The Scream of the Haunted Asylum! | The Goosebumps Crew Podcast Ep. 129

[00:00:01] The most thrilling, spitingly series ever. From the pages of R.L. Stine's best-selling books, our screens go on forever and ever. We now return to Goosebumps.

[00:00:19] And of course, you know, I've never been to the asylum, so, and it looks sick. So like I said, this is one that's been on my list for a minute to get to. So pretty excited about that too.

[00:01:10] Absolutely. You can actually probably see it peeking over my shoulders, the real water tower from the logo. Yeah. I can just see the edge of the building and the water tower right there. So you've got a nice little backdrop. Got the whole building here. That's crazy. And I did see you guys started setting up those shipping containers. Yeah, right. Really cool.

[00:01:37] Like Shawlin, Haunted Asylum. So I'm doing this backwards. But, yeah. Yeah, that's crazy. Is that the entrance way to get to the queue or anything? Yeah, so I'm in the parking lot right now. So all of our customers, I'm sorry, I'm trying to do this backwards with the sun in my eyes. Right over my shoulder here, there's an arch that says Sheboygan Asylum.

[00:02:03] So all of our customers come in this gate. They come into our parking lot that we have set up this year, which is cool. We've got some of our sponsors that we have with us on our trusses as an entrance path. We have some of our incredible sponsors that we have working with us. It's Blue Harbor Resort, Dalla Automotive, Spotless Pro, Porter Potties, TWL, Power Sports, Texas Roadhouse. We actually have them serving with us this year.

[00:02:24] So we're excited with all the different brands and companies in the community just making this one big collaboration to make this a really cool fall event experience for people to come check out. How was your opening weekend? Great. It was actually raining. We weren't able to open our Asylum Fields Haunted Corn Maze, but the people were churning out, which is great because I think with the weather, there was everything outdoors not open. But thankfully, we are rain or shine in the attraction side of it.

[00:02:53] The haunted house itself is indoor, outdoor, indoor. But even if it's raining, we have an indoor queue line. Just the Asylum Fields, with it being a five-acre corn maze, it's a little challenging. If it's raining or sloppy out there, it's a real deal with the mud. So we try not to open that for our staff safety and customer safety. Right. But we opened it the past weekend. It was really well. A lot of people had a lot of fun with it, trying to find their way out of the cornfield. Because no better spot to be in a cornfield.

[00:03:22] I mean, yeah, you're in rural Wisconsin, but on the property of a 64-acre old Sheboygan County Hospital. I mean, no better setting, right? Right. Yeah, that's pretty sick. This is your first year doing the corn maze, though, right? Yep. First year doing the corn maze. We're actually excited. It's actually on the other side of the property, which, you know, from where the parking lot I'm in, it's probably – it's a good little distance. So people are actually able to kind of experience the facility more.

[00:03:51] Because our queue line for our corn maze actually goes in the other wing of what it would actually look like if the hunt wasn't in the building.

[00:04:28] So it's kind of a unique thing. If it's a little bit of a little bit of a forest corn, there would be at least, you know, a few nearby. There's only a couple of hunts that actually really do it. There may be some, like, local ones I'm not familiar with who don't advertise very much that do them. But I think they're a lot of fun. It's a neat aspect, I think. And especially to what you already built there so far with the asylum. Just a little nice little add-on feature. No, absolutely.

[00:04:56] And I think the one thing that kind of ties into the history of the place is it used to do its own farming. It used to be self-sufficient with the patience on it. So it was an active farm at the point when it was operating, which just kind of lends into its history, which is kind of cool. Yeah, absolutely. So, like, how big is that property? Like, are you looking to do more expanding in the future? Like, is the corn maze just, you know, step one in a grander plan of another spot that you might do something with?

[00:05:25] No, absolutely. So we have different phases that we plan on, you know, working. This is going into our third haunt season this year. We've had the haunt in the building. But our goal is to add other haunted attractions inside of that or other experiences. I'm actually standing in our new midway that we have this year called Asylum Row. So, which is really cool that we have Texas Roadhouse serving with us over here. We have a gift shop that we put out here. So we have two gift shops on property now. We have axe throwing, mini escape.

[00:05:56] You know, it was our goal. Like, this is all new opening to us before it was in our back area. But just kind of expanding the attraction and making a night of this. You know, when people go to the haunted house, it takes about 30 minutes. Now, if they do the corn maze, it takes another 20, 30 minutes. So now you're looking at 50 minutes and you haven't even done axe or a five-minute escape yet. Or, you know, sat down, hang out, talk stories with friends while eating Texas Roadhouse. And, of course, they have the rolls, which is amazing and awesome that we have out here on our Fridays and Saturdays.

[00:06:25] So you can't beat the rolls, especially with the cinnamon butter. They give, like, these big canisters of it. It's awesome. Yeah, I know. I make a meal of that in myself. And I'll usually just take whatever I order almost as leftovers to go home. Absolutely. So good. So when I saw you guys announce them, I was like, oh, that's awesome. I was like, I'm going to eat good that weekend. Absolutely. Nonetheless, they have a – actually, I have their menus actually right behind me here or right up here.

[00:06:56] They got pulled pork sliders, loaded baked potatoes. I know this is backwards. They got lemonade, the tea, beef jerky, meat sticks, bags of peanuts. I remember – I don't know if you remember back in the day when before COVID, Texas Roadhouse had the peanuts where they were just all over the floor. And when you go in there, it was just kind of a staple of that. But a little more contained now with little bags of peanuts. But, you know, they have all that good stuff out here on Fridays and Saturdays with us.

[00:07:23] Yeah, mine still kind of does that, like, in their, like, waiting area. They'll have those bag of peanuts. But you'll see people, like, open them up and kind of do the same thing. It's like the movies. Not quite the same as it used to be, though, because I remember, yeah, you used to walk into a – anywhere in that restaurant, and there were just peanut shells, like, all over the place. Right. But, unfortunately, you know, times have changed with that.

[00:07:48] But I think that's kind of one of the staples everyone remembers of the peanuts, you know, which they still have, which is good, you know, the bags of it. Yeah. Well, actually, I enjoy that because I usually get to take one home at least. Absolutely. You know. I don't do that in my house, you know. I don't drop the shells on the floor, you know. I'm just – Keep it a little more cleaner, for sure. Keep it a little more clean, yeah. So, I mean, like, you said this is your third year.

[00:08:13] What's some really cool new features this year that you guys are doing besides the corn maze that you can talk about without spoiling too much? Yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely. So, with this being our third year, I know there's haunted houses out there that have been around for a long time. A lot of people don't know the inner workings or what it takes behind the scenes. There's a lot of little things that we changed that, you know, adds overall. Like, we went in through and changed audio in a lot of places.

[00:08:39] We've added, like, scare enhancers to make our actors more effective. Because we bring in a good group of people from all over that are more specified in certain avenues. But helping and getting them tools to be more effective is our goal to really make this a scary experience. Which, for a lot of people that come through, have different experience levels of what they define scary. But one thing I kind of stress to our staff is if you can't scare them, make them laugh, entertain them, give them a good show.

[00:09:09] Because regardless of anybody that comes through and pays, they're here to escape reality. Regardless of what's going on in the world that we live in, in the craziest time of 2026 from the years past. People just want experiences. They want entertainment. They just want to hang out with their friends and just enjoy the evening. Stress relief off of work, off of, you know, regardless of what situations they're going through. So, we try to, you know, make that experience something they don't forget. So, we've added different scenes throughout the attraction.

