[0:20] Hello, everyone. I'm Jonathan. I'm Crystal. And this is Haunt Weekly, a weekly podcast for the haunted attraction and 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 battered, bruised, and broken. Or rather, not. Because we follow tips for joint haunt injuries. Yeah. I was about to say.

[0:45] Indeed it would be highly ironic if we did But no indeed we're going to be talking about Haunt injuries things you guys Can do to avoid being injured While scaring others and doing This crazy shit that we love If you want to check out other episodes Of Haunt Weekly please visit us At the places we exist we're at hauntweekly.com Haunt Weekly on Twitter Haunt Weekly on Facebook YouTube.com slash hauntweekly And wherever you get your podcasts from.

[1:11] Let's see Speaking of haunt work real fast Let's do all the pre-topic stuff, if you will. We did do some work for the haunt. A little bit. Did a fair amount, actually. I think a lot more got accomplished than it feels like. Because we ended up doing actor area cleanup and repairing some of the things that were outside. Yeah. And we jumped on this because even though it was a hot weekend, we know it's only going to get hotter. Yeah. And so this was stuff that we had to do outside in the heat and needed

[1:42] daylight to do. So we just said, this is something we've got to do. So we let it kind of cut the queue for other projects. Right. And we still have more to do, actually. For all of our complaints about the garage, there is the ability to add fans and stuff to help cool off when we're working out there in the evenings. Yeah, you can add fans. You can even, I mean, an AC really doesn't make a difference, as we found out. But you can definitely get air moving around it and reduce the temperature Significantly and that is probably one of our next acquisitions is some shop fans and things like that for when we're working Probably not a bad idea. But anyway, so we started all that we've I, We've finally gotten rid of the tarp over the actor area that was destroyed in Hurricane.

[2:25] Yeah, well, and some just high winds lately. We've had this weird thing where we've had storms that aren't hurricanes, but still have really high winds. Yeah, we've had high winds upwards of 60 miles an hour a couple of times. Yeah. Which is just crazy, considering these were not named storms, as you just said. Right. So anyways, we've had to undo some of that damage. We've got to do a few more things with the house itself. Um, but we should, and the actor area should be stapled now until we get ready

[2:55] to put the new tarp and reset it up basically, which is that'll come probably September, October. Yeah. So that was the main goal was to get things where we didn't have to do much else. Um, aside from that, uh, yeah, we've largely enjoyed our three day weekend. Yeah. Um, we actually, I did absolutely nothing on Monday. I'm very proud of that. I was very worried I was going to make myself spend the day, but I did not. Other than do these notes. Other than do these notes, I actually did absolutely nothing productive. And I did dishes. Oh, yeah. I did do dishes. I did nothing productive on Monday, and it was everything I thought it could be and then some. Yeah.

[3:34] So, anyways, moving on every week, we ask a question a week. Last week we asked you, because we were talking about long-term projects, so we asked, how do you start major long-term projects? Mm-hmm. Chris Gay said, a spreadsheet, either on Google Drive or monday.com. Budget, supplies, timeline, notes, etc. I agree this is a great way to start. I would like to thank Chris personally. I'm sure I have visited monday.com before. I'm sure I've heard of it. Yeah, I used it for a while. Yeah, and I'm saying probably from you, but this comment actually motivated me to check it out and take a more serious look at it. I'm a Google Drive person, but honestly, I'm getting less and less happy with Google. I've already moved my search engine away from Google. Yeah. We are now a Kagi household. Mm-hmm.

[4:25] And I'm looking at the possibility of moving both email and docs and things away from there, too. Yeah, I'm glad that Monster Talk podcast mentioned Kagi so that we would know to look it up. Yeah, thank you, Monster Talk. That was great. and we are now a paid Coggy family. Yes. And we are, man. It's actually 100% true. Directly related to Monster Talk. Yeah, and hopefully it will come from,

[4:51] it'll help with the news next week. I think it will. I mean, honestly, I found, because I do news searches every day for copyright stuff and plagiarism stuff, stuff related to my day job. I have found Coggy News to be better than Google News, but that is such a low fucking bar. Yeah, right now, Google News is just shit. It is such a faux luck... What the fuck was that? You loved it. I did, and that just died on the road. It is such a fucking low bar, it's almost an insult. Yeah. Pumpkin Riot Productions said, I start with the structure and focus on the heavy bones of the project. The beginning structure, whether I'm bulking out clay or for a new mask or prop or framing out a new prop, that will ultimately determine the rest of the project. I have an idea where I want the project to go, But don't focus too much on the image in my head. Ellie is going to hurt you. Run!

