Attend a Costume Ball or Visit a Haunted House at HAuNTcon 2017

I wrote about HAuNTcon 2017’s 2-Day Inspiration Pre-Show Tour, but that’s not the only cool thing that has me excited about attending my very first HAuNTcon event.

There is a lot happening during this five-day convention. But the activities aren’t limited to just the day. There’s plenty of fun to be had in the evenings as well.

But first, what is HAuNTcon?

About HAuNTcon

HAuNTcon is the acronym for the Haunted Attraction National Tradeshow and Convention.

There will be a tradeshow where companies can exhibit their products and services to the owners/operators of haunts from all over the U.S.

There will be classes Friday, Saturday and Sunday providing education on every aspect of running a successful haunt, from character and storyline development to how to advertise a haunt to training actors for maximum scares.

There will even be hands on workshops where masters will teach you everything from making foam crypts and hospital gowns with abdominal wounds to skull corpsification and creating realistic eye props.

That’s what the days pack in. Then night falls…

Night Haunt Tours

Tickets are available for Thursday, Saturday and Sunday night haunt tours. These are full actor, October-style haunts.

• Wednesday Night Haunt Tour of Skeleton’s Lair Scream Park – This haunt is included with the 2-Day Inspiration Pre-Show Tour, however you can also opt to tour it separately. The catch if you do that is that it’s in Kentucky and you have to provide your own transportation to and from. Tickets: $40
• Thursday Night Haunt Tour of Haunted Hell Nashville – 22,000 square feet venue, 35 live actors. “Try to escape through scenes of mayhem and dark imagination to find the only way out. An exit that seems miles away when one is being pursued by the evil that calls Haunted Hell home.” Tickets: $40 (tour only); $65 (tour plus bus ride)
• Saturday Night Haunt Tour of Nashville Nightmare – 50,000 square feet, four elements (Night Terrors, Fairy tale Hell, Horror High, Industrial Undead). Ranked #1 Haunted House in the Nation by USA Today’s Reader’s Choice Awards and ranked in the Top 13 by HauntedHouses.com. Tickets: $40 (tour only); $65 (tour plus bus ride)
• Sunday Night Haunt Tour of Slaughter House – 12,000 square feet, Nashville’s longest running haunt (over 30 years). It’s in a former movie theater, which apparently adds to the terror: “If you’re brave enough to visit them, not only will you simply be faced with the horrors inside; you will also experience how the original features of the theater (including sloped floors) magnify the mind-bending madness and mayhem within!” Tickets: $30 (tour only); $55 (tour plus bus ride)

Costume Ball

The copy on HAuNTcon’s site sold me, that’s why I bought tickets:

If you are like most of us in the haunted attraction industry, you may be in a great costume on Halloween night, but you are working rather than enjoying the holiday.

Enter the HAuNTcon Costume Ball, an off season once a year opportunity to get your Halloween fix at a rocking party. Join Haunt owners,  actors, makeup artists and Halloween fanatics from around the world for a ghoulishly fun night of networking and haunting fun.

Included in your ball ticket are hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar, party favors, prom photo, dancing and a DJ to keep the party jumping. FREE beer sponsored by Froggys Fog.

Tickets for the Costume Ball are $65. 2017’s theme is Phantom of the Grand Ole Opry.

Networking

In addition to partying at the ball, I’ll also be attending classes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I’m excited to finally meet Chris Davis (aka the Frog Queen from Frog on a Pumpkin) who runs the Davis Graveyard, a home haunt in Oregon. She’ll be busy hosting Davis Graveyard workshops, but I’m hoping to catch her at some point to give her an in-person hug. Been following her since I first started HJ.

And if you go? I hope to meet you too. Be sure to say hi if you spot me!