FS = FrightSearch
AHH = Asylum Haunted House

BACKGROUND OF ASYLUM:
FS - When did you start and how did you get started? Was it from a yard haunt and you worked your way up to the pros?
Myself and my business partner, Warren Conard, began working at another local haunted house about 18 years ago. It started out by a friend of mine, the brother of the owner, calling me one evening and asking, "hey you want to go scare some people?" From that point on we've been involved in the
business in one capacity or another, from acting to designing and producing.In 2002, we started the current attraction that we own and operate, The Asylum Haunted House.

FS- What funding if any did you get to start your haunt, and how much did it
take to start it up?
Funding came from personal investment, I'd say our budget the first year out
was over $100,000

FS- Is there a theme involved in your haunt?
We have an Asylum theme, this is probably surprising right? However, trying
to stick with the theme, we also mix in some of the standard haunted house
scares that the public has come to expect.

FS- How long have you been a "pro" haunt?
Always been involved with "pro" haunts, The Asylum since 2002

FS- How big is the target market you are in?
Denver proper runs around a half million people, where the 7 county area
runs around 2.5 million people.


THIS YEARS LAYOUT AND CONSTRUCTION PLANS

FS- How often do you change your layout?
We change our layout every year, sometime it's a combination of prior years layouts combined.

FS- Do you stay in one central location? If not how do you choose your
location and what advice might you give others when going about doing such a thing?
We have been in the same location for the past 4 years, it is a temporary
location at a local family entertainment center. If at all possible you
should stay in the same location, however, as in Denver, local real estate
rental rates usually prohibit people from doing so.

FS- What is your favorite part of putting together these plans?
We enjoy planning the floorplan and layout, it gives us a chance to think
about what we liked from past shows, and what we might want to experiment
with. The not so fun part, is when you come up with a design that just
won't work for throughput or exit travel distance.


FS-Do you hire people to do the construction or it is just yourself and
accquired friends?
A combination of both, unfortunately, it's hard to hire construction
professionals, who although very skilled, most of the time just don't
understand everything your trying to accomplish and how to go about it. We
do have friends and people involved in the haunt that are at tremendous
asset for setup and construction.

FS- How long does it take to do your construction each season?
Because we are in a temporary location, we only get 24 days for
construction, period!

FS- How long does it take to do a layout change (varyies I would assume)
We usually work on this throughout the off season, so I wouldn't know how to
estimate.

DECORATING

FS- For everyone that dreams of being a pro haunter, what decorating tips can
you give them that is both inexpensive and scary?
HMM, probably the right layering of paint and textures, black paint is the
same price as others, certain colors of paint when combined can give some
great effects.

FS- What tips for pro haunters do you have to keep your decorations both scary and unpredictable, without confusing your customer too much?
That's a tough question, I think each haunt owner has their own idea of what
works.

FS- What are your thoughts on haunts that run mostly expensive over the top
props all throughout their haunt, compare to those that only use maybe one
or two and rely mostly on the atmosphere?
To each their own, some customers want to see the animations, others could
care less, our philosophy is to utilize them for eye candy and misdirection,
but we definitely rely on our actors for scare factor.

FS- Any tips for pro haunters that don't want the public to play with props
too much? (ol vasoline on the prop trick, or liquid nails?)
Knock on wood, we've been fairly fortunate, I think that if it's in
somebody's personality to be disruptive and destructive a little vasoline
won't stop them. We have our actors be aware of their surroundings, report
inappropriate patrons, and then let the authorities deal with them.

OPENING NIGHT

FS- On opening night just about how big is the crowd you draw?
We open fairly early, this year September 29th, so the crowds are pretty
small.

FS- On an avg. night / year how big of crowd to you draw?
No real average, crowds build as month goes on.

FS- Are there any special promo nights you run for college students, family
specials, and just how much do these promos help your attraction?
Really just radio remote nights, however, we have some things on the drawing
board.

FS- Are your nerves as stiff as a new corpse on opening night? or are you
having so much fun everything just kind of goes by quick?
We typically don't have time to think about it, too busy with final details
and coordination, so I wouldn't say nerves, more just stress!


CUSTOMER REACTION / RESPONSE / ACTORS

FS- Do you ever give out best scare awards, best costumes?
We always try to recognize great scares in our end of night cast meeting.

FS- What are some of the things you tell your actors, do you have an actors
workshop?
We do have several casting calls and meetings. About a week before opening
we have an in depth orientation and then the night prior to opening a
rehearsal.

FS- Explain some of the rules that you as an "actor" must follow...such as
when approached by a volitile customer, or drunken customer?
Without putting themselves in danger, identify the person and what they are
wearing and then report it to management immediately, never take the
situation into your own hands. We typically have the proper authority on
hand to handle these situations, and we are only a few blocks from the
police station.


SUMMARY / FOLLOW-UP

FS- Over all about how much net profit could I haunt expect in the first 1 - 5
years of their haunt (assuming they can stick it out that long)
As with any business, if you can't operate without any profit initially, you
probably shouldn't get involved. We didn't plan on any profit for at least
the first 3 years.

FS- Is there anyway to project when there might be a bad year ahead of you?
(unfortunately, the 9/11 situation =0( seem to damper the season somewhat at
that time, for obvious reasons)
Not really, mother nature has her own plan that definitely doesn't involve
you.

FS- What is your age group you tend to see the most of?
Probably 12-24

FS- When do preperations for next year begin? (if it ever ends)
It doesn't end, preparations for future years are already underway.

FS- In those preperations how would you suggest about getting sponsorships? Do
you go the route of trade offs, such as a snack bar setup from Pepsi in
return to "Advertise" their product, or do you go straight for cash
sponsorships whenever possible...or combo of both?
A combination of both

FS - What is it about Haunted Attractions you love so much to make you want to put in all this hard work year after year?
After all these years I still enjoy the reactions of the people coming
through, that's the most rewarding, I hope that never changes.