Why Horror Fans Feel Like Family with Spooky Kisses, Part 2

In part two of our conversation with Spooky Kisses, the discussion shifts from haunted attractions and horror conventions to something even more interesting: the people who make these communities feel like home.

We talk about why horror fans are some of the most loyal and passionate people you'll ever meet, the friendships that form inside haunt casts, and why so many scare actors describe their haunted attraction family as exactly that, a family.

Along the way, we discuss iconic haunts like Pennhurst Asylum, Haunted Overload, Field of Screams, and The Darkness, plus Terrifier, The Ring, horror conventions, creepy wells, grave robbers, chainsaw scares, and the surprising number of nurses and healthcare professionals who spend their free time terrifying strangers.

Spooky Kisses also shares her plans for the future of her show, her dream of bringing celebrities through haunted attractions, and why she believes horror can appeal to far more than just die-hard haunt fans.

Most importantly, we explore one of the themes that keeps coming up on Horror Heals: sometimes the people who feel like outsiders everywhere else find acceptance, belonging, and community through horror.

Thank you for listening to Horror Heals. 

Share the show with someone who loves horror and someone who needs a little healing.

If you want to support our guests, check the show notes for links to their work, conventions, and fundraising pages.

You can also listen to our sister podcast Family Twist, a show about DNA surprises, identity, and the families we find along the way.

Horror Heals is produced by How the Cow Ate the Cabbage LLC.

Is horror good for mental wellness? Of corpse it is.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hello, boils and it's your old Val, Jacky Deer, the voice of the Kripkeeper. And I want to welcome my good Fiend of the Horror Heels Podcast. Is horror good for mental wellness? But of course it is!

SPEAKER_03 0:30

Hey everybody, welcome back to Horror Heels. I'm Kendall. And this is part two of our conversation with Spooky Kisses. This episode really just feels like sitting around talking horror with somebody who completely gets it. Haunted attractions, conventions, scare actors, weird horror memories from childhood. All the stuff that horror fans can talk about for hours without getting bored. And we also get into something Corey and I always come back to on this podcast, which is how horror communities can become real communities. The friendships people make at conventions, the families that form inside haunt casts, the feeling of finally finding people who understand your weird little niche interests and fully embrace them. There's also a lot of chaos in this one. Corey tells a story about practically carrying another human being through a haunted attraction because a chainsaw guy scared him so badly. We talk creepy kids in horror houses, horror conventions like Monster Maniacon and Silver Screen Con, and why horror fans are some of the most loyal people you'll ever meet. This conversation just made me want Halloween season immediately. Here's part two with spooky kisses.

Corey 1:55

I don't know the types of scares that you like when you go to a haunted attraction, but I'll tell you, there were two times that I was genuinely like, what the F. The first time was, and so back when I was a journalist, you know, that because St. Louis had several of these, that was like a media night where they got a school, rented a school bus with kegs of beer in it, and drove us around to the different haunts, and we're drinking on the bus between each one. So we go through this one, and it's they've got the fluorescent lights and the you're the 3D glasses and stuff, so it's all jumping at you. One of the haunt actors was missing a hand, legit missing a hand, but he had it all painted, the end of it was all painted in neon and stuff. And I was a little bit tipsy at this point, but he was literally wanted you to like touch it. Shake his hand. Yeah. And so I'm like, and then when I did, I could feel the bones moving. And I'm like, it's a nub! You've got a nub! And I think and I he just started cracking me up. He loved it. The other time, right before we moved to California, I was the best man in my childhood best friend's wedding. And he was a professional wrestler. So first we went to the professional wrestling in St. Louis to go see that. And then we went to a Heart Attraction. And there was What a crazy night.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Yeah.

Corey 3:05

Yeah. Didn't even we didn't even do the strip club. We just, it was wrestling, wrestling and scary attraction.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

What more could you ask for?

