1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always 3 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:33,959 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. I am Ben, and I'm 4 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 1: not just welcoming you back, folks, I'm also welcoming back 5 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: our super producer Max Williams, who's on Adventures, and my 6 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: co host Mr Noel Brown, who was also on Adventures. 7 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 1: You guys were sorely, sorely missed. Thank you so much 8 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: for returning. I didn't know if you guys were just 9 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: gonna like start a new show somewhere, Ben, we wouldn't 10 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: leave you hanging like that. Dude. Friends don't do that 11 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: to friends. I was totally gonna do that, but I 12 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:03,240 Speaker 1: ran out of money as I came back. Well, you're 13 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: no friend of ours, Max Williams, Well, I leave and 14 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: you get my brother to replace me. No, no, he 15 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: didn't he know it was first off, there was no 16 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: replacing He didn't fill in as producer. Uh Nolan. I 17 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: talked through the twelve friends that we have, and we 18 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:23,400 Speaker 1: of those twelve, we made a list of the five 19 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 1: who might do our show with us, and of the 20 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: to who replied Alex was available. That's an important qualification 21 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: for guest hosting ridiculous history as being someone we know 22 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: and available, right right. So it's basically like Nobel Prize standards. 23 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:42,399 Speaker 1: You know, when you think of it that way, it's prestigious, 24 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:45,679 Speaker 1: is what we're saying. Both of those are prestigious institutions, 25 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: more like ig Nobel Prize. Yes, yes, which is the thing. 26 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: And no. Saved this one for you, man, because we 27 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: are going to talk about something that a lot of 28 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: people this time of year consider a prestige just institution 29 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:05,400 Speaker 1: all its own. The idea of the haunted house, the 30 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:09,720 Speaker 1: idea of the recreational haunted house, not amitivial style, but 31 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 1: the one where you like pay It seems like they 32 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:14,360 Speaker 1: get more expensive every year here in Atlanta, but like 33 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 1: you pay for tickets and you go to what's the 34 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: one we have another world, another world. I have a 35 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: confession to make, fellas, I have never been to a 36 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:27,000 Speaker 1: haunted house because I'm scared of them. That's okay, man, 37 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: I'll go. I don't like I don't I don't like 38 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 1: jump scarce, I don't like uh, I don't like spooky 39 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: stuff in the dark. I like horror movies, but I 40 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: often spoil them for myself in advance of watching them, 41 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,640 Speaker 1: so they don't They don't quite spook me as much. 42 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: I'm a bit of a whimp. Fellas a bit of 43 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,120 Speaker 1: a whimp. Now, you just know what you like and 44 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 1: what you don't like. You know, that's true, Thank you. 45 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: I'm not beating myself up. I definitely accept this by myself. 46 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: But my daughter is now getting to an age where 47 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 1: she's intrigued by the things, and I'm gonna have to 48 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: bite the bullet, guys, and uh and and go and 49 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:02,359 Speaker 1: get get proper spooked, because I'm not gonna wait outside 50 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:05,240 Speaker 1: while my twelve year old daughter goes in. It's just 51 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: I can't emasculate myself to that degree. Uh no, sir. 52 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: But it turns out the the history of these things 53 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:15,000 Speaker 1: as attractions is very interesting and is wrapped up in 54 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:19,800 Speaker 1: the history of Halloween as we know it itself. Yeah yeah, 55 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: like okay, So my objection to haunted houses recently has 56 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:28,960 Speaker 1: been entirely due to the cost. But I will take 57 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: a bath on that, and I'll buy a ticket if 58 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: if you need or if you want someone to to 59 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:36,560 Speaker 1: come with you and jump in front of the jump scares. 60 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: Uh well, as long as you'll as as long as 61 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: you'll hold my hand. Of course, of course it's very 62 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: very kind of you, Ben, Um, But no, it is. 63 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: I love Halloween. I love the spooky season and we 64 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:52,240 Speaker 1: all do. I love the weather, the way you know 65 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,119 Speaker 1: it feels outside, and the smells, and you know, all 66 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:58,360 Speaker 1: of the costumes and everything that's all everything around it. 67 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,680 Speaker 1: I absolutely love. And so it's sort of shocking to 68 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: me that I have this phobia. So I'm gonna try 69 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: to face my fears this year. But yeah, I mean, 70 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: I don't know, Ben, have you ever if you ever 71 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: made good on the trick part of Trick or Treat? 72 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,240 Speaker 1: Let's see, I think the statute of limitations has passed, 73 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,680 Speaker 1: so yes, to an extreme degree. You guys know, I 74 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 1: believe in justice, and I have at times my own 75 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: interpretation of it. I'm very naturally a Halloween person, Folks. 76 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: In this an audio show. You can't see it now, 77 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: but over the course of the pandemic, I have acquired 78 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,880 Speaker 1: as a roommate a life size skeleton which is in 79 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:39,599 Speaker 1: the background of all zoom calls. But but yeah, yeah, trick, 80 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 1: trick or Treat. This is interesting because it helps us 81 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:48,480 Speaker 1: understand that haunted houses as a recreation are a relatively 82 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:54,360 Speaker 1: recent idea. If we traveled back to say twelve hundred 83 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: a d. And Max Noel and I were trying to 84 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: sell people in some village on the idea of not 85 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 1: just going to a haunted location but paying for the privilege, 86 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: they would think we were crazy and they may well 87 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: burn us his witches. Yes, it didn't take much, It 88 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: did not take much. But this story really starts back 89 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: in the Great Depression, which still is a terrible name. Yeah, 90 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 1: his wasn't so great. Um. Also, Black Tuesday, um is 91 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: the name of the day that the stock market crashed, 92 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: and there was also a corresponding Black Halloween during the 93 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:34,360 Speaker 1: Great Depression, and that was the day when so much 94 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: trickery was afoot that like I think, people died. There 95 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:42,279 Speaker 1: were hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars of 96 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: property damage. And this was a real problem in those 97 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:48,479 Speaker 1: days because there was a whole night uh Mischief Knights, 98 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: which I believe is the night before Halloween, that was 99 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 1: purely devoted to just like pranking and you know, cutting 100 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: up and doing all kinds of stuff, lots of one 101 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:00,359 Speaker 1: upsmanship that ultimately leads to you know, put people in 102 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 1: danger and some serious property damage and destruction. Yes, yeah, 103 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: you're referring to what's also called Devil's Night. Uh. And 104 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:13,320 Speaker 1: Devil's Night has led to some serious chaos stuff way 105 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:17,920 Speaker 1: beyond toilet paper or the throwing of eggs. We know 106 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: that parents were very concerned about their kids, especially their sons, 107 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: getting too wild on these days or during this time 108 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: leading up to the thirty one and so they picked 109 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:37,000 Speaker 1: up a strategy to try to distract these kids. No, well, 110 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: maybe we talk a little bit about the origins of 111 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 1: the Haunted House overall, Like the origins of it date 112 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:50,839 Speaker 1: back to nineteen century London, the eighteen hundreds, and they 113 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: were a kind of they were a kind they were 114 00:06:55,160 --> 00:07:00,919 Speaker 1: kind of a genre of a larger movement of Macaw entertainment, 115 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: like Madame Tussaux and so on. Absolutely, in eighteen o 116 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:08,719 Speaker 1: two in London, Marie Tousseau um created quite a stir 117 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 1: with the you know, uptight stuffed shirt British population when 118 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 1: she displayed these wax sculptures of various decapitated French individuals. Uh. 119 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:26,320 Speaker 1: And they were so accurate because she actually created death 120 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: masks from folks who were decapitated at the guillotine during 121 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:34,239 Speaker 1: the French Revolution, and she set up this exhibit in London. 