[5:47] Because it will never be what you think in the end. Take everything in stages and give yourself a timetable. Not a bad idea. No, and that's very true because I used to have how the haunt was supposed to look finished in my head, and it never got there. And that's a very important lesson to learn. And it never can get there. Even infinite time and infinite money and infinite resources, it couldn't get there. Because there's always going to be issues that prevent your exact vision from coming to fruition. So you have to have a little bit of flexibility.

[6:19] Yeah, and be kind to yourself. Yeah, be kind to those you work with. Yeah. All right. Victor Ruelas said, most of the large projects are mechanical failures. Usually determine what's wrong, what needs to be replaced and repaired. Is there anything that can be done to prevent repeating the failure? I spend a large amount of time preparing materials needed for the job. Nothing upsets me more than wasting time due to not having a partner. Dude. Yeah. Feels.

[6:51] Sorry. Having a partner tool needed or moving the tool that you need and not being able to find it. Yeah. Yeah. But that happens to us all the time. All the time. Yeah. And we do it to ourselves and each other. Yeah. Okay. And after that, he focuses on next steps of the job, but not the end. Find more focus put on how far I need to go, the more frustrated I become.

[7:16] That's actually a good point, too, because we've been there as well. Yeah. I remember one year literally getting insanely frustrated because we were literally distributing flyers for the haunt when we had an empty garage. Yeah.

[7:33] That was a lot. I mean, okay, it wasn't empty, empty, but all the panels were put into a corner. The floor space was as open as it's ever been. Nothing was built, basically. And, yeah, that was frightening, thinking about how far you have to go. And the moment you get that confidence that no matter what happens, we can open, that is when you start relaxing and start actually enjoying the build, I find. Yeah and part of it i i think it's also important to you know as he said to focus on the piece of the elephant you're eating basically yeah because um you know that that helps to it really it really does because when you try to yeah if you look at the whole project you might get overwhelmed oh god there's eight billion things to do it's you know three weeks to halloween and we're We're fucked, we're fucked, we're fucked, we're fucked. And then it just gets into a cycle where you get nothing done because you feel so bad about how much you have to do. Yeah, exactly. No, I agree with that. Pete Blackwell said, as late as possible. That is not a healthy strategy, but also one I can relate to. Yeah. And finally, Micah Arnold said, I'd like to reverse Uno and ask how you humans find the gusto to finish them.

[8:53] I've only found two strategies. Finish them. Finish them. I've only found two strategies that have worked for me. One is, as we've noted, I can be an extreme creature habit. Yes. If there is something I can make a habit, ideally a daily habit, I can complete it. I've proven this with incredible wordle streaks. I've proven this with stupid things like Pokemon Go. I've proven it with my day job and how regular of a posting schedule I keep. Having a habit, having a process helps me a lot. But that also tends to work best for projects that don't really have an end. Yeah, and so I don't form habits regularly. I think I've had one that's been going on forever.

[9:44] But for me, it's more of thinking about what I need to do.

[9:51] You need the deadline pressure, basically. I need the deadline pressure. I understand Pete Wyquall's comment about waiting as late as possible. So I do need the deadline pressure. But I have learned to make deadlines for myself. Yeah. But the deadline pressure and habit are the only two weapons I have that you finish them. Yeah. Now, if it's crafting projects, they never get finished. But the haunt, there's a deadline. People are going to see that shit. Yeah. And we need it open. We need it to look good, and we need it to be safe. Yep.

[10:26] So, yeah. All right. So, this week's question week, which ties directly in what we're discussing this week. What is your worst or just most entertaining haunt-related injury?

[10:37] Haunt-related injury. Let us know. Hauntweekly.com, Hauntweekly at Twitter, Hauntweekly at Facebook, YouTube.com, slash Hauntweekly, or wherever you get your podcasts from. Drop us a note. Let us know. Yes. I am going to make a request. Please don't post photos. Yes. for this one because people um some people are sensitive to gore and also facebook a lot of the platforms we're on will uh not take kindly to that exactly there's two reasons they're both valid uh we don't want to get shit canned by any of the the algorithm driven sites and um yeah we don't want to traumatize somebody on accident so yeah just share your stories um.

