Haunted houses’ horror of making a profit

Operators feel pressure to up the fear factor every Halloween
02:14 PM CDT on Saturday, October 27, 2007
From Staff and Wire Reports

He’s not afraid of working in bloody environments, but Dwayne Sanburn can get squeamish when he thinks about the expectations he faces.

Mr. Sanburn and other haunted house operators say their customers want something bolder each year – all for a season that typically lasts only a month or so.

But keeping up with the Frankensteins isn’t easy or cheap. Bed sheets cut to look like ghosts and stock sounds of creaking doors and heavy footsteps no longer suffice, big-time haunters say.

Mr. Sanburn, 39, who owns the 13th Gate haunted house in Baton Rouge, La., credits the entertainment industry – everything from movies to theme parks – with creating a more demanding public.

“With the large haunted houses, it’s not just for kids anymore,” he said. “Ten years ago, all we had were teenagers that would come to the haunted house because they wanted to get scared and have a guy with a chainsaw chase them.”

Todd James of Fort Worth says technology has evolved beyond sticking a hand in a jar of grape “eyes” or a bowl of spaghetti “guts.” Animatronics, computer-generated images and holograms are all part of the experience.

“We have a life-size T-Rex that’s pretty freakin’ cool,” said Mr. James, who owns the Cutting Edge Haunted House. “He’s an animatronic. We build it, and we are pretty close to Disney-caliber construction.”

TIM MUELLER/The Associated Press
Dwayne Sanburn has run a haunted house in Baton Rouge, La., for 12 years. ‘It’s not just for kids anymore,’ he says. Larry Kirchner, who owns The Darkness and Creepy World attractions in St. Louis, spent about $175,000 renovating ahead of this season to add such amenities as a cave with two waterfalls, a bamboo bridge and a forbidding Incan temple.

“The customers these days expect what they’ve come to expect from anything in America anymore. You’ve got to think over the top,” he said.

“When I first started back in 1994, we could put one on for $1,000,” said Mr. Kirchner. “Now, you see original story lines, original themes. Nobody has Frankenstein because people would say that’s too cheesy.”

A booming business

When haunted houses first started gaining popularity in the late 1960s, they were mostly unregulated and operated by church groups or the Jaycees for charity, said D’Ann Dagen, who also operates the nonprofit Hangman’s House of Horrors in Fort Worth.

Now there are more for-profit houses and increased safety requirements, Ms. Dagen said.

“Somewhere in the early ’90s, there became an interest by for-profit guys who thought they could do it better and make more money,” Ms. Dagen said. “Most of those guys washed out because it’s a lot more labor and work than they anticipated, but they also raised the bar.”

Hauntworld.com, an industry Web site, estimates that there are more than 1,200 for-profit haunted houses in the U.S., 300 events produced by amusement parks or family fun centers and more than 3,000 charity attractions.

In Dallas-Fort Worth, at least 25 houses – with names like Slaughter House, Dungeon of Doom and Fear Factor – are listed on GuideLive.com.

Haunted houses first gained popularity in the late 1960s, when they mostly operated to earn money for charity. Hangman’s House of Horrors in Fort Worth still donates its profits. The typical haunted house in the U.S. averages about 8,000 attendees paying $13 per ticket, and more than $7 billion a year is spent on Halloween candy, costumes and activities, according to Hauntworld.com.

Haunted house admission prices might seem steep to some, but people are willing to pay for a good scare and authenticity, said one impresario.

Randy Bates, who owns the Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride in Glen Mills, Pa., uses real tombstones in his mock graveyard. Guests wander along a corn trail where costumed employees emerge from among the 14-foot-tall stalks.

“It’s like live theater, but you’re on stage with the actor,” said Mr. Bates, 49, who has attractions on about a third of his 82-acre farm.

He estimates he spent between $400,000 and $500,000 readying the haunted house – the Bates Motel – and the corn trail and hayride for the 24 nights he plans to be open this season. Mr. Bates pays a $2,500 premium for a $40,000 insurance policy for each weekend night in case rain keeps thrill-seekers away.

“I basically have one week in order to make my entire annual salary,” he said.

Because construction takes a lot of time, the building for Hangman’s House of Horrors stays up year-round.

“We don’t do anything in that space but the haunted house because there is so much construction, and we can’t tear it down and rebuild it every year,” Ms. Dagen said.

Reindeer Manor in Red Oak takes another approach: It rents its facility throughout the year to paranormal investigators who are searching for ghosts. For more than 20 years, the attraction has helped pay for camp fees, uniforms and excursions for Boy Scout Troop 1 in Duncanville. Last year, Reindeer Manor took in $50,000.

“It’s a good fundraiser,” said spokesman Richard Kinney, 30, who has worked at the haunted house since he was a 10-year-old Scout. “We don’t have to sell popcorn or manure.”

Devil’s in the details

Although the special effects for haunted houses have improved, Ms. Dagen says there’s a danger that they could become generic if everyone buys the same monsters, electric chairs or other effects. At Hangman’s, actors help craft original and creative houses, she said, adding that the event uses about 125 people.

“With live actors, we can scare up or scare down,” she said. “If you have a ‘22-year-old-nothing-scares-me,’ we can load up on him. If we have a 10-year-old boy and his 7-year-old sister, then we can dial it down.”

Liability is another concern.

“We employ 15 policemen and a security staff of about 30 just to keep the event safe,” Mr. James of the Cutting Edge said.

Reindeer Manor keeps a security staff and an emergency medical technician on site. “We play on fears and phobias – fear of clowns, fear of the dark and fear of small spaces,” Mr. Kinney said. “Every year, we have a couple of people who faint. They pay us to get scared, and we try to give them their money’s worth.”

This year, a woman broke her ankle at Reindeer Manor running from something that scared her.

“I’ve had 4-year-olds giggle and laugh all the way through, and I’ve had 40-year-olds hyperventilate and wet their pants,” Ms. Dagen said. “Everybody’s personality is different.”

Yearlong effort

Haunted houses also have to pass stringent city codes. Almost everything must be soaked in fire-resistant liquid, and exits have to be lit and clearly marked. A few years ago, Hangman’s spent $10,000 on a city-required sprinkler system.

“Code issues are more sophisticated,” Ms. Dagen said. “You see a movement to outside the city where there are fewer restrictions. It drove away almost all the charitable haunted houses.”

Overall, running a haunted house isn’t a frighteningly easy way to make a buck, operators say.

Workers for Cutting Edge start preparing in February, Mr. James said. “Everyone thinks you throw these haunted houses up in a couple of weeks, but that’s not how it is done.”

And Mr. Sanburn, who has run a haunted house for 12 years, works on the 40,000-square-foot 13th Gate about nine months of the year.

He charges $15 a head, but he spent $260,000 renovating before the season. And, like many haunted house operators, Mr. Sanburn says that by the time he recoups his costs, he makes a profit only in the final days.

“You work all year around for those last few nights,” he said.

Preparing for this year’s show took a lot of work. Instead of walking over live snakes on a rickety bridge, for example, visitors now walk under a Plexiglas ceiling with the snakes above them.

Summoning that creativity takes a special devotion, Mr. Kirchner said.

“Just like not everybody can be a brain surgeon, not everyone can be a haunter,” he said.

Tim Paradis of The Associated Press and staff writer Kimberly Durnan contributed to this report.

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