122 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:38,320 Speaker 1: It became a permanent exhibit. She dubbed this attraction the 123 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: Chamber of Horrors, which we know is almost like a 124 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: trophy kind of name. Now that's like, you know, been 125 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: used to death pun intended or not, I'm not even 126 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: sure anymore, but yeah, it's a name that still is 127 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 1: tied to a particular wing of of that Wax museum 128 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: UM today and often times if you go to Madame 129 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,040 Speaker 1: Tussau Wax museums across the country or around the world, 130 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 1: even they'll be know the celebrity part, but then they'll 131 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: be like a section where it's a little bit more 132 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:07,640 Speaker 1: like serial killers and you know, like um, murdered people 133 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 1: and things like that. But it wasn't until the turn 134 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:16,040 Speaker 1: of the twentieth century UM that a kind of theater 135 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: of the macabre sort of popped up UM in Paris. Actually, yes, 136 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: grand goody, this this is amazing because they were at 137 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:33,080 Speaker 1: the time notorious for onstage depictions of real body horror, 138 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:37,960 Speaker 1: real splatter punk stuff. You might call it today. The 139 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:42,199 Speaker 1: theaters director and this is described by Rebecca mckindrey and 140 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:47,520 Speaker 1: Fangoria magazine. All horror fans will know Fangoria. The director, 141 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: guy named Max Maury, once bragged that he judged performances 142 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:55,960 Speaker 1: not so much by ticket sales as by how many 143 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:00,560 Speaker 1: people passed out from shock in the audience or from schlock. 144 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:03,800 Speaker 1: You could say, this is a cool piece I found 145 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:09,079 Speaker 1: out about activities like this in interview with a Vampire 146 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:12,679 Speaker 1: the film adaptation. You guys, remember how there is this 147 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: theater that is doing like a play about them parism 148 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 1: in the Devil. But it turns out that they are 149 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:25,000 Speaker 1: actually grabbing humans and drinking their blood. Right, isn't that 150 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: Antonio Bandaris's character, Um, isn't that scene? Yeah, he's there. Yeah, Well, 151 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:33,920 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, they definitely had like all kinds 152 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:38,480 Speaker 1: of revolutionary kind of stage effects that they sort of created, 153 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: like knives that would squirt you know, fake blood, and 154 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,199 Speaker 1: like you know, they would use like cow intestines or 155 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:48,559 Speaker 1: pig and trails to simulate you know, humans being disembowed. 156 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: Um that there were also tho some versions of there 157 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:53,959 Speaker 1: were a little more um stylized kind of where you know, 158 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:56,720 Speaker 1: you would slit somebody's throat and then just like red 159 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:59,520 Speaker 1: ribbons would just shoot out and it's a really cool 160 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,680 Speaker 1: kind of um low tech effect that I actually still 161 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:05,720 Speaker 1: see sometimes in depictions of this kind of theater. But 162 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:09,160 Speaker 1: it was largely kind of a revolt against like, you know, 163 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:12,200 Speaker 1: the status quo and against censorship and stuff. And it 164 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:14,319 Speaker 1: really was at the time some of the most kind 165 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:18,800 Speaker 1: of edgy, dangerous, you know theater that anyone had ever seen. Yes, 166 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:22,839 Speaker 1: and theater should be an active revolution. That's at least 167 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:25,959 Speaker 1: that's what that's always been my take. There's a great 168 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: description of this theater from Devin Ferraci over at Birth Movies, Death, 169 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:34,320 Speaker 1: which is a fantastic website. Uh, and they point out 170 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:38,240 Speaker 1: something I didn't know, which is the Grand Guigno Theater 171 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:44,319 Speaker 1: is technically the home of the first scream Queen Paula Maxa. 172 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:48,040 Speaker 1: She died on stage like thirty thousand times. Check out 173 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:49,720 Speaker 1: that article. If you have a second it goes in 174 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:53,480 Speaker 1: a different direction. But that's like, that's a haunted house 175 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:57,439 Speaker 1: vibe for sure, even if it was, uh, clearly a 176 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:01,920 Speaker 1: theatrical production. You've fast forward a little bit further. In 177 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:06,320 Speaker 1: nineteen there's this fair ground in lip Hook in England 178 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: that debuted what they called a ghost house. This was 179 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 1: one of the first, if not the first. This was 180 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:17,920 Speaker 1: one of the first kind of commercial horror attractions. They 181 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: had all this stuff that Noll you're not particularly into 182 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 1: with haunted houses, dim lights, shaking floors, demonic screens. Max, Yeah, 183 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:34,560 Speaker 1: just like that. Just my blood, my blood hath curdled 184 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,320 Speaker 1: and highly recommend a Brief History of the Haunted House 185 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:42,800 Speaker 1: by Chris Heller from Smithsonian Magazine, which the sources we 186 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:46,120 Speaker 1: used for this episode. Um so yeah, that would have 187 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:49,840 Speaker 1: been very much one of the earliest examples of a 188 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: haunted house attraction, very very low fi, but at the 189 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,480 Speaker 1: time would have really freed people out. I'm sure if 190 00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:58,000 Speaker 1: I had been around this time, I would have just 191 00:11:58,080 --> 00:11:59,520 Speaker 1: as hesitant to go into these as I had to 192 00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 1: go into our more hi tech haunted houses today, which 193 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:03,720 Speaker 1: we are about to get to in the form of 194 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:13,079 Speaker 1: the early twentieth century. I do also want to put 195 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 1: in my line before before we roll pass this, I 196 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:18,040 Speaker 1: want to put in my line for those early haunted 197 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:22,240 Speaker 1: houses terror for a tuppence. I'm just gonna write mottos 198 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:27,679 Speaker 1: for uh for institutions of yesteryear A tuppence that's like 199 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:31,000 Speaker 1: a what is that like a penny? Father? Like hey, hey, hey, 200 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:34,640 Speaker 1: penny some sort of some sort of negligible denomination of 201 00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:38,320 Speaker 1: British currency. Yes, but this state of Halloween, like you 202 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 1: were saying this, these things didn't exist in the US. 203 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: They started in Western Europe first. And the idea of Halloween, 204 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:51,840 Speaker 1: like we explored years back in the origins of Halloween 205 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:53,840 Speaker 1: and stuff they don't want you to know. YouTube and 206 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:59,040 Speaker 1: audio version available now wherever you find your favorite shows Halloween. 