[00:09:38] The asylum fields. Behind me, we have also our celebrity guests that we have joining us. We just had Grim Life Collective join us this past weekend. We have Carly Beth from The Haunted Mask with us this weekend. All the way through Halloween weekend, we have Michael Bailey Smith played Super Freddy. Mark Steger played in Stranger Things. Jeff Brockton played Ghostface in Scream 3. Paul Haley, we have following next weekend, which will be our clown takeover this year.

[00:10:06] So, it's a new event we're doing where all of our characters are clowns. So, it's a whole different experience. So, people that have come out already this year with us, they're like, I'm coming back for clown takeover because I want to see that. But our special events is something big that we've done this year as well. Like, last weekend was Capture the Fear Weekend. So, we allowed people to actually film or take pictures inside of the attraction, something we've never done before, just to give them a new experience level. This year, we have a trick-or-treat event taking place for people to come on the grounds.

[00:10:35] We're not actually opening the haunt for that event, but giving them an opportunity to come check it out in the daylight, what it's like to make the girls see the haunt itself. But a lot of cool themed weekends. You know, we'd recommend people check out our website, what a weekend that fits best for them. Like, following after Clown Weekend, we have Heroes vs. Villains Weekend, which we encourage people to dress up as their favorite hero or villain.

[00:10:59] Just kind of a cool, like, this is, we want this to be the hangout where you grab your group of vehicle, or grab your friends, get in the vehicle, make a road trip, and make a night of it. And that's where we're just kind of adding on to the experience level. Actually, one event was really cool when we did for opening night, which meant a lot to me, was our haunt for a cause. So we actually had the Humane Society of Sheboygan County come out and do donations. And they actually just texted me what the total was today.

[00:11:25] They got donations of $1,200 of people that brought items in to donate to them for our t-shirt giveaway. We gave away 50 shirts to the first 50 customers that came through and donated, which was awesome. People brought so much stuff. And the fact that we're going for a great cause, like, you know, to help kind of get the animals out of the shelters just means a lot to me. Because I've ventured, I've seen shelters. It's a really good shelter here. But some areas, they take a lot from Texas or Arizona, where a lot of shelters are overcrowded.

[00:11:55] But, you know, in a way, we're creating a haunted experience, but creating a community event as well and help the businesses around us is kind of our really goal and passion and growing this event. Well, that's awesome. I mean, like, I will support that 100%. I'm more of an animal person than a people person. So, you know, and I...

[00:12:18] Some of the things I, you know, see, like, with the overcrowding of certain facilities and things like that, which I, you know, don't want to blast on here, but at least they try to, like, do what they can in an overcrowded situation. And it's unfortunate we're into that position where they are overcrowded and resources start to get really limited. So, it's really cool that there's, you know, things like that that can actually help them out. And that's a pretty big total.

[00:12:47] $1,200 of donation is nothing to sneeze at for a shelter. That's a huge... So, definitely excited that you guys do that. But with the Sheboygan, like, weekends, I see, like, kind of we've talked about just now, they're a little... They're themed. A lot of them are themed. And it's really interesting that you encourage people to, you know, dress up if they want to come to the asylum.

[00:13:13] Because not many haunts, obviously, want people to dress up to come there due to the fact that, you know, they already have scare actors there and they're dressed up and things like that. So, a lot of people don't particularly advertise they want people to dress up when they come there. So, I think that's really cool that you guys do that. Because it's kind of set you guys apart in that aspect too. Besides the fact that you guys do a celebrity weekend. Not just one weekend, but every weekend that you guys are open. So, which is really cool.

[00:13:43] Nobody I've seen, at least in the haunt community near me, has done that. So, that's very unique and very cool. I wish Indianapolis area would do something like that around where I live. Just because it would add that little extra something to your time there. And I like the fact that you mentioned before that you're doing what you can to try to keep people there besides just a haunt.

[00:14:09] Like, you want them to have a good time and to potentially spend more than an hour there. You know, beyond the haunt. Now you have the corn maze. But then, you know, a lot of people have their midway stuff. And I would say, like, probably one of the better midways I've seen is Dent Schoolhouse. But I think it's really something there for their midway that draws me in. It's not so much their photo opportunities. Which I'm sure you guys have as well.

[00:14:38] But they do something there. And it's really neat. It's the history of haunted housing. It's not something you see a lot of, you know, to actually get that in-depth haunted house history. So, segwaying this into my next question with you. Like, what made you guys, like, kind of do the asylum? Besides the fact there's an asylum. You know what I mean? Like, that in itself lends to Halloween 100%.

[00:15:08] Don't get me wrong. But that is a big location. And a lot of haunts typically aren't that big. And you guys don't use the whole asylum, I assume. But how much of it do you guys use? And is it still, like, used as, like, a, like, tourist thing outside of what you guys do throughout the year? Absolutely.

[00:15:36] So, actually, standing behind me, the whole building itself is about 260,000 square foot. It's four stories. Which you can actually see. So, I tried to do this backwards. These covered up windows here. So, that's actually part of the haunt. So, how I call it is, like, our A-wing and our B-wing. So, they go into our indoor portion. And then right out here is our outdoor portion of the haunt. And then they go back into the other side of the building. We utilize mainly the basement for the haunted attraction.

[00:16:02] You know, a 259,000 square foot haunted house would be a long walkthrough. Our walkthrough right now is about 30 minutes. And one thing we try to do with our haunt is not congo line people through. We want it to be experience interactive. So, some scenes you stop in and interact from, like, where our chapel is to interact with the doctor. We have a cool elevator portion in here. Which, you know, if you get the opportunity this weekend to check it out. Or anybody to kind of check it out.

[00:16:32] You know, you can't beat the setting. This building was built in 1939. It closed in 2002. It sat vacant for quite a few years. The real cool fact, actually, this building opened one day before World War II started. Which is kind of a crazy fact from it. It's actually, it's stone when it was put in foundation here. But this is the front of the building. But this building also occupies, they do ghost investigations in here as well.

[00:17:02] Which is a different company that operates that. And then they also have Airsoft, which you'll probably see over the weekend. There's Airsoft ballots everywhere in this place. Because they just had one here in September. But it's good that the facility gets utilized in different forms of it. Because there are other asylums or other, you know, parts of history that have been, unfortunately, getting deleted or torn down. There's, unfortunately, a really famous one. I'm not going to name the name of it.

[00:17:31] But it's probably going to be its last year or two here. It's going to get torn down and become a data center, unfortunately. And I think that's kind of a sad thing, you know, for these buildings to go away. Because they do hold a history side of it. And it's better than, you know, tearing it down and letting it become a data center or become an apartment complex. Even though that would house people. But I think there's so many other spots for something like that. You know, one thing we kind of get a lot of riff for with some people. They're upset a haunted house takes place in a building like this.

[00:18:00] But I believe it's better for something to take place in the building. And to create jobs for the community. Create something for the community to do. You know, anything we do, we try not to do it in a negative light. Or disrespect to former patients that have been in here. Or former staff members. I mean, we do our own story on side of that. You know, some people are upset with maybe it being called asylum before. It was called Sheboygan County Hospital. You know, that's just the name of the attraction.

[00:18:30] It's an experience for people to, you know, provide jobs for the community. And provide an experience in the fall. But I think it's a good use to keeping the building occupied. Because people don't understand. There's still a lot of expenses on just let alone property taxes of this facility. You know, the cost of just maintaining. They actually just put a new roof on this to provide it not leaking. Because, you know, a building from 1939. They last a lot longer than, you know, buildings that are maybe getting built today. But there's still a lot of maintenance and upkeep on this facility.

[00:19:00] And, you know, keeping it in good standards. So it's not becoming a risk to the public. Or, you know, deteriorating or falling apart. Yeah, absolutely. That's kind of the thing, too. Like, I figured, like. I don't know if it's, again. Is it all, like. Is it a, like. How do I want to put it? Is it, like, a public historical site?