Corey 3:12

We walked into this room. Of course, it was like, you know, who knows what the lighting was like, but you there's a rocking chair, there's this doll going back and forth. It wasn't a doll, it was a just legit little person who jumped off the chair and came at you. I'm like, whoa.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Yeah, that's pretty scary. That would freak me out. I think the thing that freaks me out, and I say this a lot, but what really freaks me out is when people crawl on the floor and they make baby noises and they'll go, get out of here. Because that really freaks me out.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Yeah, I'm with you.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Like I said before, I'm not a kid person, and especially babies freak me out, and little kids freak me out. So yeah.

Corey 3:50

We took our niece and nephew are twins, and thankfully, not the creepy kind, but when they were kids, we took them to a haunted attraction, and I don't remember how exactly it went down, but one of the scare actors tapped Kendall on the shoulder and said, What's his name? referring to our little boy nephew. And then he jumps ahead, two rooms or whatever, and all of a sudden you hear all you hear is oh no, it's looking scary.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

I must have scared him so bad.

Corey 4:20

I'm sure if it I'm sure if the lights were on, there would be a damp spot.

SPEAKER_03 4:23

Oh well. I I I knew it was gonna happen. I peed myself, so I'm just saying it was fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Yeah, it's wicked scary when they do that. Yeah. What are you guys looking forward to the most? Is there any hunt? Are you going to any hunt conventions or anything like that?

Corey 4:42

I love the Monster Mania conventions in New Jersey. I love the New Jersey Horror Con. And and then I'm sure they're gonna do the Silver Scream again in Worcester, and it's put on by the guys from Einstein Kills, and it's just I'm just I think it's only their third. This I think this will be their fourth one.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Oh well. I'll go, I'll try to check it out. Yeah, I'll try to go.

Corey 5:04

We're close enough. Yeah, exactly. We'll car we'll carpool, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:08

We'll all go together. I think, but you guys are up there, I think that you're out of the way, but that would be fun.

Corey 5:13

And I'll tell you this, they are they're really tight with all the terrifier folks, they're usually all there.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

I know because they're in the terror, they did a terrifier video, yeah. And it was it was really cool. It was well done, very well done. Yes, I was like, wow, that's nice. Because they've been trying to be musicians for years and years and years and years, and they used to go to like Lollapalooza. This is what I read about. I don't know this personally, like it's not firsthand. I saw it on a documentary or whatever that Ice Nine Kills was like they would go to Lollapalooza, whatever, and try to hand out CDs in the parking lot and you know, and stuff like that. They've been trying to be we're like they're like, We're gonna be big stars, we're gonna be big stars, and it took them forever to get where they are now, you know, which is great. That's great.

Corey 5:58

No, it's I think they're organic, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

It's organic, took them a long time, but they did it. They didn't get it.

Corey 6:04

I think they're gonna have a big year, yeah. No, and that uh at this event, they also do like a concert there too, like an odd part concert.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

So like that's pretty cool.

Corey 6:11

Ice Night Kills will play and a bunch of other inherited the rock and shock sort of format, right? And you know, put their new spin on it, but awesome conventions. So yeah, yeah, it's definitely one for you to check out for sure.

SPEAKER_02 6:25

So you guys, that's like more of a thing for you guys, is the conventions more than anything else, you think?

Corey 6:30

I like yeah, I like the conventions just because I first started going to them.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Because I saw the pictures of you guys getting autographs, and you have all like the autographs.

Corey 6:40

So I'm yes, I because so I was an entertainment journalist for you know 15 years, and so you know, got to interview a lot of cool people, Robert England and Heather Langenkamp and you know, all the all the icons and stuff. And so and I started collecting autographs back then. So, like when you know, when I was young, I think I was still in high school, maybe college, Elvira came you know to darkness and did like an autograph signing and stuff. So that's where I first started getting into the whole collecting thing. And that sort of continued when we were living in California. Oh, yeah. And California has some amazing or something.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

We have tons of them.