207 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:03,280 Speaker 1: That the way it came to the US is fascinating 208 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:07,880 Speaker 1: because we've got Irish and Scottish immigrants bringing a traditional 209 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:12,280 Speaker 1: Celtic end of summer festival to this new land. And 210 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:14,120 Speaker 1: and if you want to sound smart in front of 211 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:16,319 Speaker 1: your friends, are the very least not sound dumb. It's 212 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: not pronounced sam Haine, it's pronounced saws going. You see 213 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:23,520 Speaker 1: it printed tho it looks like sam Haynes. Wasn't that 214 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:28,040 Speaker 1: the name for the traditional Celtic kind of proto Halloween celebration. 215 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:32,840 Speaker 1: I think I think Sawin is a Gaelic festival that's 216 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:36,600 Speaker 1: also the end of the harvest season though so it's 217 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: supposed to be I think technically held on the first 218 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: of November, but the party starts on October thirty one. 219 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:48,079 Speaker 1: There's still really there's still very I think closely related 220 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:52,080 Speaker 1: in the modern secular imagination of the West. I mean, 221 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: it was also what Halloween turned into All Saints Day 222 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:01,520 Speaker 1: or all Hallow's Eve. And by the time we get 223 00:14:01,559 --> 00:14:05,679 Speaker 1: to the turn of the century in the US, Halloween 224 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:09,080 Speaker 1: has taken the path that so many holidays take in 225 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:12,440 Speaker 1: this country. It's become an excuse to party, to break 226 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:16,959 Speaker 1: some social taboos, to get a little souced and saucy, uh, 227 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: to eat too much of something, to make mischief, to 228 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: pursue your vices. It was way less, you know, rambunctious. 229 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: Oh these kids kind of pranks, right, We're not talking 230 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 1: about just festooning a tree with toilet paper or Jeffer 231 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:36,480 Speaker 1: do the one. You know, I didn't mean to be rude. 232 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:38,480 Speaker 1: I forgot to ask, you know, were you a trick 233 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:43,280 Speaker 1: during your day? Lad? Okay? Well, the statute of limitations. 234 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 1: I don't believe I ever played a trick in my life, 235 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:47,280 Speaker 1: not a day of my life, which probably means I 236 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,800 Speaker 1: haven't really lived, to be honest. Scared hunted houses and uh, 237 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:53,760 Speaker 1: a rule follower, That's that's me. Real stick in the 238 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:58,040 Speaker 1: mud over here. But yeah, they they didn't have trick 239 00:14:58,120 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: or treating, because, as we're gonna get to, a trick 240 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: or tree is a much more modern invention than I 241 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:05,760 Speaker 1: think either of us realized. But what they did have 242 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:10,000 Speaker 1: was dressing up in these horrifying costumes. Frankly, if you 243 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: look at the like you know, historical photos of the time, 244 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: they're these like blank stare kind of like death masks 245 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:21,440 Speaker 1: um that just look like they're made of burlap sacks, 246 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:24,240 Speaker 1: like something like a like a like a movie slasher 247 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:27,560 Speaker 1: would wear. You know. They called this tradition guy sing 248 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:31,760 Speaker 1: and they would you know, wear these bizarre masks and 249 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 1: like you know, dance and make merry like you're saying. 250 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 1: And common Halloween tricks in the US these days where 251 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 1: things like taking somebody's wagon and maybe even their livestock 252 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:47,120 Speaker 1: and put them on the roof of a barn, or 253 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:53,440 Speaker 1: tearing vegetables out of gardens, or tipping over outhouses whether 254 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 1: whether or not someone was in them, then also allowing 255 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: like livestock to escape. And this happened so often that 256 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:04,840 Speaker 1: in some regions we find October thirty one was known 257 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 1: as gate night because people would remove gates across their communities. 258 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:14,480 Speaker 1: This is all these things were happening before the automobile 259 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:18,480 Speaker 1: became very prevalent, and when the automobile kicked in and 260 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:22,320 Speaker 1: people were able to afford to drive, the range of 261 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:28,160 Speaker 1: their trickery likewise extended. We're seeing people removing manhole covers 262 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:33,160 Speaker 1: from streets, or busting tires, or even making fake signs 263 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:36,920 Speaker 1: to confuse motorists and lead them astray. So there's a 264 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:40,240 Speaker 1: great book to we should recommend by Lisa Morton. It's 265 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: called Trigger Treat, a History of Halloween. It is a 266 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 1: fantastic read, and Morton says that at first these pranks 267 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:55,400 Speaker 1: were more or less innocent, and they often occurred in 268 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 1: more rural communities. But then as cities got bigger, kids 269 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,440 Speaker 1: took the prank into cities and it became more and 270 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:05,359 Speaker 1: more destructive. What kind of stuff are we talking about 271 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:07,919 Speaker 1: when we say more and more destructive? Oh, I don't know. 272 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 1: Like sawing down telephone poles and utility bowls and things 273 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:17,320 Speaker 1: like that, disassembling people's like wagons and vehicles even and 274 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 1: like putting them on roofs and putting them back together, 275 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:21,960 Speaker 1: which I thought was a pretty awesome one, very very 276 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: uh so so much effort that goes into these um. 277 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:30,760 Speaker 1: One of the scariest ones involved like placing obstructions, like 278 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,400 Speaker 1: really dangerous obstructions and roadways and covering them up with leaves, 279 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:39,240 Speaker 1: which actually led to a significant traffic pile up. Yeah, 280 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 1: setting fires, breaking windows, uh, splattering people with bags of 281 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:52,520 Speaker 1: flower filled with ashes. Uh. At least there wasn't anthrax. Yeah, yeah, 282 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:55,200 Speaker 1: it was before then. Things really hit a tipping point 283 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,440 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy nine when about two hundred young men 284 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 1: boys really in Kenti, Uckey team up to stop a 285 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:07,440 Speaker 1: training by lane an actual dead body and actual corpse 286 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:13,119 Speaker 1: across the tracks. And then people start stealing bodies too. Yeah, 287 00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:15,159 Speaker 1: as med students, so you know how to party. In 288 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,600 Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds, some medical students from the University of Michigan 289 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:22,880 Speaker 1: stole a headless corpse from an anatomy lab and they 290 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 1: propped it up against the front door of the building. 291 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:27,919 Speaker 1: Gave people a real shock when they showed up to class. 292 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:30,720 Speaker 1: And as I was sort of hinting out earlier, things 293 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:33,600 Speaker 1: really did start to get super real in around nineteen 294 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:36,600 Speaker 1: o two, when when things just went too far. As 295 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 1: these kinds of things tend to do, it's all about 296 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 1: one uptionship and kind of trying to like outdo everybody 297 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,400 Speaker 1: else's pranks and and eventually you crossed the line into 298 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:48,919 Speaker 1: the danger zone. There was a ton of destruction in 299 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:52,680 Speaker 1: Cook County in nineteen o two, um and the Cook 300 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:56,879 Speaker 1: County Herald had a very interesting little kind of editorial, 301 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:00,479 Speaker 1: I guess, encouraging people to defend themselves from this kind 302 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:04,080 Speaker 1: of mischief. Here's the quote is in Arlington Heights, Illinois. 