March 7, 2025

2025 Legacy Haunt: The Story of Field of Screams MT

2025 Legacy Haunt: The Story of Field of Screams MT

For 26 years, Field of Screams MT has been a staple of Montana’s Halloween scene, growing from a simple corn maze into a multi-attraction haunted destination.

For 26 years, Field of Screams MT has been a staple of Montana’s Halloween scene, growing from a simple corn maze into a multi-attraction haunted destination. This year, they received the Legacy Haunt Award from the Haunted Attraction Association, honoring their decades of innovation and impact. In this episode, we sit down with the Kirkland family for an unedited, free-flowing conversation about their journey, the evolution of their haunt, and what keeps them scaring year after year.

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The below article originally appeared on our sister website the haunted attraction network.

Field of Screams Montana: A Legacy of Family, Fear, and Frontier Spirit

How a small corn maze became a 26-year haunt tradition—earning a Legacy Haunt Award and thrilling guests across Big Sky Country

By Philip Hernandez

From Smoky Beginnings to Haunt Sensation

When Sandy and Quinn Kirkland opened a corn maze in Victor, Montana, back in 2000, they never planned on running a full-scale haunted attraction—let alone one that would become a regional Halloween staple. That first season coincided with massive forest fires that cast a haze across the state. “We had to wear masks to go outside,” recalled Sandy.

Smoke filled the valley, and guests were scarce. Still, the Kirklands pressed on. Then came a fateful suggestion from a few early visitors: turn the maze into something scary. “They’re like, ‘You should haunt this,’ and we’re like, ‘What?’” says Sandy with a laugh. “We had no idea. We don’t really even watch many scary movies.”

But a spark was lit. “We put it together in like four days, really basic stuff … and it just took off from there,” continued Sandy.

That initial pop-up haunt—hurriedly thrown together in just a few days—was an unexpected success. Encouraged by local word of mouth and good old-fashioned curiosity, crowds began to trickle in. It convinced the Kirklands that a haunted maze could be more than a novelty. “We did so well in those few weeks that we’re like, ‘Okay, we’re going to need to do this like every year,’” Quinn says.

“People did get lost,” Sandy said of the early days. “We had corn cops that were trying to find them.”

Over time, the haunt blended open-air corn sections with carefully built structures, better sound systems, and more elaborate sets. “We went from four scare actors… to 50,” Quinn notes. Where there was once a single generator, there’s now a robust electrical infrastructure. Where there were basic masks and DIY props, there are now high-end animatronics and silicone masks from top manufacturers.

Field of Screams Montana never skipped a Halloween. “We have never missed a year, even with COVID, moving, fires—anything like that,” Sandy says proudly.

Catering to All Ages—and Fear Levels

Being in a smaller city has advantages and disadvantages. To draw the largest possible crowd, the Kirkland family needed to broaden the haunt’s appeal. Unlike big-city haunts that lean heavily into extreme gore, Field of Screams focuses on delivering a wide range of experiences—from the “Zombie Free Monday” walk-through to more intense nighttime frights. It’s an intentional choice that recognizes Montana’s tight-knit communities and broad audiences:

“We offer a lot of different types of attractions for pretty much everyone,” says Ethan, the Kirklands’ 15-year-old son who has become a driving force behind technology upgrades. “We have this thing called Zombie Free Mondays, so there’s no actors, just audio, fog, and lights at night. It’s for the scaredy-cats.”

By day, the property offers a classic pumpkin patch, hay wagon rides, and a mini-maze for children. By night, intense scares and elaborate sets await braver souls—plus a Monday option for those who want the spooky ambience without the startles.

Small Town Staffing Challenges

Staffing such a large haunt in a rural area is no easy feat, but the Kirklands rely on grassroots recruiting, personal connections, and returning scare actors year after year. They’ve also prioritized employee engagement with nightly in-house voting systems and tip opportunities. The haunt invites guests to vote for their favorite scare actor. “We have this huge board … with all the pictures of our haunters,” Sandy explained. “At the end of the night, they see who got the most marks. It keeps everyone motivated.”

The local community loves attending the haunt and voting for their favorite actor. The haunt prohibits actors from telling their friends and family where they’re positioned, ensuring the community has fun finding and thanking the actors.

However, small communities bring another unusual challenge – honoring the actor’s privacy. Montana’s cold nights mean face paint tends to smear, and with a tight-knit community, actors often prefer masks to stay incognito. As Ethen began to get more involved, he pushed the family to invest more into quality silicone masks from Transworld. “my first year [at Transworld], I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, look at all these silicone masks. They’re amazing …” Ethan recalls.

The Business of Fear: “Entertain First, Scare Second”

One of the family’s biggest revelations was realizing that guests want more than just scares—they crave an experience. Over the years, Field of Screams introduced roaming entertainers, high-energy music in the queue line, and upgraded concessions:

“Some people come out and say, ‘I wasn’t scared,’” Quinn shares. “I’m like, that’s not our job. Are you entertained? If you don’t get scared, that’s fine. Our real job is to entertain, and that’s what people want.”

This focus on entertainment—and word-of-mouth marketing—has helped them build a loyal fan base that drives in from across Montana, Idaho, and Washington. On busy Friday and Saturday nights, the parking lots fill to capacity, showing just how far the haunt has come since that smoky first season.

Crafting the Next Generation of Scares

For the Kirklands, the evolution never stops. They’re adding more power across the property to handle advanced animatronics and expanding an attraction called Gateway Manor, which Ethan launched last season. “I only had it five minutes long,” he said, “but this year, we’re definitely planning on making it two times bigger, looking for about ten minutes.” A coffin ride and a Western-themed section are also in the works, underscoring the blend of old-fashioned creativity and modern Halloween design.

Despite the constant growth, Field of Screams remains a family-driven haunt at heart. “He is everything Halloween,” Sandy said of Ethan. “He loves it. That’s all he can think about.” That passion keeps the Kirklands striving to bring new frights to the Bitterroot Valley while staying true to their rural Montana roots.

The challenge is balancing Montana’s harsh weather, a spread-out local population, and the desire to offer more. But if 26 years have proven anything, it’s that Field of Screams knows how to innovate while staying true to its down-home, family-run roots.

A Legacy of Local Horror

After more than a quarter-century of scaring visitors, Field of Screams Montana has been honored with the Haunted Attraction Association’s Legacy Haunt Award—an achievement that speaks to its enduring presence in a challenging market. For many locals, it’s the only haunt they’ll ever need, and for out-of-towners, it’s a glimpse into a side of Halloween that marries frontier spirit with modern fear.

“People were so happy,” Sandy remembered of those first haunted nights in 2000. “They loved it.” That enthusiasm endures today, proof that sometimes all it takes to build a legacy is a little corn, a chainsaw or two, and a whole lot of family dedication.

WEBVTT

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For twenty six years, Field of Screams Montana has been

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terrifying and delighting guests, growing from a single corn maze

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into a full scale haunted attraction. This year, they received

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the Haunted Attraction Association's Legacy Haunt Award, recognizing over two

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decades of scares. But what's the story behind this family

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run haunt that is coming up on today's show. Welcome

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to the show. I'm Philip and on the Haunt Attraction

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Network rebring you the news and information you need to

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prepare for Halloween. This podcast is just one part of

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what we do. Our best coverage lives in our free

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weekly newsletter, so check the link in our show notes

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to stay connected. Today, I'm sitting down with the Kirkland family,

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the creators of Field of Screams Montana in Victor, Montana.

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From humble beginnings as a seasonal corn maze, this haunt

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has grown into a regional Halloween stay people featuring terrifying

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nightime experiences, immersive sets, and family friendly daytime activities. We'll

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dive into their journey, how they've kept it evolving, and

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what it means to be recognized as a legacy Haunt.

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And just a note here. This conversation is mostly unedited,

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so it's a free flowing discussion that gives you an

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authentic look at the people behind the scatters. So grab

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your popcorn or maybe something stronger, and let's get into it.

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Here we go in three two one.

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And so we opened up. And when we were opened

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it was the year of two thousand and it was

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the huge forest fires and they were sending people from

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Australia over, I mean just because it was so big

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and so people when we told them we're going to

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start a corn maze and they're like, nobody's going to

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pay any money to walk through a cornfield. And so

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when we started there was smoke everywhere. We had to

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wear masks to go outside. And yeah, we opened and

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nobody really came and it was a little bit of

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a difficult time. And then I don't know, in October

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ish beginning of October, we had some people come up

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and guests and they're like, you should haunt this and

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we're like.

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What, get some chainsaw guys out there, and we're like, okay,

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we never really thought about that, but then we did it.

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We put it together in like four days. Really basic

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stuff like plastic two by four's I mean super just

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very inexpensive stuff, low budget of course, and it just

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took off from there, like we did so well on

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those those few weeks that were like Okay, we're going

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to need to do this like every year.

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Yeah, people were so happy. Yeah, they loved it.

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I just I think that's interesting because I think the

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typical story is that the you know, the haunters are

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the ones that kind of initiate it. I just think

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it's interesting. It's like it came from feedback you were

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getting actively, which is good. I mean, that's right. Maybe

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sometimes haunters like do things that like they're you know,

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like people don't actually want it. They want it, but

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you know, the public doesn't necessarily. So I think that's

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an interesting angle. And I'm wondering how you approached it

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where you just like, oh, let's just what you know,

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if someone comes to you and they're like, add a

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haunted portion to it, and you're not a haunter, did

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you even know you know, about any of that.

