MAGIC, ILLUSION, & BEHIND THE SCENES IN THE HAUNT WORLD (w/ Castle Blood's Chris Handa/Prof. Scrye)

In this episode I return to Castle Blood, this time to talk to the castle's own master of illusion, Chris Handa...or Professor Scrye is he is known when in character. 
 In this episode we talk about his book Talismans and Thaumaturgy, a look at what goes on behind the scenes at the popular haunted attraction, his own journey in the world of magic and haunting, and much more!

Right now you can pick up the book directly from him at live events, in the Castle Blood Gift Shop, or by emailing him at Christopher.handa@verizon.net

and as always, check out Castle Blood at
 http://thecastleblood.com 

#horrorpodcast #paranormalpodcast #hauntedattraction #spookyseason #everydayishalloween

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Well, hey there. Welcome to another episode of the After Hours Chats podcast. Tiffany here. And I am just completely immersed in the world of Castle Blood because I just had um Ricky Dick on, the owner or Gravely Macabre on. And now we are here with another Denizen of the Castle and quite a master of magic and effects himself, uh, Chris Handa, and he's also, you're also Professor Scry at the Castle as well. So if you've been to Castle Blood, um, you might recognize his character. Um, sometimes he's also in the ticket booth as well, and he's also the author, if you're watching on YouTube, um of this book here. Talismans and dumeturgy, uh stories and sorcery at Castle Blood, which uh it's actually a very fascinating book, especially if you're into things like effects and um how just overall the behind-the-scenes look of how a lot of the um haunting industry is uh ran and everything. So, but Chris, it's really great to have you. And I see you're coming to us live from the castle.

SPEAKER_06 1:37

Uh yes, yes, I'm live from Gravely's office. And thank you very much both for both for having us on and for your continued uh uh uh rabid support of the attraction. Uh we have we have a uh very we have a very interesting niche fan base, and we're happy that you're a part of it, and we appreciate everything that you have done to help promote us. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Oh yeah, no problem. I mean, I absolutely love you guys and what you guys are about, but um, but yeah, but uh since you're uh new to the after hours chats, um, yeah, how about first start out by telling a little about yourself and and what you do and what you've got going on.

SPEAKER_06 2:19

Okay, my uh my role at the attraction is operations manager and magic director. Uh as operations manager, I'm responsible for things in the uh uh in in the times when uh that are not not attraction related. That has to do with inspections and it has to do with paperwork and making sure that uh that the insurance is taken care of uh and things like that. Uh, and then then the things that are the that are not directly related to the performance. Uh as magic director, um I design and implement uh magic effects and assist with the script writing for that. Uh and that's that also does include teaching the denizens that are using the magic, because a large amount of the magic that I have developed for Castle Blood over the years has not been performed by me. It's been performed by others.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Very cool. And um and also, you know, part of what we're uh talking um about today is um is your book that you wrote, and um, you know, just the stories and you know, and everything behind Castle Blood. And um, so like what drove you to write it and um and how long did it take you to write?

SPEAKER_06 3:34

The the idea of putting it into a book came from uh the year that I was asked to teach magic at the Midwest Honors Convention. Uh I wrote a set of lecture notes and immediately we decided it was going to be a larger book. And the lecture notes went with specifically what I taught at the time, which was uh the the walk-around magic I had been doing for the queue uh when we were in our Bellsville location. So that that was the start of it. Now we're going back to probably 2006 at that point.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 4:08

Um move forward years, it just it just didn't happen. I never got back to writing and and and working on the book. COVID hit. I had a lot of time on my hands. I was able to get the book drafted during COVID, and then in the year following COVID, and actually in the two years following COVID, um I was able to put it into a form that was a publishable format. And it was uh I was comfortable with releasing it uh at about a year ago now. Uh was when it when it it first hit the hit the uh the uh the the market, the public scene.

unknown 4:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Yeah, and um and it's in and it's available um in the uh castle gift shop, I know, because that's where I got it. And um it is it is it available anywhere else?

SPEAKER_06 5:02

Right now it's available directly through me uh and the uh and Castle Blood. And the uh uh the link for Amazon is um yeah, yeah, it it's a little bit weird with the way way Amazon works, but you can actually find it by doing a search either for by title or by my name uh in Amazon as well. And it is available in both hardcover and softcover editions by request. I wasn't going to do a hardcover edition at all, and then I had enough people ask about it that uh that it's it's now available in that format. Uh we hope to get it into uh some magic shops and some other locations as well. Uh I'm going to be at Trans World's Haunted Attraction Show in uh in March. It'll be in St. Louis. I will be there and I will have copies of the book there as well.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Okay. Yeah. Oh, very cool. Yeah, and and when are you going to going to uh Trans World?

SPEAKER_06 6:01

That is March 26th through the uh 29th, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

All right, cool. So yeah, so yeah, you heard it. If you're gonna be there, make sure you pick up a copy of the book. Um now in your in the book, you actually you talk about um just a lot of the stuff that um influenced you and you and one thing you mentioned was about how um kids reading ghost stories at night uh would make you lose sleep as a kid. Um so I was just wondering like what movie or story uh scared you the most?

