March 4, 2026

NEWS: Haunt Convention Season is Underway

Show Notes
Transcript

It's March, and that means convention season for the haunted attraction industry is upon us! This week: Preview the floor plans for TransWorld's Halloween & Attractions Show, coming up March 26th - 29th in St. Louis; Midsummer Scream Tickets On Sal; East Coast Haunters Convention Haunt Tour Tickets On Sale; Texas Haunters Convention Registration Open; United Parks Reports Declining Revenue Amid Stock Buybacks; Dark Masquerade Returns to Queen Mary in March; Distortions Unlimited Reveals Frankenstein Animatronic. Read the stories here.

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Coming up your weekly roundup of news from around the

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haunt industry. Welcome to the show. I'm Philip on the

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HN Show. We bring you the haunt news, information, and

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education you need to prepare for Halloween. On Tuesdays, we

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bring you a roundup of news from haunts worldwide. Read

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more about these stories and so much more in our

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free weekly newsletter. Subscribe at the link in the show notes,

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and as always for the news roundup, I'm passing it

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off to Darryl.

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It's March, and that means convention season in the Haunted

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attraction industry is upon us. Coming up in just a

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few weeks is trans World's Halloween and Attraction Show, the

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industry's largest professional trade show. Take a sneak peek at

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the first draft of this year's floor plans for trans

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World's Halloween an Attraction Show in Saint Louis, Missouri by

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following the links and our show notes. With over three

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hundred and fifty Halloween exhibitors and nearly one hundred Christmas

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Show exhibitors, you will want to start planning your strategy

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early to see it all. Trans World's Halloween an Attraction

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Show takes place March twenty six through twenty ninth at

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the Americas Center in Saint Louis, Missouri. Learn more and

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register today on the event's official website. Tickets are on

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sale for Midsummer Scream, taking place in the Long Beach

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Convention Center of Long Beach, California, August seventh through ninth.

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Midsummer Scream kicks off the Halloween season with Minnie haunts

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and photo ops, hundreds of hours of panels, presentations, and performances,

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and three hundred and fifty of the spookiest vendors this

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side of the nether World. Single day passes range from

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forty dollars to sixty dollars, Weekend passes are eighty, and

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the VIP Gold Bat passes are one hundred and ninety nine.

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Be sure to buy your tickets early, as passes do

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sell out. Making this first ever Midsummer Scream appearance, Matthew

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Lilliard will be joining this year's celebrity lineup with iconic

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roles and scream Scooby Doo, Five Nights of Friday's and

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Thirteen Ghosts. Lilliard has cemented himself as both Horror Royalty

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and as a true ambassador for the spooky community. August

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eighth and ninth, he will meet with fans, sign autographs,

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and participate in professional photograph Stay tuned for more celebrity

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announcements in the coming months. The same February twenty sixth,

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the Facebook post that announced Lilliard did hint that more

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Scream alumni are on their way. East Coast Haunters Convention

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Haunt Tour tickets are now on sale. Tickets are now

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on sale for the East Coast Haunters Convention hont tours

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taking place ahead of the convention on April twenty fifth

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and twenty six the Greater Philadelphia ExpoCenter in Oaks, Pennsylvania.

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The Thursday pre convention tour April twenty third visits Kim's

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Crypt Haunted Mill in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, and the Lehigh

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Valley Scream Park in Orfield, Pennsylvania. The Friday Night tour

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on April twenty fourth features the Lincoln Mill Haunted House

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in Philadelphia and the Penhurst Asylum in Spring City. The

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weekend wraps up with a Saturday night party at sh

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Octoberfest in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, which includes access to attractions,

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behind the scenes tours, the catered meal, and a party

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at Club Shock. All seminars, events, tours, and parties are

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sold separately. Registration and tickets visit the East Coast Haunters

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Convention's website. Attendee registration is now open for the Texas

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Haunters Convention from Irving, Texas, taking place July eighteenth and

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nineteenth at the Irving Convention Center. The Texas Haunters Convention

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features over eighty four thousand square feet of family friendly vendors, events, demonstrations,

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and classes targeting Halloween and cosplay enthusiasts. Early bird tickets

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start at ten dollars to eighteen dollars for single day

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show floor passes, twenty dollars for weekend show floor passes,

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and sixty five dollars for VIP passes. Early bird prices

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and June fifteenth at midnight. This year, the event is

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partnering with a Transylvanian Symphony found A, a nonprofit organization

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that provides funding to schools, fine arts and music programs.

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A portion of all ticket sales will be donated to

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support their cause. Trans World Vendor Spotlight Videos. The vendor

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spotlight videos are short form, professionally produced video features filmed

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live on the show floor at trans World's Halloween and

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Attraction Show. Each spotlight highlights one new product or one

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best selling item in a focused, thirty second interview style format.