[11:18] I've got to say, the funniest injury I think I've taken, even though it wasn't actually a major injury other than I really did feel it the next morning, was getting fucking Goldberg speared in the back by those people that were running out of the haunt. Oh, yeah. Because I was working in front of house where I always work, and that year we made the very bad design choice to have a long hallway as the beginning of the haunt. It looked really good. It did. It's one of the best looking scenes we've ever done. And I say that because it had that candelabras. It looked genuinely like you were going into the hallway of an old house. Yeah, it was really pretty. It was really, really good work on our part. I wish we had photos. Yeah. But the problem was the scare was at the very end of the hallway. And so if anyone got scared and decided they wanted Uno reverse themselves and go the other way, they had 30 feet to run up the speed. And one of those groups, a group of adults, dude, this wasn't teens. And one of them just ducks the head and just shoulder spears me in the back and this we did not have the culon then now i would just go into the into the culon structure yeah but back then i just went sailing forward oh man that that i'm never going to forget how that one felt the next day yeah i don't know that i've actually been injured other than like hurting my voice because Because I have done that once.

[12:48] And we'll talk about that later. And we're going to be talking about that exact issue.

[12:52] Funny you mention that. Funny that comes up. It's like foreshadowing of something, as your English teacher might call it. Well, no, because foreshadowing would say we're not going to talk about this later.

[13:07] This is something you can do, but we're not going to tell you. This is Chekhov's gun, but we're ripping it off the wall and firing it now. Fuck waiting for the third act. Exactly.

[13:15] All right. So anyways, this week we're talking about ways to avoid haunt injuries. Now, before we jump into the topic, we do want to get some clarifications and just get some things out there. Number one, we are not doctors or medical professionals. Nope. Please don't take anything we say as medical advice. Really nothing we say should be touching on that. Yeah. Because really, this is just more about rules to avoid injuries and just some things to watch out for. A lot of this, frankly, is common fucking sense. Mm-hmm. Yeah, but if you haven't done, especially for new haunters, there are some extra things you may want to consider when doing this. Yeah, this is stuff that we've learned over 15 years of haunting. Some of it the hard way, some of it watching others learn it the hard way. Yeah. And if you're going to learn about stupid ways to get hurt, watching other people do it is way more fun. I'm just going to say that right there.

[14:16] Yeah. Also, we won't be talking much about haunt construction or haunt building. Right. The reason is haunt build safety is really the same as any construction safety. Yeah, and a lot of times your build crew is going to know those rules or they need specific rules for them and the machines that they'll be working with.

[14:38] So this isn't that podcast either. Yeah, we don't want to get into when using a chop saw. all be sure to keep your hands away from the platform and do all the stuff that basically every ocean mania tells you to do and that every construction worker i've ever been with completely fucking ignores yes wear your safety glasses at all times i did safety squint in effect yeah we're not yeah but no safety glasses will actually like save your eyes yeah one thing i will say and this is something i will say on that side i think has been helpful to us Go online, make sure that they are the correct standard.

[15:17] Shit, I forgot, ISO, whatever standard it is. I forgot what standard it is. But you can get safety glasses, like, bought to $24 for $24, and they do work. Yeah. They do work as safety glasses. You get them, you just sprinkle them around the fucking hood like little fairy dust, and that way no one has an excuse for not having safety glasses ever. I actually buy the smoke lens ones and just use them as sunglasses. Yeah. because they fit comfortably for me, and I lose sunglasses, like, constantly. So if they get lost, I've lost a dollar. I need to buy another box of those. That reminds me.

[15:55] So that is the one thing I will say is, yeah, read the fucking manual and all the equipment you use. Don't be an idiot on ladders, and safety glasses are great and super cheap. Why the fuck aren't you going to have them everywhere?

[16:08] Yeah, and besides, like I said, every haunter I've known has just ignored all that advice anyway yeah and i will unfortunately include us our reckless disregard for safety on ladders is infamous yeah well most well most diy people you know who do projects at home don't follow all the safety rules they should they didn't really and you know it's something that i definitely am looking at doing more um in my later years you know i'd like to keep my eyes, and I'd like to wear ear protection. I'd like to have all ten of my fingers. Yeah. I still have all ten. Yeah. Through the grace of something. Yeah.