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We had no idea. We don't really even watch many

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scary movies. Go figure, and yeah, we so I was

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talking to my sister and her husband really liked Halloween.

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They loved dressing up. And then he's like, I got

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a couple ideas and so yes, seriously, in three to

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four days, there was four of us and we just

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put things together.

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In mind you that before this the field was it

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was like eight acres and it's a it's a maze,

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and so you can get lost in certain areas, you know,

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and so we had to set it up in a maze,

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which is very difficult because if people don't follow the

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exact path and they skip, which towards the end, there

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was pathways everywhere. It was a complete disaster. You know.

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People would go in, they'd be out in like five minutes.

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They're like, oh did you see this? No where was that?

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Like you know, people were missing everything because there was

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just like pathways everywhere. And so, you know, a few

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years later we decided, Okay, we're gonna have to figure

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this out. It's not working in a maze. Like it's

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fun and if you follow the rules and follow the path,

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you're good. But anyway, yeah, it.

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Was another part of being really scared to like what

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if we don't make it out. I'm like, oh good,

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I need props for next year. So thank you.

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And one thing to add. One thing to add too,

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is we're doing all of this there's no power on

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the property. Yes, you know, there's barely a sign out front.

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You know, it says the maids. You know, it's like

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kind of telling what it is. And so we're operating

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from like a little tiny, fifteen hundred bought generator that

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somebody loaned us, you know, just to run a light

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or two.

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Yep. So well, yeah, you just think about this.

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Thing time that things were difficult back in the old days.

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Yeah, there's no social media. Yeah, we're back. We were

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like what's going on?

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You know.

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So in the beginning, how did people find out about

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it or how did you? I guess it was word

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of mouth then, I mean you started doing spooky thing

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in the corn maze and people loved it so much

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because of the authenticity. It sounds like it so like

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you could literally get lost in this place and it

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was dark because you know.

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There was no light.

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There's no lights. I mean it's always that's always a

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thing because corn mazes don't have power. I mean that's

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so it's you know, it's always an issue. But do

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you think that's what happened? It was like word of

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mouth that just kind of extended it.

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It was huge word of mouth. Yeah, and luckily we

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were on the highway, the main highway. There's only one

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highway going like to Missoula Highway ninety three. So luckily

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people would see the sign and then they start asking

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their neighbors what's that, what does that mean? And they

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could see corn growing and believe it or not, there

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wasn't corn growing in the valley at all, Like people

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didn't grow corn. I had farmers say, oh, you can't

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grow corn in this area, like, well, we're going to try.

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So that was kind of a new thing now and I,

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believe it or not, now there's a lot of corn everywhere.

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So you're experimenting with Halloween. It's a new thing to

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add scares to this. So then where did you go

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from there? You start out with just the corn, Okay.

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So and this was still two thousand and one was

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first spooky, No.

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Two thousand That same year we actually in that same

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first year beginning being evacuated with the fires and the

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whole traumatic everything. Yeah, first year and made it haunted.

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Okay, So then where do we go from there? Which

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is still this is all still pre like social media

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is still there's a different world. Cell Phones were like

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barely a thing. It was a hole. Yeah, you really

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could just get lost in.

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The Yeah, it was people did get lost. We had

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corn cops that were trying to find them, you know,

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find people. They're like, wait, they've been out there for

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a while, are they Okay? I don't know. We'll go

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find out.

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And I think starting it, getting more into it, we

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started to you know, research in libraries.

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Yea, oh my god, that's right. Yeah, because there wasn't

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like YouTube. I mean, there wasn't like how did you

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find out? Even how to? Yeah, that's that.

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There was no internet back then. And so we finally

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found magazines that were haunted magazines. We read those, and

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people made books block I think I read a book

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by Leonard Pickele or I don't know somebody and how

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to haunt and so it was a lot of things

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like that, like okay, how do we do this, and

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trying to get contacted with other people and you know,

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what do you do?

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Yeah, you know, so what walk me through the first

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few years of the evolution? So you yes, we started

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we started there. We had this first experiment. You know,

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it's going to work so now what do you do?

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Yeah, so we were actually excited because it was such

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a big people just are yeah, and so yeah, just

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a lot of studying and researching, and so then the

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next year we started obviously a lot earlier, not as

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early as we do now, but we did start a

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lot earlier and just started, you know, actually building because

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we are builders. I mean, in Montana to survive you

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have to have like two or three jobs, and so

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really just building and just understanding and learning from actually

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the guests also what they wanted.

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And we discovered Morris costumes, the big thick to which

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Sears catalog. Yeah, you know, that was an eye open

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and we're like, cool, we can get masks now. And

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their whole sale so that was a that was a

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big one for us too, is seeing and then they

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even sold stuff from like Scare factory thousands of dollars,

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which we couldn't afford at the time.

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Did you have costumes in the first few years? I

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mean what it did, I mean as a corn maze, right, see,

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necessarily it was just black.

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It was just a black black capes. That was but yeah,

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and then yeah, we had lots of black plastic.

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It works, It worked. For the time. H yeah, for

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the time.

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Yeah.

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So then I guess what, what do you think is

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your next milestone?

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We actually, well the big one is in two thousand

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and five, we actually opened a Family Fund center. We

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added onto it, we actually built some we bought some

187
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land just half a mile yeah, just a half mile north,

188
00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:35.480
and we built this huge you know, go cart, game room,

189
00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:41.759
bumper cars with three haunted attractions. Because now we were like, okay,

190
00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.960
people know us, boom and we did that. So that

191
00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:48.879
was two thousand and five, which bad timing awards because

192
00:09:48.919 --> 00:09:52.240
two thousand and six, two thousand and seven boom economy

193
00:09:52.440 --> 00:09:55.559
just went. So we had that until two thousand and nine,

194
00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:59.200
and then we didn't ever stop because Quinn was still farming,

195
00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:02.399
and so we went back to our original filled the

196
00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:07.600
screams empty, went back to that and just kept haunting.

197
00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:11.200
We have never missed a year, even with COVID, moving

198
00:10:11.320 --> 00:10:15.799
fires anything like that. We've had it consistent consecutive for

199
00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:17.440
this is our twenty sixty year.

200
00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:18.240
Yeah.

201
00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:22.360
Yeah, wow. So you went to the FC and then

202
00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:23.399
kind of back too.

203
00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:23.759
Yeah.

204
00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:26.200
And when you when you said you had three haunts

205
00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:28.320
when you had the FEC, was did you put the

206
00:10:28.360 --> 00:10:30.919
haunts at the FC or did you yes, Okay.

207
00:10:30.759 --> 00:10:32.639
Yeah, So we were there, like like I said, we

208
00:10:32.679 --> 00:10:37.080
had catalogs that had yeah, like classifieds. We found two

209
00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:41.840
haunted houses that were actually from Saint Louis and they

210
00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:45.960
were in trailer trailers. Yeah, and we got those here

211
00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:49.840
out here eventually, and uh we put those together. You know,

212
00:10:49.879 --> 00:10:51.559
they didn't have a roof over them, so we had

213
00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:53.799
to cover them with tarp, you know, and rain was

214
00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:56.480
an issue, of course, and so we did that and

215
00:10:56.600 --> 00:10:58.559
people loved it because there was a lot of animatronics

216
00:10:58.600 --> 00:11:01.679
in it and yeah, some of that stuff's still floating around.

217
00:11:02.200 --> 00:11:02.399
Yeah.

218
00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:05.080
We got this one and it was just a pitch

219
00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:09.080
black maze, I mean totally black, and people would come

220
00:11:09.159 --> 00:11:11.480
in and they would go a little ways. They would

221
00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:13.799
get so scared they would come back out just crying.

222
00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:16.519
And then some people that actually did make it through,

223
00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:19.240
they would come out just breathing really heavy, and they thought,

224
00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:21.960
oh my gosh, how many employees do you have in there?

225
00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:25.320
That was so scary, and I'm like one, Yeah, we

226
00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:29.840
had one in this huge like twenty by twenty foot area.

227
00:11:30.360 --> 00:11:33.000
And so then we finally took it down because I

228
00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:35.360
think I needed to have like some kind of psychologist

229
00:11:35.480 --> 00:11:38.320
or somebody at the end because they were so traumatized.

230
00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:39.559
It was great.

231
00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:43.720
Yeah, the blackout mazes are yeah, yeah, tell me a

232
00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:45.840
little bit. I think this is one of the trends

233
00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:48.000
that's interesting about it, as we already talked a little bit,

234
00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:52.919
is like how the tactics have changed, because you know, blackouts,

235
00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:55.039
I think they used to be very popular and used

236
00:11:55.080 --> 00:11:56.600
to work, and I'm not sure. I don't know if

237
00:11:56.600 --> 00:11:57.919
they still do or not. I don't know. I mean

238
00:11:57.960 --> 00:12:00.919
to me, I'm so far removed now so I can't tell,

239
00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:03.679
you know, but like the fog outs and all those

240
00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:06.320
and then obviously, you know you used to be able

241
00:12:06.360 --> 00:12:09.559
to just put an actor in black makeup, but now

242
00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:13.480
with you know, cosplay and conventions, you know, people have

243
00:12:13.639 --> 00:12:18.120
access to immortal mass just regular people you know that

244
00:12:18.200 --> 00:12:21.480
could show up. So have you adapted the tactics or

245
00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:23.679
have you not really needed to because of your location

246
00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:25.559
and because it's a corn maze and the corn is

247
00:12:25.559 --> 00:12:29.240
still like, you know, the central character. I guess in

248
00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:34.480
a way we've advanced. Yes, yes, yeah, So tell me

249
00:12:34.519 --> 00:12:36.159
about that and how and how you kind of over

250
00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:36.840
the years and.

