah, if you're working with people of color and doing makeup on them, you need to know what you're looking for in people of color and that includes black, Asian Latin X, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
You need to know how those corpses are.
If you're gonna try to corpse people and your fucking research is what it comes down to.
It isn't about putting white powder on the black guy making.
Yeah, I, I, that, that was such a good point. It's not something I thought about because we don't do that kind of makeup. No, not really.
Um, it's not something that's really we've run into, but it was a very interesting concept and it's something I'm gonna be looking for real hard this haunt season when we go to other haunts.
Yeah. Yeah, I've noticed it for um for zombies definitely.
Um And specifically the voodoo style zombies and I can't put that in big enough quotes.

[47:17] Uh Yeah, this is such a good valid point though. I really love this one and I'm sad that we don't get to attribute it.
But if you, if this was your comment, let us know and we will do it next week because you definitely deserve some praise for pointing that out.
Sorry that it was a plagiarized post. You commented all though.

[47:34] You know, anyways, the honestly good answers all around and then there's been some more trickling in today after these were put together still going.
So we may, I mean, probably not a full episode, but we may do some follow-ups of other great things coming in.
But I think that honestly these are things like 99% of hunters will agree are eye rolling even if they do some of them.
Yeah, because you know, I because the thing is like, yeah, I roll my eyes when people give me special attention in a haunt because I'm a haunter or the garage or whatever.
But I also understand that temptation when a haunt crew comes in that we're gonna ramp it up. You know, I understand that.
Fight the instinct.
Yeah. Anyways on that note, everyone, thank you very much for joining us.
Greatly appreciate having you.
Please check out more haunt weekly haunt dot com. Haunt week on Twitter haunt week.
On Facebook and youtube dot com slash haunt weekly.
Uh You can also get us wherever your podcasts are distributed includes Google Play Apple podcasts, um, Stitcher, Spotify, whoever, I don't know, we all the places are out there, but until next time, I'm jonathan, I'm crystal and we will see you all next week where we probably won't just take all your ideas and put it into a, um, into an episode.
We'll see you all then.