The Un-dead Pirates of Milford CT

Avast ye hearties! There be Pirates in Milford This year! You know summer is here when the Pirates arrive in Downtown Milford – and there’s no better way to celebrate the 15th Annual Pirate’s Weekend than with a Ball! New for this year, The Pirate’s Ball takes place at Fowler’s Pavilion (behind the Library) – it’s a night food, fun and the sounds of Changes In Latitudes, the country’s premier Jimmy Buffet cover band!

No Pirate’s Ball is complete without the right attire – so dress your seaworthy best! Best dressed pirate wins a ride along Captain Kidd himself aboard the “Oz” the following morning when he and his crew capture Milford.

Food Trucks, Vendors, Dancing, and Changes in Latitudes – kick off summer with a bang! Hurry – tickets are limited. Get yours before they sell out!

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-pirates-ball-milford-ct-tickets-33014959633
Arr, I almost forgot to mention.  Our actors, (Or should I say our Un-dead actors), will be there as well to entertain all ye enters!  Our ship mates will be there Sunday the 11th as well.  So come on down for the festivities and maybe you might join our ranks of the un-dead!

There’s Money to Be Made in the Haunt Business

dollars-blood-11677608As seen by the popularity of shows like “The Walking Dead”, haunted attractions like Netherworld in Atlanta, GA, and movies like “The Conjuring” horror and all things associated with it are extremely popular right now.

There is big money to be made in the horror and haunt industry as shown in these newspaper articles and videos, which include insight into Shark Tank star and Dallas Mavericks owner, billionaire Mark Cuban. Check out the information below and see why now is a great time to get into the haunt business!

 

 

 

Here’s an article from Inc.com which goes into detail about Mark Cuban’s $2 million “Shark Tank” horror deal:

http://www.inc.com/graham-winfrey/inside-mark-cuban-s-2-million-shark-tank-horror-deal.html

Here’s an update on the status of horror entertainment company Ten Thirty One Productions after their record breaking $2 million deal on “Shark Tank”:

 

You Can Make a Lot of Money Scaring People For a Living
Need more facts about the profitability of Haunted Attractions, please check out this link

What Type of Oddities Will Creeperum Have?

Creeperum2

Creeperum will have oddities that are a cross between Ripley’s Believe It or Not Vault, Friday the 13th (the television series), and a circus freak show tent. All items will have an amazing history: some real and some fiction, but one has to judge for themselves which is actually the case…

Some things will be as innocent as a little girl’s room while others, like an ancient looking cemetery or crypt, will make your hairs stand up at first glance! Rest assured in Creeperum what appears harmless is not and what you fear may only be a distraction for the real scare just out of sight.

A preview video of Creeperum is available below. The video shows security cameras of what appears to be the Creeperum warehouse. People looking at the video are convinced that they see real apparitions and angels caught on camera. Is it real or not? That answer is left up to the viewer…

Like the victims in the security cameras, when the Creeperum attraction opens next year patrons will experience the terrifying, macabre and insidious nature that is the environment of Creeperum.

 

The State of the Haunted Attraction Industry

Haunt industry

Being in the haunted industry as a vendor or attraction designer for over 30 years, Angelus Perez has become tired of the homogenization of many haunted attractions in America; after visiting thousands of attractions one seems no different than the other. It doesn’t matter if the attraction is new or it has been around for decades, they all appear basically the same and predictable.

Haunted attractions are a separate species; they are allowed and expected by consumers to be less ‘Hollywood’ and more raw. Because of this, there is an ever increasing need for many attraction owners to get to the next level of fear entertainment. Some are cutting corners when it comes to safety and taking risks in the name of the ultimate scare. This attitude is endangering the lives of the haunt’s actors, staff and customers!

While it’s fine to walk the edge when it comes to haunted attractions, unprofessional techniques and practices that raise safety concerns and put people at risk should not be tolerated and tend toward the dark side of the haunt industry. To get an idea of what I’m referring to, check out the movie, The Houses October Built”; though the story is fictitious, many of the interviews and stories are true. People have died, animals have been tortured, mistreated and left to die, local laws have been broken and environmental issues were created; all for the goal of the next big scare and good old fashioned greed. The atrocities done by some in the haunt industry are shameful; do a simple Google search and you’ll be amazed…

When our new haunted attraction Creeprum opens next year, we will do just the opposite; we will have entertainment with scares while keeping it safe for all! Creeperum will have many of the traditional scares that people love, want and expect, and it will be the job of the creative staff of Creeperum to specifically think outside the box and take artistic risks. Their job is to be part of Creeperum’s think tank and come up with ideas for the future of the haunt industry, while ensuring ethical and professional safety practices. Sadly, many haunted attraction owners do not get this and that is the reason why so many haunted attractions fail within the first two years.

At Your Custom Haunted House, we use a method called back engineering: instead of just jumping into building the physical haunted attraction, we create the attraction 10 years into the future on paper. Much more than a basic business plan, which can be a projection of a few years – or in this case, just a seasonal job, it is a complete diagram of an annual full time tourist attraction. We are attempting to create a permanent, year-round entertainment center for people who ‘love all things Halloween’ and can also be used by professionals: artists, designers, managers, production directors, etc. With the opening of Creeperum, we hope to become a model to other up and coming small businesses in and out of the haunted industry.

Happy Halloween!

Remembering the Original Ghostbusters

The Warrens

It’s amazing watching the explosion in the horror and haunt genre today. With shows like ‘The Walking Dead’ and its new prequel ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ on cable television, as well as horror and paranormal movies like ‘Insidious’, ‘Annabelle’, ‘The Conjuring’, and its upcoming sequel ‘The Conjuring 2’ the haunt/horror industry is experiencing a following and success like never before.

It’s exciting and encouraging to me because when I started my haunt business back in the mid 90s, there wasn’t this level of interest in the genre. The original ghost busters, Ed and Lorraine Warren, along with their son-in-law Tony Spera were my special and gracious mentors during the early stages of building and marketing my business. I learned so much from Ed and Lorraine and considered it an honor to call them my friends.

I also had the privilege of working with Ed and Lorraine on their annual Halloween Supernatural seminar for the New England Society for Psychic Research several years ago and was touched that they took the time to write a testimonial for me, which you can find here (scroll to the bottom of the page).

The 9th anniversary of Ed’s death took place on August 23rd, and I wanted to take a moment and say how much he meant to me and how instrumental he was in helping me get started in the haunt business; for that I will always be grateful. If you’d like to see a wonderful tribute to Ed Warren from the New England Society for Psychic Research, click here.

Happy Halloween!