Halloween Haunt Tour

[jack]

So, the wife and I have decided to take the 22 thru the 30th of October to hit as many haunts as we can. We'd be starting in the Cincinnati area and we want 2 days in the New Orleans area.

We're thinking of making a big circle

Since I work in the business, on the USS Nightmare, I thought it'd be cool to maybe to get a bit of backstage time at some of the haunts, get some pictures and maybe turn the trip into a haunted travelogue. I thought that, being a makeup artist, I could sculpt out something and give one to each haunt I hit--and if they use it, get pix of the piece at each haunt.

So, what I wanna do is set up the route, know who's open when and maximize the haunts we can get to in a little over a week.

My intial thought was to hit Louisville, the Morgue, maybe Industrial Nightmare, head over to St Louis and hit the Darkness, down to Baton Rouge for 13th Gate, NOLA for House of Shock, up and east to Shane's new haunt...yes? Those were the ones that resonated initially when we started talking about this, but we're flexible.

Possibly up to Atlanta after Shane....

What do you think? Anyone in that area that wouldn't mind a visit? Anyone got any ideas?

[graystone]

Jack

Your more than welcome to come and visit us! I might suggest also after seeing me hitting Atrox in Birmingham and then on over to Bens at Netherworld. Shane and its tickets and dinner on me! Shane this time!

[N2SPOOKINU]

Jack we did a similar tour last July. We had a blast! If you come to St. Louis to visit Larrys haunts you can go west about 2 hours and visit Fearfest in Columbia Mo.
Necropolis is also in Columbia and both haunts welcome haunters any time of the year. We just had a visit from Nick, a designer for 6flags last week. Had a great time visiting with him.
If you come to Columbia you might check with Kelly at Raycliff Manor in Joplin Mo. and see if he can fit you in down there. Just an idea.
Greg
Fearfest

[HauntedOzarks]

If you're coming south through the Branson, Missouri area, our new haunt will be there. This will be our opening year and we'd be glad to open our doors to you. Also, Branson's Haunted Adventure is nearby so you could do two in that area.

Or if you'd like to see just how old Andy Williams looks you could do that too...

[jack]

I knew Atrox was near(ish) Graystone, and I think Netherworld was one of the ones that my wife professed an interest in(I've got an interest in everyone so my opinion doesn't count).

Any ideas on an appliance of some sort that'll be distinctive and useable for everyone? It'd be slush cast latex because I work cheep, but it'll be an original sculpt, just for this and the houses we hit.

I do a torn skin with reptilian flesh showing through as a makeup(no appliance) that's gone over well and I thought an appliance of that that might be a possibility--but we're on the water and fishy/reptilian things fit into our background characters easily.

Routewise, St Louis is about 5 hours from where we are, if we leave around 2-3 on friday, we'd hit St Louis at 7-8 if we went straight, but, since we want to hit some Louisville haunts, we have to add on at least an hour and a half--which means getting to St Louis at around 9-10. That'd give us the Darkness in St Louis on the first night plus any Louisville haunts we can hit. After that we might wait until morning to head on because we're not gonna get to anyone else(except perhaps other St Louis haunts) before they close.

I probably should have taken two weeks--but I've got the haunt here to work and two weeks would be too much.

We're gonna head south--I've gotta start mapping this to see if we'll hit Branson. And Necropolis and Fearfest......I think the worst part of this is going to be having to choose, y'know?

[brad]

Well, since you're coming down to Louisiana, you can always stop by our place in Shreveport

If you happen to pass thru central or Western Arkansas, you'll probly be driving right by our place in Shreveport. We are at the intersection of I-49 and I-20.

We'll be glad to have you, and show off our new design and theme for this year.


Brad

[bhays]

If you're going to start out in Louisville, I would definitely hit Haunted Hotel rather than Industrial... it's the far better of Terry's two haunts, Baxter is definitely and actor's haunt, so good choice there.

We would love to see you at Fear Fair, just let me know when you would want to come.

[jack]

Well, I started trying to map this out on the intarwebs, but I think I need an atlas as a base--I can get a better idea if everythings laid out in front of me.

I've gotta set a base route that's small enough to do in 9-10 days, but big enough that we can see as much as possible--without rushing too much.

We may bypass Louisville because we can hit Louisville any time--we're only about an hour away(We usually do a trip down there each year during the season anyway) Plus, that'll give us more time to play around further west and south.

[jack]

The Big Fish

Well, we finally got the route down--and it's shaped like a huge fish....maybe a pirahna--but flat, definately not 3-D.

We're gonna hit Louisville, St Louis, Shreveport, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Altlanta, and Huntsville(that's right, Shane--and it's you're the finale Shane this time) So far our definate hits are Haunted Hotel, The Darkness, Ultimate Fear, 13th Gate, House of Shock, Netherworld, Graystone(Disturbia and Arc Mortis,yes?) and Atrox.

We'll try to hit anyone else on the route that we can--it's a long one 2290 miles and about 36 hours of drive time round trip That gives us 7-8 days to see stuff(if we forgo sleep)

We're gonna be giving out an appliance and whatever other swag I can wrest from our stores, and we're gonna get as many pics as we can.

And I may try to do a writeup on it--I talked with someone at Makeup Artist magazine about doing a feature on haunt makeup--he liked the idea and agreed that we're a segment of the makeup industry that doiesn't get a lot of attention. So there's that.

We'd be gratedul for recommendations for decent, fairly inexpensive hotels/motels/lodgings along the way, and we'd love to talk to anyone who we're gonna hit so we can set things up.

Hope to hear from you all.

[soultrkr]

If your heading towards Atlanta Feel free to stop by and visit us. the website is in my signature. We are all Halloween Fanatics and I think it shows in our production.
Also folklore is opening up this year in atlanta you may want to check it out as well. There are lots Alabama and Georgia haunts many not well known ones but all are plenty of fun.
I hope you guys have a safe trip and great time and enjoy our southern hospitality.
PS just remember if you hear banjos run do not ask questions just run.

[Allen H]

Jack,
You must swing by the Dallas TX area. There are about 10 good haunts in the area. It will not be a wasted trip.
I am director of SCREAMS halloween park
www.screamspark.com we have five haunts two scarezones and an additional upcharge attraction. I would be glad to have you, and could arrange a run to see some other haunts. we arent to far from some of your LA stops.
Allen H

[jack]

I know all about the banjos--I live in Kentucky.

Texas is, sadly, way off the map for this trip. To try to squeeze it in I'd be like a cartoon dad--zipping past as many attractions as possible to get quantity rather than quality. I want to have enough time to really see the haunts we're hitting, talk to the folks running them, and possibly get a look at how they do things(particularly makeup). We looked into some Texas haunts as we were setting this up and we just couldn't do them justice.

Plus, I've gotta get back to the Nightmare for Halloween, y'know? If this tour doesn't kill us, maybe next time we'll hit Texas.

[brad]

Jack, it's good to see that we made the list! We'll be happy to have you all night if you want and showcase how we designed the place this year. We can show you any behind the scenes stuff you want, and I can try to line up some after hours stuff for you if you want.

Let me know what day you think you'll be here, and I'm looking forward to having you guys here.

[terrormasue]

Jack, next year count us in!! We are about an hour West of Brad right off I-20 and will be open next year! We will give you the full tour. Food and all. Keep in touch.

Sue

[jack]

Cool, Brad, I'll PM you with our contact info so we can set things up.

Sue, for one brief second I read your screen name as terrormasseuse--and was intrigued...how would that work? Zombie strippers? meat tenderizer and cooking oil to rub in as massage oil....shows where my mind is.