SPEAKER_06 6:39

Uh as far as movies, the first movie I remember uh honestly terrifying me from watching it was Poltergeist. And that that's the obviously the original early 1980s one. Oh uh we were talking about this just last week in a in an uh interesting random conversation, but the scene where the guy rips his face off in the uh in the mirror and that clown and that clown, I'm not I'm not calorophobic at all, but that clown, that clown was creepy as I'll get out. And the bodies popping up at the end and the swimming pool and everything like that. Uh I I remember watching it with my parents out on the porch, and I I kept looking out front to see if they were gonna make me turn it off, and they never did. And that's that's probably as a childhood movie. That yeah, that for sure.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:30

Uh Halloween Halloween is interesting because I didn't see that until I was in college, but just the description of Halloween, of the John Carpenter Halloween, uh, made me lose sleep sleep when I was in fourth grade. I remember that. Somebody told me about it, and I didn't want to yeah, I was I was worried that Michael Myers was gonna show up. Worried he was gonna pop out somewhere and the whole idea that and and this the difference between the shape and Michael Myers as we know him in the uh the Rob Zombie film is that there was no reason or purpose that they explained for why Michael Myers kept coming back. So it it to me that at least in this case, it it's you know yeah, the writing is better now. Yeah, you're giving somebody a backstory, but the fact that he didn't have that kind of a backstory, that he just kept appearing was the thing that freaked me out. And you know, uh to this day that's that that's probably my favorite among the slasher films, be as far as building suspense and and you know being truly scary.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Yeah, yeah, no, I yeah, I totally agree. Um, and that's you know, I think that that's really what makes a good scary film. And you know, whether there's any type of like gore or anything in it or not, um at the end of the day, it's it's the storytelling and it's the creation of the atmosphere and the suspense that I think makes a good compelling um story, like especially when we're talking about like horror films and you know, suspense films, thrillers, things like that. Um you know, it's it's it's that buildup, you know, absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 9:22

So that's yeah, that it it is for as far as uh other movies and things, um I've lost sleep because of Seven, the movie Seven.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Oh, okay. Yeah, I've seen that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:33

Yeah, I I'm not I'm more of a psychological thriller person, so I'm more along that line. And the horror movies when I was a kid, it was it was Godzilla, it was Abnon Costello meets Frankenstein.

SPEAKER_03 9:45

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_06 9:45

Uh it was things that were a little bit a little bit campy, a little bit fun. Uh Love Vincent Price, you know, and anything with Vincent Price in it was was something that we watched. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Love Vincent Price. Yeah. What's your favorite Vincent Price movie?

SPEAKER_06 10:03

Dr. Fibes.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

What was that?

SPEAKER_06 10:05

The abominable doctor The Abominable Dr.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Fibes is my favorite Vincent Price. Yeah, I think it's a good one.

SPEAKER_06 10:12

Which being one of you know, one of the gorier neo slasher films is interesting because it's it's a lot less uh Vincent Price in terms of the uh the hardcore acting. But it's it's easily, easily my favorite um Vincent Price film. One of the Vincent Vincent Price worth looking for. He narrates a Christmas carol. It was a television special, it's no more than 45 minutes long, but he's the narrator for a Christmas carol. It is wonderful. Because he gets to tell a ghost story as Vincent Price, the person, and it's very interesting.

SPEAKER_05 10:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Yeah, he does have he did have this very like kind of unique speaking voice that was also, yeah, great for narration, well, you know, or acting, whatever. Yeah, definitely, you know, definitely very, very gifted, talented. And um, yeah, my my favorites by him are um I love House on Haunted Hill, um, House of Wax, you know. So yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 11:22

Yeah, both both worth owning, not just watching, both worth owning.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Yeah, yes, absolutely, absolutely. And um yeah, so but like in your years um with Castle Blood, because you've been with Castle Blood pretty much since like the very beginning, or at least very close to it. Um what are some of the most um like memorable moments or moments that stand out to you, whether they're funny, spooky, um if you had any paranormal experiences, especially at the current location, which is a 100-plus-year-old funeral home. Yeah, so I'd love to hear about like some, you know, some of your experiences.

SPEAKER_06 12:05

Well, my my first experience with Castle Blood was as a mortal um in 2000 and or I'm sorry, 1997, when they were in Bentleyville, their second year of the Bentleyville building. And I went four times. Uh this is memorable for me because I kept bringing different people uh to see it, uh, including Carrie, my wife, Lady Die, uh girlfriend at the time. We were only dating. We weren't I don't we uh we were not even engaged at that point. So four times I'm bringing different people and Carrie multiple times. We did not win the game until Halloween night. And then I found out that everybody wins the game on Halloween night. So yeah, Prof Professor Scry, his first his only attempts as immortal were either I lost or I got pity fangs. Uh pity fangs are what we call when somebody loses and they get fangs anyway. So uh that that's very memorable for me. And the Bentleville building, uh, the two years that the attraction was in Bentleville are uh memorable to the cast that go back that far because it it was um a a just different vibe from the rest of the places, and and there was a lot of lot of bonding that went on and things like that then uh among the casts that were there. Uh I joined uh Carrie and I both joined the cast in uh 98. And then uh that that took us through uh Years in the Yard, uh up until we moved to Manessin in 2012, and then 2014 uh here in the funeral home. Uh lots of memorable stuff. Uh some of it runs together, uh, but it's it's fun when you sit back and you think about it. And uh obviously you made me do it do with this question. Um for me in particular, there was a night when I grew fangs, and I was uh I was working the uh the line, and there was a crew of teenage girls that I walked by at one point and I done magic for, and I walked by them again, and I used to just stop and pause, and I would turn my head and smile, and then turn back and then walk. Well, I heard, wait, stop. So I stopped and I turned around again and and looked at them. They and they said, You just had fangs. I know you didn't have fangs before. You had fangs when you'd smiled at us. My character's one of the few that doesn't have fangs. I've never had fangs. But they swore that they they saw me grow fangs when I looked at them, and and that's that's that's something you can you can never repeat. You know, you can uh we I I even uh Uncle Vlad uh went and found the uh special effects fangs that you can put in your mouth and you can actually make come down and go up, then they they don't work very well. But yeah, we we never found a way to replicate that effect. So that happened totally in someone else's mind. Uh we I I rem I remember working as a scare actor and I watched a kid do a Scooby-Doo run. Okay. Uh Scooby-Doo Run is they jump up in the air and their feet move. Oh and then they don't go anywhere and they fall back down.