[16:52] But anyways. But anyways. And the final point we were trying to make was that most of this advice is for newbies. I know from reading the question of the week and from everything else that we have a very, very strong veteran, haunt veteran audience here. Yeah. So a lot of you go, well, of course you shouldn't do that. But at the same time, this is advice we often forget to pass on to newbies.

[17:17] End up getting hurt either in a minor or hopefully not major way, and they may not come back to haunt again because they got hurt. That's one of the reasons. I've heard this multiple times. I talk to people, oh, yeah, I did a few nights at a blah, blah, blah haunt, whatever, what happened? Well, I lost my voice, I got punched in the face, or something happened, I just didn't come back. Yeah. No. We forget to give this advice to newbies, and when they get hurt, they often don't become veterans. And they just stopped coming, even though they were enjoying it up to that point. So we're going to break it down in a series of quote-unquote rules, even though rules is kind of a weird way to phrase this, but whatever. Rule one is to dress for haunting. I cannot stress this one enough. Haunting is a physical activity.

[18:11] Yes, you will have a costume. Yes, you have elements you have to have. They're designated. But you still need to dress appropriately with everything else you're wearing. Yeah. The first piece of advice, good shoes.

[18:26] The number of idiots who have showed up to haunt in sandals, or God help me, because they think it fits their costume, they show up barefoot. Yeah. No!

[18:39] Yeah, you never know what can be on the ground. You can get your toes stepped on, sliced open on something that you didn't see. A screw that's just errantly laying around or a screw that's protruding through a floorboard or something. Wear good, sensible shoes. Yeah. Also, make sure that they're broken in before opening night. Yes. Okay, runners have an expression that says nothing new on race day. Race day you have the sneakers you've been running for a hundred miles in over hundreds of miles in already you know the clothes you're going to wear that's a good rule for haunters too nothing new on haunt day if you're indoors please wear at least a good pair of beater sneakers i understand not wanting to wear like high-end like good work boots or something because a they're not going to be particularly comfortable for a lot of the movement you'll be doing and they're also expensive and this is going hunting is gonna beat them up I get that so get a good pair of beater sneakers if you're outdoors you're going to need outdoor footwear please please please have the appropriate shoes oh my god so many people do this one and I don't know why second don't wear any loose jewelry they can get called.

[19:59] And in fact i would say if your stuff is expensive leave it at home leave it in your locker yeah i don't know who's bringing expensive jewelry but don't don't don't bring expensive rings don't wear expensive necklaces or watches i do keep my apple watch on when i'm haunting but i have long sleeves and long gloves they're double coast double covered right and that way if something Something happens urgently or the haunt gets a call or whatever, and I'm not doing anything else. I can respond and deal with it. That's part of my being the digital forefront of the haunt. But, yeah, A, it's double covered. And, B, it is the only item I ever wear. I don't wear medallions. I don't wear necklaces of any types.

[20:47] Yeah. Now, I will make a suggestion for a piece of jewelry you might want to wear or electronic jewelry. You might want to wear for temperature conditions but we'll come to that in a minute yeah and the other thing is is that I also wear my Apple watch but be sure to put it into theater mode or something so that if you're inside the haunt and you don't need the connection to the outside world yeah it doesn't come on and distract from the scene yeah exactly so yeah basically don't wear jewelry that not necessarily and honestly this is partly going to be a do as we say not as we do i don't advise wearing watches at all yeah it's the only thing that i wear and part of the problem is a as you said they can be distracting the other is they can be broken but they can also be snagged and called now we both have bands that will not do that right um we both have bands where I think the clasp would uncome undone and the watch would pop off before it ever got to an injury point. Right. Well, and I'm also very comfortable with my role because I get to practice it. As, you know, one of the owners, I get to be out there and doing stuff with it a lot.

[22:05] But I was thinking more about when we went to a haunt and the person forgot to shut off their Apple Watch. and we saw how a scare was done that we weren't supposed to know how it was done. Yeah, and it also has that element. We're focusing on injuries, but this one also plays to making sure that your scare is good and intact.

[22:26] Um, if your role is very physical, please wear athletic undergarments. Yeah. And I'm actually going to say that this is a good idea anyway. Yeah. I mean, it probably really is. Yeah. Because, um, it's moisture wicking and it'll help you stay warm or cool depending on your, your climate that you're in. So I think that that's a great idea just in general. But also, a lot of exertion injuries come from not having things stapled to your body. Yeah. I have had groin injuries before. They are horrible. I did not get it from haunting, but I have had it before. It is horrible. You do not want those injuries. They are incredibly painful, and they will make even the most tame of exertions hell on earth. No. If you wear compression shorts, wear sports bras, wear whatever is appropriate for your particular physical setup, we'll say.