251
00:12:36.759 --> 00:12:41.480
Actually, okay, so our son Ethan. He's fifteen now and

252
00:12:41.559 --> 00:12:42.240
he has.

253
00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:44.279
So he only he came in eleven years into it.

254
00:12:44.759 --> 00:12:48.559
Yeah. Well actually he was like six. When he's family,

255
00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:49.039
he can.

256
00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:51.840
He can work and sloked many nights and on the floor.

257
00:12:51.879 --> 00:12:54.639
And so it was that after the FEC then that

258
00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:57.279
Ethan came in. Okay, yeah, so that you'd already had

259
00:12:57.279 --> 00:13:00.240
that whole adventure so well into the Hunthouse space were

260
00:13:00.279 --> 00:13:01.720
at that point you were like, this is what we're

261
00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:03.799
doing with our lives is yes, this.

262
00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:07.720
Is one of the many jobs that we have, is

263
00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:12.120
the Yeah. And so Ethan actually with that last question,

264
00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:17.039
he just he brought in so much because these young

265
00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:20.200
minds are just like really just thinking and they see

266
00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:22.519
things differently, and they have all you know, they don't

267
00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:24.240
have to go to the library, they have it all

268
00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:24.840
on their phone.

269
00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:26.679
It shapes so much by media too, like how you

270
00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:29.759
view the attraction through your screen, through your phone is

271
00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:32.799
really changes it the marketing, the awareness.

272
00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:36.200
Yeah, yeah, and so he's really brought in a lot

273
00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:38.840
like what types of things have you done and brought in.

274
00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:41.200
Well, I mean, like you said, with the masks, I've

275
00:13:41.559 --> 00:13:44.360
like when we went to trans World in twenty twenty one,

276
00:13:44.440 --> 00:13:47.440
my first year, I was like, oh my gosh, look

277
00:13:47.480 --> 00:13:49.879
all these silicone masks are amazing. It's like, because we

278
00:13:49.879 --> 00:13:53.559
don't do makeup bet our attraction because it's cold and yeah,

279
00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:57.759
like everyone around our area knows everybody, so if you're

280
00:13:57.799 --> 00:13:59.600
wearing makeup, they're just like, hey, I know you.

281
00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:01.720
So we don't make up. But we brought like a

282
00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:04.360
mortal masks he effects. It just was amazing.

283
00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:07.360
So I brought those types of things and I saved

284
00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:09.639
my money. The next year is for trans Road, Like, yeah,

285
00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:13.159
I bought all these amazing animatronics from like Hallucinations poison

286
00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:17.159
prop scar factory, So I was like buying the bigger

287
00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:19.039
stuff for them to make the scary even better.

288
00:14:19.240 --> 00:14:20.440
So that's what I was doing.

289
00:14:20.759 --> 00:14:23.320
Yeah, he was really taking the next step. We're like, well,

290
00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:26.840
that's kind of intense and scary. And then when we

291
00:14:26.919 --> 00:14:29.240
saw it and the people, I mean seriously, when the

292
00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:32.200
jaw drops, I mean that that is what we saw

293
00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:34.799
and people were like, this is you guys are doing

294
00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:40.399
so awesome. Oh my gosh, and I'm like thank you, Ethan. Yeah.

295
00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:43.799
So now I mean where you are now? Can you

296
00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:47.200
describe where you are now with the attractions? Obviously, now

297
00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:49.559
you're using masks and you're using animatronics, so you fix

298
00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:55.519
the power issue at some point for twenty six years. Yeah,

299
00:14:55.240 --> 00:14:57.480
so where are you now? Can you paint the picture

300
00:14:57.559 --> 00:15:01.360
for us now the current day what your venue looks like?

301
00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:06.360
Okay, so now it's it went from like four scare

302
00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:11.360
actors to like fifty, you know, plus and it's it's plus.

303
00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:14.080
You have more on staff of course than that, and

304
00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:15.440
that's been a challenge as well.

305
00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:19.440
But fifty employees like does not seem like a lot

306
00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:21.720
from like all these you know, Saint Louis because they

307
00:15:21.720 --> 00:15:23.200
have like two hundred three hundred.

308
00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:24.399
But for the area, I think it's a lot.

309
00:15:24.679 --> 00:15:28.080
So many employees are yeah for yeah, it's a lot.

310
00:15:28.919 --> 00:15:29.559
Yeah.

311
00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:32.679
And so with the with that we've taken it to

312
00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:36.559
We've been to transforld for quite a few years and we've.

313
00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:38.600
We love Transford pretty much.

314
00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:40.960
Have everything going on in the trends, and so we're

315
00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:43.000
trying to keep up with that and and bring that

316
00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:46.559
to Montana and to just show people like even though

317
00:15:46.600 --> 00:15:51.000
this is a small operation, it's still we could compete.

318
00:15:51.159 --> 00:15:53.519
You know. We've been to all the Haunt tours and stuff,

319
00:15:53.559 --> 00:15:56.120
bus towards all the time too, and we love them.

320
00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:57.000
We think they're great.

321
00:15:57.080 --> 00:16:01.240
But you get little tidbits, you get little morsels from

322
00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:03.919
these different haunts and then you kind of just go

323
00:16:04.120 --> 00:16:05.840
take a little piece of that and a little piece

324
00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:08.200
of this, and I'll morph it together and make this

325
00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:13.879
for our area. But yeah, going from plastic and just

326
00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:21.360
black capes, now getting the really nice masks, the detail

327
00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:26.559
and yeah, the costumes are just layers and layers deep

328
00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:31.360
with different props, and I mean, and then you know,

329
00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:33.480
the different shoes. It's not just oh, wear your white

330
00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:37.720
tennis shoes. You know, you're yeah, you're really getting every

331
00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:41.320
little detail and going at it. And then you know,

332
00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:46.559
doing the eyes and and then just the buildings. The

333
00:16:46.600 --> 00:16:49.879
buildings are like getting bigger. Even though we have a

334
00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:54.200
corn field, we add all these different spots to make

335
00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:57.080
it so you don't have just the corn fields. So

336
00:16:57.080 --> 00:16:59.200
we have a lot of that going on.

337
00:16:59.559 --> 00:17:00.440
Lots of rooms.

338
00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:02.879
Yeah, so like there's a ton of so it's a

339
00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:06.279
so do you still have daytime activities? Yeah, yeah, and

340
00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:09.359
then at nighttime is it it's a linear experience, but

341
00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:12.160
you have buildings, so it's broken up by the nature

342
00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:14.480
of it, so effectively you're still going through the corn,

343
00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:17.640
but you have physical buildings that break up the scenes.

344
00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:20.359
Yeah, we actually offer a lot of different types of

345
00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:23.279
tractions for pretty much everyone. So we have this scene

346
00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:26.599
called Zombie Free Mondays and you know it's only on Mondays,

347
00:17:26.599 --> 00:17:29.119
so there's no like actors, but you have the audio,

348
00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:30.880
the fog, the lights and all those types of things,

349
00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:33.039
and it's at night, so it's with the scaredy guys.

350
00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:36.160
So we offer like pretty much everything for everybody that

351
00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:37.880
you know, just amazing.

352
00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:40.640
Yeah, yeah, because it's unique. Lot of a lot of parents,

353
00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:42.680
like people our age, like like, have you been to

354
00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:44.599
the Maze you know, I've been to the Corn Maize

355
00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:47.000
yet Oh no, no, my kids are grown up. We

356
00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:50.359
don't know. It's it's for us, it's for people our age.

357
00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:53.279
You know, it's for everybody, whether you want to be

358
00:17:53.319 --> 00:17:56.279
scared or just walk through. Like we totally recommend the

359
00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:59.880
Zombie Free because it's awesome. It's fun to come and

360
00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:02.079
see all the props at night. You can actually take

361
00:18:02.119 --> 00:18:04.720
your time, yeah yeah, and see all the detail, and.

362
00:18:05.079 --> 00:18:07.480
People really like to see all the detail.

363
00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:11.880
Big swift sound in every area. I mean we put

364
00:18:12.599 --> 00:18:14.480
you should see the audio stuff we have, you know,

365
00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:17.039
it's it's all the old what do you call those

366
00:18:17.079 --> 00:18:22.880
the receivers, just piles of them in you know, dry areas. Yeah,

367
00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:25.920
and it just in subwifers and lights.

368
00:18:25.640 --> 00:18:29.160
And then other new things are the sense so you're

369
00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:32.039
really going through all the senses. You know, that's a

370
00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:36.079
whole new thing that was added. I just love, you know,

371
00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:39.079
coming to trans World and the bus tour and being

372
00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:43.519
able to talk with haw and and just learning all

373
00:18:43.559 --> 00:18:46.759
these little details from everybody is just it is amazing

374
00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:48.279
and beautiful.