SPEAKER_05 15:31

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 15:32

I watched this kid jump and try to run and fall back down. It was hysterical. And I'm not the only one that has has elicited that. There have been a couple of other instances, but yeah, the first time that I saw it was hysterical. Uh we've you know, we've had we've had experiences uh in all the the different places as far as it have been uh weather weather related. Uh Castle Blood in when it was in Bellsville was largely outdoors, and a lot of people didn't know that because of the decor.

SPEAKER_04 16:03

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:04

Yeah. We we went from uh using mulch on the path to using to using wood chips to literally putting gravel down to make a path.

SPEAKER_04 16:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:15

And the gravel took years to pack in and everything like that, and there was one year it rained so much we were castle mud that uh uh especially in the actor hallways, they would hit and you would just slide. So, you know, uh getting people through those, and we had we had one particular cast member who had uh uh dressage boots that he was he was very proud of, wore spurs and everything. Those boots never got dirty, and we're still trying to figure out how his boots never got dirty.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

His boots never got dirty.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:47

Uh you know, we we've had experiences where where we've watched people uh we we've dropped people in a scene by making a bell ring. Uh that's one of Ricky's favorite moments because he actually uh was a part of one of those. We were doing the thing with the spirit bell, the spirit bell rang, and the woman just dropped right in the scene and uh right to the floor.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 17:08

Ran out the door. I I I know he likes to tell that story himself. Uh but I we've had experiences like that with the magic. Um, it's there there there's there there's a lot. There there is so much, you know, and then there's there are the you know, there are the times that things don't go the way they're supposed to, and those are always fun too. Uh opening night is you know, is always fun for that.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 17:36

We had an opening night uh one year where things weren't quite done, and Ricky was literally up in the rafters still with a screw gun. Uh not dressed as gravely, you know, and he's he's worked on things with a screw gun. And uh as a group is coming below him, he he does something, he slips, and his hand goes down through the uh the camo netting, and he got a really good scare by his hand dropping down, he dropped people doing that. You know, it's it's things like that that happen over the years. Uh being in the building, uh, I am not gonna lie to you, I have not had a paranormal experience, but I have had a couple of things really scare me. Uh and and my uh my favorite one is actually the Bentley Billville building. I we were out of it for years at that point, but we we used to go and we would uh there were still props in it, we would scavenge it, and up until the point where we sold it, we would go in and out, and there were so some things in storage.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 18:36

So I go I go up into the lab, which is on the second floor, and you've got to go through a lot of dark areas. So I walk into the lab and I'm standing in the center of the lab, and I had been there when there was more light, and I've got no light on, I don't have a flashlight, and something taps me on the shoulder, and I went running down the stairs. I I just went running down the stairs, drove to the yard, didn't say anything to anybody for a little bit, finally said something to Ricky.

SPEAKER_05 19:10

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 19:11

And Ricky was uh he's like, Okay, I'm I'm going back to the building. He goes back to the building like a day or two later, stands in the middle of the build of the lab, puts his arms out, runs, goes in circles. He's like, Chris, I I can't find it. I I he's like he's like something something tapped you. I can't find it. So story went around real fast that Spry finally had a paranormal experience. Spry finally got touched. Okay, we're we don't need to hear about crit from Chris about all this. Well, I went back. I went back on my own. They didn't think I would, uh, you know, because I, you know, I'm I I scare easily. So I went back on my own and I went with a flashlight, and there was a pair of wires dangling from the ceiling that I ran into.

SPEAKER_05 19:59

Oh.

SPEAKER_06 20:01

I had did not see any time I'd been in there before, and I totally missed. They were they were where the the uh piece of lab equipment, uh big old uh cannon-looking thing. Uh it's wearing hung, and that that's what was holding it up. And they were hanging down, and I went back to the yard that day, and I told Ricky, and nobody wanted to talk about me in the wires. They all wanted to talk about me being touched. So But yeah, I I've had experiences like that. I I've been here at three in the morning and uh yes, here here in the the funeral home, and I've heard moaning, and then I'll open the door and I'll look and it's someone coming out of the Ukrainian club across the street. Um being an old building, there's a lot of things that creep you out in here. I I mean it's yeah, uh you know, adding the props makes it worse. You know, because the uh the the human form when you're not expecting it when you come to the top of the steps or something like that is is uh very unsettling. You know, I I had I had to re- ten minutes before uh uh we were trying to log on, I I had to re-secure a door because the wind blew it open and you know, things like that. It's just when it happens in this environment, and that's one of the nice things about the castle, is is when you're in this environment, you it it preps you for that.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 21:17

And okay, yeah, I I'm as much of a chicken as anybody else if somebody drops something behind me.

SPEAKER_05 21:23

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 21:23

You know, I I I I I've had to learn to live with that. I've had to learn to admit it, but you know, yeah, yeah, stuff scares me. Stuff still scares me here, even if even if I've not had a paranormal experience.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

Right.

unknown 21:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 21:36

I know I know that was a long that was a long answer on that, but I I think I hit some of the highlights of things. Is there anything specific that that you have questions about as far as uh years at the castle or experiences?

