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Typically relegated to a narrow six-week money-making window in the fall, haunted houses now are hoping to scare up additional revenue during Valentine’s Day. Texas appears to be leading this trend where no fewer than five facilities opened this past February. “We really seemed to go for it,” notes Richard Alvarado, owner of the Moxley Manor Haunted House in Bedford, Texas, who hosted “Blood, Chainsaws, and Valentines” in 2011.
For haunts in permanent locations, it makes little sense to pack up on Nov. 1, he contends. You’re already paying for the space, so don’t let it go to waste. Plus, additional holidays like Valentine’s Day raise the awareness of your venue and build buzz for the bread-and-butter Halloween season, as well as keep up the morale and camaraderie of the crew.
“You can’t just shut down after Halloween and expect everyone to keep in contact for a year,” Alvarado says. “Our group is eager to see each other.”
He first realized the off-season had potential to expand his reach this past Christmas when he opened for four weekends (dubbed “A Night Scare Before Christmas”). About 90 percent of the customers had never visited Moxley Manor before. To make his first Valentine’s event—held Feb. 12—something special, he tore apart a third of the house and added some new rooms. The bedroom featured a murderous love scene with rose petals scattered about, which seemed to be a hit with the 400 guests who visited.
“There are a lot of scorned people out there,” says Alvarado, who estimates groups of single friends made up half the crowd. “They didn’t want to celebrate Valentine’s Day. They wanted to do something different. That’s where we came in.”
Generate Brand Recognition
Jon Love also saw Valentine’s Day as a way to tap into guests’ need for a little variety. “By far, this is an alternative event,” says the vice president of Harbinger Events Inc., owner of the House of Torment Haunted House in Austin, Texas. He’s not directly competing with tried-and-true plans: “Restaurants are always going to be packed on Valentine’s Day. That’s the thing to do. We don’t expect people not to go to dinner. They come here before or after.”
For three years now, Love has presented his “Dark Stalkers” event, a totally different experience from the “festival atmosphere” of their traditional haunted house during September and October. Armed with only a glow stick, guests—who must sign a waiver—fumble through House of Torment in total darkness. There’s no preset path or specific way to go. Costumed creatures mess with them along the way, running them in circles.
They intentionally put a cap on the attendance of between 500 and 1,000 people per night to increase the suspense.
While “Dark Stalkers” makes money, it’s just a “drop in the bucket” to the sales volume Torment does in the fall, Love explains. More important, off-season events keep a haunted house fresh in people’s minds and help to generate brand recognition and loyalty. He’s considering a spring break haunt to stretch business even more.
Coming of Age
Haunted houses should no longer be confined to Halloween, agrees Bobby Lee, co-owner of The Fatal End in the West End in Dallas.
 “I believe the year-round haunted attraction is to going to come of age,” he says. “This generation can’t get enough of it. They were raised on horror and dark entertainment. Their heartthrobs are vampires and werewolves.”
During the inaugural three-day Fatal End Valentine’s Day event, Lee’s staff handed out black roses to guests and took pictures of couples with monsters and posted them on Facebook, he says. The haunt exceeded its attendance goal, benefiting from a sizable amount of walkup business.
For promotion, monsters roamed the heavily trafficked local streets, giving out $3-off coupons. They even got approval to go into some nearby restaurants and wander from table to table. “It created quite a stir,” Lee says with a laugh. He plans to expand the promotion for future occasions by offering more package deals, like a complimentary Bloody Mary at the nightclub next door.
Lee will have ample opportunity to see if this idea works. He has a slew of events planned for 2011, such as April Fool’s Day, May’s Friday the 13th weekend, and Fourth of July weekend.
“There’s too much opportunity,” he says. “I hate having a money machine that you have to turn off for 11 months. It doesn’t make sense.”
Contact Contributing Editor Mike Bederka at mbederka@IAAPA.org.
Not Everyone Sold on Valentine’s Day
 D’Ann Dagen didn’t intend to spook guests this Valentine’s Day. For months, she was planning a special three-night event around the Super Bowl, being held in nearby Arlington, Texas.
A lot of out of towners with money to burn meant a potential windfall of business, figured Dagen, producer of Hangman’s House of Horror in Fort Worth, Texas. Unfortunately, a freak ice storm rolled through; not wanting to risk the safety of her crew and customers, she canceled the event. “Everyone was devastated because we worked so hard,” Dagen says.
But then, she had her “a-ha moment.” Valentine’s Day fell only a week after the Super Bowl, and she knew other area haunted houses had plans. So, she thought, why not call an audible?
Marketing and promotion for the new event came fast and furious: e-blasts, text messaging, buy-one-get-one-free coupons. She e-mailed sponsors a special tab to stick on top of the already-distributed Super Bowl posters.
Hangman’s had to make do in other areas. For example, the locker room scene with an evil coach (themed for the big game) seemed a little out of place, but the time crunch prevented any drastic set changes.
In the end, though, Dagen says she was satisfied with the turnout for this on-the-fly production. Yet that doesn’t mean Valentine’s Day 2012 will be on her schedule. There will be a lot of discussion with her management team about the various pros and cons—weather being one looming concern.
“Needless to say, this Super Bowl/ice storm experience made us extremely nervous about doing anything at this time of year,” Dagen says. “The other reality is Valentine’s Day has been on or near a weekend for the past few years. It’s going to get out of that cycle.” Next year it’s on a Tuesday.
A third possible strike is the negative effect a weak or light crowd could have on her staff. “If they’re not having fun, that’s how they’re going to leave the season,” she says. “Everyone has to be excited to keep this beast going. That’s of priceless value to me.”
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