375
00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:52.720
And it sounds like So those structures stay up ye

376
00:18:52.759 --> 00:18:55.240
around and then you just kind of like move any

377
00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:57.880
of the stuff into them to make sure stuff is protected.

378
00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:00.839
Right yeah weather, yeah, because yeah, yeah.

379
00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:02.559
It's a it's a big it's a big and making

380
00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:04.240
sure the guests can still walk on the path and

381
00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:04.960
clearing that up.

382
00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:08.759
Yes, we change out structures about every five years, Okay,

383
00:19:09.079 --> 00:19:12.920
sometimes sooner. This year we're doing a whole nother makeover

384
00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:13.319
on it.

385
00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:15.240
Yes, we got some new things.

386
00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:17.720
We're even adding more power, a whole nother foreigner a

387
00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:22.119
service just throughout the whole field. So there's air compressors

388
00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:23.519
and stuff everywhere.

389
00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:25.960
And it goes through different themes, right, or as in

390
00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:28.599
like you know that, like it's it's not all the

391
00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:30.720
same theme, Like you're going through like I think there's

392
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:33.079
a mind shaft the clown area. You're going through these

393
00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:35.720
different spaces, so you kind of are trying. It's that

394
00:19:35.960 --> 00:19:38.599
awkward position I think that you're in because it's like

395
00:19:38.839 --> 00:19:40.920
it sounds like maybe this is wrong, but it sounds

396
00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:45.680
like you are needing to almost be back to having

397
00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:48.640
an fec in a way because the local area is

398
00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:51.680
so small. It's like you can't you're not a sound

399
00:19:51.720 --> 00:19:53.319
a weird way, but it's like you're not dizzey world, right,

400
00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:55.400
So people are not like we're going to fly over

401
00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:59.160
from a so you're drawing from where people are reasonably

402
00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:01.000
be going to drive from. And so in order to

403
00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:03.839
do that, you need to appeal to the mass which

404
00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:05.680
is like an fac appealing to the mass market, which

405
00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:08.039
is why you need to have adult friendly options, and

406
00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:10.440
you need to have multiple themes, you know, as opposed

407
00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:13.000
to like we're only going to do like corn stalkers,

408
00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:14.799
and so if you only do one thing, it's like,

409
00:20:14.839 --> 00:20:16.839
well I don't care about that. So it's like you're

410
00:20:16.839 --> 00:20:20.400
trying to incorporate, which is a weird line. I think

411
00:20:20.839 --> 00:20:24.240
to have to walk because there's many people that say,

412
00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:27.680
you know, if you if you're everything, then you're you're

413
00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:30.640
you're nothing to someone. You know, if you're everything, then

414
00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:33.759
it's too wide of a net basically, But it sounds

415
00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:36.799
like it's working because of your legacy and what you

416
00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:40.839
have in the local community and because also, I mean

417
00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:43.119
it's like the one of the only things in the area.

418
00:20:43.559 --> 00:20:47.960
And so daytime, nighttime, multiple themes, and then generations you

419
00:20:48.119 --> 00:20:51.160
multiple generations of families coming and bringing their families.

420
00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:53.640
Yes, well you wrap that up really well, and that's

421
00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:55.200
get good.

422
00:20:55.240 --> 00:20:59.279
We're done, all right, and wrap up. Let's go the microphone.

423
00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:05.759
You know, that's actually really I loved how you put that. Yeah,

424
00:21:05.880 --> 00:21:08.319
because we have the daytime and we really want to

425
00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:12.240
have families and young kids come, and so we do

426
00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:16.119
have you know, Okay, stop here. If you're too scared already,

427
00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:18.359
you know, you can exit now. But you've seen a

428
00:21:18.359 --> 00:21:21.599
lot of stuff. Or you can take this path and

429
00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:23.480
not see any of that and go to our little

430
00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:28.000
mini maze. You do the haywagon ride, the pumpkin patch. Yeah,

431
00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:33.160
and then we have the the Monday Zombie Free and

432
00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:36.279
then but we actually, so people around here, they're like, oh,

433
00:21:36.359 --> 00:21:41.240
if you drive far, well, for far from Montana is like, oh,

434
00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:43.680
you can drive two hours easy, no problem, that's like

435
00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:48.119
bloop a little jaunt, you know. And so but for Montana,

436
00:21:48.440 --> 00:21:52.240
you know, you drive five six hours. You're like, okay,

437
00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:54.799
So yeah, we have to fool So we get people

438
00:21:54.839 --> 00:22:01.279
from you know, Washington, Idaho, like all over in mont Hannah.

439
00:22:01.400 --> 00:22:04.079
We have actually have people fly in from like New

440
00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:08.200
York and New Jersey and Hawaii just because they're all

441
00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:10.640
we have heard about you guys, and that just sounds

442
00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:14.480
so good. We're like, oh my gosh. Yeah.

443
00:22:14.839 --> 00:22:16.720
The only reason I want to harp on it isn't

444
00:22:16.759 --> 00:22:19.599
isn't because it's more because I think you hear in

445
00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:21.680
the industry. I'm sure you guys have heard this. You

446
00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:24.880
hear a lot about you know, there's a lot of

447
00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:29.200
people to think that you need to really become you know,

448
00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:31.960
the really hone in on one thing, like a coherent

449
00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:34.240
theme or a narrative or this or that, or hone

450
00:22:34.279 --> 00:22:36.680
in on a specific attraction or a specific thing. And

451
00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:39.920
I do generally agree with that, accept in situations like

452
00:22:39.960 --> 00:22:43.640
this where like you are, there's so you know, you

453
00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:45.640
need in order for it to be viable, you have

454
00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:48.720
to pull enormous amount of the market, and there's no

455
00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:50.720
way to pull that much of the market if you

456
00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:53.720
are just doing a single haunt that is, you know,

457
00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:57.839
one theme. It's not going to work because it works

458
00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:00.440
in a larger city where you have a lot of

459
00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:03.119
built up tourist attractions and you're really you're competing against

460
00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:05.799
one hundred other people plus Netflix. So you're like, Okay,

461
00:23:05.880 --> 00:23:09.680
let's really we're this niche immersive theater thing and this thing,

462
00:23:09.720 --> 00:23:11.680
and you know that makes more sense. But when you're

463
00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:14.960
in a market like this, I mean, so I just

464
00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:16.720
want That's the only reason I harp on it because

465
00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:18.759
I'm like, I think it's important to be like, it's

466
00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:21.599
not always the right move. I think it depends on

467
00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:22.599
the market that you're in.

468
00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:26.400
Yeah that's true. Yeah, yeah, because I know they say

469
00:23:26.519 --> 00:23:28.519
you need to have one theme and then next year

470
00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:30.240
you can change that theme and it's going to be

471
00:23:30.279 --> 00:23:32.519
all zombies, and then it's going to be we just

472
00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:35.720
we cannot do that exactly for that and so we

473
00:23:35.799 --> 00:23:37.240
have a little bit of just everything.

474
00:23:38.519 --> 00:23:41.519
Because again that's the other thing, you guys know, because

475
00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:43.519
you go to them, but your customers probably don't go

476
00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:44.640
to any other hot houses.

477
00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:48.559
Yestly, we're the only on it house in Montana.

478
00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:50.200
Like we're the only commercial on it house.

479
00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:52.759
When you might see like like shows like in front

480
00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:56.599
of houses, We're literally the only haunted house in Montana.

481
00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:57.720
It's empty there.

482
00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:00.680
Yeah, and that's the thing. Yeah, Like it's like they

483
00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:02.680
might be going to disney World or Disneyland or something

484
00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:04.720
for their family vacations at some point, right, and they

485
00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:07.160
see the haunted mansion, but they're not like gonna they're

486
00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:10.079
not necessarily traveling. It's like the problem with being in

487
00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:12.799
Chicago is that you know, people are going to Hell'sgate,

488
00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:17.160
They're going to all all of the Chicagoland attractions, and

489
00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:19.599
then they had that as reference points. Yeah, but your

490
00:24:19.640 --> 00:24:22.160
market has like nothing as a reference point except for

491
00:24:22.200 --> 00:24:24.000
other FECs. And so in a way, you kind of

492
00:24:24.039 --> 00:24:26.559
have to make it seem like that because you're like, oh,

493
00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:30.160
it's just like Chuck E Cheese, but there's corn and

494
00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:32.519
you know this, you know, use the destination. Yeah, you

495
00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:35.799
really have to like, yeah, meet the audience I think

496
00:24:35.799 --> 00:24:39.440
where they are in those cases and train them over decades,

497
00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:41.039
which is what you guys sounds like you've done.

498
00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:41.599
Yeah.

499
00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:44.880
Yeah. One thing that we picked up on from doing

500
00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:47.519
these HONK tours is I think it was a disturbia

501
00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:48.200
we went too.

502
00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:50.039
Yeah, yeah, that was the name that was escaping me.

503
00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:52.240
I was like with the other Chicago Hans, Yeah, that

504
00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:55.000
one and other Chicago Hans another one.

505
00:24:56.039 --> 00:25:00.599
It's like we showed up there and you know, it's

506
00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:03.319
like our first time doing a bus tour, I think,

507
00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:06.920
and we got off the bus and they're just music blasting, like,

508
00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:10.240
oh yeah, pop music. We're like, yeah, isn't it supposed

509
00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:12.839
to be like haunted scary music. You know, it's daytime

510
00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:16.160
of course, and and then the music's all mixed up.