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Yeah, yeah. Like um, yeah, just yeah, I got you know, just wanting to know like what you know what some of your experience was at the castle, um, you know, like the memorable moments if you had any Spooky moments, which, you know, even if it wasn't an actual paranormal experience, that was definitely like, you know, a very amusing story. And, you know, and even if you can logically explain it, I'm sure, you know, being, you know, alone in that, in that place, it's like, you know, like if a door blows open, it's just like, oh my gosh, you know? So yes. But um, but yeah, but it it's like in your um endeavors of of like magic and and haunting and you know, all of that, and you know, whether it's Castle Blood or you know, doing, you know, any other type of like magic stuff or effect stuff elsewhere, um what were some what are maybe some challenges that you have faced in your endeavors?

SPEAKER_06 22:49

Well, the biggest challenge that we have here is that everybody has five minutes to perform. Right. That includes turning the room around, that includes anything for a reset, uh, that includes preparation. So whatever I design has to be completely done and reset within that five minute period. And most of the time it's being done by somebody that uh I'm not going to see perform it. Right. Ricky is not gonna see perform it. Uh hopefully Sarah, our performance director, will see it at some point.

SPEAKER_03 23:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 23:29

But sometimes that doesn't matter when it's uh when it's a night when when Sarah is tied up. So it it's learning to rely upon the other people to do what you but to do what you have done as succinctly communicated as you can, you know, to make sure it works the way that you want it to. And that's that's that's easily the hardest part. Uh we've had some interesting challenges over the years because when I when I first started doing this, it was two weeks in October. We're Halloween 365, and we've been that way since 2006 when we started to do the TV show. Oh, yeah. Because we get magic on a TV show. So I had to come up with magic for monthly episodes of the television show.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 24:17

And then when we moved to Manessa, and we were starting to do the all-season shows. Now we're doing four shows a year, four unique scripts. We say two to six magic tricks. Usually it's three or four.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

Right.

SPEAKER_06 24:31

But I there's stuff that you will never see because we've we've written it and then we've had to rule it out, or things like that. Yeah. So we're constantly working on scripts and games and effects and stuff like that. So just the the fact that it is a year-round endeavor um is is a is another challenge because we're we're constantly trying to figure out how to not repeat ourselves, or if we are going to repeat ourselves, right? It both makes sense and it's been it's not going to be boring, you know, if if we are repeating ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I but that's one thing that I do um love about what you guys do. And, you know, and and I was even uh talking to this about uh Ricky when I I had him on like just prior to uh St. Patrick's Day opening up, is that um I I I really, really like how you guys do the like four shows a year now, the kind of little bit of like Halloween all year round. And um and I I and I I like how you guys change up the themes every year, and you know, you keep things fresh and new and uh change up the script a little bit. And it's even though, and I always say, even though I've been there a million times, and I've you know, I've seen the castle, you know, behind the scenes without like without any of like the the to-do and you know when the lights are on and everything. I mean, I've been there like plenty of times, but you know, but I always still love coming back for all the shows. It's always, it's always a very memorable experience, like whether you're going there for the first time or you've been there like 20 million times, you know, and you're not new to it. And in a way you kind of know what to expect, but in a way you also don't, because you know, that's the thing. You guys keep things really fresh over there, and I and I I really enjoy it, and I always look forward to seeing what you guys are doing um each each year and with each show.

SPEAKER_06 26:34

Well, you are our easiest and our hardest audience because the people that that come back regularly enjoy what we do. So we're writing a script for you, and that's that's the easy part. The hard part is the keeping it interesting. What are what are we going to do so that they don't figure it out two rooms in? And uh St. Patrick's Day was a good example of it. We wanted to uh use some magic that was a little bit more deceptive to leads lead people into something that they didn't didn't realize was going to um be important later on, or uh the perception of failure. That uh, you know, everything we did with the uh uh the map we did uh a magic trick this time with uh that related to the phases of the moon.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

Right, yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_06 27:29

Okay, so Madame Italia gave them the coin, and the coin changed the the coin represents the moon, the coin changed phases, and then it went down to Morgana, and Morgana changed it back. And what they didn't know was when Madame Italia actually changed it, that was the way it was supposed to be, that Morgana wasn't helping them. So that was supposed to be the whole, you know, the the the the the double cross, the double double cross there. Yeah. Normally that doesn't happen. Normally, normally when we fix it, it's good. Uh, we did another thing this time where if you were paying attention and there were people we know that were, there was a reference to the talismans in the first three scenes, but you didn't get your talism list until the three things you need to find for those who haven't been to Castle Blood. Um the talismans were physically portrayed in the first two scenes and it was mentioned in the third. And when people got up to the den to midnight, and midnight gave them the list of talismans, some of them started swearing because they realized that they had seen the talismans in the first two scenes and thought they made a mistake. Oh so part of the magic for those people that realized it was that they thought that they they thought that they had made a mistake when actually we were leading them away from it anyway. But the whole the whole idea was, okay, you you saw you saw the gristle of the thistle and heard about the whistle, and you haven't even gotten your list yet. Okay, geez, what did I do wrong? For those that have been here for years and years and uh you know are used to just getting their list and going on their way.

SPEAKER_04 29:10

Right.

SPEAKER_06 29:11

We try to do different yeah, we we've tried to do different things where uh we've added uh we've added uh an element. Uh we had a puzzle box one time that uh I actually bought two in case somebody threw it across the room. But if you opened the puzzle box in that scene, the people that did got a t-shirt. I think we gave out five t-shirts that year.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_06 29:36

And that was an October show? Yeah, it was they were just told that there was an additional reward if they got everything. And most people couldn't open the puzzle box. When they opened the puzzle box, uh, they had to present the coin, and they if they presented the coin to the gift shop, they got a t-shirt.

