Seasonal Highlights
ALL POSTS
Of Health & Havoc
Thursday, October 27, 2016 I was feeling under the weather when I arrived and didn’t plan to stay for the entire duration of the night. There was a gauntlet to be run over the next five nights and I had no desire to push myself to the limit on a Thursday and leave the tank empty for the homestretch of…
Cinnamon & Sloth
Sunday, October 23, 2016 I entered SIN roughly a half an hour after open and changed into costume — Vermin’s trademark flannel and tattered jeans. Once at the front of the house I found that there were no customers so I worked my way through the maze and discovered that a core of regulars were absent for the evening. It…
Revelers & Mischief Makers
Friday, October 21, 2016 I arrived at the house at 5pm — two full hours before the doors were set to open, but I needed to use that time wisely. My good friend, John, and I had planned to wire the house with five security cameras so that I could capture some video of the cast in action for use…
Turf Wars
Monday, October 17, 2016 marked the end of the Michigan Haunters Association Haunt Swap and it was time for SIN to play host. All in all it wasn’t a bad showing as groups from Clio Manor, Exit 13, Hush, The Realm of Darkness, Rotten Manor and The Scream Machine each paid us a visit. It was certainly a different vibe…
Beasts & Bastards
So, what’s your pleasure? Be it beast or bastard? I’d like to start with the latter, so let’s discuss difficult, no-fun customers. WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE? It’s a fair question and maybe it has a lot of answers but as an actor at a haunted attraction I’m sometimes baffled by the attitudes of some people. I think some individuals…
Sinful Sunday
It’s no secret that Sundays are much slower than Fridays and Saturdays but ticket sales were up noticeably from one week prior and a couple of noteworthy groups kept things interesting. All in all, it wasn’t a bad few hours of haunting. Once again I was charged up upon arrival and beat a hasty path to the front of the…
Hot Box
Saturday was a long, exhausting night at SIN. I’d estimate that we had more crew members than any other night thus far. Zack, the male cheerleader, from last weekend even returned with his tall friend to volunteer — the pair worked the dining room and Zodiac respectively. We would need all those crew members too because the bars in Wyandotte…
Lunatic Fringe
PSYCHO PROPANE COCAINE CRAZY I rolled into SIN on Friday night like a storm. I wasn’t able to arrive until roughly 9:30pm because of work and indeed it was due to an incident at work that had me supercharged and on fire. Some of my fellow actors were in need of bathroom breaks so I spent the first half hour…
Mackinaw Manor Automatonapalooza
In late August I went on vacation with my family to Petoskey and while there we decided to take a day trip to Mackinaw City. Mackinaw Crossings is a modern shopping district with a quaint atmosphere, one of the businesses featured there is a fully automated haunted attraction called Mackinaw Manor. The chance to visit a haunt in August was…
Blur the Line
It was another slow Thursday at SIN punctuated by a large group that was a mix of elementary aged children and young teenagers. Their reactions ranged from amused to frightened and that’s about how it should be in a group that size. One of the poor kids dropped a $20 somewhere in the attraction and by chance I spotted it…
Slash & Burn
One of the cool perks of my work with SIN Haunted House has been the opportunity to tour other haunted attractions and on weeknights no less. Through the Michigan Haunters Association a number of haunted attractions throughout the state have collaborated to each host an event at their location. I think it’s a great tool for networking and provides haunters…
Cold Ash
Sundays are much slower than Saturdays in the haunted house industry; that is an indisputable fact. That alone was enough to alter the vibe in the house but we also had noticeably less staff members than the previous night. In fact, aside from a couple of queue actors; we had just enough to place one person in each room. It’s…
House of Fire
I arrived at SIN last night around 8pm and shortly thereafter the house would be rocking for the next three and a half hours. There were so many instances of quality interaction that it’s hard to keep them all straight so I’ll plunge into the highlights momentarily. But first, a few notes on the cast and crew. When I arrive,…
Abbreviated
I wasn’t able to get out to SIN and drop into Vermin until 11pm last night but I made the best of a short night. I arrived to find Daffodil, an adorable and spunky clown armed with a Brooklyn accent and sharp wit, entertaining guests out front. I joined in and after a lot of convincing we coaxed a pair…
Role Reversal
It was another slow Thursday but certainly better than the previous week when a single couple crossed the threshold of SIN. I channeled a darker side of Vermin by funneling my own anger into the character and I saw the result in the faces of various customers. A few people issued stifled, nervous laughter; one woman wondered aloud whether it…
Thunder & Lightning
The weather did make for some challenging driving conditions last night, furthermore Shawhaven was forced to close Wagons of Fear and Dead Maze, but all things considered it was still a worthwhile night of haunting that began in Mason and ended in Jackson. Samara’s Boarding House at Shawhaven and Jackson’s Underworld were both enjoyable in their own right but it…
Turn the Page, It’s October!
The open road beckons as we commence the 2016 haunt season. If all goes according to plan and the weather is cooperative, we’ll visit three of Michigan’s scariest places for a total of six attractions. First, we burn rubber to Mason, Michigan which is home to Shawhaven Haunted Farm. A trip here has eluded us in seasons past and I’m…
Black Moon Rising
The Black Moon shone brightly from space and cast down an aura upon SIN. Sure, the weather wasn’t much improved from Thursday, the calendar still said September and the house had plenty of down time throughout the night, but there was an undeniable energy that coursed through the veins of cast and crew. A rousing chant spurred the monsters into…
Opening Night Blues
The Halloween season has already begun for those of us with haunting in our blood, but for the general public it isn’t quite here yet. As if a Thursday in September wasn’t enough of a challenge, mother nature decided to pour buckets throughout the region yesterday and effectively dampened the opening of SIN. The doors were opened around 8:30pm, an…
Eve of Madness
SIN Haunted House by the Wyandotte Jaycees will officially open its doors for the 2016 season tonight from 7-10pm. Opening night at any haunted attraction is infused with a certain nervous excitement; a herald that the Halloween season has indeed arrived once more. The stakes are high this year for the Wyandotte Jaycees, an organization that has produced a haunted…