511
00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:18.519
It's like DJ music I think of a psych jam

512
00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:21.319
did it And we're like, this is cool, Like we

513
00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:23.440
need to do something like this. This is brand new

514
00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:26.039
because we usued to just play kind of haunted music

515
00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:28.000
and people just like, uh, you know, when you're waiting

516
00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:30.559
a line two hours, it just kind of gets boring.

517
00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:32.880
And so we did that, you know. We we hired

518
00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:34.839
him and he did some mixes for us, and it

519
00:25:35.319 --> 00:25:37.240
made it. It made it unique. And then we added

520
00:25:37.240 --> 00:25:40.960
the actors. We didn't know anything about entertainers before. We're like,

521
00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:43.359
we're not going to waste our actors in the lines,

522
00:25:43.480 --> 00:25:46.240
like we need it in the hank, but we added

523
00:25:46.279 --> 00:25:50.039
stilts and fancy masks and yeah, our eyes were great.

524
00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:52.279
Yeah, it was just like it just till.

525
00:25:53.880 --> 00:25:56.720
Yes, yeah, well, your job is to entertain, especially in

526
00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:58.599
that case, it's not necessarily to scare people.

527
00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:01.160
I think that's yeah, that's that's the big thing is

528
00:26:01.359 --> 00:26:03.200
some people come out and say, I wasn't scared. I'm like,

529
00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:07.440
that's like if you don't get scared, that spine, Like,

530
00:26:08.200 --> 00:26:10.759
our real job is to entertain and that's what people want.

531
00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:12.079
And just see that eye candy.

532
00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:15.480
Yeah, and that has been the big, huge morph from

533
00:26:15.559 --> 00:26:19.400
way back when of it's not more of oh my gosh,

534
00:26:19.400 --> 00:26:21.559
my heart, I can't even breathe anymore and I peed

535
00:26:21.640 --> 00:26:24.599
my pants and it's like you get a little bet

536
00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:28.680
of that. But then wow, and the detail and looking

537
00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:32.920
around and yeah, just like that was just epic, Like

538
00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:35.119
there was so much out there that I need to

539
00:26:35.160 --> 00:26:38.400
go through again. Yeah.

540
00:26:38.680 --> 00:26:40.200
The one thing I want to touch on because it

541
00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:42.400
has come up as a trend over and over, which

542
00:26:42.440 --> 00:26:45.119
is staffing. You know, and I know that you mentioned

543
00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:47.160
fifty you know, which is a lot for that I

544
00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:49.480
can imagine that's a lot for the area it is.

545
00:26:49.799 --> 00:26:52.559
How has your approach to staffing change? It sounded like

546
00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:56.240
you you almost it seemed like you brought the entertainers

547
00:26:56.279 --> 00:26:58.039
that you were like contracted out to. But I don't

548
00:26:58.039 --> 00:26:59.920
know if that's true. But like, how do you how

549
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:01.920
do you like manage the staffing? How do you do

550
00:27:01.960 --> 00:27:04.799
your retention? Do you have like same people come back?

551
00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:06.519
And how does all that work for you? Guys?

552
00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:11.039
Actually, we had we have so many haunters that have

553
00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:13.960
come back for years. I'm talking some of their for

554
00:27:14.039 --> 00:27:16.720
fifteen eighteen years already, which is what else?

555
00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:17.920
If you like it? What else are you going to?

556
00:27:18.039 --> 00:27:18.160
Oh?

557
00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:19.720
Yeah, right where else?

558
00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:21.240
Also go yeah?

559
00:27:21.319 --> 00:27:25.240
And they have been so like valuable and it's great

560
00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:27.240
because then you can like feed off of them and go, Okay,

561
00:27:27.400 --> 00:27:29.440
what are what are people wanting? What do you want?

562
00:27:29.480 --> 00:27:34.559
What do you see? And so that really helps, but yeah,

563
00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:38.000
it's hard. We just when we get those people, then

564
00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:39.680
we ask them, We're like, hey, you want to bring

565
00:27:39.720 --> 00:27:41.440
some of your friends. What kind of friends do you know?

566
00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:43.720
And then you ask those friends, hey, how about your friends?

567
00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:45.680
Do you know other people that want to come, So

568
00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:49.599
it's like friends of friends of friends or family and

569
00:27:49.640 --> 00:27:53.799
then you know, just asking around at schools in the

570
00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:58.640
drama department because we're we're far enough away from Missoula.

571
00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:01.119
It's an hour away, so a little bit harder driving

572
00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:04.119
at night to drive back home to go to the

573
00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:07.359
college and get all those amazing you know people. But

574
00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:10.519
we have a few that are totally hardcore, dedicated and

575
00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:11.559
they're awesome.

576
00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:13.119
And they're careful to come from Azulas.

577
00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:18.519
Yeah for haunting, you know, So that one's a tricky one.

578
00:28:18.680 --> 00:28:21.440
So it sounds like a lot of like grassroots recruitment,

579
00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:24.839
like you're going out and individually approaching places where you

580
00:28:24.839 --> 00:28:26.920
think they're going to be, and then you just try

581
00:28:26.920 --> 00:28:28.720
and retain them over the years.

582
00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:32.640
And i'n't explained to them how how we retain them

583
00:28:32.759 --> 00:28:33.599
the voting.

584
00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:38.440
Oh yeah, okay, So what we do is the guests.

585
00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:40.799
When you guys go through you know, the haunt, and

586
00:28:40.799 --> 00:28:43.400
as soon as you come out, we have this huge

587
00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:45.960
board it's a dry erase board, and we have all

588
00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:49.519
the pictures of all the haunters, just their costumes, just

589
00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:51.720
with the mask ye with the masks, so they're all

590
00:28:51.799 --> 00:28:54.799
dressed up all looking really cool. And then the guests

591
00:28:55.119 --> 00:28:57.559
they they go, we can only allow them to choose

592
00:28:57.599 --> 00:29:01.119
one person that they really really like the most, scared

593
00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:04.440
them or was just like they were just good, and

594
00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:06.640
so then they get it put a tally mark by

595
00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:10.839
that haunter. We have another section for like the entertainers,

596
00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:13.519
kind of separating them out. And so at the end

597
00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:16.160
of the night, all the haunters, all the employees come out.

598
00:29:16.160 --> 00:29:18.319
They're like, oh my gosh, did I win? And they

599
00:29:18.680 --> 00:29:20.559
also have like little tip jar so if they want

600
00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:22.400
to give them tips. So let's say they we did

601
00:29:22.440 --> 00:29:25.759
forty bucks for that night, then I have eight winners

602
00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:29.960
because I give them five bucks each. And so so

603
00:29:29.960 --> 00:29:32.839
whoever has the most tally marks, you know, they're one of.

604
00:29:32.759 --> 00:29:34.680
The biggest things has.

605
00:29:35.319 --> 00:29:37.759
I mean not the biggest of course, but a lot

606
00:29:37.799 --> 00:29:39.200
of people go there just to do that.

607
00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:43.279
Actually, they love just voting people. Yeah, I went through

608
00:29:43.319 --> 00:29:45.319
again and again just to do that. I don't know why,

609
00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:46.440
but they just really love it.

610
00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:49.240
Yeah, and it's a smaller community, right, So I think

611
00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:51.440
that's part of it too, you know. I think it's

612
00:29:51.440 --> 00:29:53.839
more like there's more likelihood you might know that person,

613
00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:56.680
you know, than it is like when you are just

614
00:29:56.759 --> 00:29:59.000
lost in a you know, Los Angeles area where like

615
00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:02.680
there's millions of people, you know, yeah, I think random.

616
00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:04.839
And one thing that we do too is we have

617
00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:08.160
the actors keep their position secret, even from their families.

618
00:30:08.599 --> 00:30:10.799
They most of them do it. Actually, they do pretty

619
00:30:10.839 --> 00:30:13.839
well because we have their families come and they're like

620
00:30:13.880 --> 00:30:17.960
which one was he like, They're like, I'm like, I'm

621
00:30:17.960 --> 00:30:21.799
not going to tell you. Since it is a small community.

622
00:30:21.880 --> 00:30:24.519
It helps too because when the when the kids are

623
00:30:24.519 --> 00:30:27.400
going through or adults, they're like, Hi, Jimmy, and like,

624
00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:29.880
how did that person know my name? You know, it

625
00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:32.480
really works on them a little bit too.

626
00:30:33.799 --> 00:30:35.440
Do you have any questions?

627
00:30:36.359 --> 00:30:41.039
M h, I mean I can definitely.

628
00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:44.279
Because I was just going to enter into the wrap

629
00:30:44.359 --> 00:30:48.720
up of the like have planned you know, the whole.

630
00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:57.359
Are there any trends you see that you you know,

631
00:30:57.920 --> 00:31:04.039
I don't think applying to you because of your specific

632
00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:06.400
you know, haunts and where you're situated.

633
00:31:07.319 --> 00:31:10.039
So basically, are there any trends that don't apply to

634
00:31:10.039 --> 00:31:14.480
you because you're a corn maze in Montana that people

635
00:31:14.519 --> 00:31:16.440
have talked about maybe this morning in the say of

636
00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:19.680
the industry, you know, you know, insurance.