SPEAKER_05 29:51

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 29:52

And like I said, I want to say it's three people all season uh actually actually achieved that. And that was it wasn't a we didn't do it as a throwaway. It was it was a magic effect that we we did uh for a specific reason in there, but we didn't want to make it we want to make it extra special for those that were going the extra mile, was was basically it.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

Very cool. But yeah, I like it, but like I said, I do enjoy um how you guys just keep keep it fresh, keep changing it up, and you know, and I I I love this year's theme of uh werewolves and how it's the like the original like Irish and Scottish um tales of of the of the uh of the werewolf instead of going with I mean we all love our universal monsters, obviously, but um but I do like that you guys are going with like the original stories instead of the um instead of like kind of going with like you know the wolf man and all that stuff. So yeah, absolutely love it.

SPEAKER_06 31:05

Oh we'll we'll we'll get to it. We'll get to it. We have three more shows to get to it, but oh we wanted to start we well of course we wanted to start with Celtic lore, and we all had the same idea with the the St. Patrick's Day show is that wow, Scottish and Irish werewolves are so different than European werewolves. Yeah, we really need to hit the hit home on that. So we did, and then you know, as we go into Summerween, we're gonna go go to some different traditions and and uh uh folklore and tropes and and things like that. Of course, when you get when we get into October, it's gonna be a lot more uh in detail because we're able to. And then I'm kind of looking forward to Christmas because there's some, you know, the the the scary stories associated with Christmas when you're talking about the uh the it's not just Krampus out there that is the you know that uh ever everybody everybody in the castle I think has their favorite um Christmas creature, Kryptmas creature, and we we've all tried to incorporate it into the show at one point. I mean, mine's the Yule Cat. That's probably my favorite.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 32:18

You know you know about the Yule Cat?

SPEAKER_02 32:21

The Yule Cat, I've heard of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:23

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_06 32:24

So the the Yule Cat will come and visit you um if you do not give or receive clothing.

SPEAKER_05 32:32

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 32:33

As a gift. And it's uh it's a it's a i it's a European thing, and uh a friend of mine, uh Ed Gannon, wrote a very, very cool old school scary story on it. You like you would find on a record album on the back of a uh cereal box. He wrote and recorded a bunch of those, and he wrote one totally based on the Yule Cat and uh uh a couple that gets stranded, and one one left her parents' gifts at the house because she knew it was just a pair of gloves. So she didn't accept the gloves, therefore the Yule Cat was stalking them and they get stuck in the snow and things like that. It's yeah. So it you know, it's so I I'm saying that because I don't want to tell you what we're doing with Weirwolves. But we'll have some special stuff for Christmas as well.

SPEAKER_02 33:24

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 33:25

And uh, you know, uh the the whole thing with phases of the moon and the fact that um the Roma culture is accept uh is a part of it with the European legends, which we'll be um hitting, you know, hitting in. And that's always fun for me because that gives me something to do uh as far as coming up with different magic and different effects for that.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 33:46

Mm-hmm.

unknown 33:47

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

And um for somebody maybe who's like up and coming in, you know, magic and effects, and you know, maybe wanting to get into the um the haunt world, um, what what advice would you have for them?

SPEAKER_06 34:06

As far as as haunting, it's a matter of getting involved getting involved with the haunt and and learning from the ground up. I I and I think that's really important. Uh we we get people to come in that want to be actors right away. And you know, you know we're a very different haunt in terms of uh we've got more speaking parts than scare parts, you know, on on in every given show. Uh so you know, learn to be a scare actor, learn learn how that works. Uh learn the behind-the-scene things. Uh don't just get involved during the season. See see if they they look for help during the off-season and and you know, try to learn from that way. Uh, as far as magic goes, uh the magic that I do is an interesting combination of very mundane magic. I take magic tricks that magicians perform in kid shows and I put spooky stories to them, and I have a lot of fun doing it. But the other side is something that that's called uh in in the trade is called bizarre magic uh or storytelling magic. And it's incorporating the other theatrical elements in, particularly acting and story, uh, to the effects.

SPEAKER_03 35:24

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 35:24

Um I've done presentations, uh, there's a uh program, uh a convention called the East Coast Spirit Sessions. Okay. Uh, which was originally it was originally just for seance performers.

SPEAKER_05 35:35

Oh.

SPEAKER_06 35:36

And it's kind of morphed into storytelling magic and uh all th all things as far as theatrical magic go.

SPEAKER_05 35:44

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 35:45

And it's finding those people that are putting the time in to do that type of magic.

SPEAKER_03 35:50

Right.

SPEAKER_06 35:50

There are several people in Pittsburgh that perform that way, but we have to find each other. You know, I I'm very we have five magic clubs within an hour of Pittsburgh.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_06 36:04

Okay. Going all the way, well, uh an hour and a half if you depending upon how you drive how fast you drive to Youngstown. But we have Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Beaver, and then two, uh, I'm sorry, two in Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Beaver, and Youngstown. Five, five different magic clubs. It's a matter of being a part of one of those. And meeting the people. Now, because of that, I I've met some people that are into the weird stuff, uh, as people say. Uh and you know, we uh just recently we've had a couple of people in Pittsburgh pop up that like the weird stuff as opposed to doing card tricks, and uh I'm having a lot of fun interacting with them. So seeking out other performers is is what I would recommend. But there are books and and you can find literally everything on the internet now. But uh there are books and there are events and things like that that you know I I'll be going every January to East Coast spirit sessions that I can now because it's it's a fun event, it's uh and it's a good way to interact with people that are like-minded, yeah. And that's what you gotta find. You know, and and you know, same with haunting. You know, the uh trans world for for a lot of us is uh kind of a homecoming thing, too. Because uh many, many people don't go for the trade show. They go because they don't see these people for a year and then they go to beat with their friends.