303 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:07,000 Speaker 1: By the way, most everybody enjoys a joke, are fun 304 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:10,360 Speaker 1: to a proper degree on suitable occasions, but when property 305 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:13,280 Speaker 1: is damaged or destroyed, it's time to call a halt. 306 00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:16,560 Speaker 1: We would advise the public to load their muskets or 307 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:20,880 Speaker 1: cannon with rock salt or bird shot. And when trespassers 308 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:25,399 Speaker 1: invade their premises at unseemly hours upon mischief bent pepper 309 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:28,639 Speaker 1: them good and proper so they will be effectually cured 310 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:32,000 Speaker 1: and have no further taste for such tricks. They know 311 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:34,280 Speaker 1: how to turn a phrase back down and new paper fold. 312 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: You have either of you guys, ever been shot with 313 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:38,960 Speaker 1: rock salt? No, but I've seen in the movies and 314 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:44,440 Speaker 1: it looks very unpleasant. Okay, Yeah, Well, as someone speaking 315 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:48,240 Speaker 1: from personal experience, it is not pleasant, it's still dangerous, 316 00:19:48,359 --> 00:19:51,280 Speaker 1: and people did take this advice as the As the 317 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:56,880 Speaker 1: discourse turned towards self defense. In this regard, some folks 318 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:01,440 Speaker 1: were taking up arms. In fact, in nineteen o seven, 319 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:04,960 Speaker 1: the some kids had stretched a wire across the sidewalk 320 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:09,600 Speaker 1: to trip pedestrians in Tucson, Arizona. One guy tripped and 321 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,160 Speaker 1: when he fell on the ground. From the ground, he 322 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:16,120 Speaker 1: took out his firearm, a revolver, and he shot one 323 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: of the pranksters dead. And then a woman in Indiana 324 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:24,359 Speaker 1: and Logan Sport was scared to death. Literally her heart 325 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:30,160 Speaker 1: stopped after her daughter answered, you know, on the door 326 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:34,359 Speaker 1: and she screamed because a group of boys had a 327 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:37,760 Speaker 1: like a jack lantern and we're just like and put 328 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:39,720 Speaker 1: it in front of her and she you know, that 329 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:42,679 Speaker 1: sounds like a normal jump scare, but she must have 330 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:46,840 Speaker 1: had a pre existing heart condition. Again, Uh, these just 331 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:51,120 Speaker 1: keep going. A guy almost loses his eyes sight two. 332 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:55,360 Speaker 1: A girl nearly loses her arm after being hit with 333 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: stones and thirty Yeah, there were kids in fairfaxt count 334 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:04,840 Speaker 1: in Virginia who were setting off dynamite like on their 335 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: school grounds. They were causing traffic accidents and stuff. Not 336 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:14,080 Speaker 1: not cherry bombs are like black cats, dynamites, dynamite, that's insane, 337 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,400 Speaker 1: Like we know miners, we can We're we're miners who 338 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:20,760 Speaker 1: know miners, we can use dynamite. And then this is 339 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:24,560 Speaker 1: where we get to the Black Halloween of nineteen thirty three, 340 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:27,240 Speaker 1: because before the Great Depression, there were a lot of 341 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:30,960 Speaker 1: people who are like, you know, to quote Biden, they 342 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:36,240 Speaker 1: were like, this is malarkey. But the economic disaster created 343 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:40,640 Speaker 1: this period of widespread social unrest on a profound level 344 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:44,639 Speaker 1: that a lot of people hadn't experienced before. And this 345 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:48,200 Speaker 1: made arguably it made the kids a little bit wilder 346 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:52,360 Speaker 1: with their antics, but also the public was responding they 347 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:54,280 Speaker 1: had had it up to here with so many things 348 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:56,399 Speaker 1: by this point. And this is where we get to 349 00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:59,719 Speaker 1: what you were alluding to earlier nol in nineteen thirty three, 350 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,920 Speaker 1: where people were flipping over cars, sawing down telephone polls, 351 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:08,760 Speaker 1: and just breaking stuff the way in nineteen eighties rock 352 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:12,680 Speaker 1: band would destroy hotel rooms and America was like, we're 353 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:16,199 Speaker 1: not your hotel room, you whipper snappers. No, we're not 354 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 1: get off my r collective lawn um. And you know, 355 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:22,040 Speaker 1: it's the Great Depression, so it's not like they had 356 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:25,600 Speaker 1: any money to fix this stuff like talk about talk 357 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:28,280 Speaker 1: about uh, let's see, what's a polite way of saying this, 358 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:30,960 Speaker 1: um taking a crap where you eat, you know what 359 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:33,680 Speaker 1: I mean like and then not being able to clean 360 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:36,560 Speaker 1: it up. I'm sorry that's the disgusting metaphor, but it holds. 361 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:38,280 Speaker 1: I mean, this is a very short sighted you know, 362 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:41,479 Speaker 1: this is literally you know, doing damage to infrastructure at 363 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 1: a time where money was an absolute the shortest possible supply. 364 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:51,159 Speaker 1: So you know, they didn't exactly outlaw Halloween, but something 365 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:54,920 Speaker 1: had to give. But thankfully, um, you know, a lot 366 00:22:54,960 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: of the city's realized that prohibition doesn't really work, usually 367 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:02,959 Speaker 1: probably because of lessons learned from you know, that actual 368 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,880 Speaker 1: prohibition thing where they you know, wouldn't let people drink 369 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 1: booze and so they just you know made it themselves 370 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:11,040 Speaker 1: and and had illegal speakeasies and all that. This was 371 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:14,200 Speaker 1: probably right around the time that prohibition was was beginning 372 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:17,000 Speaker 1: to uh completely unravel and it was it was about 373 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:20,359 Speaker 1: to be reversed. Um. So instead of you know, outlawing 374 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:24,600 Speaker 1: Halloween outright, they decided that maybe we can pay these 375 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,760 Speaker 1: kids off. Uh, so to speak, or at least give 376 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:33,160 Speaker 1: them something else to funnel their you know, rambunctious energy into. Yeah, 377 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:37,160 Speaker 1: they they came up with, Uh, it's almost it's very 378 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:39,560 Speaker 1: similar to the idea of it after school program, but 379 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:44,159 Speaker 1: for Halloween. They said, look, we don't have we we 380 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:46,119 Speaker 1: want to distract these kids. We want to give them 381 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,320 Speaker 1: something different and less destructive to do. Maybe we could 382 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:51,840 Speaker 1: throw a party, but they looked around and said, you know, 383 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: unless we're the one percent that has extracted all the 384 00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:00,359 Speaker 1: value out of American society, we can't. Oh, we we 385 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:03,680 Speaker 1: don't have the scratch to throw a party. So we're 386 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:07,120 Speaker 1: going to have what we'll call house to house parties. 