637
00:31:19.880 --> 00:31:24.680
Yeah, insurance. It definitely applies. Yes, I think from what

638
00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:27.240
I've seen when we've done the Hant tours and some

639
00:31:27.319 --> 00:31:31.079
of them are like completely just like massacre and bloody

640
00:31:31.400 --> 00:31:34.960
that that doesn't apply in our area like that, and

641
00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:36.839
we kind of advertise it as you know, because people

642
00:31:36.839 --> 00:31:38.359
walk through it during the day, like that would just

643
00:31:38.359 --> 00:31:40.759
turn people off. You know, it might appeal to a

644
00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:43.279
few people, but we don't. We don't do that.

645
00:31:43.640 --> 00:31:46.599
That's that mass appeal again. It's like, yeah, it's that's

646
00:31:46.599 --> 00:31:47.880
only going to too.

647
00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:48.920
Much for our area.

648
00:31:48.759 --> 00:31:50.839
Yeah, we did that the very first year where we

649
00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:53.680
got like these plastic bags had blood in it, bodies

650
00:31:53.720 --> 00:31:58.200
and people were very turned off by that. Another one.

651
00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:03.519
Is oh, well, i'd say the Demon's dominion so the blackouts.

652
00:32:03.559 --> 00:32:06.400
Oh yeah, so they actually had it going for you know,

653
00:32:06.440 --> 00:32:08.759
their first couple of years, and then people just didn't

654
00:32:08.839 --> 00:32:11.119
like it, you know, similar to Gore. They didn't like it,

655
00:32:11.400 --> 00:32:13.519
so then they took it away. But four years ago

656
00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:15.759
we brought it back and people are just I mean,

657
00:32:15.799 --> 00:32:17.839
it's perfect. We want to scare them all. So so

658
00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:20.240
you brought that back again and people love it.

659
00:32:20.279 --> 00:32:22.920
So yeah, we're slowly bringing it. I'm making it bigger

660
00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:29.799
and bigger. Yeah. We also a huge one that people

661
00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:33.920
do a lot is like nuns and priests, and no,

662
00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:39.319
we don't do anything with like religious anything. People don't

663
00:32:39.319 --> 00:32:42.880
appreciate that at all. So that's some of the And

664
00:32:42.920 --> 00:32:46.240
then yeah, like the face painting, then the makeup. I

665
00:32:46.279 --> 00:32:47.480
wish we could, but.

666
00:32:48.119 --> 00:32:52.200
Nope, and people know everybody, so that just doesn't work unfortunately.

667
00:32:52.480 --> 00:32:53.799
Yeah.

668
00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:56.599
Yeah, you're just trying to keep sensitive basically know your

669
00:32:56.680 --> 00:32:59.319
target market. Yeah, effectively, you know when you understand there

670
00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:01.440
are some things that don't work, you know.

671
00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:05.279
Yeah, and have you done an off season events? Have

672
00:33:05.319 --> 00:33:07.559
you found that success?

673
00:33:07.319 --> 00:33:11.279
That's something which because you still you farm during the year, right,

674
00:33:11.319 --> 00:33:15.079
so it makes off season events tricky.

675
00:33:15.240 --> 00:33:18.640
So actually we have We just built this thing called

676
00:33:18.680 --> 00:33:21.440
Gateway Mannor it's a hunted attraction, which I own.

677
00:33:21.799 --> 00:33:22.920
So it's like right here, but.

678
00:33:25.079 --> 00:33:27.440
That's like one hundred feet long, you know, sixteen feet wide,

679
00:33:27.480 --> 00:33:29.960
and it's just its own haunted house. So you can

680
00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:34.559
pay an extra fee or something, and we are trying

681
00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:37.440
to do off season events for that, but we have

682
00:33:37.519 --> 00:33:40.039
not yet pushed to do that yet.

683
00:33:40.119 --> 00:33:44.720
So it's like Christmas, I feel like head it was.

684
00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:47.960
Maybe it's things are frozen at that time.

685
00:33:48.079 --> 00:33:49.599
Oh that's forgot.

686
00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:52.200
There could be two foot of snow, so it's you know,

687
00:33:53.920 --> 00:33:57.000
are hard to get to. You know, we're all portable.

688
00:33:57.039 --> 00:33:58.279
That way is as well.

689
00:33:58.400 --> 00:34:01.319
But I totally for out about yeah.

690
00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:04.720
Yeah, because when two years ago we were shoveling the

691
00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:06.319
pathway because.

692
00:34:06.039 --> 00:34:09.760
Of traveling, I said, we're picking at like three inch eyes.

693
00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:11.239
It's true. It's true.

694
00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:14.320
If you don't shovel it that that night, it's just

695
00:34:14.360 --> 00:34:15.400
gonna be three inches.

696
00:34:15.239 --> 00:34:17.280
Spies And that was awful.

697
00:34:17.320 --> 00:34:21.440
Yeah, we were pitchforking it. Yeah, yeah, chunks of ice.

698
00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:26.239
It's a lot of work out. Anybody that's outside, it's yeah,

699
00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:28.239
because they're like, oh you should do this or that

700
00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:31.159
and this animatronic and oh my gosh, and have this flowing.

701
00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:32.519
I'm like, it'll freeze.

702
00:34:32.519 --> 00:34:35.360
Pneumatics will freeze. And it did happen last year.

703
00:34:35.719 --> 00:34:38.039
All like the pneumatics that were outside in the corn maze,

704
00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:40.760
the actual soulnoids froze.

705
00:34:41.079 --> 00:34:42.679
They weren't moving, they're stuck.

706
00:34:44.480 --> 00:34:48.199
Yeah, and it was a warm year last year, and.

707
00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:51.679
That's why it's really arcupied.

708
00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:54.760
These animatronics so we can we can buy them, but

709
00:34:55.159 --> 00:34:57.559
it's just hard because they won't run.

710
00:34:57.400 --> 00:34:58.360
Away, keep you going.

711
00:34:58.880 --> 00:35:02.679
Yeah. Yeah, so that's why we have the actors.

712
00:35:03.719 --> 00:35:08.519
Yeah, you already answered this a little bit, think about

713
00:35:08.559 --> 00:35:11.320
off season events, But do you have other things like

714
00:35:11.639 --> 00:35:15.519
long term wish list, you know, the idea Maybe that's

715
00:35:15.559 --> 00:35:15.920
a question.

716
00:35:16.639 --> 00:35:20.840
You know, he even has so many.

717
00:35:19.800 --> 00:35:20.920
Long, long time ideas.

718
00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:22.800
Yeah.

719
00:35:22.840 --> 00:35:25.559
Well, the gateway manner, I want to make that much

720
00:35:25.559 --> 00:35:27.480
bigger and have it because I mean, this year was

721
00:35:27.480 --> 00:35:29.719
the first year, so I only had it five minutes long,

722
00:35:29.840 --> 00:35:33.119
super short, had to voor text tunnel things. But this year,

723
00:35:33.519 --> 00:35:36.360
definitely planning on making it two times bigger, looking for

724
00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:38.760
about ten minutes, since we have a lot of room

725
00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:45.400
in that area. But I don't know, do you guys,

726
00:35:45.800 --> 00:35:47.679
because I know this year we're also gonna be adding

727
00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:51.119
a coffin ride where you actually go inside of a

728
00:35:51.119 --> 00:35:53.000
coffin and do a little ride for two minutes.

729
00:35:53.119 --> 00:35:53.960
And he built that.

730
00:35:54.119 --> 00:35:55.880
Yeah, these are the things that I've been wanting to

731
00:35:55.880 --> 00:35:57.599
do and it has come to life.

732
00:35:57.639 --> 00:35:58.639
But I don't have any on.

733
00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:02.119
Like mind that I want to do an elevator and

734
00:36:02.159 --> 00:36:03.519
an elevator in a way, and.

735
00:36:03.480 --> 00:36:07.800
He also made the elevator ride, but we're doing this year.

736
00:36:07.880 --> 00:36:11.840
We are doing a Western theme and he we're going

737
00:36:11.880 --> 00:36:13.199
to be building all of that.

738
00:36:13.119 --> 00:36:16.360
Without scenes, then I will I do you ever seen?

739
00:36:16.519 --> 00:36:19.000
But like tractions themselves, I don't have.

740
00:36:19.280 --> 00:36:20.199
Yeah, the top of my head.

741
00:36:21.159 --> 00:36:24.079
I also wonder though I'm going on that. It's like

742
00:36:24.559 --> 00:36:27.039
I think sometimes in areas like that, it's a little

743
00:36:27.039 --> 00:36:31.039
bit difficult because feasibly, how many people could you add

744
00:36:31.480 --> 00:36:33.960
in terms of demand? Like what is the market size?

745
00:36:34.360 --> 00:36:37.360
You know? Like sometimes I ask has like what what

746
00:36:37.400 --> 00:36:40.800
would you do? How could you double your attendance? Let's

747
00:36:40.840 --> 00:36:42.280
just think about it, like how could you do it?

748
00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:44.920
And I think sometimes they're like, well, there's literally physically

749
00:36:44.920 --> 00:36:47.639
not that many people in my region. Yeah, And so

750
00:36:47.679 --> 00:36:49.239
it's like, well, if you were going to double, if

751
00:36:49.280 --> 00:36:50.519
you were going to double it, you would need to

752
00:36:50.519 --> 00:36:53.159
become a destination he would fly to. And in lieu

753
00:36:53.159 --> 00:36:55.599
of that, then you would need to like franchise, you know.