[00:19:25] Or is it something to where you guys, like, lease or own it. And you guys have to keep update on it. Like, how does that work with your overhead and everything? So there's. There's a company that controls the property. And they work with, you know, Pacific. You know, they work with the Ghost Investigations. Or the Airsoft. Or ourselves. But it's not like it's open via, like, the state. Or anything like to come out. And.

[00:19:55] Because some facilities are owned by the state. Or different. But this is owned by an individual. Or organization of a group. That, you know, occupies and takes care of the facility. Okay. Yes. At least it's not on you to. To fix all that stuff. I was kind of wondering how that would. Turn about. If you're only using a portion of. The building itself. Because, again. That's why I asked. I was like. If you guys own the whole thing. I doubt you're. If it's only about a 30 minute.

[00:20:25] Haunt. There's no way. You're using the entire facility. But. That's why I asked. If you guys were. Only in your third year. Going to expand. Further. In there. And make it bigger. As time goes on. But. Because I. It's interesting. Like. It looks like it's. Obviously. As we just discussed. Very massive. Um. But. I don't know how. Like. Each floor is maintained. Uh. Since it's not really been in use. For so long. Because I. I think I read it. Closed. In.

[00:20:55] 2002. Which doesn't seem like. That long ago. But when you think about it. Yeah. And in fact. It was like. 24 years ago. Which is crazy. Time flies. I have to say. 2002. Is 24 years ago. That's crazy. Right. But. With that. I mean. Is it. Do the property. Managers. They take. Pretty good care of. Every floor. Since they have to take care of the roof and stuff. I mean. I wouldn't think. They'd want to let it go to waste. But. I don't know what else. They would potentially use it for.

[00:21:25] So they going to let you guys. Kind of. Expand. As years go on. Or. Is it kind of like. You're set. In a certain space. Here. Um. I guess. I'll go back. So one thing that was funny. Um. I guess not. Funny. But we had a comment. A little while ago. Um. Somebody asked. Like. I can't believe they charge money. For you to go in there. Um. You know. As crazy it is. You know. Things cost money. You know. Electricity isn't free. Um. Staffing isn't free. Maintenance isn't free. Screws. Bolts. Nuts.

[00:21:55] Maintenance is not free. So. You know. There has to be justifiable. You know. Growing the attraction. You know. That's why we encourage people. To. Go support haunted houses. Not let alone just ourself. But go support all of them. Like. You know. We have haunts in our local area. I would tell people. Go visit every haunted house. Support them. Because without the people going through them. The industry will. You know. Go on. And no longer survive. Which. The industry is healthy. Enough. But as you see. You know. Christmas likes to kind of take that over a little bit. I mean.

[00:22:25] You see Spirit Halloween. Now dipping their toes into. You know. The Christmas side of where you start seeing stuff in Christmas stores. But like. I think for the Halloween enthusiasts. Which I think is a really strong community of people. Just kind of help encourage and support all of them. Because. You go through a haunted house. Each experience is going to be completely different from the next. Everyone has a different opinion. Or what they expect on an attraction. But. I think they all lend themselves. Because. We had the opportunity before we started to go visit. Other haunted houses across the country.

[00:22:55] I've been to some incredible ones in. Indiana. From Hannah Haunted Acres. Dent Schoolhouse is a great one. Netherworlds. Chippewa Lake Slaughterhouse. Fear Columbus. I mean. The list goes on and on. Of how many great attractions. Just encourage people to get out with their friends. Go support them. Because. It's an industry. That is such a small window for opportunity. From. You know. September to. October of a business. And. You got to think October is probably the most busiest month on everything.

[00:23:24] A lot of people don't factor in the fact that iPhones come out during that time of September. So people's money go toward that. Also. It is the only month that all the sports leagues take place. From basketball. Baseball. Hockey. Football. High school sport. I mean. There's a lot of attention. A lot of things going on. So it's such a small window of market. But I would just encourage people to go support them. Just like the movies. I mean. You know. Resident Evil just came out. But go see Resident Evil. Go see Buddy. Go see all of the horror movies. And you know. Keep supporting them.

[00:23:54] Even horror conventions. You know. We have celebrity guests coming out. Like. If you're a fan of these. Come check them out. And you know. Keep that alive. Because you know. We would love to do that more and more. And give fans the opportunity to. You know. See their favorite. You know. Childhood. You know. From Carly Beth. From Goosebumps. You know. I think a lot of people grew up on that. Or. Killer Clowns. Is such a cult classic. Like. You know. Excited to. You know. Meet Paul. And see him. Or even Scream. Is such an iconic franchise. Like. I don't think anybody. Wouldn't know what the Ghostface mask is.

[00:24:23] Stranger Things. You know. It's so iconic. On Netflix. You know. Regardless of how people feel. And how the season went. It's such a. You know. Everyone's heard of Stranger Things on Netflix. Netflix is just a. You know. Juggernaut in itself. I remember when Blockbuster used to be a thing. And Blockbuster. I think Netflix. One of them was trying to buy the other one. But. I think Blockbuster said. No. Or. Vice versa. But like. Look at how the kind of tables turned on that. You know. I mean. Who would have thought. Like. From.

[00:24:52] Nailing in your DVDs. To. Streaming in. All at your fingertips nowadays. Yeah. The. The. The Blockbuster. Netflix. Story. Is a. Is a funny one. And it just shows you. The. Short-sightedness. Of the Blockbuster. Owners. Who. Thought. Oh no. We're. We're Blockbuster. We're. We're not going anywhere. It's like. It'll never take off. And now. It's. Completely. Opposite.

[00:25:22] Now. Netflix. Is just. Yeah. They dominate. The market. In a lot of areas. But yeah. I do remember the. The. The cheap. Five. You know. Eight dollars a month. When it first started. Now it's like 20 bucks. It's costing me. It's. It's crazy. Right. More content. More money. I guess. So. Like. It's the way of the world. And I do. I miss video stores. So much. Right. That was an experience. It was. It was. It really was. Like.

[00:25:55] And then. Conveniently. There's always a pizza place. Like right next door. To a video store. I think that was all by design. Right. My town. So. It. It. It's a bygone era. Which is unfortunate. But even now. Physical media is. Kind of making its way out the door. It's. That's really unfortunate in itself. Because. I could go on forever about that. But it just bothers me. That you can buy a movie. On a streaming service. But they can remove it at any time.

[00:26:26] Uh huh. That to me is wild. You literally paid for this movie. But you. You don't own it. Yeah. It's crazy to me. Physical media. I mean. I know that's a big thing. Now and too. In November. Um. You know. The Grand Theft Auto coming out. A lot of people about it not being physical. Like. I don't think I'll buy it. Until like. That becomes physical. Because like. You get in the digital. I mean. They could shut the servers down. I know there was a couple. Big games that shut the servers down. Which is like. You're kind of. Um. Sol on that unfortunately. You know. You buy a game. They can't play.

[00:26:56] Like. Even Steam. Um. You know. A lot of games on there. I. It's all digital. But you gotta be careful on that. Because like. Eventually your game to go away. And what you paid for. You no longer have. Um. Because I think that happened to. Friday the 13th game. Um. At one point. Um. I don't know if you ever played that one. Thanks. I haven't played that one. Um. I do believe. Uh. I know Hayden's not on here tonight. But I do. I think he might have. He's our. He's our gamer. For the most part. I gotcha. Um.

[00:27:25] I actually bought the game digitally. And then I also bought like. A physical copy that you could actually play offline. Because. I'd rather have something offline. I could play any time. Than having to connect to servers. And. You know. Kind of. Lose out on that opportunity. And those servers no longer work. But yeah. Yeah. I. I definitely want something I can. Physically own. And touch. And then. You know. If. I decide I don't want it. At least I have the option to sell it. You can't do that with digital really. I mean. No.