SPEAKER_02 37:26

Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 37:29

So that that would be my advice to give to uh somebody up and coming. Start locally and then look at the bigger stuff you can do. Uh don't keep yourself local.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

Yeah, yeah, like go from the ground up because sometimes if you try to go too big too soon, you end up biting off a little bit more than you can chew, and you know, and sometimes it's better to learn things, you know, incre you know, in increments and get your feet wet, maybe like at a small like neighborhood haunted attraction, and then you know, and then just keep you know building from there.

SPEAKER_06 38:04

So well, it it's both in magic and in haunting, it's uh there's the same path that people want to take. It's okay, I did a couple of magic shows locally, or I did them for the for my kids' school, or I did them for the nursing home. Now I want a mountain illusion show. Okay, there's a lot of steps in between those two.

SPEAKER_02 38:24

Right.

SPEAKER_06 38:25

And the same is true with haunting. You know, I oh I I set up a display in my yard, everyone loves it, we got a hundred trick-or-treaters.

SPEAKER_02 38:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 38:31

I can charge admission and I and I I can retire. Well, that's not gonna happen. Right, yeah. That's not gonna, you know, uh, I I've I've yet to meet somebody that's retired off of haunting, uh, that said that made their money in the first couple of years and then then was was able to do everything that they wanted. Uh there are a couple of people that have made good livings doing haunting um and have kept themselves active and relevant, but it's it's uh it's work, it's effort. And and you there's you know, there's not skipping of steps, it's learning from other people, it's learning from their mistakes and making your own mistakes along the way.

SPEAKER_03 39:10

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 39:12

Yeah. No, I I totally um totally with you there. Um you know, it's it's you know, it's important to, you know, get your hands dirty and you know, and if you make a mistake, be like, okay, you know, what can I learn from this? You know, and and then maybe try not to make that mistake uh again. Uh, but you know, kind of, but just yeah, learn from it and you just gotta keep moving forward. So yeah, but um, but yeah, but I'm glad you guys, you know, you guys have made it and you're you know, you're still around and yeah, I'd l love to see it.

SPEAKER_06 39:52

Well, you know, again, we we we appreciate and we we like playing for our people that like what we do. You know, and and I I'm sure that there are, you know, all of the different things that you do. Uh I'm sure that there are parallels in in music and things like that as far as uh the type of work you have to put in and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

Oh yeah. I mean, the the thing is, it's like people like the spectators, and I'm you know, and obviously it's the same case with you guys and what you do, it's like they see the finished product, you know, and yeah, sometimes we do, you know, like behind the scenes video and you know, and say, hey, take a look at, you know, for me, it's like, okay, my new songwriting process, or, oh, you know, take a look at my podcasting setup, or, you know, things like that, but that's still only a small fraction of of what they're actually seeing of all the work that goes into it. And yeah, it is, it's it's quite, I mean, especially for you guys, it's a lot of setup, it's a lot of, you know, it's the script writing, it's getting the actors prepared, it's getting just everything decorated and cleaned up and prepared, and you know, and making sure everything's still up to code as far as, you know, electricity and everything goes. So, um, you know, so I yeah, yeah, I totally get the whole thing with, you know, people seeing the finished product, but a lot of the time, you know, even if we do offer a little behind the scenes, the scenes glimpse, it's just, I mean, just a small fraction of everything that actually goes into any type of production.

SPEAKER_06 41:32

And one of the things I would be very remiss to not include this, uh, and I believe I mentioned it in one of my recognitions in the book, yeah, is that there are things that only our wives and our children see. And Ricky and I are both incredibly fortunate.

SPEAKER_03 41:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 41:50

That our wives are directly involved, our children are direct. His he and I both have uh have a daughter named Caitlin. Uh but uh Big Kate and Little Kate have both grown up in this, and uh um Big Kate's a makeup artist and does a lot with uh uh works with a a company that does uh support for uh for planners, you know, for for uh um uh calendar type planners that that she works for that that company and it's it's it's doing the different things to both promote them and uh you know, all the cool things like what the sticker books and stuff like that. Uh and she she does a lot with with uh um things that she has learned in terms of of stuff that we've pro uh related to both prop making and makeup. Uh my daughter's uh uh in the acting program at Slippery Rock. Okay. And it's it's been it's been wonderful watching her grow with that, and the fact that she she even said to me the other day that had she not grown up with the castle stuff, uh, she doesn't know how comfortable she would be doing all of this because she she grew up with a level of of uh assurance. And then Ricky's granddaughters, Ricky's two granddaughters who were adorable, um, are are now acting. Yeah, they're now now both acting. One of them came up for uh St. Patrick's Day uh and was uh working solo in the library this year.

SPEAKER_01 43:19

Yeah, oh that's yeah, I remember yeah, I remember that yeah, the little girl that was in there.

SPEAKER_06 43:26

Yes, yes. That is Ricky's granddaughter. Uh that's Ricky's younger granddaughter.

SPEAKER_05 43:33

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 43:33

So and uh Whiplash. Whiplash has uh two children, uh two daughters, and they both act here. So, you know, we're you know, again, we're very fortunate that the that our family supports what we do. Yeah. Uh Carrie has my wife Carrie has been very supportive of everything I've done with magic.

SPEAKER_05 43:51

Uh huh.

SPEAKER_06 43:52

Uh and uh she's she's a part of what what I do for East Coast Spirit sessions.

SPEAKER_03 43:59

Um

SPEAKER_06 44:00

Travels to conventions when she can. A lot of times, you know, work and life get in the way, but when she can go on an event with me, she goes.