[23:28] Speaking about colder climates. Yes. There is a weather-wicking waterproof system that you can use, especially if you're going to be in a wet and cold climate. Yeah, you're going to be outdoors, sweating. And also, wet includes sweating. If you're alternating between physical activity and not, or even if you're just doing a lot of physical activity, you're going to sweat because your body's going to think it's getting hot. But then the minute that cold air comes in, that sweat can really cause your body temperature to drop. Yeah. So the wicking clothing is what we were just talking about. Yes. The athletic wear. But on top of that, you want to put wool. Don't wear cotton, though. Cotton is actually really bad for you in this situation. I didn't know that, that's good to know. Yeah. And I've never lived in South Carolina, so. Yeah, then if you're gonna be outside, try to find something that's also waterproof, just in case it does rain or it is really cold. Yes. And I've put in here at this point, know the signs of hypothermia, cause you can actually get hypothermia at low.

[24:44] Temperatures that you wouldn't think like 60 degrees you can get hypothermia, if you're doing enough exercise and sweating enough so that you're doing exactly what you were just talking about which is lowering your body temperature for an extended period of time like working hours outside and haunted house and you're getting all sweaty and of course that makes your makes the cold air feel colder exactly yeah but basically that's the internal temperature are drops and the signs to watch for are continued shivering, slurred speech, memory lapse, and drowsiness. So if you feel off at all, ask for a break. Ask to get inside into the warmth.

[25:25] Also, if you're outside, you want to look for or in a cold area, and this is more of coming in In contact with cold, you want to check for the signs of frostbite. Basically, any discoloration, especially on your ears, nose, hands, and feet. Okay. Okay, rule two. Yeah, that was all one rule. But don't worry, they get a little shorter from here. Yeah. Sorry about that. We had a lot to include in that because dressing for haunting can mean dressing for just about any goddamn thing. It can.

[25:56] So, yeah. Rule two, learn how to pace yourself. self. One of the most common ways to get injured is through overexertion. The question isn't, can you do it once or can you do it five times or can you do it 10 times? It's, can you do it a hundred times every night for the entire season? Basically focus on being comfortable. If whatever you're doing requires a lot of exertion, that exertion is going to compound over the course of the season. So make sure that what you're doing is very repeatable. If it places any strain on you, especially your bag. Stop, change, do something else.

[26:37] You know, and also what a good habit is to have multiple things you can do. Because if something starts to become a strain to you, change to another tactic, change to another scare that impacts you different physically. Right. Spread that, you know, exertion around your body, so to speak. Don't just keep hitting your back or your knees or whatever or your shoulders.

[27:01] So change activities semi-regularly and avoid repetitive strain. And don't do anything that you can't do repeatedly and a lot because it will eventually catch up to you. You only have, and take it from me, as someone who has back injuries, you only have one back. I had my back initially badly hurt in a car crash.

[27:22] Yeah. And in defense, that's not something I could have prevented. Some bitch literally ran a blinking red and and crashed into me and i went into her and had a hard stop this was in 2006 that happened i am still today dealing with repercussions from that that area of my back is still very often easily injured and so yeah you only have one back don't lose it yeah um rule number three this one's a one we've talked about before but yeah crystal take the lead on this um learn how to scream learn how to use your voice in general um yeah in a way that doesn't murder it yeah because one of the most common injuries is vocal like a lot of people don't realize how much it takes to be able to project and be loud over and over and over, that repetitive thing you were just talking about. Yeah, when you see what your vocal cords are, which is basically two flabby bits in your throat. Yeah. Yeah. They're fragile. Yeah.

[28:30] So I, whenever I was learning to sing, watch the Zen of Screaming. It was recommended to me by a professional singer. And they... It's basically how death metal singers are able to hold notes forever. And able to do the growling and the screaming. And do that night after night after night, concert after concert after concert. No. Without injuring. Exactly. Also remember that whispering can be as damaging as screaming. I did not know that until you told me that. I found that very interesting. Yeah. Yeah, well, it's because you're not letting your vocal cords do their job. And so they aren't getting the workout that they need to be able to project when you need them. Well, and when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense because it requires you to constrict your vocal cords. Where screaming and growling kind of does the opposite. You're having to force them open.