Corey 7:14

They're different than the ones out here in the East Coast, in that because it's California, it's a lot of them are in the Southern California, the LA area, you're getting more of the prop builders and the makeup artists and stuff, which is another cool aspect of it because you'll get see people just get transformed from head to toe. But it's it feels more like a comic book convention in that it's not it's not like the community is there. Like out here on the East Coast, it's like I'm in all of the horror con fan groups and stuff. And it's these are people like the one of the main reasons that people go time and time again, right?

SPEAKER_02 7:43

Is to see all their see their friends, see all your friends, see everybody that's in yeah, sense. Yeah, that's pretty good.

Corey 7:49

So that's it, and that's really I mean that sense of community. Like I consider myself pals with some of these people.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

I know that, and they're very loyal, right? Like once they like whatever star, whatever book, whatever movie it is, franchise, they are really solid. Yes, because uh when I first started on YouTube, I made friends with all the not all, but like different horror people that were doing reviews of horror movies and stuff like that. Because it'd be like I would go in their little signing thing and you go because social media is supposed to be social and it is, so you'd be like they would watch your videos and you would watch their videos, and so you just write in their thing, and you guys could do that too to make your YouTube a little bit more where and you just get to know all the horror people, and they are really loyal people, and it's really nice, and and just so passionate, like it's so interesting for me to see.

Corey 8:45

And like our ne our youngest niece is uh, you know, she's gotten into horror over the last few years, and like the last time I was back in St. Louis visiting with her, you know, she had just done like a marathon of all the scream movies. So that's like like we're for us, it's like Nagram L Street or Friday the 13th, for for Gen Z or the or in some of the Alphas, it's the Scream franchise. Yeah, and when you see one of these like 12 or 13 year old kids, you know, get to meet the Scream actors, you know, they get to meet Nev Campbell or Skeet Olberick, and just like the tears, like they can't even speak. You know, we're meeting them, it's just like the Beatles, like wow, like this is their thing, you know.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Oh, that's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool. Yeah, so like with our show, we're just gonna take it further. I think so. We go to go on the road. We have season three is gonna come out this fall, and it'll probably if we don't know where it's going yet because we have that thing in the works. Sure. So worst case scenario, it just goes on Amazon, like how we were doing, but most likely it's gonna go someplace else, and and it'll be exclusive and it'll be a horror network. So that's all I can say. So cool.

Corey 9:53

I love that because we do all we can to spread the word to people because like my mom's like, I don't like horror, and my co-work, my two office coworkers, neither one of them like horror. Like maybe a little bit of horror Jason stuff, but we talk about horror all the time because all the time. One, like the creativity there.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

No, listen to me. I'm gonna tell you about horror.

Corey 10:12

Yes, shut up, sit down, listen.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

We're always gonna have there's always gonna be the remakes that's run off from that.

Corey 10:20

But it's like the creativity and the originals that are coming out now. It's it's really good storytelling, and legit, like I do believe, like as Kendall said coming home after a crappy day at work and putting on a familiar favorite just to watch. Oh, I can't wait to see this kill coming up. It's gonna make me feel good. Or you just it takes your mind off what's happening. There's a lot of real life horror happening in the world right now.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

So it's oh god, I know it's really hard to take. Yeah, it's nice to escape into some fake or even serial killer documentaries. I'll watch a lot of those because it's like it's better just to put your head someplace else. Yeah, it's so true. Yeah, I agree with that a hundred percent. It's nice to just escape. Then sometimes I'll watch so much stuff about like real crime besides horror that I'm scared to like glue that because I'm only five foot one, I don't weigh much. Somebody could just pick me up and like, oh god, I don't know if I want to steal you.

