Anyone Haunt as their primary job?

[David Polites]

Hi Folks,

I'm curious to know....are there many/any people who have been able to earn their living exclusively through haunting? Or is the nature of "this thing of ours" (sorry too much sopranos) that it must always be the side-business / hobby that pays it's own way / supplemental income type of business?

I gather DrFrightener earns a living designing and building haunts and attractions worldwide in addition to running The Darkness, and of course that counts, but for those of us less skilled, I'm wondering if it's possible to simply run an attraction (or multiple attractions) and earn a living without the need to moonlight (daylight?) in another industry as a 'day job'.

Sorry if this is a silly question. I'm just getting into haunting and in-love with everything about it, so obviously the dream would be to do nothing else, but I'm curious to know if this is a reality or simply a fantasy of mine.

So haunt owners please help me out here - are you all lawyers by day and haunters by night, or is haunter a full time thing for some?

[cigsm]

I know plenty of hAuntsrs of whom it's their full time job


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[David Polites]

That's great news thanks.

I'm just getting started in the industry and people around me have been planting some seeds of doubt. The dream for me would absolutely be to do this full time.

[wickedfarmer]

The haunt is an addition

I am a farmer. We added a corn maze to our farm (non scary) 16 years ago. Of course we heard "You have to haunt this" from a LOT of people. So I hate to admit it; but we started to haunt our maze one weekend of Halloween with dare I say people that said "Boo". Well we had to step up our game. So one Aug. I called a place called Scare Factory. And I kid you not; someone answered the phone. And his name was Dave none the less (sorry for those of you who just spit your morning coffee out on your computer screen.) Said I have a farm truck and wanted to know if we could come pick up a Floating Reraper, a couple skelrectors, and a Slayer on the Pediment. Drove down a few days later and got them. Now; I have the same demands as all haunters in Sept. & Oct. PLUS farming. Sept. we are harvesting soybeans and planting wheat, Oct is harvesting corn and doing fall tillage. Many nights the crowds leave (we shut down around 11 pm) then I jump on a tractor and my father in his 70's jumps on the combine to harvest a few more hours.


Wicked Farmer

[Farmer]

Haunting full time is indeed possible, but it may not be the norm for the vast majority of haunters. I started as an actor either volunteering or making minimum wage, but I wanted to do more and learn more which led to LOTS of volunteer hours at multiple haunts over the years. I also worked in the Entertainment dept at a theme park which didn't pay much but the knowledge I got there was invaluable. I'm now the Assistant Director at Dark Hour Haunted House in Plano, Texas and it is my full time job. We open all throughout the year so we get to work on new things all the time. I love my job. But it there was lots and lots of dedication and hard work involved in coming this far. Learn as much as you can. Meet people in the local haunt scene and network. Do what you love. Ultimately, you have to be led by your passion and not be opposed to making some sacrifices along the way.

[knettles]

Yes, it would be a dream of mine to haunt full time. However being from a smaller city, it isn't really feesable. So I sell insurance for a regular job and haunt in the fall as a hobby! I loved drama class in school and have always been intrigued by haunt stuff even as a child. What I get to do in the fall satisfies my haunt craving enough I guess. (That doesn't mean I don't think about it the rest of the year... Lol)

[Speculo]

I think that not that many owners do it full time. They make enough to build out the attraction every year, buy cool stuff, pay seasonal folks and maybe even a few full timers. But do owners and the folks putting up the money actually do nothing else? I don't think it is very common.

I do think there are a lot of haunts that pay for themselves and turn a profit but not as the sole income.

[Dark Tiki Studios]

Hi Folks,

I'm curious to know....are there many/any people who have been able to earn their living exclusively through haunting? Or is the nature of "this thing of ours" (sorry too much sopranos) that it must always be the side-business / hobby that pays it's own way / supplemental income type of business?

I gather DrFrightener earns a living designing and building haunts and attractions worldwide in addition to running The Darkness, and of course that counts, but for those of us less skilled, I'm wondering if it's possible to simply run an attraction (or multiple attractions) and earn a living without the need to moonlight (daylight?) in another industry as a 'day job'.

Sorry if this is a silly question. I'm just getting into haunting and in-love with everything about it, so obviously the dream would be to do nothing else, but I'm curious to know if this is a reality or simply a fantasy of mine.

So haunt owners please help me out here - are you all lawyers by day and haunters by night, or is haunter a full time thing for some?

This forum has an easy tool for making a poll. If you make a poll, you'll probably get more responses.