[00:27:54] It's in cyberspace. You can't do anything with it. I mean. You paid for it. But. Again. It's one of those. You don't own it things. Absolutely. You know. With. With the asylum. And haunted attractions. I think that's. One of the great things. Is. That the business is booming. In my opinion. Like. I don't know. Financial wise. Like. Of course. Every. Place. Is going to be different. But at least here. Kind of like in the. You know. The. On the east coast.

[00:28:26] They're very popular. And again. It's because we have weather change. And you get that fall feel. Things like that. Where you. You can't get that in some places. But. What I. I think. Like I said. What makes. The asylum. A little bit more unique. Is the fact that it's actually. In. An asylum. So. I know. We kind of hinted at it. A little bit. With the. Lending itself to. You know. What you guys do there. How much space. You actually do.

[00:28:55] But like. When you guys. Were setting out. To do a haunted attraction. I mean. Did you guys start with. Like a home haunt. Where you had another. Location before. And then found this. And thought. Oh this would be really cool. Because I. I don't know how. Like I said. States probably. Don't typically. Do it. But since it's like. A privately owned. By a group. I'm you know. I'm sure there's a. Another whole aspect. You know. You know. It's crazy how much. Actually has to go into. A haunt. Not just.

[00:29:25] A simple. Hey we're open. Let's make something scary. There's so much. That goes into it. How did you guys get to. To where you're at now. And. Kind of. You know. What made you. Go through this. Over like say. Making your own. At a different location. Yeah. Absolutely. So I will tell you. A lot of people don't know. Like the behind the scenes. Or the end of workings. And I'm sure some haunted house. Owners would agree with me. The haunted house.

[00:29:54] Like operating one. Is probably one of the most. Challenging. Most difficult. Ownership jobs. That you could do out there. Because. A lot of it is. It's a seasonal business. So you're bringing in. Seasonal helpers. But it's a year round. Operation. Of the. The planning. The setting up. But you only have such a small window. Like. You know. Say like your. Your local McDonald's. Or local restaurant. You know. They're usually open all year.

[00:30:24] They might be closed on Christmas. But. This is only open in September. And October. But you can't just start planning for an August. You got to start planning. The last November. Even during the season. Like we've already started planning for next year. I'm just. Getting things all. You know. Dotted up. Because. It just takes that time and effort. Of getting into that. And. What we did to kind of get started. Well. I guess a little back story. On how I got started. I was. I used to hate haunted houses. I was.

[00:30:54] I was always scared of them as a kid. One time I got brave enough. Decided to go through. A haunted house. Wasn't too bad. Grew up a little bit. Had the opportunity. To go to a haunted house one night. And I had so much fun with it. I'm like. What do I got to do to like. Work here. And I asked them. They're like. We'll just show up tomorrow. And be here. Like sweet. I showed up. They gave me a chainsaw. They put me on the hayride. Ever since that. I was hooked. I had the passion. Doing haunted houses.

[00:31:23] I had a traveling job for a while. COVID happened. And. With. I started working with my business partner now. We. He asked me one time. He's like. What would you like to do? I was like. Well. It would be cool to do like. A haunted house. And then. So then what we had to do is. Like. We went. Across the country. We've seen like. 60 haunted houses. In like. One season. Which is probably one of the craziest travel trips. We've ever done. But to like. Learn and see what other ones do. Not to copy what they do. But to learn like. To do it. Because that's the best way.

[00:31:53] To really set yourself up for a job. Is not just jumping in. But learning from people. And taking that mentorship. On you know. Things that they maybe struggled with. Or give ideas. Or concepts. To help better yourself. So we did a. A temporary attraction. Started in 2021. And that's the hard thing. With temporary attractions. Unfortunately. We had some scheduling conflicts. Of how their off-season storage works. So. It didn't. Unfortunately. Work out the following year. So we kind of took a year off. And then kind of regrouped.

[00:32:23] Did it at another facility. It worked out really well. But unfortunately. They hadn't had scheduling conflicts. They had a lot more. Budgeting events. Coming through. They had companies like. Like Ferrari. Spending like millions of dollars. On the prop. Like to rent it out. Which unfortunately. A haunted house isn't. You know. To that capabilities. You know. So. Thankfully. You know. We found the opportunity. You know. Doing a real asylum. I think. You know. Really excited for it. And just to kind of grow upon it. I'm excited for where we're at now. I'm actually sitting outside.

[00:32:53] Because the service isn't the greatest. In the building. Because I'd show you some of the stuff. But our new actor. Which is kind of cool. We have a lot bigger area now. A bigger makeup room. A bigger prop and costume room. We have a hangout room. There's Pac-Man. Little basketball shooter for the staff. Bathrooms. I mean. Just kind of growing. As you said. You know. Might not be everything haunted house wise. But growing the event overall. Let alone our staff. To make our staff better. You know. We had. We offered a makeup class. From probably one of the. Really good makeup artist. Companies in the industry.

[00:33:23] We had one of the. Probably the best costume designers. Come out this year. And teach a class. Just to help. Get all of our. Overall product. That we're putting out there. Just better. Because. I think the biggest thing. And with. An owner. Is just being humble. And always willing to learn. And grow. Year after year. Is like the biggest thing. You could really do. Because if you try to be stagnant. And think you're. Perfect. And everything. You're never going to succeed. You've got to learn. And. I mean. I'll be honest with you. Still make mistakes to this day. Of you know. Things. But all you can do. Is just be better.

[00:33:53] Day after day. And year after year. And make the attraction. Overall. To get people to come out. Because. You know. The more people that come out. The more opportunity. Room for it to grow. And expand. And have more people involved. But it. You know. It being a seasonal event. There's a lot of challenges to it. But those that are. I mean. Maybe some of the stressful times. In my life. But sometimes. It's really rewarding. Sometimes sitting behind the scenes. And just hearing the people scream. And laugh. I mean. Because. Ever since I started. I just had the passion. And love for it. And you know. I just.

[00:34:22] Find the people that have the passion. And love to make this. The best. Experience they have. You know. Because. Like I said. This is an escape from reality. And that's. What a lot of people look for nowadays. Just with. Regardless of what's going on. In the world we live in. I know that's a long story. No. No. No. Like I. Like. That's what. You know. That's what I'm here for. Like. I want to know. That kind of stuff. And I think our audience does too. Who tunes in. Because. You know. You could do the surface.

[00:34:52] Superficial. Stuff. But. I like the behind the scenes stuff. Like as a. Like. I used to do haunts. When I was in high school. Like. To like the school. Do one or whatever. Help raise money and stuff. And I loved it. But. But the town I lived in. There's literally none. Near me. Like. I have to drive. Close to an hour. To get to. Like a haunt. That actually like. Pay you. Kind of deal. So. I'm not close to any. And. But the passion never goes away. Like. I. I love going to them.

[00:35:23] I love visiting them. The haunt life is amazing. But. As I'm like. Over the years. I've. I learned a little bit more. About the behind the scenes stuff. Because it was something I thought about. A long time ago. I wanted to do. But. Trying to do it on your own. Is impossible. Uh. And I just could not find. A. A group of people. Who wanted to open a haunt. With me. Kind of a deal. So. It just never. Happened for me. Which is fine. You know. Life takes you in different directions. For. For that reason.