Corey 11:15

We're living in a legit horror movie, right? Yeah, we're living through the movie.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Oh, you're not allowed to single anymore, right? It has to be little people. Oops, oh well. Sorry, sorry, people that are small. I didn't mean to insult you. Yeah, so yeah, we have big things coming with the show. There's other ideas. There's another uh thing that we're working on project. We're trying to, if we get this other thing that we want in exclusive, then there's we're trying to work on another show that it will still be gritty and it will still be, it'll still be funny and it'll still be hot related. But um, it's another kind of way to do it. It'll still be me as a host, but it'll just it's different though. Like I can't really say any more than that. We have too many secrets, I know, going around. But what I'll do is I I'll come back if what happens, yeah, and you guys will be really excited about it too. Because I know very cool.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

We'd love to have you back on.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Yeah, and and and it would be um it would be exciting because then I'll be able to talk about it. But uh yeah, we really like what we do, and it is exhausting sometimes uh when we're out on the road, but we really like it. It's a lot of fun. We meet a lot of people, and everybody that we meet, I remember, oh, going back to being bullied in junk like that. Remember, you were saying that before? When we first went to Fill the Screams, I was terrified because what we'll do is research the owners and research it. Sort. I won't want to see the inside because I want to be surprised, but like we'll sort of research the owners and read about them and see different things that they've said on interviews and stuff like that. And the two guys that own Fill the Screen, they're brothers, and they look like somebody that made fun of me in high school, right? So I was like really scared. I was like, I don't know how you thought I would go here, but they were so nice because they're enthusiastic, they're also perfectionists, like how everything has to be, you know, and even if you're going through in the dark and nobody sees it, they still have to make it perfect and everything, you know, they're so into it. And you can't blame them, it's their business, and they that's what they've sure their baby and passion, right? They're dead baby, but uh yeah, we want we want to um we want to keep doing it and we wanna hopefully we'll just get bigger and bigger, and that's what we hope for. We want to be more for the normal people, not just haunters. That's where we're going with it. Sort of like uh remember those shows, those movies that was like uh Sean of the Dead and all those things. I love those. So it's sort of funny, but it's sort of so we're kind of on that wavelength, I think, because there are some funny parts of the show and how it's edited, but like I just uh I I want to go that way. What we really, really, really want to do is be more than the Han industry, be more than that, and just regular people because look at how many people go to haunted attractions. So we just figure that hopefully it will take off. I mean, it's already we've done a lot for where we are at the moment, but we're just really hoping to be bigger, you know, with what we really, really, really want to do. Like you guys. So it's like, you know, and you guys will be bigger too. So it's like you can never underestimate anybody. You never know what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

That's true.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

You never know. And I think it would be very popular, they're very popular.

Corey 14:25

I think it would behoove you guys to try to do some filming at one of the Monstermania conventions in Cherry Hill. It's it's not a crazy long drive for one.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

We would like to, but it's just the editing. Like what happened to our show? I don't know if you've really looked at it. The editing takes forever. Yeah, and so if we did a horror convention, which we wouldn't mind doing, what would happen is it would only be YouTube, so it wouldn't go on Amazon and stuff because it wouldn't be in line, you know, with that. So it's a lot of work for uh to to finish all the shows that we have in backlog and then and then that I would like to, I'd like to do more stuff, but see, I'm just the jerk with a microphone. I'm not if I do it, it'll be crap, and they'll be like, no, we can't use that, we can't use that. I'm working with a perfectionist who is every little thing, every little and and so because of that, I mean I can do this, I could do podcast, stuff like that. I could go to haunted stuff by myself and just go around and be like, hey, this is fun, but just to actually film it is I would like to, but it's just the time and the energy and making it perfect, you know. But definitely I think I think the the one thing that's sort of sucky about what you do and what I do is that we social media is such a big part of it. Yeah. Or say if we got travel channel and discovery channel, we don't have to do that. We don't have to do that. They're like, well, what are your numbers on uh what are your numbers on Facebook? What are your numbers on Instagram? What are your numbers? Yeah, oh by that.

Corey 16:06

Yeah, no, that's I mean that's what we're dealing with now. And we can it's hard with the other podcasts because we just I did some did some research this week on the other podcast. We're just we're we're in that really sweet spot right now where we're that's great, we're trending like five top five percent globally. Oh like now it's time to like the next step, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:24

Yeah, bring it out and do something that you super love and and make that really popular and big and everything, and you can do it, yeah.