387 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,640 Speaker 1: The entire block chips in to do whatever they can. 388 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: So if you're if you're a would be prankster, you 389 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:16,080 Speaker 1: go to the first house, you get a costume. Maybe 390 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:18,760 Speaker 1: it's it's some simple usually it's like a sheet boom, 391 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:22,600 Speaker 1: you're a ghost. Next house gives you some candy. That's cool, 392 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:26,199 Speaker 1: and then uh, this sounds a lot like tricker treating, 393 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,159 Speaker 1: as Lisa Morton points out, and that's where the idea 394 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: comes from. It comes from the idea of these house 395 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:35,400 Speaker 1: to house parties. Because not only were the children given 396 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:38,920 Speaker 1: a purpose, given a series of task that would keep 397 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:42,640 Speaker 1: them from flipping over cars, but they were also going 398 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:46,480 Speaker 1: to be more easy to monitor because you know which 399 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,320 Speaker 1: houses they're going to, and you know, you kind of 400 00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: know their route. So this is this is where Morton 401 00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 1: bust myth that I think a lot of people believe in. 402 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,639 Speaker 1: She says, one of the most common misconceptions about Halloween 403 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,480 Speaker 1: is the trigger treating is some ancient ritual that goes 404 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:08,439 Speaker 1: back thousands of years, but she confirms it really is 405 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:12,200 Speaker 1: less than a hundred years old. And if you when 406 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:15,520 Speaker 1: you get to the end right the end of your 407 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:20,119 Speaker 1: house to house root, you'll see a haunted house situation 408 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:23,160 Speaker 1: set up kind of in the basement. And and this 409 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:25,880 Speaker 1: is people are familiar with this. I'm sure you take 410 00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: the kids down the stairs. It's very very dark. And 411 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,240 Speaker 1: then you would play that game that some people might 412 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 1: be familiar with where you you get a story and 413 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 1: you're like passing around bowls of something in the dark, 414 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:43,480 Speaker 1: and one of them peeled grapes, and they're like, oh, 415 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:48,240 Speaker 1: there's these human brains. It's you know, like spaghetti or something. 416 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,040 Speaker 1: A lot of weird uses of food, some of the 417 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: stuff sounds very unsanitary, like apparently walls would be hung 418 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:59,480 Speaker 1: with strips of raw liver that you would like feel 419 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,040 Speaker 1: as you you know, stumbles are away through the dark, 420 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,960 Speaker 1: classics Williams classic total. Yeah, I want to pranks for 421 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:09,640 Speaker 1: that guy ass raw liver, the old raw liver trick um. 422 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:12,480 Speaker 1: But yeah, you know they'd be like weird sounds and 423 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:17,080 Speaker 1: moans and howls, scream Yeah, exactly, a lot of a 424 00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:20,400 Speaker 1: lot of very d i y solutions here, damp sponges 425 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:24,479 Speaker 1: and hairnets apparently hanging for the ceiling and picture like, oh, 426 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,600 Speaker 1: d get it off me. You don't know it's a 427 00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:31,760 Speaker 1: it's a gross damp sponge. Yeah, definitely jump scares someone's 428 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:34,159 Speaker 1: dressed as a dog and then they jump out and 429 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:37,959 Speaker 1: they're barking. This happened to me and I was so impressed. 430 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:39,919 Speaker 1: I was a kid and I was trick or treating 431 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:43,399 Speaker 1: one time where it looked like someone had the the 432 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:46,600 Speaker 1: safe kind of like a lot of parents don't want 433 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:48,600 Speaker 1: to go spooky, so they go with a fall theme 434 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:51,520 Speaker 1: and you've got like some hay bales, some squash, some 435 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,240 Speaker 1: pumpkins or what have you. This one had that and 436 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:56,920 Speaker 1: it had like a scarecrow by the door, and there 437 00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:00,840 Speaker 1: was a little dish that said honor system, just take one, 438 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 1: and so it walked up and was gonna take one. 439 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:07,919 Speaker 1: And then the scarecrow moved, it ran at us. It 440 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:12,359 Speaker 1: grabbed a kid, and I turned around and tried to 441 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:17,640 Speaker 1: fight it, and then Nicky told me to calm down, man, 442 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:21,399 Speaker 1: you're not cool. No touching. You know that's the rules. 443 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:23,520 Speaker 1: I even know that you haven't never been to a 444 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:25,439 Speaker 1: hunted house. You're definitely not supposed to touch it. But 445 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:28,239 Speaker 1: the other kids all ran. The other kids all ran 446 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:30,399 Speaker 1: except me. I was the only one who tried to 447 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 1: help that other kid. Geez, I'm proud of you, Ben, 448 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,399 Speaker 1: I'm proud of you always cheping in helping out the 449 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 1: little guy. Totally. He's a man of the people. No man. 450 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:43,800 Speaker 1: That would have pissed me off to no end. I 451 00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:48,600 Speaker 1: would have been like, nope, Calloween is canceled. Going home, um, 452 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 1: And then they would, you know, have a little lo 453 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:54,320 Speaker 1: fi kind of effects like a cat's painted on cardboard 454 00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:57,679 Speaker 1: outlined in um glow in the dark paint, which is 455 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:01,600 Speaker 1: a thing. And this also aided a sense of community, 456 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:03,639 Speaker 1: right and get to know your neighbors and all of 457 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:06,400 Speaker 1: that in the same way that the moderntor or treating does. 458 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:17,399 Speaker 1: And so with this stage set, we see that the 459 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:21,520 Speaker 1: story of early haunted houses in the US is a 460 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:27,320 Speaker 1: story of these small kind of nonprofit affairs, their community based. 461 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,960 Speaker 1: You know, you probably later know everybody who was involved 462 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:33,760 Speaker 1: in the creation of it. And that's that's kind of inspiring. 463 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:38,360 Speaker 1: How did we get from there to these massive productions 464 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:41,520 Speaker 1: that cost you know, as much as fifty bucks a 465 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: ticket in some cases, Well, it's because part of a 466 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,080 Speaker 1: civic group called the Junior Chamber also known as the 467 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:53,040 Speaker 1: j c S. I I owe a lot to these folks, 468 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:55,920 Speaker 1: and my child has does, because they're the creators of 469 00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:59,040 Speaker 1: something called trails of terror. If you have grown up 470 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 1: in the South, you might be familiar with something some 471 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:05,320 Speaker 1: religious organizations do called tribulation trail. You guys, ever heard 472 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:07,600 Speaker 1: of that one? Not that one specifically, but we're gonna 473 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:09,240 Speaker 1: get to it. I have been to one of these 474 00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:14,400 Speaker 1: things called hell houses, where they essentially used spooky Halloween 475 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:17,920 Speaker 1: tactics to you know, teach a less about indoctrinates you 476 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:20,600 Speaker 1: and you know, save your mortal soul or whatever. I also, 477 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:24,400 Speaker 1: when I think of this um Trails of terror the 478 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:27,240 Speaker 1: closest animal that I have growing up with those things 479 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:29,800 Speaker 1: like a haunted hay ride, you know where you'd like 480 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: be on the back of a truck and going through 481 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:33,440 Speaker 1: this like hay Field or whatever, and they'd be like 482 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:35,560 Speaker 1: spooky stuff popping out as you go. Yeah. Yeah, I 483 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:38,560 Speaker 1: would love to hear if other people have experienced things 484 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:43,840 Speaker 1: like tribulation trail um. The ones I saw were very 485 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:47,600 Speaker 1: well done objectively, and they were you were walking through 486 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:52,600 Speaker 1: the Book of Revelations and all the the Book of Revelations, 487 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,200 Speaker 1: there's a lot of trippy psychedelic stuff in there, and 488 00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:58,800 Speaker 1: they're very creative, I would say, grand munual level creative 489 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:01,560 Speaker 1: with depicting these things. And I was like, how do 490 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:04,520 Speaker 1: you how do you get all these burning cars? How 491 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,880 