[00:35:52] Doesn't stop me from going. And enjoying them. And loving them. And I don't know. We mentioned dent. And how many you went to. Yourself. Personally. Mostly for market research. Um. But that's the thing. Like. I. I love looking at ones like. Dent. Or. Uh. Hell's Gate. Or even. A more recent one. That opened up in the. I think Chicago area. Was five points. By. Uh. A kid who. Started with. Just. Home haunts. You know. It was a yard haunt. And stuff. And now he's. Progressed to that stage. Where. You know.

[00:36:22] Even at a young age. He's. He's doing his own thing. So. I applaud anybody. Who can. Can do it. Because it's not easy. Usually to get a. Start. Uh. In a haunted house business. And. It's even harder. To keep it going. And keeping it fresh. Every year. Because like you said. You're only open. For a certain period of time. And. You have the. The year to plan. But again. You still have. Bills that gotta be paid. And you know. You. You've gotta get paid too. You gotta still live. And make it through all that. You know. And I. I know that's why a lot of haunts.

[00:36:52] Do like. A Christmas one. And a. Like a Halloween. And a St. Patrick's Day. They'll do stuff in between. Like. Like. Open one weekend. Kind of a deal throughout. Out. But. I. I. I don't know. Do you guys do that there or not? Or is that. Something you just open around Halloween? Um. Mainly just Halloween. You know. It's something we're looking into. But. The challenge of. Especially a building like this. There's no heating or cooling in it. Just because it's such a. Older facility. So. Trying to get that. Um. It's something we kind of actually experimented. Trying to do.

[00:37:22] A. More winter event. But. Once in Wisconsin. You know. The one. Some temperatures dip. And. Being in a concrete building. You really feel the cold. And. You know. That's our biggest goal too. Is. You know. Safety. I can't. You know. I know a lot of people just preach safety. But can't stress that enough. Of. Not putting people at risk. In a cold building. Getting sick. Um. You know. So that's. But we are looking at doing some stuff. Um. You know. Some off season events. Because those do help overall. You know. Where you're not just confined to the. Um. The Halloween season. Even though that's. You know.

[00:37:51] The big time of it. And that's when people feel the spirit of it. But. You know. Creating those other events. That. You know. Intrigue people. Because. Um. It'd be cool for haunted houses to be year round. It's just. You know. It's challenging for some. I know they do have. Uh. Universal has theirs out in Las Vegas. But. You know. Las Vegas is a whole different animal than. You know. Some markets. Um. I know they are testing out one. I believe in Chicago. I don't know what the status of that is yet. But. Um. You know. It'd be cool if Halloween and haunted house were all year round. I know some people love.

[00:38:21] Live at Halloween. 24-7. Which. You know. I. I have a tendency to do. Um. But. There's nothing wrong with it. You know. Oh no. I live 24-7. Some people are just like. When I see their face. When I say that. It's. It's interesting. Either I get. Oh. That's cool. Or I get. Oh. Really? You know. It's never an in-between. It's a. It's quite the. It's quite the flip. But. Um. Yeah. No. I. I love the. The Halloween lifestyle. And I. Live it year round.

[00:38:51] And I agree. I wish they were year round. But. Like. You know. Like many. I mean. You just. You have those peak seasons. And it's really hard to maintain that through. Even another. Holiday. Like. Say Christmas. Which is completely opposite. Unless you're in the horror community. And you go with Krampus. And a bunch of other things. That makes more sense. But. A majority. Uh. Given the. Uh. Religious aspect of some holidays. Doesn't quite fit. But.

[00:39:21] Uh. To me. I feel like. You know. Halloween is growing beyond. October. Like. You know. Like I said. We have Halloween. People started calling it that. And then. Uh. Some are starting to do it with Easter. Um. Which of course. That's a mixed bag of people. But. I. I think it's. I think it's cool. But. Like I said. Like. Leprechaun. I mean. That goes with St. Patrick's Day. I mean. Warwick Davis. You know. Brought us a great. Leprechaun character. So. Take advantage of that. Um.

[00:39:51] But I mean. It's really interesting to see it kind of. Uh. Evolve over the years. Because. It's a multi-billion dollar industry. And. I feel like. Haunts especially. Like. Really drive that in for people. I know like consumers. Of course. I don't see it. Like. I. I see my empty spirit Halloween's. With animatronics. But I never see anybody have them up. So where the hell are they? Uh. That's. That's a weird part too. You know. It's like. Why aren't these people decorating? Or. You know. Handing out candy. It's like. There's so many.

[00:40:22] Blank houses. In additions. It just. It bothers me. So much. Uh. That's a whole. Side tangent. But like. As a Halloween enthusiast. And year round living it. It's something you do look at. Um. And that's why I think. Like. Haunts are so good. Because like you said. You have to hire so many different aspects. It's not just a. You know. A scare actor in here. You know. You have a scene setting. You have. You know. Makeup artists. Like. I'm trying to figure out that. Myself right now. Just because there's a character.

[00:40:52] I've. I've made. But doing face paint. It's like a lot difficult doing it on yourself. Um. For someone who doesn't do makeup. Yeah. So. It's a learning experience. And trying to figure out. All that stuff. But these people are brilliant at it. Like some of the things they can do. Is almost like. Canvas paintings. Almost. It's. It's beautiful. You don't want to mess with it. After it's done. Right. Uh. But they have to do that. A few nights a week. Sometimes. Two. Three nights a week. And. To do that.

[00:41:21] For a month and a half. Uh. I'm sure they love it. But. Like how many. Scare actors do you have. That do get painted. Like. Which kind of lend into that. A little bit. Because. With you guys. Like. In your third year. I'm not sure how. Like. How do I want to put it. Like how. Big your staff is. Like. For scare actors and stuff. Like. Excuse me. Um. Yeah. No. So it always varies. And. I will tell you. And I'm sure a lot of haunt owners. You know.

[00:41:51] In the. In the deep of it. Hiring for a haunted attraction. Is probably one of the most challenging things. I'm sure a lot of business owners. Can even say. Just hiring nowadays. It's such a challenging thing. Because. Um. The haunted house sounds fun. But it's. Now when you talk about the commitment. To so many nights. It's the challenge. Or. You know. Doing makeup. 20 of the nights. You know. Last season. We operate for 15. This year. It's 22 nights. We have some Thursdays. We have some Sundays. Which. I understand. Is challenging. For some people. On their work schedule. Or life schedule. Which.

[00:42:20] We're pretty flexible here. As long as people. Kind of get. Get us their schedule. Of. Like. They kind of make their own schedules. A little bit. Um. But it can always vary. You know. Sometimes we have from 50. To 100 people. Um. A night. It's. It's. Always varies. Sometimes. Um. People. Love to scare. And then they get. Tired of it. I mean. It's hard to stand for four or five hours. Screaming. Yelling. I mean. I love it. I mean. I could. You know. Kind of get away with it. But. You know. I have a little bit different responsibility level. Than. You know. To somebody else. Um. But you know. We try to find the people.

[00:42:50] That have a heart and passion for this. Um. You know. It's. To be honest. A lot of people. It's not a job you're going to get rich from. But it's a job that. You know. Kind of an escape from reality. A home away from home. Because. I would say. In a non-disrespectful way. Like a lot of our staff. Or maybe the people that. Don't fit in society wise. Are. Not good at communicating with others. Which. You know. I would. Sometimes be on the outside in too. You know. Like. You don't fit in with the popular crowd. Which. Whatever. You know. Make friends in a different way. Or a different manner. Like. You know. Sometimes people come here. Find. You know.

[00:43:20] Really good friends. And. You know. Kind of have a team morale. Um. Of. You know. Just. You know. I think we all have the same passion. Of scaring people. And giving them a good show. And. Like I said. That's a home away from home. Um. You know. We had somebody last year. That. Was never really talkative. They ended up doing the haunt. And. Now they're like. Really talkative in school. And just a lot more. Engaging. So it almost acts as. I guess. Maybe the right word. Like a therapy. Or a. Um. To kind of help. Insert themselves better. Into a working environment.

