how u get you'r huant name

[mudsticky]

& why u name it that?

[Jim Warfield]

I made a list of about 80 names

Crossed off the ones that sounded foreign or were sort of difficult to spell for the average person.
I was only going to operate as a haunted house for maybe a year or three, then switch to being just a haunted bed& breakfast so the runner-up choice was "Halloween Inn" Which sure sounds boringly common to me (I apologise to anyone who has a place named this) besides that, I wanted a name that actually sort of described my thinking and what I was trying to accomplish here, what my eventual style of haunt would become.
There it was: The Ravens Grin Inn. Even though many can't spell Raven, they spell it ravin?
Everybody knows Edgar Allen Poe's poem, it was THE most popular poem in this country for maybe 100 years or more. The poem is moody, creepy, mysterious, like I would like to have the customers thinking when mentioning my place (versus bloody gut buckets)...but...Grin? Yes, it is impossible to see a stiff bird beak grin!
And more important, why is he grinning?
Tension with humor release and just a very unusual experience provided by the physical structures here among other attributes.
And besides all of that, this place was built to be an "Inn"! Built 1865 to 1870, have a drink, stable your horse, stimulating conversation, give you a bed for the night ..and maybe alittle more? (Not everyone likes to sleep alone) (Not everyone likes to just sleep either!)
Yes, this place has a "History".
And you wonder why it's "Haunted!"

[terrormasue]

My last name is Gray and my sister lives on Graystone road. It just seemed like a good omen if you will. I love the name Graystone Haunted Manor. Sounds classy and scary at the same time.

[damon carson]

I had thought of a haunt name for myself years back. This was back when I first starting posting and coming to Haunt World in 95. I named myself the Frightmaster. I always liked horror movies and really liked the old Universal Horror movies from the 30's and 40's. So I combined The House like from House of Frankenstein. With Fright from Frightmaster and named it The House of Fright.
Damon

[Evilution Unlimited]

We are toxic themed so I was looking and found the song Toxicity (which is popular with the kids these days) Our name was thus born.

It proved to be a bad name though as the older people had never heard of the song and couldn't say the name right. They thought it was Toxic City. The name also did not reflect that it is a haunted anything (Dark ___/ Haunted_____/NIghtmare_____). I had one lady email me that she thought it was a tax service untilo she got real close to a sign.

So names are important!

[damon carson]

Isnt funny how your name can get screwed up. I've called companys in the haunt industry.
Told them the name of the haunt and everything. Then I get there catalog or order or whatever I asked for and then it reads House of Freight. Theres been other ways they have screwed it up as well? Cant think of them? Its House of Fright. Its a haunted house. How do you screw that up? Oh Well?
Damon

[scaryguy666]

And everyone gives me hell about my spelling!

& why u name it that?

Somebody give this guy crap about his spelling. He is no better.

Danny

[legendsofthefog]

Legends of the Fog

We originally started with just a haunted hayride in 2007... and we were going to base our haunt on the 7 legends of Harford County... they're all old ghost stories, and it sounded like a fantastic premise to start a haunt. So we started with Legends... and we came up with a few hundred different names pertaining to Legends... and came up with Legends of the Fog. Later, we discovered an amazingly popular 1990's chick flick titled Legends of the Fall.... ugh...

However, after deliberations with other founding members, we discovered that the local legends weren't strong enough to build a haunt around. The best local legend (none of the Harford 7) was Maryland's "Black Aggie." However, she still wasn't a strong enough legend to base a haunt around... so a friend of mine (who is no longer with the haunt) and my wife wrote a story, and shot a video based on that story... so we created our own legend.

Not amazingly exciting... but interesting none the less.

[Jim Warfield]

You have aroused my curiosity

"Legends", you said the local ghost storys weren't strong enough to base a haunt upon?
But they were "Local" and this factor alone might give them added appeal overcoming their imagined weakness as people's minds work, mull them over and maybe give them more deserved "weight".
Some might have their memory jogged from the familiarity and brand them as more believable, viable.
"Yes, I think I heard that before when I was a kid?"...then maybe it is a true story?
Is there any commonality linking the stories like location, time of the year,reoccurring entities?
A "weak" story doesn't have to have untrue additions added to it to make it worthy. Instead raise new questions about the possible purpose and possible links between the different stories.
Actor narration well done can make anything entertaining and very scary to alot of customers.
The actor doesn't need a story to carry them, a thin story is just a starting point.
Voice, inflections, pregnant pauses, eye contact, body language, vocabulary, all add to keep the focus , make the experience.

[tonguesandwich]

Fate.... Did Binions haunted casino last year... will attempt to never deal with a casino again. Needed a name and liked fear. Pulled a scary number out of my ass "6" 6 Fears sounds good and plays off of other branding. Searched it to make sure it belonged to no one else and then found out that actually all fears fall under 6 main ones..
1. The fear of poverty
2. The fear of criticism
3. The fear of ill health
4. The fear of Loss of Love
5. The fear of Old Age
6. The fear of Death

Plus it fits on my Hearse license plate....go figure!

[Jim Warfield]

Eye dont see....

"Fear of waking up in someone else's bed, on another planet,and they won't allow you to leave."
This is B.S. you are now


..........Breeding Stock!

[shawnc]

Somebody give this guy crap about his spelling. He is no better.

Danny

I was thinking about asking him if he needed any advice on making a skeleton tree.

[Dreamreaper]

When we were a home haunt we had Bradley Drive House of Horror, naturally we lived on Bradley Dr.... A little over 3 year's ago we moved to Nash Ranch Pumpkin Patch and I changed the name to the Dreams of Darkness....(Darkness) we have always kept the haunt fairly dark inside.. and (Dreams) came from just dreaming about the Haunted House every time I fell asleep...LOL

[Gravely]

before we were Castle Blood, trick or treaters called us, " That Castle" when coming for candy

and we dressed as different things every year

the year we all dressed as vampires,( 1993) we called it Castle Blood, and it stuck no matter the changes since then., going pro, switching locations twice, whatever.