Speaker 1: much money is this church putting into this? Oh, that's funny, 492 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:10,000 Speaker 1: you say. I've been the one hell house thing that 493 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:13,480 Speaker 1: I went to had outsid out front just to show 494 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:18,239 Speaker 1: people where it was a totally demolished car, presumably from 495 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:20,200 Speaker 1: a drunk driving accident. That was part of the theme 496 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:25,320 Speaker 1: of that particular hell house. So now organizations have stepped 497 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,760 Speaker 1: in and it becomes something kind of like it becomes 498 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:33,640 Speaker 1: a social attraction, sometimes a fundraiser, sometimes just a straight 499 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:37,239 Speaker 1: up business to make some cash for the organization. But 500 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,320 Speaker 1: it's still not a cultural icon. It's still kind of 501 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:45,000 Speaker 1: like how local community centers might have a pancake breakfast 502 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:48,800 Speaker 1: or something. It wasn't until the one and only Walt 503 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:53,400 Speaker 1: Disney decided to build a haunted house that it became 504 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:59,400 Speaker 1: a cultural icon. This is Disneylands Haunted Mansion, opened in 505 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:04,920 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, almost twenty years after inception of the 506 00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:09,240 Speaker 1: idea took a long time, and our our good friend 507 00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:11,800 Speaker 1: friend of the show, Holly Fry from Stuff You Missed 508 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:16,320 Speaker 1: in History Class, has singlehandedly, I think, supported this institution 509 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:18,280 Speaker 1: for a number of years. Oh yeah, she and her 510 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:21,880 Speaker 1: husband go to Disneyland, uh in Disney World like multiple 511 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:26,400 Speaker 1: times a year. But she is also a avid um 512 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:30,160 Speaker 1: Haunted Mansion and just the whole Disney imagineering kind of 513 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:33,560 Speaker 1: world historian. And back when I was the producer for 514 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:35,840 Speaker 1: Stuff he was in history class many years ago, she 515 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:39,360 Speaker 1: interviewed the expert to the the expert in the field 516 00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:41,840 Speaker 1: of imagineering who had just come out with a book 517 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,000 Speaker 1: on the Haunted Mansion, because it really was kind of 518 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:47,480 Speaker 1: this flagship attractionly, Like you said, it was you know, 519 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:50,600 Speaker 1: twenty years in the making, um and that's because it 520 00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:52,600 Speaker 1: almost needed you know, like many of the things that 521 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,760 Speaker 1: the Disney Company did, they had to create the technology 522 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:58,040 Speaker 1: to to do the things, to pull off the things 523 00:31:58,080 --> 00:31:59,800 Speaker 1: that they wanted to pull off. And one of the 524 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:02,920 Speaker 1: neat tricks that they used for the Hunted Mansion was 525 00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:07,200 Speaker 1: something called Pepper's Ghost, which creates these super complex illusions 526 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:12,040 Speaker 1: that almost really stand alongside something like a hologram today. 527 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,680 Speaker 1: It uses refracted light to project and kind of shape 528 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:19,360 Speaker 1: these images that really seem to have dimension and scale 529 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:22,360 Speaker 1: and like you know, float right right next to you. 530 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:25,800 Speaker 1: And that's the that's what made it so popular and 531 00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:30,120 Speaker 1: so iconic. That's what differentiated it from a tribulation trail 532 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:34,200 Speaker 1: or a community haunted house. It's the technology. You weren't 533 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 1: just seeing sheets hung on a tree or something painted 534 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:41,280 Speaker 1: or someone just jumping out at you, going oh. What 535 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:44,800 Speaker 1: you were seeing instead was something that seemed to be 536 00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:50,680 Speaker 1: actual shimmering figures. They spoke, they sang, they moved, which 537 00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:54,280 Speaker 1: wasn't just someone in a rubber mask. It was a body. 538 00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:57,120 Speaker 1: It could be a bodyless head now floating in a 539 00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:01,360 Speaker 1: crystal ball. Right, that's really impressive stuff, super cool and 540 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,160 Speaker 1: just really quickly to backtrack, Um, I didn't mean to 541 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:07,440 Speaker 1: come off a sounding as though the Disney Company invented 542 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,320 Speaker 1: the Pepper's ghost effect. It actually was developed in the 543 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:13,360 Speaker 1: early eighteen hundreds by John Henry Pepper, uh, and he 544 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:15,440 Speaker 1: used it for theater, and then it was often used 545 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:18,680 Speaker 1: for like you know, phony seances and things like that 546 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,600 Speaker 1: or um, you know, theatrical productions. But of course, like 547 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:25,480 Speaker 1: everything they did, the Disney imagineers like fine tuned it 548 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:27,960 Speaker 1: and honed the effect and used it in a way 549 00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:30,680 Speaker 1: that had never been seen before. It was just absolutely stunning. 550 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:32,680 Speaker 1: And I have to say that I have been to 551 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:39,040 Speaker 1: the Haunted match as well. Yeah, yeah, I like it. Yeah, 552 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:42,040 Speaker 1: I mean it's it's not really scary. Yeah, it's very 553 00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: very very tame, but super fun and uh and really 554 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:47,760 Speaker 1: you know, well executed holds up to this day. Yeah, 555 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:53,720 Speaker 1: it was that. Gonna count it for you, buddy face man. Yeah, 556 00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:58,040 Speaker 1: that's what. There you go. And so this is the 557 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:02,440 Speaker 1: real watershed moment for a haunted houses as an industry 558 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:07,120 Speaker 1: in the US. The success of Disney's Haunted Mansion spreads 559 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:11,560 Speaker 1: across the country those j cs I mentioned earlier are 560 00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:15,120 Speaker 1: now legit famous for their haunted houses, so much so 561 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:17,840 Speaker 1: that they eventually create their own how to do a 562 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:21,319 Speaker 1: haunted house guide for other people. Uh. There's a place 563 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:25,680 Speaker 1: called Berry Farm not Berry Farm in California that makes 564 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:29,120 Speaker 1: its own Halloween evening attractions and that turns into this 565 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:33,239 Speaker 1: slate of events that goes across multiple weeks during the season. Yeah, 566 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:36,400 Speaker 1: they call it not Scary Farm actually during that time. 567 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:40,960 Speaker 1: They do it here in Atlanta. Six Flags Over Georgia, UM, 568 00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:43,360 Speaker 1: really really fun. They have several different haunted houses and 569 00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:45,840 Speaker 1: they have this like you know, folks and spooky costumes 570 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:48,560 Speaker 1: kind of just roaming around the the amusement part. Really 571 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:52,879 Speaker 1: really really Funsants Fair has a haunted village that I'm 572 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:56,759 Speaker 1: quite excited to go to. Right. That's aw. You still 573 00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 1: get a turkey leg? Is the thing? You can still 574 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:02,040 Speaker 1: get that ginormous curcula max you get it? Is it 575 00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:05,239 Speaker 1: a spooky turkey leg? It is haunted? It is it 576 00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:11,879 Speaker 1: is a haunted turkey leg. It'll certainly haunt you later. Yes, yes, 577 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:15,239 Speaker 1: it's cursed. Uh. Also we should mention this is one 578 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,160 Speaker 1: of my favorites. There's a guy named Bob Burns, who 579 00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:21,640 Speaker 1: was working for a long long time. He became famous 580 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:26,520 Speaker 1: in the late sixties and seventies through the eighties for 581 00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:31,760 Speaker 1: these incredibly detailed recreations of horror movies as haunted houses, 582 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:33,960 Speaker 1: and that's a big draw for people to walk through. 