[00:43:50] Because sometimes. This is people's first job. Um. You know. And interacting. I always try to tell people. And stress is enough. Sometimes customers will come say. Come through. And say the dumbest. Stupidest things. Or try to be. Ruin. Or ruin the experience. But. I always tell them. The next scare is coming. The next person's coming. And you know. If you mess up your words. Or something happens. It's not the other world. Like keep going. You know. Just roll with it. You know. Play your character. Stay in character. And you know. Make it. Don't break the immersion level. Um. You know.

[00:44:19] I always look at like. You don't want to reveal yourself. Kind of like Mickey Mouse. In the haunted house. Like. You don't want to know who Mickey is. Because that just ruins the experience. But staying in that character. Keeping that immersion level. And kind of building that. But getting people's knowledge. And hiring seasonal staff. To. Um. Fulfill that. I mean. There's a lot more. Intricacies of. You know. Hiring and bringing people in. I mean. Hiring scare actors. And then also. Having people. Like the biggest thing in a haunted house. Is improv. How can. If. Like if you throw something at me. How do I throw it back at you. Or.

[00:44:50] How do I come back. And like. You have to be really quick on that. Because sometimes people will say the craziest things. Um. You know. I'll. I'll even hop in characters some nights. But. It's like a. It's a light switch that ticks. And. You know. Some people have like an instinct of just. You know. Being wise and witty. And you know. Having the comebacks with the customers. Yeah. I. I envy those people sometimes. Like. I. I wish I had that quick. Adeptness to. Have a reply. Which is.

[00:45:21] I don't want to say like. I'm going to say PG-13. Most of mine will go. You know. In the. More into the. Vulgar area. You know. Sometimes. Or the. Dark humor side. Yeah. Which doesn't. Typically pan well in a business scenario. So. No. Absolutely. You know. So the ones who can do it in a quick response. In a quick. Memorable moment for somebody. You know. Oh. Well. He said this to me after I said that. Oh my gosh. Like he burned me good. You know. Something like that. I.

[00:45:51] Yeah. I envy the people that can do that. And. Like. Maintain the composure. Because yeah. It's. You are working with people. No matter how you look at it. You might. It's. In a way. It's like customer service. You are still working with people. And you're trying to give them. A good experience. Whether that's scaring them. Making them scream. Whatever. Or. You know. Serving them. McDonald's cheeseburger. It's all customer service. In a sense. But.

[00:46:20] Scaring is way more fun. Of course. But. Oh absolutely. I won't serve nobody. No cheeseburger. I won't serve up scares. Right. So. I wanted to add. Last thing. Oh yeah. I'm sorry. Go ahead. No. No. I just want to add to like. I know you said of like. Not being wise. Or witty to that. The best way to do it. And I would say a lot of. For these people. Like. We did like a rehearsal. The night before we opened. And kind of get people practice. And then when the customers come in. The more you do something. The better you'll always get at it. Like. I'll tell you. I was never. You know. A really good. I mean.

[00:46:50] I would say. I'm a better. Haunt owner. Now. Than I was before. But it. It takes time. And effort. Of learning the things. Learning the roles. Where you can start. Kind of picking up your routine. Of your improv. Of what to. What to say. So. You know. We just kind of encourage people. By the time 22 nights happen. You really have it down. On half. Hey. What works. What's not. Some customers. I usually call like. A stick in the mud. Where they're just like. But if you can't scare them. Make them laugh. Entertain them. That's the goal. Of entertainment. But.

[00:47:20] The only way to do it. Is the more you do it. Sorry to me. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And I. I hundred percent agree with that. It's like. Any. I hate to throw it in the. The fact of a job. I know it is. But I never. Count it as such. Because I think. Like I said. When I work. Haunted attraction. When I was younger. Like. It never felt like that. It was just always so fun. And. Maybe it's because I wasn't. Into the business side. Of it. I was just getting to. Come there and scare people. And have a good time. You know. It's.

[00:47:50] It was. It was a perk. To get to do something fun like that. In my opinion. Right. But like I said. Doing it. And. Now. Like. You know. The stuff that I get to do. It's still a lot of fun. I still have a great time. I definitely get it. It's not everybody's cup of tea. Yeah. A hundred percent. And I never. Dog anybody for that. Um. But I do like that you brought that up though. With. Uh. Having like rehearsal nights. And stuff like that.

[00:48:20] Because I do see where. You guys post. And I've been sharing it. Like when you. Started looking for scare actors. And then you. Uh. Started. You know. Saying. You know. Basically I'm going to call it scare school. Yeah. Is in session. You know. And then you guys. Actually get your actors together. And do all that. So. With that said. Like. When you hire these. People. Do they have a set role. For every night that they're here. Or. Like. And does the.

[00:48:50] Asylum itself. Like your. Uh. Your haunt. Have a story to it. Because I know some haunts. And I. I think. To me. I think those make some of the better ones. You know. Like Dent. Or. Hell's Gate. Or something. That have like a story attached to it. Where you can kind of get into it. And when you walk through. You kind of get parts of the story. I mean. Do you guys have that. At this one. Is that what you guys do? Yeah. So. It's actually on our website. Under story. I couldn't tell you the whole story. Word for word right now. But. Ideally.

[00:49:19] Henry Osgood. Which is. Was a superintendent of the facility. You know. Lost his daughter in a fire. And he re-replicated the room for him. And for her. Inside of the facility. But. One of the things is. He was trying to find a concoction. Chemical. And unfortunately. He released it throughout the building. And kind of made everybody go crazy. And psycho. That's a very small synopsis of it. For any of those that are interested. It is on our site. Under story. Goes a little more detail. You know. Henry Osgood.

[00:49:48] And his background. And. Of the facility. But yeah. Trying to kind of create a story. For a lot of our staff. Like. When we interview them. We kind of think like. Oh. Would it be a good role for them? Because. There's a lot of factors in it. There's some spots that require a lot of talking scenes. Or there might be some to. You know. Being sneaky quiet. Or. Because everyone has different capabilities. Like. I always try to tell people too. Nobody's better than anybody else. We all. At the end of the day. Put our pants on the same way everybody else does. But. Some of us might be a little. You know.

[00:50:18] Better at scaring them in this form. Or that form. You know. It's just finding. Putting all the puzzle pieces together. Which. Like I said. I would. Show you. But in my. In our hallway. Has a staff board. And it has a picture of everyone. And where they're at. So like. It's always challenging. So if you move one person. It almost moves five people. Because you got to find the specific role. Or whatever they might be in good. Like. You know. One thing for one of our spots. Is like a commander bungee. We call it. Which is actually a person that's on a wall. That lunges.

[00:50:47] At the individual. Which we call part of our stunts team. You know. It's something. You can't just go throw anybody on it. So. It kind of takes practice and training for that. Or somebody that's really good at talking. You know. Finding a good talking role. You wouldn't want to plug them somewhere. Where. You wouldn't have a talking role. I mean. Some nights. If their voice is a little raspy. You might move people around. You know. Ideally it always changes and fluctuates. At the end of the day. Our staff scare actor board. Is a giant puzzle. And just have to kind of put the puzzle together. Every night.

[00:51:17] To make sure we put out the best product. Because. You know. That's really my goal. And. You know. The goal of the company. Is just. You know. Make this a good overall experience. I mean. Understand. It's hard to please everybody. Not everyone will. Everyone has a different opinion. On what's scary. But. I look. You can't scare them. Make them laugh. Entertain them. I mean. I said. This is an escape from reality. And that's what. We would like for it to be. That's kind of the kicker for me. I. Not saying. I can never be scared. But so far. It hasn't happened.