[29:31] You know what I mean? And so either way, you're putting a lot of muscular stress there. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then also making screeching noises or other nonverbal. This is how I hurt myself because I had found a way to make a noise by sucking in air.

[29:54] And and then with a little projection at the end and I didn't feel that it was hurt. That's one of the things about vocal injuries. You don't always know that you're hurting yourself. Yeah, it's hard to predict, yeah. Yeah, but the reason I'm not demonstrating the noise is I can't make it anymore. Like, it physically hurts to do that motion with my throat. And this has been 10 years at least.

[30:21] You know, this is a long time ago. So you can do long-term damage if you're not careful. Yeah, one good early indication that you put in here is if you find yourself grabbing water but you're not thirsty or, you know what I mean.

[30:37] You're just trying to clear your throat, so to speak, that's a sign that you may be doing damage. Do something else. don't try to tough it out yeah if you damage your voice as you said you can prevent yourself from being able to do things ever again yeah or um you at the very least can be forcing yourself to take nights off possibly in the middle of season so preserve your voice yeah exactly and make sure you do your vocal warm-ups oh yes warm-ups are actually very important here i agree yeah i i know as the bernie baxter voice yeah does doesn't i i've had to work on it it still has some gravel it has some grit but i've made it much less taxing and one of the reasons i had to do that was because i've noticed especially after halloween night doing it for like those four hours and doing it constantly i would tend to be luckily you know with our haunt since we're only open three nights the risk of injury is not that high for a voice for a vocal thing unless you're screaming yeah but because and that's the other thing i had to do was i had to change the volume of it because i can do it at a speaking voice very very fine for an extended period of time but trying to scream it or shut hopefully that that can hurt all right rule number four Or we talk about this all the time. This really is something that's on the haunt design side.

[32:06] But you as an actor have to be conscious of it to create and use your retreat spaces.

[32:14] Sadly, one of the most common injuries in haunting is being struck by a customer. And that strike could be being punched or kicked or hit. Or like what I describe, a customer running and you're in the path of the run, you get hit that way. A well-designed haunt will give you a retreat space so that you are not able to be hit and not able to be trampled. Yes, and actually use the retreat space and be aware of what your customers are doing. Yeah, don't be the idiot that I was, because I mean, and this is where I take ownership, where I talk about getting hit. I was talking to the next group of customers, but I was standing in front of the door. Dumb idea. I now keep, A, we designed the haunt so that doesn't happen. Yeah. A, that was a big part of it. That's one of the reasons we have that outside L section. Yeah, I think that was our second year. Yeah, that was one of our earliest years that happened. happened it was i think it was our first year it was our third or fourth year but it was i think our second year at this location um why are you looking at me funny no no i think you're right i think it was either second or third year though because it was one of the first years we used the full garage um but yeah if you if they don't give you a good retreat space advocate for one and if there just isn't room for one use a corner.

[33:36] Use a corner is the best advice I can give. Basically get yourself out of the path of where the customer should be now the space. But advocate for having a retreat space. Yeah also if there's not a lot of space using a prop to keep people at a distance is also a good idea if you're able to have something like that. Yeah but basically know where the walk the walking path in the room is and don't be in it. Yeah.

[34:05] Rule number five. Oh, man. This one. No real fucking weapons. Jesus fucking Christ. I feel like we shouldn't have to say this. I am insulted for you, dear listener, that we have to say this. Think how insulted I feel having to talk about this. Yeah. But, yeah, don't have real fucking weapons in your haunt. Don't have real firearms. Don't have real knives. Don't have real axes. Paxes don't have real anything in the haunt. They should not be on site. The only people that should have real weapons on site are security. And I'm going to say I find that dubious. Yeah, I don't know that I agree with that. I don't know. I mean, well, some places require you to have armed security. I know.

[34:52] And if you have to have it, you have to have it. I don't agree with it either.

