April 16, 2025

NEWS: It's Hot Haunt Summer! Haunt and Halloween Convention Season

Show Notes
Transcript

Halloween convention season is underway with a myriad of events that are partnering with haunts for programming and attractions; TransWorld's East Coast Haunters Convention takes place next week with pre-con haunt tours on April 24th & 25th and convention days on April 26th-27th; The Spooky Swap Meet returns to Los Angeles on April 25th-27th; Universal plans for strategic geographic diversification with the newly announced Universal Studios UK; Meyer2Meyer Entertainment brings "Little Shop of Horrors" to The Nocturne Theatre; Reapers Realm to hold an online eminent domain liquidation auction; Field of Screams hosts Halfway to Halloween Haunt & Music Fest; Discover Spooky Spots with The Scare Factor's newest directory; Picklenose Halloween House creator Dale Parker passes. Read the full 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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The Halloween Haunt and Horror convention season is now underway.

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The coming months are seeing an explosion of conventions and

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mixers working with haunts to add programming and attractions to

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their events. From Halfway to Halloween events to Hot Haunt Summer,

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there are a myriad of events around the US to

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satisfy your early Halloween cravings. Just listen to some of

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our upcoming events including East Coast Haunters Convention from Oaks,

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Pennsylvania April twenty fourth through twenty seventh, Spooky Swap Meet

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in Los Angeles, California, April twenty fifth through twenty seventh,

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Wicked New England in Salem, Massachusetts on May third. Halfway

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to Halloween Expo from ann Arbor, Michigan on May tenth,

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shutter Con from east Ridge, Tennessee, May tenth and eleventh,

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scare Con from Birmingham, England on May twentieth and twenty first,

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Monster Palooza from Pasadena, California, May thirtieth through June first,

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and the Midwest Haunters Convention in Rosemont, Illinois June sixth

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through eighth. Transworld's East Coast Haunters Convention in Oaks, Pennsylvania

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takes place next week, with the pre con hot tours

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on April twenty fourth and twenty fifth, and convention days

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on April twenty sixth and seven. Get a jump on

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the spooky season by shopping at nearly two hundred Halloween

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and Christmas vendors selling everything you need to haunt your home,

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from exclusive animatronics to masks, make up, fog and props.

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Attend daily seminars and events to learn, network, and have

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fun with fellow haunters and Halloween enthusiasts. Party the night

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away on Saturday, April twenty sixth with exclusive Halloween Nights

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at Eastern State Penitentiary Experience featuring the music, behind the scenes, surprises, food,

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and beverages, access to the crypt Haunted Attraction, and more.

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Costumes are encouraged on both convention days, with a public

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costume contest happening on Saturday, April twenty seventh at eleven

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fifteen am. Before the main event. There will be two

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pre con Haunt tours. Thursday April twenty fourth, visit three

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terrifying Haunted attractions, Brighton Asylum, The Bleeding Grounds and Subculture.

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Friday April twenty fifth, visit Hershey Park Dark Nights and

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Fields of Screams. Costumes are encouraged on both convention days,

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with a public costume contest happening on Sunday, April twenty

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seventh at eleven fifteen am. Tickets are still available, starting

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at sixty dollars for Saturday show flor acas, fifty dollars

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for Sunday show floor access, and seventy five dollars for

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Saturday and Sunday show floor access. This year's Spooky Swap

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Meet takes place April twenty fifth through twenty seven at

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the Heritage Square Museum in Los Angeles, California, featuring over

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sixty vendors selling a mix of used Halloween decor props

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and new merchandise. Spooky Swap Meat has delighted so Cal

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Halloween enthusiasts since it's starting in twenty twenty one. In

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addition to shopping, guests of all ages are encouraged to

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trigger treat at Heritage Square's seven Victoria era manners, whose

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exteriors have been decorated and spooked up for the weekend

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by a curated selection of professional and amateur Haunted attraction designers,

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including La Haunted hay Ride, A Mister Heath Slasher, Sanatorium Emporium, Stage,

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Freight Theater, Sam Haynes's Restless Farm and more. Guests are

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also invited to see live performances of The Little Ghoul's

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Ethereal Duet The Satin Puppets. Tickets are currently entirely sold

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out for all event days. Universal Studios Park is coming

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to the United Kingdom in twenty thirty one. The newly

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announced Universal Studios UK is set to open in twenty

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thirty one. Located just thirty five minutes from London, this

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fifty billion pound economic impact project promises world class immersive

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lands and has the potential to draw eight and a

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half million visitors in its first year. What does Universal's

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new UK theme park reveal about global tourism strategy. Philip

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and Scott discussed Universal's diversification strategy in this week's episode

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of Green Tag. With inbound tourism dropping in the US,