[00:51:47] Because. I. That's the neat thing. I think about. Certain guests. That come through too. Like you'll get the ones. That are scared of everything. And they're always super fun. And that's. You know. As a scare actor. I'm sure that's what you want. Yeah. To get that scare. That scream. And say you had the best one of the night. Or something. But then you get. You. You unfortunately get people like me. That like. I don't get scared. Because I'm just too enthralled. With. The. Scenery. And the. Yeah. That got put into there. Like. I. Like. I love that stuff so much.

[00:52:17] I look at details of things. And. Like. The. Details that go into haunts. Sometimes. You don't get to see very much. Because you're going through. Kind of quickly. And a lot of times. Obviously lighting. It's more dark. So you don't get to see. A lot of the. Little. Neat details. And stuff. That get added. Yeah. Are there anything. That. If anybody who's going to. Sheboygan this season. Walking through. Do you guys have little. Like. Maybe like. Details or Easter eggs.

[00:52:47] From. Sheboygan's history. Or your guys' history. As a haunt. Throughout it. Or is it something. I will say there is. And. There are little things. Throughout the haunt. And there are actually. Little things in our escape room. That's kind of tied back. To some of our histories. As well. You know. Just little Easter eggs. That you know. People just kind of have to. Kind of keep their eyes peeled. On that when they. You know. Go through. Or attend. The season. Or in the future. Right. Okay. Cool.

[00:53:17] Yeah. I'm going to keep an eye out. While I'm there then. That's a. That's a big thing for me. Like. I. Again. I love the detail. That gets put in. And. Since this is more like. Owned by a group. But they're letting you do. A haunt there. And things like that. Do they. Pretty much give you free reign. Of like. Transforming the inside. Of the space you're given. Are they pretty okay with that? Or is it like. You can't change like. You know. For instance. This space over here. Too much.

[00:53:46] But you can add stuff to it. Really. Or what have you. Is it kind of like that? No. The. The ownership. Group has been really good. They've been. You know. Even really helpful. On some of the forms of. You know. From just kind of helping them. The building. You know. Like. One of the biggest things. You got to think about. Is our veins. So the veins. Is the air. That goes to the facility. On. You know. Animatronics. Or air effects. You know. They were a big. Proponent on helping get the air compressor. Up and rolling. Because. That's the veins of it. You know. The simple thing too.

[00:54:17] Wi-Fi. Is probably the heart. Of the facility. You know. That's what our ticketings go through. Our. Our photo booths. So. You know. They're a big contributing factor. In helping. Making sure all those bells and whistles. Are running. I mean. There's a lot that. You know. People don't see that. You know. That they help contribute in. Or. You know. To make this happen. You know. Throughout the facility. They've been really flexible. And working with us on. You know. Having the hunt in the building. Because that was when. When we started. It's like. The haunted house has to be in the building. Like. It can't be on the field.

[00:54:47] Or in a farm. Farmhouse somewhere else. Like. You can't say. Hey. Come to Wisconsin. It's only real asylum haunted house. But the hunt is. In a tent in the parking lot. So. But. You know. They've been great. You know. They're on board. On you know. Some of our expansion. In the future. I mean. There are plans of it. As long as. You know. Everything goes well. Seasons go well. And attendance picks up. And. You know. When I say pick up. You know. Just. More people come check it out. And support it. You know. That's when things kind of grow. And. You know. We have more guests this season.

[00:55:17] Which is really cool. I think the sponsors kind of help us out. But. You know. Overall. The more people hear about it. And get out there. The bigger this will become. This is the goal. And. You know. Ownership. We really hope that. You know. We're not like. You know. Huge YouTube channel. By any means. But we hope in some way. That we can help. You know. Build this weekend. That's coming up. As well as we can. While we're there. And even beyond. Because. Again.

[00:55:47] Even though like. We're only going to be there. This weekend. Like. I always hope the best. For haunts. Because. Again. They're just. They're fun. It's always a great time. Like. It's great when you go with friends. Or family. Like. Everybody's always so accepting. At haunts. And again. I think it goes back to that mindset. Like you said before. It's just because you're used to. Maybe being an outsider. It's kind of that community. But I think that's what makes the horror community. So great. Is because they just accept everybody. Yeah. You know.

[00:56:16] It's kind of unique in that sense. You know. It's not like I can. Go to a certain other group. Which I won't name. Because I don't want to get blasted on here. But. You know. I don't want to go to. Group A or B over here. Because. Maybe they're just. It's single-minded. Mentality. Or narrow viewscape. Horror's got that great. Yeah. Open wide. Acceptability. That. I don't think any other group has. So. So. And haunts just allow. That. Kind of.

[00:56:45] Either spook side of you to come out. Or. Allow yourself to be scared. But in a fun way. Because everybody loves to be scared. I mean. Yeah. That. That fear. That adrenaline. That you kind of get from it. It's unique. Even though you know it's. You're not going to get hurt. And it's not real. Yeah. Sometimes you get immersed though. And that's why I like about. Haunts that have a story. And. Kind of focus on it. You know. I think. If you can get somebody immersed. In that world. Like you said.

[00:57:15] It kind of takes them out of it. For. Really. Reality for a while. Which is a lot of fun. And I think that's what everybody's looking for. Especially because reality's scarier than anything. You'll ever find in a haunt. Oh. Absolutely. I. I guess I will add one thing. As you said. We have. Where people can actually choose their intensity level. When they actually come through this attraction. So we offer. Where. It's called our patient pass. Where the actors can actually touch. Grab. Or separate their group.

[00:57:44] For those that want a more of an extreme experience. Or we also offer. It's called a chicken pass. For those that are a little more scared. That don't want to be the center of attention. It helps reduce the scares. Because. One other thing that we really. Are big here on. Is. Being diverse. Being the biggest audience. That we could be open to. For like. You know. The celebrity guests. Like. We have some customers. That only come for just the guest. But that gives them an opportunity to. You know. Maybe see the haunted house. And realize. This might be their first haunted house. But if we give them a good experience. They might go see other ones. And you know.

[00:58:14] Grow upon that. Because. They might not. Ever know they love them. Until they try them. You know. That's with a lot of things. That. If you don't try it. You don't know. If you'll. End up liking it. But. Also. You know. For those that are too scared. To go through a haunted house. Like the chicken pass. Is a really good opportunity. To convince your friend to go. Hey. You're not going to be the center of attention. Come. Come still experience it with us. Because nothing's worse than being the one. Sitting. Waiting out in the car. And wait till your friends get back. And miss that opportunity. Or that experience with your friends. Like. I hate to say. You know. Life's short. So you got to make the most of it.

[00:58:44] With the people. Around you. That you love. And. You know. And enjoy. Spending time with. Yeah. Make those memories. And I would be remissed. And I think. The people who listen. Or watch us. Would be very upset with me. If I didn't say. Just for the. The goosebumps weekend. As a. As a. As a touch. I may start calling it. The chicken. Chicken pass. Chicken. And. There was.

[00:59:13] Stein did a book. In the original 62 series. Called Chicken Chicken. Okay. It's kind of a running joke. And gag on this podcast. Over the years. Gotcha. I still maintain. It might be. The scariest concept. If it was ever made into reality. Because the book covers a. A girl's head. On a giant chicken body. Okay. So I mean. Like if I saw that in reality. It's like a tusk scenario. You know. I would. That's. That's just creepy. Body horror to me. So. You know. I think that's scarier than anything.

