Scary professionals swarm city for Midwest Haunters Convention
As a kid, Tim Gavinski was just in it for the Halloween candy. During his teenage years, he discovered that haunted houses afforded opportunities to comfort and snuggle a jittery date.
And now that he’s pushing 60?
“Three words: Startle, scream, laugh,” said Gavinski, whose Wisconsin Fear Grounds ranks as one of the nation’s top scary attractions. “That’s why I still love it.”
That simple psychological formula — as reliable as it is predictable — helps fuel the ever-expanding industry of professionals and enthusiasts on display in Columbus this weekend during the Midwest Haunters Convention.
The conference and exhibit, billed as the nation’s largest Halloween show of its kind, is open to the public and continues from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Some 4,500 people are expected to peruse the hall for a glimpse at the latest in equipment, costumes and makeup. From fog machines and haunted swamps to evil clowns, glistening entrails and slaughterhouses, there’s probably enough zombie stuff to outfit a flash mob.
“Just a lot of cool things,” Andrew Polzin said. He came to scope out ideas for the Haunted Sawmill, a fundraiser for Boy Scout troops in Merrill, Wisconsin. With just a bit of “blood” caked in his beard, Polzin looked positively tame.
Lexie Lannom, Brooke Englehart and Ashley Keel did not. Their Svenpuss Productions, a Chicago-based costume and haunt-acting company, specializes in “nontraditional female haunt characters.”
Englehart said the idea is to straddle the line between revulsion and appeal, with ruffles and lace, rotted teeth and white eyeballs. “How can you not have fun with that?”
Michelle and Richard Creps, small business owners in Pittsburgh, are thinking of creating a haunted attraction on one of their properties. Their sons, ages 10 and 8, are finally all in.
“The little one used to be afraid,” Mrs. Creps said.
Both boys stood their ground just fine Saturday as an 8-foot-tall chupacabra — a.k.a. Chris Slone of Dark Hour haunted house in Plano, Texas — wrapped its clawed hands around their heads.
Things were a little less calm over at the laser swamp. Froggy’s Fog, a “theatrical fluids” company in Columbia, Tennessee, uses a thick layer of fog topped with green light to create a dark, creepily realistic, hip-deep swamp for visitors to traverse.
“Flat-line lasers,” said Josh Woody of Froggy’s Fog. “You’ve got a fake floor.”
It’s impossible to see below the swamp line. So of course something, or someone, is going to pop up from the depths, right?
Your brain might know that, Gavinski said, but it probably won’t matter. Odds are you’ll still be startled, you’ll likely scream, and then — Gavinski likes this part the best — you’ll walk out laughing.