IAHA News and Updates from IAHAweb.com

By Bob & Beth Turner, Transworld Haunters’ Pavilion Producers

The results are in… listed below are the 2007 National Haunt Industry Recognition Awards as awarded at the Haunt Pavilion for the 12th National Haunt and Attraction Show produced by TransWorld Exhibits in Chicago this year.

I salute everyone who participated and supported our events, either by entering, sponsoring, watching the daily competitions or simply viewing the exhibit entries. These competitions breathe LIFE into the show and help recognize the immense talent, creative ability and professionalism in our industry.

My wife and I and our crew were honored to once again develop, organize and host these activities for you.

Here are the top winners in each category. Please see www.HauntShow.com for photos and for 2nd, 3rd and Honorable Mention winners.

Website Wars
1st Place – www.NoOne2Trust.com - Howl-O-Scream - Busch Gardens, Tampa, FL – owner – GraFX Design company

T-Shirt Wars
1st Place – Pirates of Emerson – Karl Fields – Fremont, CA

Transworld Official T-shirt Design Competition
WINNER – Chad Savage of Sinister Visions

Marketing Tools
Poster:
1st Place – Fear Factory – Joe Hutton – owner – Bart Rader- Banshee Graphics

Flyer:
1st Place – Bill Criscione – Ghostly Manor – Sandusky, Oh

Ticket:
1st Place – Pirates of Emerson – Karl Fields – Fremont, CA

Photography
Close Up Facial Shot
1st Place – Halloween Traditions – Kevin Schults

Entranceway
1st Place – The Asylum House – Nat Ridge – Greenwood, IN

Scene or Set
1st Place – Terror Behind the Walls – Brett Bertolino – Philadelphia, PA

Action Shot with Patron
1st Place – Halloween Traditions – Kevin Schults – Waterloo, IA

Haunt Builders Challenge
1st Place – The Asylum House – Patrick Greathouse, Justin Barne, Katie Sanders – Greenwood, IN

Make Up
Speed Division (Zombie Theme)
1st Place – Haunting Make-up – Geoff Beck/John Pascarello – Lyndhurst, Oh

Open Division
1st Place – Body Baggerz – Rob Johnson, Atalie Garbers, John Pascarello –
Southgate, MI

TransWorld also gave out an unexpected “Life-Time Achievement” Award to Cydney Neil of Rocky Point Haunted House in Utah. Cydney is hanging up her Rocky Point Haunted House shoes after 20 plus years in the business.

By Ben Armstrong, NETHERWORLD Haunted House, IAHA Member
speculo@comcast.net

Our adventure started on February 22nd at 8:00 a.m. as four sold out buses began a long journey into the frozen north destine for Green Bay, Wisconsin. Refreshed by hot drinks and doughnuts provided by Scream Pass, we eagerly dug into our goodie bags filled with magazines, calendars, voodoo dolls, and bloody toes as the miles rolled by.

My “Bus Captain” was Rich Hanf, who did a great job keeping the conversation going on a variety of topics, while still providing quiet time here and there to relax or talk with people in adjacent seats. Rich spoke about the psychology of customers, a very interesting topic also covered by him at length in the last issue of this magazine. He also called various haunters to the front of the bus and interviewed them in depth about their events and other topics they were well versed in. Always a showman, he said several times "The information you have learned here ALONE is worth the price of this tour!" I think we all agreed.

In the afternoon we arrived at Blood City & Burial Chamber Haunted Houses, owned by Matt Mars. This large, multi element attraction was housed in a 24000+ square foot warehouse with a dirt floor. The tours of the attractions were guided, with the occasional actor here and there to spice things up.

Blood City was themed as a crazy city where anything can and will go wrong. Many of the sets represented businesses in the city such as bars, hair salons, restaurants and other seedy locations. This haunt was interesting in the unusual content they presented (one scene was a strip club) often played for comedic value. If you ever visit make sure you don't sit down in the beauty salon and let "Stuart" work on your hair!

The Burial Chamber had more classical scenes such as ruins, crypts, old houses, and one very interesting series of rooms that looked identical to each other. Both of these events relied primarily upon actors to provide the scares and entertainment, but still employed a fair amount of animations.

Rather than focusing on tight mazes, (although there were some tight spots!) many of the rooms and transitions were large spaces filled with found objects and set pieces appropriate to the theme. The result was potentially a very scary show with customers unsure of the exit easy targets for hidden actors. The dirt floors of these events occasionally made travel through them difficult, but added an unusual and creepy feel to the haunts. Darkness was used well throughout, several areas had large sets, and some featured hard coated Styrofoam that had everyone impressed.