SPEAKER_07 44:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 44:08

And uh, you know, I it it's you know that that that that additional level of support and comfort you get when you know you have a spouse that's helping you out.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

Oh, absolutely. No, that's great that you know you and Ricky both have that. Because obviously, you know, Ricky's wife is, you know, hexabar, you know. Um, in you know, she's usually hanging out in Crowshaven and she's awesome at it. And Crowshaven's actually my favorite place um at the castle anytime I get a chance to go through Crows Haven, it's like, ah, love this. I just yeah, it's you know, and cause I was um because when uh Hannah of Hanowentown, um we went through uh you know, we went through uh Friday night, uh St. Patrick's Day, and you know, we said the same thing about Crows Haven. It's like, you know, she said it's like it's like you're being hugged by Halloween, and I'm like, yes, you know, I I agree. It's just it's kind of like you get a little touch of you know, fall and Halloween, um, regardless of what time of year it is.

SPEAKER_06 45:16

Well, I I know both both uh Dawn and Ricky would appreciate that because that that particular scene is definitely designed to give you that vibe.

SPEAKER_04 45:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 45:25

You know, that's uh a Christmas card or a or uh a love letter to Halloween or hugged by Halloween. I I that's yeah, that that that's all those are all things that we want to hear. Yeah, you know, which is unusual for unusual for a haunted house, but yeah, no, we want to hear that. We want to hear that people get a warm feeling from what we're doing, that there's there's a f nostalgia. Uh one of the things that came up this year, and this is the first time we heard it mentioned, and it was by people that uh are of a certain age that don't know what old school really is when they say old school. They're they're maybe 20 or early 30s something that really weren't around for Halloween in the eighties and nineties, but they've heard about it.

SPEAKER_05 46:13

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 46:13

And they they look at what they do and and they're saying, This is old school done right. This is what what you know, this is you know, to to to steal a Disney phrase, this is the Halloween that that was and never will be. You know, it's a nostalgic version of Halloween. Uh it may or may not have been what you experienced, but we hope if you saw a movie like Hocus Pocus, yes, you know, then you get that vibe and say, okay, yeah, that's that that's that reminds me of of the way Halloween used to be. You know, that's what we want.

SPEAKER_01 46:44

Yeah, indeed. And exactly. And and I do think that you know, that's a big part of what you know what I appreciate about Castle Blood is is that there is that nostalgia. So, you know, whether or not you might have experienced that, you know, old school Halloween, you're still able to experience that by coming through the castle. And for me especially, walking through uh Crow's Haven. So yeah.

SPEAKER_06 47:17

And the again, the interesting thing about it is that you know, I can honestly tell you there is no other attraction in the country that's doing the magic the way we're doing it. You know, there are some people that used to do something similar, but uh not in exactly the same way we're doing it. Um ironically, one of them was in Pittsburgh. Um, people using magic, a lot of them are using visual effects or things specifically themed to Halloween or things that are specifically themed to uh to gore or monsters or or whatever it is, whereas we're we're doing things that are regular magic, but it's just incorporated with the characters.

SPEAKER_04 47:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 48:00

And you know, that that that go back to one of the things that's difficult. The most difficult thing for me is explaining is explaining to magicians why this is relevant.

SPEAKER_05 48:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 48:12

Okay, because I've got people that have performed more times than they've done magic shows, and they won't tell you they're a magician. Uh Anatoly in our cast. Anatoly is uh really taken to everything, but Anatoly didn't didn't do magic before this. And absolutely almost of our our list of people that that we're gonna I'm going to write magic for. Um my daughter Caitlin. My daughter Caitlin's another one, she has to call herself a magician, but she's she's taken to it. And then on the other side, trying to explain to Haunters how the magic works. Because this isn't uh the Castle Blood started with a with a very simple magic trick. It was uh a knife through arm that the amazing Jonathan uh used to perform in comedy clubs. There was a knife through arm that the leads and and that was a part of a ritual routine that they did.

SPEAKER_04 49:02

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 49:02

Um that's about the limit to the visual magic we do, though. We don't do a whole lot of visual spectacle magic where people think it's you know uh headless bodies and bodiless heads and you know impaled illusions and things like that. Um no, this is taking something that fits in your hand and then doing something magical with it that you might not expect.

SPEAKER_03 49:30

So it's hard to explain.

SPEAKER_06 49:35

I had to have something visual for you.

unknown 49:38

Of course.

SPEAKER_06 49:40

I get I I felt really bad. I did I did an audio podcast for somebody, and there's something I wanted to do, and I I couldn't figure out how to make it fit in because everyone's asking, well, you know, can you can you give me one of your spooky magic tricks? And I'm like, kind of hard in this environment. I'm not in costume, I'm not in makeup, and I don't have all the other stuff. But you know, it's you know, it it's try try to show that try to show a group of people that have been doing the same thing for years and years and have been successful at doing what they're doing. Try to show them what you were doing and how it is r relevant. And sometimes you get, I don't know how you do that. I I you know, you know, I know I again the same is true in other other forms of art, but we've created a very interesting niche here, and nobody else is doing what we do. And you know, I'm very happy that we have an audience that enjoys that part of it as well as all the other things we do with the games and the you know the elaborate makeup and costumes and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 50:41

Yeah. Yeah, it's all it's all really, really awesome and really enjoyable. So um so as far as um your book goes, um, we as we said earlier, it can be purchased in the Castle Gift Shop. And you said you're also going to have copies of it with you at Trans World.

SPEAKER_06 51:00

Yes, yes. Uh always available directly through me wherever I'm at. Um available, available at the Castle uh Blood Gift Shop or you know, uh an email or a message away, you know, as far as that goes for either Ricky or I.