Corey 16:31

Absolutely, and we're hope because we do there are opportunities for us to tie the two podcasts together, and we've done that. So, like we're hoping that horror heels can kind of ride on the coattails of Family Twist because Family Twist is is starting to take off, you know, in a big way. Yeah, and so and what's kind of funny is when we interview international guests, like Halloween and some horror stuff hasn't necessarily always been big in some countries that we, you know, people like usually English speaking countries, but it's growing, it's becoming like like um the cousin that's living in Cyprus right now, they were living in Prague, and their apartment at the uh main level was a horror-themed tavern. Yeah in Prague.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

Oh, that's cool. Yeah, yeah. That's cool. That's something that I I like to do. I think in the future, if now this wasn't the other show that I was talking about, but in the very more future, I would like to do kind of like creepy travel where you go to like Dracula's castle or you go to that thing like that, and then you just sort of but the thing is I I like to be funny and I gotta bounce off somebody. And I'm I think you know it was hard because you're talking to historians and stuff.

Corey 17:40

Exactly. Okay, but yeah, yeah, we try to add we try to add humor and levity into it as well.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

We'll have to.

Corey 17:48

So I know that we mentioned the the final question that we always ask is who's your favorite final person? Are you sticking with art from Terrifier Three, or does somebody else jump to mind?

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Yeah, I gotta stick with art from Terrifier Three, and I would say the ring girl, but she freaks me out too much. She's so scary. She comes out of the TV and everything. I don't yeah, she's too scary. And I really hope that art the clown kills me one time. That would be awesome.

Corey 18:18

That would be shoot for the dream, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:20

If you were, if somebody asked me on a different podcast if there was a if if there was a uh movie about you, who would you want them, who would you want to play you? This is a tough question.

Corey 18:33

Oh, who would I want to be meaningful in a movie? That's a tough one. Um isn't it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

So when they asked me, I was like, I don't know, but I thought about it, and I think Kathy Griffin and a purple wig.

Corey 18:46

Oh, okay. I can see that. You know, and so somebody did jump to mind, whatever, because he was like one of my like horror crushes or whatever. Like if you were to ever have the here's your hall pass or whatever, I don't know if he would still be, but for a time, it was just as long. And I think part of it was because he gets gets killed so brutally in every horror movie that he's on. Like Jeepers Creepers the very end, you find out that the creepers killed him and stolen his eyes.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

If you were gonna get killed in a horror movie, how do you want to die? That's another tough one.

Corey 19:14

Oh gosh. I think I gotta go old school machete decapitation.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

I love how you've said that. That is so funny. So if you were killed in a horror movie, how do you want to die?

SPEAKER_03 19:24

Gosh. Oh, you know what I love? I love the uh gosh, is that from Nightmare on Elm Street where the Freddie kills them from under the bed and pushes the oh no, that's from Friday the 13th.

Corey 19:37

That's Kevin Bacon. That's Kevin Bacon getting a knife through his throat. Yes, let me resay that.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

Yeah, and same question. If you were in a movie, who do you want to play you if you could have anybody play you in a movie? Your movie.

Corey 19:48

Huh. Now, when Kendall and I first started dating, and this is going back a million years ago, I thought he resembled Guy Pierce. Like the LA Coffee. When I had hair when he had hair instead of that, yeah. So I think Guy, you don't mind me saying, I think Guy Pierce would do would do a good idea. I think I would take that.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

Yeah, that sounds good.

unknown 20:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:08

I had said Kathy Griffin in a purple wig.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

Oh. We love Kathy. We love Kathy, but I do. Yes, true.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

Even though she's controversial, but you know, but she wishes she looked like you.

SPEAKER_03 20:19

I'm just saying. Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

I need one.

SPEAKER_03 20:26

Her ears are meeting in the back of her head.

unknown 20:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Those are fake ears that we see on stage.