583 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:36,920 Speaker 1: I think that one might actually maybe get to me 584 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:39,080 Speaker 1: a little bit if I depending on what I was 585 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,000 Speaker 1: walking through. You can see a full list of everything 586 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:45,680 Speaker 1: he did. Probably one of one of the most prominent 587 00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:50,319 Speaker 1: ones is the alien recreation he did in nineteen seventy nine. 588 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:53,440 Speaker 1: I'm I'm sure to each your home, but it's really impressive, 589 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:56,479 Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, he did one of John Carpenter's the thing. 590 00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 1: Lots of classic like nineteen sixties horror movies, Frankenstein's labuh, 591 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:06,759 Speaker 1: Forbidden Planets, creature from the War War exactly, War of 592 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,360 Speaker 1: the World's, all that kind of stuff that would have 593 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:11,120 Speaker 1: been super cool to check out and in the l 594 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:13,680 Speaker 1: A area, if I'm not mistake, Yeah, and then we 595 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:16,800 Speaker 1: we saw you'll you'll see the person in d c 596 00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:20,240 Speaker 1: Atkins claims that they're one of the first to open 597 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:24,920 Speaker 1: a professional interactive haunted house business, which called Blood Manner 598 00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:29,160 Speaker 1: over Maryland and seventy one. But you know who wasn't 599 00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:32,960 Speaker 1: a huge fan of this, Evangelical Christians who believed that 600 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:38,520 Speaker 1: this was spreading, um, it was popularizing unholy things. And 601 00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:40,800 Speaker 1: that's where we get the Hell House is n seventy 602 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:46,000 Speaker 1: two Jerry Folwell and Liberty University and then Haunted House 603 00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:49,399 Speaker 1: industries are also beginning to move and step with Hollywood's 604 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:52,360 Speaker 1: horror industry. Yeah, they're they're they're a little corny, but 605 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:55,319 Speaker 1: I kind of I quite like them. The Netflix the 606 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:57,160 Speaker 1: movies that made us, I think it's what it's called. 607 00:36:57,480 --> 00:36:59,440 Speaker 1: Um there's a new series of that just came out 608 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:03,440 Speaker 1: that's I think horror movies. It does Halloween, does Fright 609 00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:05,320 Speaker 1: of the Thirteenth, and it does a Nightmare on Elm Street. 610 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:08,840 Speaker 1: And I didn't quite realize that, like New Line Cinema 611 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:12,480 Speaker 1: was like a super fledgling kind of indie you know, 612 00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:16,560 Speaker 1: UM Film studio and they the guy who was the 613 00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:18,880 Speaker 1: you know, the main backer, I forget his name now, 614 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:21,359 Speaker 1: but they talked about this in the little series. Um 615 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:24,440 Speaker 1: he staked everything on Nightmare on Elm Street being a 616 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:27,400 Speaker 1: big hit, and of course it was, and you know, 617 00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:31,040 Speaker 1: films like that and Halloween, which is also a very 618 00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:33,520 Speaker 1: low budget kind of indie that just you know, was 619 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:39,840 Speaker 1: distributed independently, really got Hollywood to like embrace you know, horror, 620 00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:42,960 Speaker 1: and and there's this like kind of eighties slasher horror 621 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:47,680 Speaker 1: boom that created this you know, super high demand for 622 00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:50,960 Speaker 1: you know, the most splattery haunted houses that you could 623 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:52,880 Speaker 1: you can imagine which people trying to one up each 624 00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:54,759 Speaker 1: other with like how much they could handle, Like how 625 00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:57,880 Speaker 1: extreme can we get with our haunted house? Um? That 626 00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:02,080 Speaker 1: is in many ways can too far to this day. Um, 627 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:05,120 Speaker 1: if you know about we've talked about places like McCamy 628 00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:08,799 Speaker 1: manner where you have to sign a waiver um and 629 00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:11,880 Speaker 1: they can definitely touch you. They like put you in 630 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:18,960 Speaker 1: a coffin and it's a freaking sadist I who I 631 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,239 Speaker 1: talked about this on stuff they'll want you know, I'm 632 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:25,320 Speaker 1: fairly confident that they're making their money through illegal gambling 633 00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:30,400 Speaker 1: and Vegas. Yeah, that on it. But uh, what McCamey 634 00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:34,319 Speaker 1: is doing is a crime. I completely agree, But it's 635 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:36,560 Speaker 1: not if people sign the waivers. I suppose there's even 636 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:39,440 Speaker 1: ones that like, you know, you can you pay to 637 00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:42,239 Speaker 1: have someone kidnap you, even abduct you and then take 638 00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:44,440 Speaker 1: you to one of these situations where they like, you know, 639 00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:48,719 Speaker 1: mercilessly psychologically torture you for hours and hours and hours. 640 00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:50,799 Speaker 1: But that's really not what we're talking about. You're right, 641 00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:52,880 Speaker 1: that's something different. It's just kind of of course, everything 642 00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:56,440 Speaker 1: tends to end up in the most extreme place eventually. 643 00:38:56,760 --> 00:39:00,600 Speaker 1: But we've got Larry Kirshner, the president of the Haunted 644 00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:04,680 Speaker 1: House Association UM, because that became a thing, saying that 645 00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:06,839 Speaker 1: if you went to a haunted house in the nineties 646 00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:09,280 Speaker 1: and nineties, you would have seen a lot of Freddy Krueger, 647 00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:12,920 Speaker 1: Jason Pinhead. The haunted house industry really followed the movie 648 00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:16,719 Speaker 1: industry at that time, which makes sense. Yeah, and now 649 00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:21,080 Speaker 1: we see that the the for profit haunted houses are 650 00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:27,440 Speaker 1: quickly quickly outpacing the work of nonprofit groups like the 651 00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:32,720 Speaker 1: Junior Chamber j c's. However, this was not all um 652 00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:37,480 Speaker 1: a story of a rise to fame and prominence, because 653 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:40,799 Speaker 1: Haunted house has had some problems. In New Jersey, a 654 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:45,280 Speaker 1: haunted house caught fire, trapping and killing eight teenagers within, 655 00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:48,200 Speaker 1: and so a lot of these attractions got shut down 656 00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:51,319 Speaker 1: as a result. Politicians were saying, hey, if we don't 657 00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:54,080 Speaker 1: ban these things, let's at least get some some stronger 658 00:39:54,160 --> 00:39:59,480 Speaker 1: safety rules here. Volunteer organizations couldn't deal with the tougher 659 00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:03,400 Speaker 1: safety rules, so they got forced out of business. And 660 00:40:03,400 --> 00:40:06,239 Speaker 1: then going back to what Larry Kirchner was saying, Uh, 661 00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:08,040 Speaker 1: the j c S. The reason you don't see a 662 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:11,080 Speaker 1: bunch of their haunted houses around today is because they 663 00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:14,120 Speaker 1: were fairly basic. It was based on the idea that 664 00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:17,520 Speaker 1: people would volunteer. But then when you have other folks 665 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:21,239 Speaker 1: running it as a business, tons and tons of advertising, 666 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:24,400 Speaker 1: it's it's hard to you know, keep your slice of 667 00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,600 Speaker 1: the pie because the whole pipe plate is getting more expensive. 