SPEAKER_02 51:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 51:15

And uh on Amazon.com always.

SPEAKER_02 51:18

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 51:19

Uh and one thing, and I and I I did I did want to want to address this, and uh it was an interesting thing as as far as the the the book on Amazon is uh it is sixty dollars for the soft cover, it is seventy dollars for the hard hardcover. Okay in the magic world, in the magic world, that is um uh that is the standard for books on this type of magic. It actually is. So that might seem a little bit daunting. If you want to save some money, contact me privately and I'll work you a deal. And I'll even sign it for you if you want it to be signed. But it's you know, if if that price on Amazon is a little bit scary, uh give me a call and give me a shout, and I'll I'll see what I can do to help you out a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 52:05

Yeah, and just um just at your email address.

SPEAKER_06 52:08

Um, which is it's uh Chris Christopher.handa at verizon.net, and I can make sure that uh any other information that you need that that you have that. Very cool.

SPEAKER_01 52:22

Yeah, I'll have to have you sign my copy next time I see you.

SPEAKER_06 52:25

So bring it next time, I would be happy to.

SPEAKER_01 52:29

Absolutely. And yeah, if you're watching this on YouTube, this is the cover. Um, if you're listening it to an audio podcast, then you might just have to go to the YouTube episode just so you can see the cover and what it looks like. But yeah, it's definitely, especially if you are um curious about uh some, you know, what it's like behind the scenes at a haunted attraction um and the work that goes into it. This is actually a very uh great book to have. And I definitely recommend picking it up and you can read it front to back or you can, you know, just you know, have it as a reference for, you know, maybe, you know, something, you know, maybe for like a project that, you know, maybe might be inspired by this. But either way, it's it's it's a great book. And um, yeah, so Chris, um, I know you're working hard at Castle Blood, but is there anything else uh coming up for you this year?

SPEAKER_06 53:27

Uh yes, I'm actually working on retooling my uh my original family show, which is called Wizarding 101, and I'm I'm working on uh with a couple of venues to bring that back, uh, as well as a uh I hate to say an adult show because it's it's not you know uh a show that that is a little bit more geared toward an adult audience in terms of doing mentalism and the spooky stuff. I'm working on retooling uh uh and I actually have some I'm having some conversations this week uh with people about that. Uh so that's you know, as far as the stuff that's outside of Castle Blood. Uh, and I haven't been I haven't done that for a long time. Uh largely because of the castle, uh partially because of you know life getting in the way. Um, you know, and again, we you know, uh I am I'm available to do other things. I'm I I do consulting, I I teach. Um happy to come out if somebody is interested in learning a little bit more, I would be happy to do a talk on the book.

SPEAKER_03 54:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 54:23

Uh the book, by the way, also takes you through, as as Tiffany did mention, um, as you said, the the book is designed to be a narrative about the attraction, to take you through a history of the attraction as well. So that's that's the whole thing, if you're able to read it cover to cover, that's that's wise because you're reading it as a history as well as uh um the magic effects that are included during those those times and those eras.

SPEAKER_02 54:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 54:49

So yeah, that's that's what's going on right now as far as outside of uh uh Summerween and October and uh Cryptmas.

SPEAKER_05 54:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 54:57

And uh, you know, hopeful, hopefully bigger and better things as far as uh um uh the you know uh the book goes. I'm lecturing to magicians.

SPEAKER_03 55:08

Nice.

SPEAKER_06 55:08

I have another set of lecture notes uh that I just wrote on supermarket magic, which has nothing to do with the attraction except that it's themed entertainment.

SPEAKER_05 55:16

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 55:17

And I've I've been doing some uh some lectures for magicians as well.

SPEAKER_03 55:21

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 55:22

Oh, very cool. Love to hear it. So yeah, well, thank you so much for you know coming on the show and everything, and you know, definitely appreciate it. And I loved, you know, because I've gotten Ricky's perspective. So, you know, it was it's you know, it's great to also get your perspective too on, you know, the goings-on of you know, Castle Blood and the haunted attraction industry. So yeah.

SPEAKER_06 55:51

Well, thank you, thank you again for doing this, and thank you for having me on.

SPEAKER_01 55:54

Yeah, no problem. So, all right. So that was uh Chris Handa, also known as Professor Scry at Castle Blood. Again, um this is his book, uh Talismans and Filmaturgy, uh Stories and Sorceries at Castle Blood. Uh definitely if you're interested in uh what goes on behind the scenes at a haunted attraction and what you know what happens when you build a haunted attraction literally from the ground up. This is a great uh book to have. And um, you know, and or even if you're just, you know, you just want to see how some things are done behind the scenes, um, definitely pick it up. And uh again, thank you, Chris, uh, for coming on. It was really great talk chatting with you. And you're taking over uh Gravely's office, I see.

SPEAKER_06 56:47

So but well, you he knows.

SPEAKER_02 56:52

Wait, what was that?

SPEAKER_06 56:54

I said he knows.

SPEAKER_02 56:57

All right.

SPEAKER_06 56:58

He's actually been texting me while this has all been going on.

SPEAKER_01 57:02

Oh, goodness, wow. Hey Ricky, what's up? But yes, but thank you, Chris, for uh coming on, and it was very enjoyable having you. Um, and everybody else, thank you so much for listening. I've been seeing a surge in uh listeners for both my podcasts, so that's awesome. Thank you guys. Uh, y'all are incredible. Um, but that wraps up this episode, and I leave you as usual with wherever you are, stay safe, stay fierce, and stay spooky.

SPEAKER_02 57:40

Have a good night.