754
00:36:55.639 --> 00:36:57.679
I've talked to a few Canadian farms last year who

755
00:36:57.719 --> 00:36:59.639
were like, let's we're going to need you just franchise

756
00:36:59.639 --> 00:37:04.239
because we can't pull enough people. So in terms of that,

757
00:37:04.280 --> 00:37:06.719
I do think about that, like do you think you're

758
00:37:06.760 --> 00:37:10.960
heading up against the upper level maybe of your target market?

759
00:37:11.119 --> 00:37:13.440
And then and then it becomes there's only two levels

760
00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:16.000
we have. We can increase attendance or we could increase

761
00:37:16.199 --> 00:37:17.039
per cap spending.

762
00:37:17.760 --> 00:37:21.519
What we're trying to do now is because the last

763
00:37:21.559 --> 00:37:25.079
two to three weekends they're like maxed out. Yeah, Like

764
00:37:25.760 --> 00:37:29.559
we have three acres of parking and it's it's maxed yeah,

765
00:37:29.639 --> 00:37:31.719
you know. And this is in Montana. You know, you

766
00:37:31.760 --> 00:37:34.079
can't really park alongside of the highway. It's a little

767
00:37:34.119 --> 00:37:36.679
bit rough. But we're trying to get people on out

768
00:37:36.679 --> 00:37:40.280
on Wednesdays and Thursdays like the locals, trying to get

769
00:37:40.280 --> 00:37:43.960
the locals out during the during the week. We try

770
00:37:43.960 --> 00:37:46.960
to tell them, I know, it's bad business to say,

771
00:37:47.639 --> 00:37:49.719
don't come on Friday Saturday if you live here, if

772
00:37:49.760 --> 00:37:53.199
you live like ten minutes away, could come during Wednesday Thursday.

773
00:37:53.239 --> 00:37:56.039
It's less busy. It's just as fun, you know, because

774
00:37:56.079 --> 00:37:59.960
Saturday and Fridays are they're packed, there is.

775
00:38:00.840 --> 00:38:03.039
And we're just breading out your demand. You're you're trying

776
00:38:03.079 --> 00:38:06.239
to encourage bretting out the demand. But that's not still

777
00:38:06.519 --> 00:38:09.679
what about and you're still gonna hit your cab.

778
00:38:11.360 --> 00:38:14.880
We're trying it this year. Actually, yeah, it was a

779
00:38:14.920 --> 00:38:16.840
lot of work. To set up, but we got it.

780
00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:20.360
We use it. We use online ticketing and so it's

781
00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:23.119
timed and that helped a lot with the lines. But

782
00:38:23.199 --> 00:38:25.760
still you get a lot of drive ins, you know,

783
00:38:25.840 --> 00:38:26.719
from all over.

784
00:38:26.760 --> 00:38:30.360
Yeah, well especially think that region. They may not experience

785
00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:32.119
dynamic pricing at any other thing exactly.

786
00:38:32.599 --> 00:38:33.960
It's all brand new form. Yeah.

787
00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:36.800
So it's almost like you're you're the one like Disney,

788
00:38:36.840 --> 00:38:39.400
You're like, okay, we got to teach you, you know that.

789
00:38:39.440 --> 00:38:41.880
They're how do you like tickets are more expensive?

790
00:38:42.800 --> 00:38:45.920
The time ticketing, Yeah, was something new and they're like, whoa,

791
00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:46.920
what is what do you do?

792
00:38:47.079 --> 00:38:47.159
What?

793
00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:49.480
I you scan something with my phone?

794
00:38:49.519 --> 00:38:50.000
What? Yeah?

795
00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:53.480
I can honestly say though when we started time ticketing

796
00:38:54.079 --> 00:38:57.199
with with our company we're using, I mean, sales were

797
00:38:57.280 --> 00:38:58.480
up like twenty five percent.

798
00:38:58.639 --> 00:39:00.400
Yeah, Like it was crazy. Yeah.

799
00:39:00.599 --> 00:39:03.480
And it with another crazy thing that we do at

800
00:39:03.519 --> 00:39:06.599
our haunt for when people are standing in line and waiting,

801
00:39:06.639 --> 00:39:09.599
you know, to go in. We used to do you know,

802
00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:13.280
the little switch back and it it's all like you know,

803
00:39:13.519 --> 00:39:16.599
fenced off or roped off or did all of that.

804
00:39:16.719 --> 00:39:19.239
And there was a lot of complaints about they're cutting

805
00:39:19.239 --> 00:39:21.960
in line. I don't appreciate this, and you know, I'm like, okay,

806
00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:23.719
well let me hear this because we want to try

807
00:39:23.760 --> 00:39:26.599
to fix it. And so what we do now and

808
00:39:26.679 --> 00:39:29.800
it is amazing. I don't know. I think just Montanans

809
00:39:29.800 --> 00:39:33.199
are just like very respectful. So we don't have any

810
00:39:33.239 --> 00:39:36.719
It's like this huge open area and we just paint

811
00:39:38.039 --> 00:39:41.880
posts three inch poles, yeah, poles. We just paint them

812
00:39:41.920 --> 00:39:44.519
orange on the top and bury them halfway in the ground,

813
00:39:44.519 --> 00:39:47.920
so they're just kind of buried in the ground halfway

814
00:39:48.000 --> 00:39:50.519
and it's just flat on the ground and there's just

815
00:39:50.599 --> 00:39:53.840
these little lines and they stay in their line, they

816
00:39:53.880 --> 00:39:56.480
don't cut. They totally are fine with. That's more free

817
00:39:56.480 --> 00:39:56.960
and open.

818
00:39:57.199 --> 00:39:59.360
There's like an emergency or anything. People can just run

819
00:39:59.440 --> 00:40:02.519
right out there. Yeah, no knowing, no fense blocking them.

820
00:40:02.800 --> 00:40:06.719
It's safer And we've had like zero complaints the last

821
00:40:06.800 --> 00:40:09.440
few years of people cutting in line, which is really

822
00:40:09.480 --> 00:40:13.239
odd because there's no barriers. Yeah either they don't.

823
00:40:13.079 --> 00:40:16.039
Know it's easier to shovel snow.

824
00:40:16.119 --> 00:40:17.440
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

825
00:40:18.320 --> 00:40:18.519
Yeah.

826
00:40:18.519 --> 00:40:20.000
I think that that might be one of the where

827
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:23.000
it's like the inverse again, back to the line thing.

828
00:40:23.039 --> 00:40:26.239
It's like, are there any other things that people even

829
00:40:26.280 --> 00:40:29.039
have to wait for lines in in your area. So

830
00:40:29.079 --> 00:40:30.679
that's so it might be that thing where you're like,

831
00:40:30.719 --> 00:40:33.079
if you just remove it and let them just coordinate

832
00:40:33.119 --> 00:40:36.800
themselves that you know, because it's back to thinking about

833
00:40:36.800 --> 00:40:39.440
like do they do this for anything else in their lives?

834
00:40:39.719 --> 00:40:43.159
Yeah, and maybe just the fair waiting line for a ride, but.

835
00:40:43.320 --> 00:40:46.280
Yeah, so like by removing it then you might just

836
00:40:46.880 --> 00:40:49.239
it might have it's like a psychological thing where it's

837
00:40:49.239 --> 00:40:52.320
like now it's like it's less. They're like, oh, we

838
00:40:52.519 --> 00:40:55.280
can organize ourselves and like we it's like empowers them

839
00:40:55.400 --> 00:40:58.679
to control. They have more control versus not because I think,

840
00:40:58.800 --> 00:41:01.320
like you know, in big city, were conditioned. You know,

841
00:41:01.360 --> 00:41:03.840
you're like stand in line for the metro, stand in

842
00:41:03.920 --> 00:41:06.039
line for the uber, stand in line for this, and

843
00:41:06.159 --> 00:41:08.159
life for like everywhere you go there's a line. So

844
00:41:08.199 --> 00:41:11.119
you're like you're conditioned. So this is how it works.

845
00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:14.199
But I'm just thinking, I'm like, did they I grew

846
00:41:14.239 --> 00:41:15.639
up in a ural town and I'm like, we didn't

847
00:41:15.639 --> 00:41:17.360
wait for anything, and we drove everywhere and it was

848
00:41:17.400 --> 00:41:19.440
like forty five minutes to Whole Foods and that was

849
00:41:19.480 --> 00:41:21.719
the big like trip for the weekend. You know, like

850
00:41:22.239 --> 00:41:23.000
that was the thing.

851
00:41:24.159 --> 00:41:29.400
Yeah. Well, actually another thing like this younger age group,

852
00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:32.599
which they're so amazing, all the you know, kind of

853
00:41:32.639 --> 00:41:35.679
what we're doing right now, all this social media and

854
00:41:36.159 --> 00:41:39.760
getting everything out there, and Ethan you know, has Okay,

855
00:41:39.760 --> 00:41:42.360
what is yours? You have it on Facebook? What is yours? No?

856
00:41:42.480 --> 00:41:43.000
YouTube?

857
00:41:43.159 --> 00:41:44.119
Oh? YouTube scene?