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These videos are editorial features distributed through the Haunted Attraction Network,

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the leading news resource for the haunted attraction industry. Each

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vendor spotlight includes placement across the Haunted Attraction Network, including

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Haunted Attraction Networks, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, newsletter, LinkedIn and website,

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plus the opportunity to be tagged as a collaborator. The

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cost is three hundred dollars. Please contact Philip at Haunted

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Attraction Network to book yours today. United Parks reports declining

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numbers AMIT aggressive stock buybacks. United Parks and Resorts rep

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imported fiscal twenty twenty five results with declines across all

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major metrics. Revenue feil three point six percent to one

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point sixty six billion, attendance dropped one point eight percent

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to twenty one point one seven million guests, Net income

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fell twenty six percent, and adjusted EBITA declined thirteen point

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six percent. CEO Mark Swanson said the company should have

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delivered better results, particularly on the cost side of the

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income statement. During the earnings call, The company debuted a

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supplemental investor presentation arguing its parks have a replacement cost

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of over ten billion dollars and disclosed it has received

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multiple sale leaseback proposals for its two thousand plus acres

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of owned real estate. Over the past fourteen months, the

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company spent approximately two hundred and forty seven million dollars

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on stock buybacks while generating one hundred and sixty two

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point six million dollars in free cash flow. Expansion capex

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was cut from seventy point seven million to thirty five

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point one million year over year. Hill Path Capital, a

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private equity firm, controls more than fifty percent of the board.

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When the company buys back shares, it reduces the total

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share count, increasing the owner percentage of remaining shareholders. If

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the company later monetizes assets through sale, these backs are

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development the value is distributed across viewer shares. It is

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conceivable that the buybacks are positioning the company for asset

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sales that would disproportionately benefit its largest shareholders. The twenty

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twenty six attractions lineup includes Barracuda Strike at SeaWorld San Antonio, SeaQuest,

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Legends of the Deep at SeaWorld, Orlando, or reimagined Shark

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Encounter in San Diego for Bolton Forbidden Turn at Busch Gardens,

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Williamsburg and Lion and Hyena Ridge at Bush Gardens, Tampa.

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Follow the links in our show notes to hear the

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full analysis on the Green tagged podcast. Dark Masquerade returns

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to the Queen Mary Following a strong Valentine's debut, Dark

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Harbor's Dark Maskarade will return to the Queen Mary in

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Long Beach, California, on March thirteenth and fourteen, after what

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Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group described as a strong response to

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the events of Valentine's Day weekend debut. The February run

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drew both dedicated Dark Harbor fans and a new audience

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that doesn't typically celebrate Valentine's Day but found the immersive

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format compelling enough to attend. What stood out most was

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how many couples told us they don't typically celebrate Valentine's Day,

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but this event gave them a reason to rt. Bertolino,

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director of Special Project for Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, told

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Haunted Attraction Network that validated our belief that there's real

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demand for immersive story driven off season experiences that feel

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special rather than traditional. The March days will feature the

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same core experiences as the February engagement, Gale's Requiem, The

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Search for Mary Sweetheart's Slaughterhouse, and the Ring Master's Dark

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Masquerade Dance Party. According to the event's FAQ file, some

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live entertainment may vary, and a few early Easter eggs

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tied to the upcoming regular seat and May's surface throughout

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the night. General admission starts at fifty nine ninety nine

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plus an eight dollar fee, and the VIP admission starts

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at seventy nine ninety nine plus the eight dollar fee

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with access to an exclusive experience, Pressure test Bound below

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Captain's Invitation. The top tier is already sold out for

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both March dates. Distortion's Unlimited reveals new Frankenstein's Monster animatronic.

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New for twenty twenty six, Distortion Unlimited has introduced their

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take on Mary Shelley's classic Frankenstein's Monster to a new

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seven foot tall animatronic. The figure is made of latex

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and has heavy duty shaker motor. It includes control sound,

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small lamp and audio track, and a light cord that

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goes through the head. The animatronic is on a timer

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and will come alive with light and sound approximately every

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forty five second. There is ambient audio that plays when

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he is not being shocked to life. Frankenstein's Monster is

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on sale now for nine hundred and sixty nine dollars.

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Regular price is one thousand and six n The Cleveland

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Haunt Club hosts this sixth annual Halfway to Helloween Flea Market.

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Save the date. The Cleveland Haunt Club will host their

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sixth annual Halfway to Helloween Flea Market on Saturday, May

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twenty third, from ten am to four pm at the

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Medina County Community Center in Medina, Ohio. Admission will be

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two dollars at the door. Vendor applications are now available

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for those selling promoting items, services, or activities that relate

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to Helloween, horror and or haunting. Some upcoming events this

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March through May of twenty twenty six include trans World's Helloween,

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an attraction show from Saint Louis, Missouri, March twenty sixth

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through twenty ninth. The Spooky Swap Meet in Los Angeles, California,

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April twenty four through twenty sixth. East Coast Haunters Convention

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in Oakes, Pennsylvania, April twenty fifth through twenty sixth, and

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the Ohio Helloween and Haunters Convention from Mansfield, Ohio, May

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ninth and tenth.

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And that's all for the news this week. Today's episode

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was produced by me Philip Bernandez, with reporting by Daryl

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Plunky post production by David Swope. This Haunt News Update

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is a production of the Haunted Attraction Network and you

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can sign up to our weekly newsletter at Hantattraction Network

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dot com. Support for this episode comes from Gantam Lighting

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and Controls. Until next time, Haunters Stay Scary. This is

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a Haunted Attraction Network production.