The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Netherworld will have one more season in Norcross
Haunted attraction to call Stone Mountain home starting in 2018.
Netherworld will scare visitors for one final season in its longtime home in Norcross this fall before moving to Stone Mountain, owners Billy Messina and Ben Armstrong have announced. The new location, about 10 miles from its current one, will be bigger and will feature attractions like escape games in addition to the main haunted house.
“We started this in 1997 never expecting it to grow in the manner it has,” Messina said during an interview. “So many people have said, ‘I just want to let you know I have been coming here since (childhood) and now I’m bringing my kids.’ That’s awesome.”
This fall’s final season in the current location will be sort of a “thank you, Norcross, tour,” he added. “There will be some nostalgia, a lot of excitement.”
Gwinnett officials are thrilled they’re staying in the county.
“Netherworld is a world-class haunted attraction. They are powerful marketers who have had an incredible economic impact in Gwinnett,” Nick Masino, chief economic development officer at Partnership Gwinnett, said in a statement. “After 20 years, their name and Gwinnett County have become synonymous, and we knew it was important to keep them here. We are thrilled that this has been accomplished.”
The new address, a 9.5-acre site on West Park Place Boule-
vard, just south of U.S. 78 near Stone Mountain Park, is within the boundaries of the Evermore Community Improvement District of Gwinnett, an association of area property owners. “Netherworld will be the first new venue to change the face of the area,” Evermore CID Executive Director Jim Brooks said in a statement. “Ultimately, we are looking at creating an entertainment complex to give residents a higher quality of life within the district.”
Relocating Netherworld, a nationally renowned destination whose famous visitors have included Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Evander Holyfield and Ludacris in recent years, has been in the works for quite some time. Planning documents filed with Gwinnett County last fall indicated that the new facility aimed at broadening its functions, including serving as a filming location and as an events venue. (As a super early sneak-peek, the new location will unveil “Escape the Netherworld” games late this summer, even though the haunted house will serve out one last season in Norcross.)
Although Netherworld has been a mostly seasonal event, running it is a yearlong endeavor. The attraction maintains a permanent roster of between 12 and 20 employees, in addition to the 380 or so hired for Halloween duty. Those numbers are all likely to rise, and the Netherworld team is ready to welcome growing numbers of guests as well.
“Generally in a year, we will have over 75,000 visitors,” Armstrong said.
He and Messina are not only at work now on this fall’s spook-fest (they have been for months, actually) — they’re looking ahead at what the 2018 season will look like in their new home.
“It’s a fresh start,” Armstrong said. “We grew over time into what we are. The plan is to take all those years of knowledge and shape (the new facility) to exactly what we want to do.”
Hauling 20 years of costumes, props, animatronics, electrical gear and countless other items is going to be a challenge.
“I was working on inventory sheets the other day,” Armstrong said. “I think I stopped at 18 pages.”
The guys couldn’t even estimate how much stuff there is to move.
“If we went by tonnage, I can’t even imagine,” Messina said. “It’s going to be a back breaker.”
But they’re ready for the move — and for the next 20 years and beyond.
“We’re in the business of scaring people, but we’re really in the business of entertaining people,” Armstrong said. “It’s a tradition. It’s a chance to get off the couch and have an adventure.”
Netherworld’s last hurrah in Norcross starts the weekend of Sept. 22 and opens seven days a week starting Sept. 29 through Halloween. After the nights of Nov. 3-5, it’s off to Stone Mountain.