[00:59:43] Stein will ever do. Even though. The book isn't. Very good. But. I got you. It's a running gag on this podcast. So I may call it. The chicken chicken pass. For this weekend. At least. Absolutely. Well. Don't forget to call this weekend. Nostalgia weekend. So. With nostalgia weekend. I know we're going to have you guys out there with us. Which would be awesome. Carly Beth will be here. But we encourage people to dress as their favorite. Old character. Either from the 90s. 80s. Whatever it might be. If it's from Goosebumps. Afraid of the Dark.

[01:00:13] Come dressed up. The only thing. With our dressed up policy. If anyone is listening. Or does attend. Cannot conceal your face. That's the only thing that. With our costumes. We just don't want that. To blend into being an actor. But we encourage. If you have the rest of the costume. You can. Carry the item as a prop. But. We just. No concealed faces. That's all. Yeah. Which makes sense. You know. For anybody who's seen Hellfest. You don't want to. You don't want that scenario. You know. We want to be able to figure out. Who you were. And get that taken care of. If.

[01:00:43] It is definitely a. Like I said. Really awesome thing. That you encourage people. To dress up. Because. Halloween's on a Saturday. This year. Yeah. You guys are open. Of course. So. Yeah. That'll be. I think a unique experience. For people too. Not many. Years you can do. A haunted house. On Halloween. Due to the fact. That most of the time. It's not set on a weekend. Where. Most people are off. And can actually do stuff. Like that. So. I think that'll be a really. Really fun experience. Experience. But I of course.

[01:01:13] Am most excited. For this coming weekend. Because of Catherine Long's appearance. She's been on the podcast. A couple times. And you know. Talked to her here and there. But never actually got to meet her. In person yet. This will be the first time. For me. And for. Millennials After Dark. Which is a new podcast. That our buddy Tyler. Is doing. And you. Guys out there. Know who Tyler is. Is he's been on the podcast. Many times. Really good friend of mine. But we're finally meeting. A person there too.

[01:01:42] So it's going to be a lot of firsts. Over the weekend. And I think it'll be a really. Really good time. And really good experience. And we hope you guys come out. If you're not going to. Come out for the haunt. And you just want to visit Catherine. Say hi to us too. We'd love to meet you. Talk to you. I mean. That's what we do. Let's talk. You know. So. We definitely would appreciate it. And yeah. I am really looking forward. To just being there. But to be able to make those memories myself.

[01:02:12] At the same time. So. Definitely looking forward to it Tanner. I really appreciate your. Your time this evening. And. I see it's getting dark there. And you've been. Kind of walking around. I think looking for light. So I don't want to keep you. Too much. You're all good. We'll be full light this weekend. I just. You know. Trying to find a little bit of light out here. Here. Figured I'd. You know. No better place to do the podcast. In the building. So at least. Have a little bit of an idea. What it's like. But you can see the sun's already set. The water tower's still peeking out. And. I don't know.

[01:02:43] But yeah. Yeah. No. You've had. You've had good lighting the whole time. With that sunset. Yeah. Right. So. It's been. Interesting to see that change. As we've been talking this. This time. But. Yeah. I. I'm looking forward to. I really hope you guys. Go check it out. Sheboygan Haunted Asylum. In. Sheboygan Wisconsin. Tanner. Is there anything. That you want anybody. To know. Who might be attending. Over. Your season. Or. Like.

[01:03:12] Where they can go. For tickets. Ticket pricing. Things like that. Yeah. Absolutely. As you said. You know. We have Catherine Long. With us this weekend. But we still have. Four more. After that. Killer Clowns Out of Space. You're a fan of that. Stranger Things. Scream. Nightmare on Elm Street. The Hills Have Eyes. We have Michael Bailey Smith. But go to. Sheboygan Haunted Asylum. Dot com. Check out all our information. Even if you don't make it out this year. Check out what our lineup is for next year. I actually was just speaking with. One of our guests. That we're going to have for next year. Which I'm really excited for. And. Working on a couple other.

[01:03:42] Really exciting ones for next year. Which. Like I said. We just plan to. You know. Grow upon that. But. If you like haunted houses. You like celebrity guests. You like VIP behind the scenes tours. We offer those. Where you can see the tunnels. The morgue. The boiler room. And the rooftop. Of this facility. Which the rooftop. Is really flipping cool. You can actually see. Rocky Knoll. Which is another healthcare facility. Way in the distance. You can actually see. For those that are in this area. There's this giant. It's actually the. America's largest. American flag.

[01:04:12] In Sheboygan. The town. About. Maybe. 10-15 miles from here. You can actually see from the rooftop. Clear as day. It's really cool. Some really cool views up there. Even though we're rural out here. It's still a really cool experience. I was about to say. The boiler room. Is one of my favorite spots. It's a massive. Three-story boiler. But you can only experience. If you take the VIP. Behind the scenes tour. Which include. The haunted house ticket. But just go to the website. All the information's on there. You know. I'd love to have you out. If it's this year.

[01:04:42] In the future. You know. Come and check it out. And I really appreciate you. Having me on tonight. You know. Actually really excited. To have you guys out there. It's not just Catherine. Joining us this weekend. It's you guys. And it'll be really fun. And cool. Check out actually. Really excited. You'll see our new celebrity guest room. Which is all like brand new. Painted. And new aesthetics. Of just things that. As you said earlier. Like what have you changed. And addresses. Just fix everything. Just make it better. And that's our goal. Is just to get better year after year. And just. Yeah. Let's keep striving. To be better day after day.

[01:05:21] And with an idea. You know. And I think that's what makes some of the haunted houses out there. Much better than some of the others. Because I've been to some that are just. Duds. I don't know how they keep making it. But. They don't change anything. And even if I haven't been there in years. It's the same exact. Thing that they did. Years ago. When I was there. And I'm like. How are you still here? It's like. This is crazy. Right. So our thing is. I do appreciate. Yeah. Go ahead. Sorry. I was going to say.

[01:05:50] Our thing is just. You know. Make sure you get your annual checkup with the doctor. So. You know. Each year should be completely different. I actually had a might. Or I seen something last night. Where I'm like. I already know how the beginning of the next haunt is going to start. And it's going to be really cool. You know. But. As you said. Just kind of change and evolve. But just. Make sure people don't forget their annual checkup with the doctor. Every year at Sheboygan Haunted Asylum. Yeah. Exactly. I might miss that one. We'll see you this weekend. You say that now. We'll see you next year again. Yeah. I don't know if I like the doctor.

[01:06:21] It's kind of like the dentist for me. You know. It's like. I dread going. But you know. You got to go. You got to make sure. If I like that doctor there. I may be back. Yeah. You got to make sure you come and check out Wisconsin's worst healthcare facility. It's right here. It's right here behind him. Yep. It's open. The best time of the year. Malpractice is what we practice. Well. I don't know how you've kept your doors open then either. Oh. Oh.

[01:06:50] I assume no one. No one makes it out to sue though. So that's probably why. Yeah. I hope not. Yeah. But. But. Yeah. No. I highly recommend it. We'll have all the links in our description below as always. And. They have social media and everything as well. So. Feel free to check it out. But Catherine Long will be there this coming weekend. Along with. Myself from the Goosebumps crew. And. Tyler. 90s kids throwback.

[01:07:20] With his new podcast. Millennials After Dark. And we're going to be. Doing a lot of fun things while we're there. And. Tanner. I appreciate your time. Yeah. Giving us a little walk around the facility. Definitely. I. I cannot wait to see it in person. Like. It looks. Sick. So. I'm excited to see inside. Especially now the VIP part of it. Like I. I need to see from the rooftop. I'm going to have to check that out. Absolutely. In there. So. But.

[01:07:49] Thank you guys for watching or listening. Until next time. Sadly. I cannot trip up my co-hosts since they are not here with us. So. Just a reminder to. Take care. Stay safe. And have a very scary day.