[34:56] I don't necessarily think it helps make things safer, really. But that being said none of the actors should ever have access to real weapons they should not be allowed to bring them they should not be anywhere in your prop room they no they just should not exist there are such good phone weapons now i swear to god i mean i mean i trans world and hong kong and elsewhere i've been looking at these phone weapons genuinely unable to tell the difference at a difference at a distance any distance yeah whether in fact there was a couple it's like i did not realize they were foam until i picked it up they're that good um i know they are pricey but they are that's how you prevent injuries every fucking season we hear about people who get injured that way yeah and it's like i can't believe one year ago or two years ago someone got stabbed because the actor used a real knife yeah and that was one of those weird news stories where we didn't know if it was an actor or somebody who was saying they were with the haunt because it was outside close to the queue line but not really in the queue line it was it was an odd situation yeah but the bottom line is real weapons and haunting don't mix don't don't have real weapons there i mean we have real swords galore in this house yes we have a shit ton.

[36:24] We have an inordinate amount but they do not go anywhere near the garage yeah uh we made that mistake once yeah we will never do it again luckily no one got hurt no um.

[36:39] So one of our actors saw one of our stories and said, hey, can I use that as a prop on the wall? I'm not going to touch it. You know, and I'm like, fine. Just remember to bring it in at the end of the night. And then they didn't. They didn't. Somebody else was there the next night because they were only able to work that one night. And that person didn't know not to touch it.

[37:04] And I caught it very early. Here's something to do. Um watch the video about how brandon lee died yeah watch that video if that doesn't scare the shit out of you of having weapons anywhere near like this type of stuff it trust me it is frightening the number of things that had to go wrong for brandon lee and some of it is like no one person is super responsible because everything was just a mistake yeah you know what i mean It's not really about like someone was so inept. It was just like it's a freaky set of circumstances that will probably convince

[37:45] you real weapons have no place near customers. That's all I'm saying. Rule number six is hydrate.

[37:53] Hydrate comes in a little glass bottle. Well, sometimes I guess it does. But anyways, hydrate. I just don't know how to express this one. It doesn't matter if you're in a cold climate, if you're in a hot climate, if you're in a warm building, a cool building. Hydrate if you're doing a lot of physical exertion. Hydrate more than you think you need to hydrate. Yeah. Really, that's just it. And yes, we know that this means that you might need more restroom breaks. But, you know, it's better to have to take a little break to go to the bathroom than it is to get heat exhaustion. Now, the only word of caution I will give you is that you can overhydrate. Because if your body is in exercise mode it doesn't get rid of the water you don't just pee it out as easily um but the risk of high over hydrating versus under hydrating which is more common and which is more dangerous yeah i would err on the side of hydration.

[38:54] Make sure you're sipping liquid, especially if you're in a hot environment. Heat exhaustion is serious shit. Yeah. Also, heat injury falls into this. And basically, heat exhaustion, if you know the signs, it's deep breaths followed by shallow breaths, rapid, strong pulse, then a weak pulse, and dry hot skin. That dry hot skin is what's important. Yeah, not the sweaty hot skin. Right. Sweaty hot skin, your body's still trying to do its job. At least the shit's working internally. Yeah. It's putting in the effort, basically, is what we're saying. But yeah, drink water. Take time to cool off.

[39:34] One thing that I've been exploring recently has been called the Ember. It's the EMBR. And once again, this goes against the no jewelry thing we were talking about. But it's like a smartwatch, but you wear it reversed. You wear it on the inside of your wrist. and you can use it to heat yourself up or cool yourself off yeah it can do either um it's expensive it's three hundred dollars for it uh there is a subscription service that's how i'm trying it right now but i'm using it because i'm a hot sleeper and i think one of the reasons i've been feeling so sick and groggy in a lot of mornings in particular is i get overheated in the night because that's one of the things about heat injury is that if you get heat injured you become more susceptible to heat injury not less you don't build up an immunity to this no some people think you do no you don't it's the opposite yeah you get weaker and weaker to it as time goes on yeah and there are also undergarments that have ice pack um slots available that's something that I know some of our friends use. And also for the other side of it, if you're in a cold climate, back to that, there are heated vests and pocket warmers and foot warmers and things like that you can use. Yeah, basically, but getting back to hydrate.

[41:00] Always be drinking liquid when you're exercising. If you have sweat coming out of your body, that's your body's water fleeing. You need to replace that pretty much immediately. That way you can continue sweating.

[41:16] That's how your body stays cool. Basically, you're water-cooled but very leaky. Yeah. You're like a very leaky water cooler for a computer. Yeah, and there are actually signs of dehydration. um the the biggest one being the color of your urine yeah so and also you can.

[41:34] Google that on your own time yeah the the the darker the pee theoretically the less uh hydrated you are that's not perfect but.