668 00:40:27,719 --> 00:40:29,799 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean a lot of these have production level, 669 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:32,399 Speaker 1: you know, on par with you know, what you see 670 00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:35,120 Speaker 1: in TV and film. But today there is kind of 671 00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:40,280 Speaker 1: a cool little, you know, cottage industry um around haunted houses. Um, 672 00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:44,520 Speaker 1: the number of professional haunted houses over the preceding decades 673 00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:49,800 Speaker 1: absolutely exploded, and according to our guy Kirshner, UM around 674 00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:54,240 Speaker 1: hundred UM haunted houses operated across the nation. And I believe, 675 00:40:55,760 --> 00:40:58,239 Speaker 1: um so I can only imagine that's uh, you know, 676 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:01,040 Speaker 1: grown from there though, I would you should see how 677 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:04,279 Speaker 1: the pandemic affected haunted houses, because it is obviously very 678 00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:08,839 Speaker 1: close quarters. Um, certainly some folks might be a little 679 00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:11,480 Speaker 1: germophobic about them. And I'm sure that you know, masks 680 00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:14,200 Speaker 1: will be required now in place. Yeah, they may already 681 00:41:14,239 --> 00:41:16,279 Speaker 1: feel a lot of folks already feel like they've lived 682 00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:19,680 Speaker 1: through a haunted house. So question more of the same 683 00:41:19,719 --> 00:41:23,160 Speaker 1: at this point. Like, so you see them expanding now 684 00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:26,040 Speaker 1: past the typical house. There's a really cool and south 685 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:29,400 Speaker 1: of Atlanta which is set in this it's outdoors and 686 00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:32,239 Speaker 1: like this pink ball arena kind of thing, and I 687 00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:34,840 Speaker 1: have a friend who runs that. I like going to 688 00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:37,160 Speaker 1: check that one out. For some reason, I'm more comfortable 689 00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:40,360 Speaker 1: with the ones outside. And maybe that's that's pre pandemic, 690 00:41:40,680 --> 00:41:43,520 Speaker 1: but I think that's gonna that's gonna be a trend 691 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:46,680 Speaker 1: we see as well. Um, there's the ones, you know, 692 00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:50,279 Speaker 1: like I mentioned earlier, with religious groups who want to 693 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:53,160 Speaker 1: find a new creative way to spread their message. There 694 00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:58,520 Speaker 1: are even like p s A houses now haunted trap 695 00:41:58,560 --> 00:42:01,800 Speaker 1: houses we saw reports of, and they warn you about 696 00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:06,279 Speaker 1: the horrors of real life things like opioid addiction. It's 697 00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:08,480 Speaker 1: funny because the guy in charge of that trade group 698 00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:12,880 Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier, Kirchner, he himself doubts that the haunted 699 00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:16,160 Speaker 1: house is gonna be around forever. He says, every business 700 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:18,560 Speaker 1: will eventually fail, so we just want to last as 701 00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:23,880 Speaker 1: long as we possibly can. And this is where the 702 00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:27,600 Speaker 1: Smithsuanian writer that we mentioned earlier, has this wonderful line 703 00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:31,040 Speaker 1: that I quite love. They say, Halloween without haunted houses, 704 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:35,200 Speaker 1: now that's a scary thought. That's journalism right there. Man. 705 00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:37,680 Speaker 1: This guy Krishner is a real bummer though. He literally 706 00:42:37,719 --> 00:42:41,319 Speaker 1: says every business will eventually fail, so we just want 707 00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:44,399 Speaker 1: to last as long as we possibly can't. All right, man, 708 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:47,279 Speaker 1: I guess that's a pragmatic way of looking at it, 709 00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:49,799 Speaker 1: but but kind of a downer. But yeah, just like 710 00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:54,000 Speaker 1: in the Great Depression, though, we still have these neighborhoods, 711 00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:56,719 Speaker 1: you know, you know, bowl of grapes in the dark 712 00:42:56,840 --> 00:43:00,279 Speaker 1: kind of situations, which is super cool. Um, it's great, 713 00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:03,400 Speaker 1: And honestly, I've certainly seen much more elaborate ones too, 714 00:43:03,520 --> 00:43:06,200 Speaker 1: were a folksful band together and like build something out 715 00:43:06,239 --> 00:43:09,240 Speaker 1: like in a big garage, or do something maybe involving 716 00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:11,239 Speaker 1: multiple homes that are that are next to each other 717 00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:14,239 Speaker 1: like um, you know, or or like combining the use 718 00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:16,640 Speaker 1: of different yards and things like. Yeah, and folks, we 719 00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:18,719 Speaker 1: know This was a bit of a long one, but 720 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:21,399 Speaker 1: we hope you enjoyed going on this journey with us, 721 00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:25,799 Speaker 1: because tis the season, as they say. Uh, I had 722 00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:28,680 Speaker 1: such a blast with this one. I am man so 723 00:43:28,719 --> 00:43:30,840 Speaker 1: glad you guys are back in this haunted house of 724 00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:34,839 Speaker 1: ridiculous history. I'm glad to be back man, and and 725 00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:38,680 Speaker 1: thanks as always of course, uh, to our pantheon of 726 00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:43,959 Speaker 1: fantastic podcast spooksters. We're talking about gay Bluesier, We're talking 727 00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:46,480 Speaker 1: about the one and only Max Williams. We're talking about 728 00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:51,160 Speaker 1: Alex Williams, who composed our soundtrack. We might even you 729 00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:54,960 Speaker 1: know what. It just occurred to me. I bet you know. 730 00:43:55,200 --> 00:43:58,439 Speaker 1: I bet you that Jonathan Strickland ak the Quister, has 731 00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:01,160 Speaker 1: not only been to a lot of houses, but I 732 00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:03,800 Speaker 1: bet you he's beformed in some. Oh. I have no doubt. 733 00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,000 Speaker 1: I have no doubt. Uh. And he definitely the type 734 00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:09,640 Speaker 1: of guy that had grabbed you by the shin. Get 735 00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:11,880 Speaker 1: get a swift, get a swift kick in the bald 736 00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:15,400 Speaker 1: head for me, my friend. They got the voice he 737 00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:20,719 Speaker 1: would use Transatlantic, yep, Transatlantic, and the Sinister Quister laugh 738 00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:23,160 Speaker 1: would play pretty well in the dark. I just picture 739 00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:26,680 Speaker 1: I just walk in the opposite direction. I just picture 740 00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:30,239 Speaker 1: him going the Children of the Night. Oh how they 741 00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:34,440 Speaker 1: screamed for me. I have on to Sako blog Nah 742 00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:38,600 Speaker 1: say yeah, man, we love you, Jonathan. If you're here 743 00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:41,040 Speaker 1: at this so but hey, while you're on the internet, 744 00:44:41,080 --> 00:44:44,720 Speaker 1: which you presumably are, why not check us out on 745 00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:48,000 Speaker 1: Facebook where we have a Facebook group here. The Facebook 746 00:44:48,080 --> 00:44:51,080 Speaker 1: is rebranding because they've been taken so much heat lately. 747 00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:54,319 Speaker 1: What's gonna be I don't think it's gonna solve the 748 00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:58,160 Speaker 1: problems that. Oh no, it's literally like a band aid 749 00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:00,320 Speaker 1: where it's like, hey, how about instead of address saying 750 00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:02,520 Speaker 1: you know, our role in like you know, all this 751 00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:05,520 Speaker 1: proliferation of fake news and all of that good stuff, 752 00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:09,400 Speaker 1: that we'll just change our name. Yeah, I mean Facebook. 753 00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:12,719 Speaker 1: And you could argue social media in general is itself 754 00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:16,240 Speaker 1: a kind of haunted house and function. So they'll probably 755 00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:19,680 Speaker 1: name it what they call the metaverse, or it'll refer 756 00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:22,440 Speaker 1: to that somehow. That's what they're really trying to build 757 00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:26,840 Speaker 1: right now. And yeah, yeah, and it's a neat idea, 758 00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:28,800 Speaker 1: but it would be a neat idea in the right hands. 759 00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:31,319 Speaker 1: Is the most great thing I could say, And the 760 00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:35,360 Speaker 1: means time our little sliver of Facebook is is perfectly pleasant. Uh, 761 00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:38,359 Speaker 1: not controversy at all, barely any fake news. It's all 762 00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:41,279 Speaker 1: just a bunch of cool history nerds sharing memes and 763 00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:43,200 Speaker 1: and and having a good old time, so popping over 764 00:45:43,239 --> 00:45:45,759 Speaker 1: to ridiculous historians on Facebook. If you want to be 765 00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:48,000 Speaker 1: a part of that, you can also follow us, not 766 00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:51,120 Speaker 1: just as a show, but as individuals. Find me on Twitter, 767 00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:53,760 Speaker 1: where I am at Ben bull in hs W. Find 768 00:45:53,800 --> 00:45:57,520 Speaker 1: me on Instagram, where I have, in a burst of creativity, 769 00:45:57,600 --> 00:46:01,000 Speaker 1: named myself at ben bullan o w l I at. 770 00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:03,759 Speaker 1: Catch me exclusively on Instagram, where I am at how 771 00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:09,520 Speaker 1: now Noel Brown? I think that doesn't? What's the next time? Folks. 772 00:46:17,520 --> 00:46:19,600 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I 773 00:46:19,680 --> 00:46:22,600 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to 774 00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:23,520 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.