After touring the events we had a sack lunch, took a group picture and headed back to the buses. A short ride later we stopped at historic Lambeau Field for a quick photo opportunity then headed on to the National Railroad Museum, home for Terror on the Fox.

We entered the museum to see an amazing set up; a vast hall filled with historic railroad cars where we would spend the next few hours. Around the perimeter were displays laden with the many items to be auctioned and raffled later, and the tables were dressed out all in black, with black roses at every setting. Huge banners promoted all the sponsors who contributed to the event and an open bar awaited the army of thirsty haunters. After selling lots of tickets a massive raffle and auction were held by the IAHA Board assisted by Chuck Williams and Rich Hanf. Even though this event took quite a while to complete, the moderators did their best to keep it lively.

During a veritable feast with multiple dessert choices we were also treated to several speakers. First Kimberly Schuyler from the Marketing Department at Oneida Casino, one of Terror on the Fox's major sponsors, shared information with the group about what she looks for in a sponsorship package. She discussed presentation, follow up, and other important details needed to form long lasting bonds with potential sponsors.

The keynote speech was presented by IAHA Board Member Brett Bertolino from Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site. Brett gave a very well thought out and rousing speech with the theme of "Working Together." He began with an extensive review of the 13 Haunts program put in place successfully this season by haunts in Philadelphia, and really drove home the point that we could achieve much more as an industry united than industry divided.

Several hours after arriving at the museum, it was finally time to see what we'd all been waiting for ..Terror on the Fox! It did not disappoint. First we boarded an actual antique double-decker railroad car filled with music and wisps of fog. Mike "Tattoo" Krausert, IAHA Board Member and one of the owners of TOTF explained how actors would crawl through the overhead luggage bins to terrify the patrons during the season. As we approached the haunt we could see the façade and many fires burning in the distance, creating an almost surreal landscape. Upon arrival, we went down a trail of tiki torches toward the event, occasionally passing fire barrels blazing in an effort to raise the icy temperature.

The façade of this event was an old house with several towers, in which actors standing in windows danced to rock music while a light show blasted the building. Unusual to say the least! Periodically UV lighting would reveal normally invisible artwork by Stuart Smith painted all over the facade. Several actors (Chaos and Havoc from Morgan Manor) silently stalked the cue lines and perched gargoyle like on the entry gates as the crowd eagerly awaited their time to explore the haunt.

Once inside the event we were treated to room after room of extremely detailed sets packed with antiques, primarily of the sort you would encounter in an old abandoned house. It was an almost claustrophobic environment themed from floor to ceiling, reminiscent of Verdun Manor in Texas, without all the giant monsters. This feel was no doubt due to most of the event taking place in old railroad cars similar to Verdun's construction in semi trailers.

There are many actors throughout the event slinking about the sets and treating us to weird dialogue generally visible when you entered the rooms. Notable were two young energetic ladies in identical rooms eager to confuse us and it worked -- everyone thought they were the same actor. Most of the startle scares were accomplished through the use of pocket doors, elevated platforms for actors located at the end of hallways with shutter type double doors that would slam open as the actor popped out towards the guests.

After exploring the ornate mansion section, we entered a very impressive cave that was actually hot as powerful heaters created an almost hellish atmosphere. Several animations were placed around the set including a huge Scare Factory Impaler. We climbed up and down sharp ramps through assorted underground formations littered with moving skeletons before entering a smaller cave chamber. After some final cabin like rooms the tour concluded just after a trip through a swamp with an actor crawling through a spandex hole as if they were lost in quicksand.

After exiting everyone relaxed and discussed our adventure in a heated tent, complete with hot chocolate and coffee. Eager to get a closer look at all we had seen with full lighting, everyone left the tent and queued up outside the haunt a little too soon, and got to taste some serious cold before we got back inside TOTF for the lights on tour.

In addition to detailed explanations of the sets and some of the scenes we were also shown a tech room filled with audio and camera equipment set to tape our every move through the attraction. I have it on good authority that some well known haunters were caught on tape recoiling from solid shock scares! At last done with our full day of terror, we headed back to the buses for the drive to Rosemont. Needless to say there was very little socializing as the exhausted travelers slept well after a huge meal, open bar and tours of multiple haunted houses.

All in all it was an amazing event extremely well produced down to the last detail. Big thanks to Tim Gavinski and the IAHA board; Mike "Tattoo" Krausert and the Bad Boys; Bus Captains Rich Hanf, Chuck Williams, Ed Gannon and Tony Wohlgemuth; Keynote Speaker Brett Bertolino, and the owner of Blood City/Burial Chamber, Matt Mars.

Good haunts, good friends and good times, what more could you ask for?