[41:43] And it is a delay thing but it does it can be an indicator that you're not drinking enough and finally rule seven if you are outdoors doing an outdoor trail haunt of any outdoor trail trailhunting type uh be prepared uh bug spray is a must i'm just gonna look as far as bug spray goes even though i know this shit ain't good for you you need to look at the amount of detenant det um the higher the deed the better it works it's really that simple yeah bug spray it really and truly is um you need sunblock if you're going to be out in the daylight i know that haunting typically is a nighttime thing but there are attractions that do run in the day so you need to have sunblock also this is really kind of the scary one you need to know what dangerous animals are in your area yeah and familiarize yourself with how to find them yeah where they like to hang out how they like to hang out in their patterns because you'll train your eye to see them when you're out in the wild like i know we have black widow spiders here and i've actually seen those not haunting but i've seen those on trail walks before yeah we have lots of snakes too and we have there's a couple of venomous snakes not poisonous snakes venomous snakes kids if you bite it.

[43:12] And it kills you it's poisonous if it bites you and you die it's venomous never forget that.

[43:20] Um but yeah if you do say poison a snake people know what you mean don't be a pet um yeah know what they are in the area and bring any sprays that are relevant to that yeah um if you are in an area where there might be you know wolves or bears or anything like that you know consider bringing appropriate spray for that i don't think many haunts operate in those types of environments never know but i but then someone's gonna but that's just it this podcast reaches thousands of people so someone's gonna go what are you talking about well one of the thing about bears is that they don't like if you make a lot of loud noises like a haunt does they'll typically stay away and that's also true of wolves coyotes things like that most most animals are

[44:08] gonna try to avoid you yeah and they're also going to avoid the lights too Yeah. One, the exception to that are insects.

[44:17] Yes. And the deadliest animal, the deadliest creature to humans on earth is the mosquito. Yeah. This is 100% true. This is not bullshit. Because of the diseases they carry, in particular malaria, and there's a couple others they carry that are important, I forgot. But mosquitoes are literally the most deadly animal to humans on earth. Yeah, and we actually started using a few years ago the thermos cells for mosquitoes, which are great because you put them out a little like 10 or 15 minutes before you get into your spot and it clears the area of mosquitoes. Oh, yeah. And you don't have to wear the poison. It does require a little prep. Yeah. But it does. They do really work and they will work for hours on end. I buy the second most dangerous animal hippos.

[45:10] Yeah, that bitch that wanted a hippopotamus for Christmas can go fuck herself, is what I'm saying. Who did she want to die? Yeah, she wanted her family dead. She was putting that in.

[45:20] Yeah, but one of the other things to do of your own and the outdoors is to tuck your pants into your socks and your shirt into your pants. Yes. This helps to keep ticks off of you. Also, do a tick check every night. Yeah, ticks and anything else that might get stuck on you, including like thorny bushes and thorn plants and things like that will help prevent that from injuring you. Because, like I said, the goal is to keep people safe. Yeah. And yes, ticks are bad. Leeches are bad. If you're in near bodies of water, you might be. I don't think you're going to encounter those. No. But who knows? I mean, once again, someone's going to write me. Well, you know, outdoor structures make sure that there's no, like, flying, stinging insects that have moved in overnight or during the off season. And, of course, we just talked about spiders. Yeah. So, yeah. All kinds of fun stuff out there. So, yeah. What were you saying? Tuck your pants into your socks and your boots. And your shirt into your pants.

[46:20] Yeah. And tuck in your shit, basically. Yep. Oh, well. I think that about covers it. I really do hope this was useful. Well, like I said, most people who listen to this, I know, are veterans who probably know most of this already. Because that's how you get to be a veteran in haunting is not getting hurt. I would hope that most already know this. But for newbies, yeah, this can be important stuff.

[46:43] Well, on that note, everyone, thank you very much for joining us for the past 50 minutes or so. Greatly appreciated. Hope it was useful. Hope it was entertaining. Please check out more Haunt Weekly. We're at hauntweekly.com, hauntweekly on Twitter, hauntweekly on Facebook, and youtube.com slash hauntweekly, as well as wherever you get your podcasts from. We try to make ourselves as easy to find as we can. But until next time, everyone, I'm Jonathan. I'm Crystal. And we'll see you next week for episode 444, which is divisible by four. I would hope so. Math. Quick math. So that means we will be doing the news. We will see you all then.