Corey 20:33

I'm sorry. That's weird.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

Oh, I think so.

Corey 20:36

Hey, if anybody's gonna get a kick out of that, it's Kathy. I know.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Oh, that's true. She could take a joke.

Corey 20:42

She could surgery.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

So who's the weirdest person you ever interviewed?

Corey 20:47

The weirdest. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

It's me. No, not me.

Corey 20:52

Yes. I'll tell you, I'll tell you who it is. They're tied. Andy Dick and Steve O. And this is when they were both on drugs.

SPEAKER_02 21:01

Oh, he was on drugs.

Corey 21:02

Oh, allegedly. I'm gonna say allegedly. Oh, I know, I know. Steve O admitted during the interview that he was on.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

I would think.

Corey 21:14

But they were both unhinged, let's just put it that way.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

Wow.

Corey 21:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

Uh the weirdest person I had to interview, and she's weird with everybody, but I love her anyways, is um Kim from Kim's Crypt, because she's like out there. You know her? You know her?

Corey 21:30

Yeah, we don't know her, but we know her. You know her.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Well, because she's she's awesome and she's a lot of fun. Uh, she's a drummer also. Uh, but the reason she's like all over the place, and you kind of have to like rope her in, like, come on. Because she's knowing like almost like I don't know if you remember, like back like when we were kids, like Wolfman Jack or something, they just kind of spout things, they say things like these. I was like almost like radio talk, like a real So if you want to have like a real conversation, you have to should be like, Hey, Kim Crip from Kim Crips.com here and So that that was a little hard. She became really good, but she's uh she's she's like very weird. But I I do find her to be a big character. If you ever have a chance to talk to her, you should.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

We will.

SPEAKER_02 22:23

She'll do an interview. She would do an interview, yeah. Should I think she probably would. Yeah, I think she would. I think that just about a lot of people, if you reach out to them, they'll say yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Corey 22:32

We've we've been pretty fortunate. Very fortunate. I remember. And again, it was another like sort of media night thing where we were where it wasn't open to the public yet. It was like sneak preview, and this was an outdoor one. So, like when you're outdoors and parts of it like in the woods, it's like you feel like it's really happened to you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

To me, it's just my mind plays tricks on me like it's real.

Corey 22:50

So I was with you know, my friend Georgia, and we were walking through, and oh, and they broke us up and like there was four of us, but they only would let us go two, you know, two a pair at a time. And so we're walking through this giant aluminum tube outside, right? All of a sudden you hear the chainsaw rev up. And yeah, I've been to Haunts before, but they've got, of course, the fake chainsaw, but you hear that rev up outside in a giant tube. I literally grabbed George's arm and like drug her, sprinted like she was a football to get the hell away from the chainsaw guy.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

It's funny when people get really scared. I took my nephew and he threw me into a wall. And he's he's uh he's tall and he doesn't look like somebody that would be scared, and he was so freaked out. And they and once you start being freaked out, they'll come after you, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

This is before we were filming too, because I just like I said, I always love them. I just love haunted attractions so much.

Corey 23:42

Oh, yeah, no, they're awesome. They are awesome.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

Oh, this has been great. Yeah, this has been awesome.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

That was part two of our conversation with Spooky Kisses. One thing I kept thinking about listening back to this episode is how many people in horror spaces talk about finally feeling accepted. Whether it's at a haunted attraction, a convention, online horror groups, or just bonding over movies that made you feel less alone growing up. There's something really comforting about finding people who love the same weird things you do. I think that's a big reason why horror means so much to so many of us. Also, I fully believe Corey would absolutely sacrifice another human being to escape a Chainsaw scare actor if the situation called for it. I've seen enough evidence. Thanks again to Spooky Kisses for hanging out with us and sharing her love of horror, haunt culture, and the wonderfully weird community that comes with it. Until next time, remember our big question Is horror good for our mental wellness? Of course it is. The Horror Heals Podcast is produced by Mosaic Multimedia LLC.