Hello all.
Owning a haunted attraction has been a dream of mine since childhood and I've recently been getting closer and closer to actually giving it a shot.
I've done a number of home haunts over the years and was one of two major set/effect/prop/etc. designers and operators for my one of my area's best known haunted attractions for a run of four years.
My problem is, I'm still a bit young compared to most others in the profession (I'm approaching my mid twenties), which I'm afraid will still give me the impression of inexperience around investors and so on -- and on top of that, I'm still trying to finish up a year of school and I have some college debt to pay off (nothing outrageous, but debt is debt!), so a major financial investment like a haunted house is out of the question for me for a little while, anyway.
I thought up a possible solution, however, and I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts and I also wondered if anyone had ever pulled off anything similar and could share some insight...
If I opened something similar to a haunt, specifically a side show at the county fair, I would be able to keep the financial investment down and still work in the "macabre entertainment" industry that we all love. Parking, power and advertising would already be taken care of by the fair's staff, so all I would need to take care of, aside from the show itself, would be renting the space, a tent, and general liability insurance.
What I envision is something similar to a very, very small-scale Ripley's or dime museum -- a small walk-through exhibit housed within a large tent with wall-to-wall oddities -- both real and manufactured -- to examine and study. Some small illusions, but no scares or actors popping out or anything.
For such a small-scale, laid-back exhibit, admission would have to be kept extremely low, but with a good throughput and some interesting novelties and souvenirs, I think it has the potential to be profitable. I'm not looking to make a fortune off something like this, or even make a living (the fair only runs one week out of the summer, after all), but I think if it was moderately successful it could open the doors to bigger projects later on. And either way it would be a good experience and help me to fulfill a small dream!
Has anyone done anything like this? Does anyone have any thoughts or concerns about such a project? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Owning a haunted attraction has been a dream of mine since childhood and I've recently been getting closer and closer to actually giving it a shot.
I've done a number of home haunts over the years and was one of two major set/effect/prop/etc. designers and operators for my one of my area's best known haunted attractions for a run of four years.
My problem is, I'm still a bit young compared to most others in the profession (I'm approaching my mid twenties), which I'm afraid will still give me the impression of inexperience around investors and so on -- and on top of that, I'm still trying to finish up a year of school and I have some college debt to pay off (nothing outrageous, but debt is debt!), so a major financial investment like a haunted house is out of the question for me for a little while, anyway.
I thought up a possible solution, however, and I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts and I also wondered if anyone had ever pulled off anything similar and could share some insight...
If I opened something similar to a haunt, specifically a side show at the county fair, I would be able to keep the financial investment down and still work in the "macabre entertainment" industry that we all love. Parking, power and advertising would already be taken care of by the fair's staff, so all I would need to take care of, aside from the show itself, would be renting the space, a tent, and general liability insurance.
What I envision is something similar to a very, very small-scale Ripley's or dime museum -- a small walk-through exhibit housed within a large tent with wall-to-wall oddities -- both real and manufactured -- to examine and study. Some small illusions, but no scares or actors popping out or anything.
For such a small-scale, laid-back exhibit, admission would have to be kept extremely low, but with a good throughput and some interesting novelties and souvenirs, I think it has the potential to be profitable. I'm not looking to make a fortune off something like this, or even make a living (the fair only runs one week out of the summer, after all), but I think if it was moderately successful it could open the doors to bigger projects later on. And either way it would be a good experience and help me to fulfill a small dream!
Has anyone done anything like this? Does anyone have any thoughts or concerns about such a project? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Comment