ScareHouse

Scary Monsters and Squeaky Cheese Curds

This week on The ScareHouse podcast: how former "home haunters" Tim and Anne Marie Gavinski turned their Halloween hobby into one of America's best haunted attractions. Their creation, the Wisconsin Feargrounds, was recently ranked as the #1 "Must See Haunts" in the country by Haunted Attraction Magazine.

So how did an elaborate yard display grow into an enormous annual production with more than 150 employees? How do Tim and Anne Marie create such elaborate haunted attractions with such a limited amount of time for installation, production, and teardown? And what's with the Squeaky Cheese Curds?

"Timmer" and Anne Marie join hosts Rob Johnston and Laura Kelly, and ScareHouse Creative Director Scott Simmons, for a VERY lively and fun episode of The ScareHouse podcast! Click here to subscibe for FREE  via iTunes or visit ScareHousePodcast.com. New episodes available from now until November.  THANK YOU for the positive feedback. 

The ScareHouse 2012

The ScareHouse announces a NEW attraction for the upcoming 2012 season  ... 

The ScareHouse haunted attraction has been featured on Travel Channel, USA Today, Yahoo News, AOL News, Forbes, and Fangoria - and named as America's #3 MUST SEE Haunted house by Haunted Attraction Magazine for two years in a row! Visit www.scarehouse.com for tickets, directions, and more information. The ScareHouse is open on select dates from late September through early November.

Haunted House Acting

Veteran ScareHouse actors Tori Benacquista and Steve LaRussa have portrayed zombies, steampunk warriors, creepy Victorians, and ... a meteorologist?

Check out the latest episode of The ScareHouse podcast! Steve and Tori join hosts Rob Johnston and Laura Kelly to talk about working inside Pittsburgh's ultimate haunted house, interacting with thousands of local fright fans, and the variety of iconic characters they've portrayed in the haunt and in our videos and commercials.  Plus, the secrets of being a good zombie, memorable reactions from customers ... and a hint at the plans for our NEW haunted attraction this October.

Click here to subscibe to our FREE audio podcast via iTunes or visit ScareHousePodcast.com. New episodes available from now until November.  THANK YOU for the positive feedback. 

The Last Dance for Delirium 3-D

The ScareHouse Creative Director Scott Simmons has announced that Delirium 3-D has been retired for the 2012 season.

"It was one of our favorite attractions and the longest running haunt in ScareHouse history," he said. "But the time is right for us to create something new for 2012. We're sad to say good bye to our spicy waffles (for now) but we think that our fans will be excited by our plans for an entirely new attraction - which we plan to announce very soon."

We'd like to thank all of our fans, the cast and crew, and the spectacular "Delirium Divas" for throwing the best party ever. OUR BRAINS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!

Pittsburgh HAuNTcon: A conversation with Leonard Pickel

Leonard Pickel has amassed a lifetime of Haunted Attraction Design and operational experience, with October seasonal events to year round haunted attractions, museums and dark rides. He has designed over 100 successfully creative events since his first attraction in 1976 and has provided consultation for hundreds more. In 1994, Leonard co-founded Haunted Attraction Magazine, the premier publication for the dark amusement industry, striving to provide information vital to the success of the industry, with in-depth articles on the country’s major attractions.

In the latest episode of The ScareHouse podcast, Leonard joins us to talk about his 35+ years of experience in the haunted attraction business and offers a preview of the 2012 HAuNTcon: The Haunted Attraction National Tradeshow and Convention that's coming to Pittsburgh this May! Visit www.hauntcon.com to find out more about the tours of Pittsburgh haunts and Halloween events, makeup demos, how-to workshops, business seminars, tradeshow floor, and social gatherings. HAuNTcon takes place May 3rd through the 7th, 2012 at the Monroeville Convention Center.

Help us reach more fans when you leave positive feedback on iTunes! And THANK YOU for your continued support of The ScareHouse podcast.

Click here to subscibe to our FREE audio podcast via iTunes or visit ScareHousePodcast.com. New episodes available from now until November.

World's Largest Haunted House

This week's episode of The ScareHouse podcast features a conversation between ScareHouse Creative Director Scott Simmons and fellow haunted house owner Todd James, who is the owner of Cutting Edge Haunted House in Fort Worth Texas.

Cutting Edge was originally a 235,000-square-foot meat-packing plant built in 1908. It is also situated in a part of town historically dubbed "hell's half acre", where infamous wild-west gangsters such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Doc Holiday, and Jesse James made history. For several years it was the longest recorded walk-through space of any haunted house, taking 55 minutes to complete – and featured in the Guinness book of world records.  Find out more about Cutting Edge Haunted House at www.cuttingedgehauntedhouse.com.

Click here to subscibe to our FREE audio podcast via iTunes or visit ScareHousePodcast.com. New episodes available every other week from now until November.

Pittsburgh Zombies in Japan

Did you know that Japanese music fans LOVE songs about Pittsburgh's zombie apocalypse? We're kicking off the 2012 season of The ScareHouse podcast with a fun and fast moving conversation about zombies, haunted houses, creepy dolls, and our upcoming paranormal conference with the stars of Ghost Hunters.

Hosts Rob Johnston and Laura Kelly join ScareHouse Creative Director Scott Simmons to talk about our "Walking Dead Apocalypse" music video, a tour through Japan, creepy storytellers, and much more.  It's a whole new season of The ScareHouse podcast: taking you behind the screams of one of America's Best Haunted Houses, located in one of the most haunted cities in America. 

Click here to subscibe to our FREE audio podcast via iTunes or visit ScareHousePodcast.com. New episodes available every other week from now until November.

Getting started in the Haunted House Business

Why is The ScareHouse one of America's best haunted houses? How can someone operate a creative and financially successful haunted attraction? Creative Director Scott Simmons reveals what he's learned after more than 25 years in the haunted house business with a new series of columns and blogs on his personal website: ScareHouseScott.com

"Your most valuable employees are not the chainsaw killers or the demonic clowns. Your most valuable employees are on the phone, in the parking lots, and at the ticket counter."

Click this link to read the first article and don't miss the new season of The ScareHouse podcast, starting in just a few weeks! 

Scott Simmons is the Creative Director and co-owner of The ScareHouse in Pittsburgh, PA - ranked as one of “America’s Scariest Halloween Attractions” by Travel Channel and featured in the pages of USA TODAY, Forbes, Funworld, and Haunted Attraction magazines. His team also creates and co-ordinates all of the commercials, advertising, and multimedia content for broadcast, branded social media channels, and scarehouse.com. He has worked within the haunted house business for more than 25 years.

He sees you when you're sleeping ....

He has the mistletoe... so do you have a kiss for Creepo? Happy Holidays from The ScareHouse! www.scarehouse.com

The ScareHouse Family

On October 30th, podcast host Rob Johnston talked with members of The ScareHouse cast and crew, and Creative Director Scott Simmons, about the amazing season for "Pittsburgh's Ultimate Haunted House." It's the last night of our regular season, and the last 2011 episode of The ScareHouse podcast!

It's a bittersweet farewell to The ScareHouse Family, and you're invited to hear their stories about customers, cupcakes, and ... Chris Brown? This is the last bi-weekly episode of our podcast, but stay subscribed for new episodes next year as our Scream Team prepares for next year's attraction!

Click here to subscribe via iTunes or visit www.scarehousepodcast.com.

Special thanks to Rob Johnston, our Scream Team, our cast, our crew, and our fans for your support! We'll keep bringing you "behind the screams" updates from our production all year long right here on the blog and on Facebook.  And you can follow ScareHouse Creative Director Scott Simmons on Twitter.