Dec. 24, 2025

NEWS: Merry Hauntings from the Haunted Attraction Network

Show Notes
Transcript

Merry Hauntings from the Haunted Attraction Network! While most haunts have concluded their holiday run, 8 haunts are still operating this coming weekend. Also this week: Six Flags Magic Mountain Delays New Coaster; Zombie Fun Run at Field of Screams PA Raises $8,000 for PA Breast Cancer Coalition; HauntPay Releases 2025 Season Data in Updated Report; TransWorld Announces "Heaven & Hell" Costume Ball; Read more 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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Hotel of Terror holds a petition signing event. The owner

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of the Hotel of Terror in Springfield, Missouri, is once

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again hoping to challenge this city Council's plan to take

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control of the property via eminent domain. In twenty twenty three,

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an outpouring of community support caused the city council to

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unanimously repeal a bill to seize the property, But now,

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after two years of unsuccessful negotiations, the council is trying again.

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On December fifteenth, they voted to begin the eminent domain process,

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with plans to use the property as part of the

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renew Jordan Creek project. In response, Hotel of Terror announced

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a petition signing event at their adjacent business, Dungeons of

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Doom owner Sterling Mathis hopes to gather fourteen hundred and

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ninety nine valid signatures from Springfield voters to place the

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issue on a referendum ballot, the same strategy he used

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in twenty twenty three. Negotiations between the city and Mathis

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have been ongoing for years, reaching an offer of two

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million dollars in twenty twenty four, but Mathis did not

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sign the contract, stating construction updates push the cost to

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relocate his business to three and a half million. A

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panel of independent assessors is set to determine the property's value.

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If no agreement can be reached, the matter may go

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to court. Mathis has thirty days to collect the signatures

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and appeal the council's vote. Haunt Pay releases the twenty

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twenty five season data in updated report. Haunt Pay has

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updated its annual Haunt Industry report to include a new

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post mortem section using anonymized data from the twenty twenty

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five season. Their data showed that the average total sales

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per Haunt increased by more than eight percent this year.

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Online transactions were fifty four percent higher than those made

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on sited ticket booths the Saturday before Halloween reigned supreme,

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with the data accounting for nearly ten percent of all

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season ticket sales. The full report, which includes refund stats

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twenty twenty four versus twenty twenty five, change in revenue

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by haunt size, and more, is available to download at

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haunt Pay's official website. Trans World announces a Heaven and

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Hell Costume Ball. Are you Naughty or Nice? Get ready

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to rise or descend at Transworld's Halloween and Attraction shows

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Heaven or Hell Costume Ball in Saint Louis, Missouri on Saturday,

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March third, from eight pm to midnight. Angelic Elegance collides

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with devilishly wicked chaos and this frightfully fun party. Between

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the music, the drinks, and the jaw dropping costumes, guests

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can expect endless chances to mingle, celebrate, and show off

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their mostly heavenly or hellish look. Tickets are on sale

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now for fifty dollars sixty dollars after March nineteen. The

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scares don't stop after Christmas. While most haunts have concluded

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their holiday run, eight haunts are still operating this coming weekend.

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Continue listening to this newsletter or check out our website

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to view the over one hundred and sixty haunts that

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held holiday events this year. Six Flags Magic Mountain delays

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the new coaster, pivots to family focused IP. Six Flags

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Magic Mountain from Valencia, California, has delayed its highly anticipated

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first of its kind coaster to twenty twenty seven, citing

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the attraction's complexity and a commitment to quality. The project,

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reported to be of a coma thrill Glider, was part

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of the company's broader one billion dollar investment plan and

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would have been the park's first major coaster addition since

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twenty twenty two. At the same time, Six Flags confirmed

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the significant pivot towards family focused IP with the announcement

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of Looney Tunes Land, a fully reimagined children's area opening

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summer twenty twenty six with upgraded storytelling, expanded green space,

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new theming, and refreshed dining. Taken together, these moves raise

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questions about where six Flags is placing its near term bets.

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Coasters are increasingly expensive and time intensive to build, and

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ongoing tariff uncertainly may be influencing capital timelines. The decision

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to prioritize Looney Tunes rather than peanuts could also signal

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a push towards IP diversification tied to Warner Brothers, especially

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as broader questions remain about how Magic Mountain and knots

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Very Farm will coexist and differentiate with the same southern

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California market. In this week's episode of Green Tagged, Philip

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and Scott explore whether this reflects a temporary pause on

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thrill heavy investments, a reorientation towards families and reliability, or

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simply a pragmatic sequencing of projects while the company negotiates

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post merger integration and external pressures. They also touch briefly

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on winter and holiday programming that caught their attention, including

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China's Massive Ice Snow World and Alton Towers Santa Sleepover

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in the UK, as operated worldwide look for ways to

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stabilize attendance across unpredictable seasons. Follow the links in our

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show notes to listen to the latest episode of Green

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tag Zombie Fun Run five k at Field of Screams

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benefits the PA Breast Cancer Coalition. Field of Screams in Mountville, Pennsylvania,

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hosted its thirteenth annual Zombie Fun Run on Saturday, November fifteenth,

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benefiting the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition the PBCC. Hundreds of

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runners jumped through fire, crawled through mud, and climbed over obstacles,

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all while being chased by zombies. This year's event raised

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eighty four hundred dollars for the PBCC. These funds will

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be used to provide breast cancer research grants, personalized patient advocacy,

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and support services for newly diagnosed patients and individuals facing

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stage four metastatic breast cancer. To date, Field of Screams

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is contributed over eighty thousand dollars to the PBCC. Seeing

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our community come together, covered in mud, dodging zombies, and

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fighting for a cause that touches sony families is what

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makes this event so powerful, said co owner Jim Shop

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in a press release. Field of Screams is proud to

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stand with a PA Breast Cancer Coalition in supporting Pennsylvanians

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who truly need support. We are thankful for all of

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the participants in our honor to help turn every step,

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every obstacle, and every runner into hope. The Zombie Fun

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Run will return on November fourteenth, twenty twenty six. Learn

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more on their official website. This weekend there are still

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a few haunts open for their holiday Haunting. California has

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got the Eulogy Collective in Anaheim, California. Georgia has got

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the Thirteenth Stories Haunted House in Noon and Georgia. Maryland

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has got Laurel's House of Horror in Laurel, Maryland. Michigan

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has got the Factory of the Dead in Saginaw, Michigan.

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Tennessee has got Dread Hollow in Chattanooga, and Texas Haunted

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houses include Boo in Dallas, Texas, Dark Hour Haunted House

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in Plano, and Monte de las Muertos and Donna. Some

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upcoming events this December through March include Halloween and Party

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Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, January twelveth through fourteen, creep

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I e Con in Ontario, California, January thirtieth through February first,

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and the trans World Talloween and Attraction Show in Saint Louis, Missouri,

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March twenty six through twenty nine of twenty twenty six.

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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 Darryl 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 neetwork 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 Met twelve production.