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tourism centric areas like Orlando are facing headwinds. What if

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you could bet on both outcomes, That is, whether inbound

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tourism resumes or doesn't, you win either way. Diversification reduces

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your total risk, and here we see Universal diversifying across

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demographics and markets. Epic Universe solidifies Universal's market share in Orlando,

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shoring up an area where they already have a massive investment. Well,

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Universal UK will be there to absorb any inbound travel

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that doesn't resume. Universal is positioning itself to mitigate any

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losses the US suffers from lack of inbound travel. Meanwhile,

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Universal is also testing kid friendly Universal Kids and adult

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horror Horror Unleashed, both markets that aren't as impacted by

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inbound tourism. Universal could deploy kids resorts or haunt pop

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ups to multiple domestic markets and soak up local traffic

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will waiting for travel to recover. The newly announced UK

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theme park isn't just another expansion. It's a strategic geographic

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diversification that mitigates risk and we can all learn from it.

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The Nocturne Theater presents a Little Shop of Horrors. Meyer

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to Meyer Entertainment brings a Little Shop of Horrors to

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the nocturn Theater in Glendale, California, select dates now through

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May eighteenth. Feed the need for musical hilarity with this

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delicious sci fi mensh up about a man eating plant.

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Meyer to Meyer Entertainment, known for creating immercei of live

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entertainment experiences, showcases their strength and creature design with their

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stunning and creepy Audrey plants. Our theater in the round

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strips away the distance between performer and audience, making every

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moment immediate and raw, says Justin P. Meyer, director of

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Little Shop of Horrors and co founder of the Noctrine.

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Tickets are on sale now, ranging from twenty seven to

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fifty to seventy three to fifty. After thirty six years,

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Reaper's Realm from ham and Indiana is closing their doors.

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They are holding an online liquidation sale with over seven

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hundred items including industrial generators, animatronics, to walth and craftsmen

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tools mannequins, props, costumes, makeup, chairs, ahearse and more. Bids

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are currently being accepted through May twenty second at five

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thirty pm. Auction pickups are scheduled for April twenty third

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and twenty fourth. Shipping is unavailable unless specifically noted in

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the item listing. Field of Screams in Mountville, Pennsylvania is

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hosting their first annual Halfway to Halloween Haunt and Music

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Fest on Saturday, May third. Enjoy a full day of music,

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bruise and booze with five bands playing from one thirty

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pm to ten pm, food trucks, games, and an entrance

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into the Den of Darkness Haunted House and fright Mare

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Asylum Haunted Hospital. Tickets are on sale now, starting at

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thirty five dollars for general admission and fifty dollars for VIP.

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Both ticket types allow for two walkthroughs of each haunted house.

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The Scare Factor has unveiled a brand new feature for

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horror fans, thrill seekers, and lovers of the wonderfully weird

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spooky spots. This new directory features macawb attractions across the

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US where fans of the spooky season can fined year

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round Helloween stores horror themed bars and lounges, creepy and

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unique gift shops, escape rooms with horror themes, mystical museums

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and oddities collections, and much more. While the direct is

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still in its early stages, the team is already planning

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to add thousands of listings to help plan your next

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eerie adventure, whether you're planning a haunted road trip, hunting

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for a horror themed gift, or just looking for a

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place to sip coffee under the gaze of a possessed doll.

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Spooky spots as you covered. Pickle Nose Helloween House Crater

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passes away home. Haunter Dale Parker from Costa Messa, California,

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passed away suddenly on April ninth, after sustaining serious injuries

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from falling off the ladder two days prior. Since nineteen

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ninety five, Parker and his family staged an elaborate display

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of their yard each Halloween season, the Pickle Nose Helloween House.

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Each year, as many as three thousand people attended to

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view the family skeletons, witches, ghosts, and ghouls, including the

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titular Pickle Nose, a small gremlin who had taught children

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via a hidden speaker from his coffin. Dale put so

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much love into her Halloween decorations, aiming to bring spooky

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laughs to the community, said Dale's wife Colleen Harper in

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a Facebook post announcing this sad news. Aside from his family,

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this community benefited and laughed from his pickle Nose attraction

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every year. Dale is survived by his wife and two sons.

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We here at the Haunted Attraction Network send our deepest

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sympathies to his family and friends during this difficult time.

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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 Hernandez, with reporting by Daryl Plunky,

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post production by David Swope. This hant News Update is

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a production of the Haunted Attraction Network and you can

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sign up to our weekly newsletter at Hantattraction Network dot com.

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Support for this episode comes from Gantum Lighting and Controls.

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Until next time, Haunters Stay Scary. This is a Haunted

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Attraction Network production.

NEWS: It's Hot Haunt Summer! Haunt and Halloween Convention Season

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