858
00:41:44.639 --> 00:41:45.239
I I'm on.

859
00:41:45.320 --> 00:41:47.679
Facebook, small YouTube channel that I've been trying to grow.

860
00:41:48.360 --> 00:41:51.119
It's called Horror three sixty five. So I just kind

861
00:41:51.119 --> 00:41:53.400
of post YouTube videos trying to do it every single

862
00:41:53.480 --> 00:41:56.519
day of like our haunted house and behind the scenes

863
00:41:56.519 --> 00:41:59.000
of other haunted houses and just kind of what it's

864
00:41:59.079 --> 00:42:00.079
like to live in.

865
00:42:01.079 --> 00:42:05.039
Yeah, he's showing all of our builds, everything that we're building. Yeah,

866
00:42:05.079 --> 00:42:07.760
and our customers like to see that too, and it's

867
00:42:07.800 --> 00:42:08.400
so strange.

868
00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:11.599
We never would have thought about that in year two thousand.

869
00:42:12.559 --> 00:42:14.199
You got to keep it a secret, well, like like

870
00:42:14.360 --> 00:42:19.280
what Alan and John Flamboy had been doing it really, Yeah,

871
00:42:19.320 --> 00:42:22.480
I wanted to be a video it every other it's okay,

872
00:42:22.920 --> 00:42:24.960
it's fine, that's fine. Then I would have had to

873
00:42:25.039 --> 00:42:26.320
edit the video and that's a little bit you know,

874
00:42:26.360 --> 00:42:30.119
it's a little bit easier at audio, but could give me. Yeah,

875
00:42:30.199 --> 00:42:37.920
we're all tired. But yeah, I think, okay, if there's anything.

876
00:42:38.960 --> 00:42:41.760
Yeah, this is just basically our family really doing it

877
00:42:41.800 --> 00:42:45.880
and it's just yeah, and we have four kids and

878
00:42:46.519 --> 00:42:48.920
and then we just yeah, we just kind of build

879
00:42:48.960 --> 00:42:52.119
from there. And so it's been twenty six years. And

880
00:42:52.159 --> 00:42:55.639
so when people say that they have people that help,

881
00:42:55.719 --> 00:42:59.159
like we have this manager that's over costumes. We have

882
00:42:59.199 --> 00:43:00.639
another man sure that's.

883
00:43:00.480 --> 00:43:03.599
Over audio and market.

884
00:43:03.360 --> 00:43:08.239
Employees where it's us here, it is right here.

885
00:43:08.400 --> 00:43:11.119
Last year we were lucking to hire a manager over

886
00:43:11.360 --> 00:43:14.119
all of the animatronics and just keep them all going.

887
00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:16.039
That was heated great.

888
00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:18.000
Because that's different too than others.

889
00:43:18.320 --> 00:43:20.480
So we're expanding and things like that to try to

890
00:43:20.519 --> 00:43:21.039
help us out.

891
00:43:21.119 --> 00:43:25.960
Yeah, yeah, excellent. Yeah, definitely family driven. Yeah, which is

892
00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:29.320
you know, I don't know, I mean different markets again, right,

893
00:43:29.400 --> 00:43:32.840
but I'm sure that a lot of the attraction has

894
00:43:32.840 --> 00:43:35.400
been driven by the family. But that's also important because

895
00:43:35.719 --> 00:43:37.960
that's you know, again the staff, and you know it's

896
00:43:38.199 --> 00:43:42.280
you can count on that too to carry it forward,

897
00:43:42.360 --> 00:43:46.320
you know, I think. And that's a because you know,

898
00:43:46.480 --> 00:43:49.519
hunts are not a good business, so I think sometimes

899
00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.360
hard it's like a restaurant really, and so you look

900
00:43:54.400 --> 00:43:57.519
at all the family restaurant, Like, it's just not it's

901
00:43:57.519 --> 00:44:00.880
a difficult thing. I think you need it's it's excellent.

902
00:44:00.920 --> 00:44:02.280
You're at the point where you need to really you

903
00:44:02.360 --> 00:44:05.519
know that you can hire in other people. But yeah,

904
00:44:05.679 --> 00:44:08.239
I think relying on the on your family to get

905
00:44:08.280 --> 00:44:11.920
you to where you are is it's a valid I mean,

906
00:44:11.920 --> 00:44:14.400
it's a strategy. Look everywhere. I mean, you see so

907
00:44:14.480 --> 00:44:16.400
many hont families that make it because that's the only

908
00:44:16.440 --> 00:44:17.880
way to do it. Because if it were if it

909
00:44:17.920 --> 00:44:20.000
were you know, just YouTube, and then you had to

910
00:44:20.079 --> 00:44:23.559
hire every single position and year round managers and pay

911
00:44:23.599 --> 00:44:25.920
for someone to come to the show floor and look

912
00:44:25.920 --> 00:44:27.719
at ideas and do the YouTube, it was just it's

913
00:44:27.760 --> 00:44:28.440
not sustainable.

914
00:44:28.719 --> 00:44:32.000
Yeah, and then what it's like what you want in

915
00:44:32.000 --> 00:44:34.719
your mindset and you're like, this is my vision trying

916
00:44:34.760 --> 00:44:37.159
to explain that, I'm like, wow, kudos to those that

917
00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:38.760
can do that. That's that's awesome.

918
00:44:39.320 --> 00:44:41.960
Yeah, what were you going to do if your kids

919
00:44:41.960 --> 00:44:43.159
didn't want to help with the hunt?

920
00:44:43.599 --> 00:44:46.599
Okay, well we do have we do have one like

921
00:44:46.719 --> 00:44:48.760
that that he does not like it, so he's over

922
00:44:48.800 --> 00:44:50.280
the food area.

923
00:44:50.559 --> 00:44:51.199
They're all involved.

924
00:44:51.239 --> 00:44:54.280
No matter what you're like yes, they've whether they want

925
00:44:54.320 --> 00:44:54.679
to or not.

926
00:44:54.840 --> 00:44:56.519
Yeah, we're like, you need to learn how to work,

927
00:44:56.559 --> 00:44:57.679
and this is very important.

928
00:44:57.760 --> 00:44:58.400
And when you're.

929
00:44:58.280 --> 00:44:59.840
Eighteen, you've got to.

930
00:45:00.079 --> 00:45:01.599
When you go to college, you can leave.

931
00:45:02.480 --> 00:45:05.320
And then our daughter, she just had a baby, and

932
00:45:05.360 --> 00:45:07.719
so you know, and they're at college and are the

933
00:45:07.719 --> 00:45:11.119
one that didn't really like the Halloween stuff. He's at college.

934
00:45:11.440 --> 00:45:14.119
And then we have another son and he's really hand

935
00:45:14.199 --> 00:45:17.320
kept in a wheelchair. But that's been really good to know. Okay,

936
00:45:17.519 --> 00:45:19.480
is it successible? Can we do it this way? And

937
00:45:19.519 --> 00:45:24.199
so it really helps us that way, yes, yeah, we

938
00:45:24.320 --> 00:45:27.280
try to make it. Yeah, that way. And then Ethan,

939
00:45:27.360 --> 00:45:30.480
our youngest one, came up, and he's just that's all

940
00:45:30.599 --> 00:45:34.480
he talks, dreams, thinks if he talks in his sleep

941
00:45:34.599 --> 00:45:39.159
is probably what he talks about. He is everything Halloween.

942
00:45:39.199 --> 00:45:41.960
He loves it. That's all he can think about.

943
00:45:42.199 --> 00:45:42.719
So good.

944
00:45:42.880 --> 00:45:46.679
I'm so happy to find we hold on to this one.

945
00:45:46.800 --> 00:45:48.000
He can carry on the tradition.

946
00:45:48.159 --> 00:45:51.519
Yeah, thank you.

947
00:45:52.079 --> 00:45:54.400
But we have other job, like I have other jobs, yeah,

948
00:45:54.519 --> 00:45:56.960
you know, and so we're so busy.

949
00:45:57.559 --> 00:46:01.480
Yeah yeah, okay, that's all the questions I have.

950
00:46:02.199 --> 00:46:04.400
That was fun, Yeah, thank you, thank you.

951
00:46:07.039 --> 00:46:10.639
Today's episode was edited by me Philipernandez, with post production

952
00:46:10.679 --> 00:46:14.280
by David Swape and original music composed by Chris Thomas.

953
00:46:14.719 --> 00:46:17.800
Support for today's episode comes from Gantum Lightning and Controls.

954
00:46:17.920 --> 00:46:22.280
Gantum illuminates attractions worldwide with the world's smallest intelligent spotlights.

955
00:46:22.719 --> 00:46:25.280
From Dark hourg to nether World, Super Mario Land to

956
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Hagrid's Bike, Gantum goes where other fixtures can't see what

957
00:46:29.480 --> 00:46:31.760
you're missing With a free demo, sign up at gantum

958
00:46:31.800 --> 00:46:35.920
dot com slash demo. That's scantum dot com slash demo.

959
00:46:36.199 --> 00:46:40.199
The h a N team includes Daryl Plunky, Emily Luis Rua,

960
00:46:40.400 --> 00:46:45.960
Megan Spells, Gavin Burns and Omniadventures. Until next Time, Stay scary.

961
00:46:47.800 --> 00:46:51.320
This is a Haunted Attraction Network.