Managing a lonely house can be a dangerous—if not scary—business. The barrier to entry is high, overhead costs can be high, and attractions have one month at risk of getting their money back. Like many other small businesses, 60 percent of them don’t make it past their third year, according to haunted house analysis and documentation firm Scare Factor. Many workers have to keep their day jobs or do side hustles to survive.
“The most successful attractions, the ones that last more than three years, are the full spots in the attraction for 20 minutes,” says Scare Factor co-owner Nora Proffet. “Haunters competes with all other forms of entertainment, and guests want to spend the night having fun.”
In the past few years, that has meant adding food trucks, ax throwing, bars and escape rooms, Proffet said. Many attractions also create special events—whether scary or not—for Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
Over the past nine years, LaFlamboy—who has been part of more than a dozen attractions, most of them unsuccessful like HellsGate—has added a flourish to his attraction. Customers can now visit a central area with bonfires, food concessions, two bars, a free photo booth, an escape room, a gift shop and a giant movie screen, with roving actors—playing different creatures—to take selfies.
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A study by the National Retail Federation showed that about 18% of US adults visited an attraction last year, or about 46.5 million people. The Halloween and Costume Association says haunted houses are a $500 million industry.
That money is split between a small number of attractions. According to Scare Factor, the US is home to 2,100 for-profit attractions—double the number from the 1990s—and about 1,000 non-profits, including cornfields.
Here’s another from Heidi Mitchell at the WSJ, via Patrick Moloney.
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