Haunted Houses: Public demand forces operators to add big effects

NEW YORK — He's not afraid of working in bloody environments, but Dwayne Sanburn can get squeamish when he thinks about the expectations he faces.

A nurse turned haunted house operator, Sanburn and others in the business of scaring people face a public that seems to want something bolder each year, all for a season that typically lasts only a month or so.

But keeping up with the Frankensteins isn't easy or cheap. Bedsheets cut to look like ghosts and stock sounds of creaking doors and heavy footsteps no longer suffice, big time haunters say.

"I see more of a demand from people to see a better show every year," said Sanburn, owner of the 13th Gate Haunted House in Baton Rouge, La. Sanburn, 39, credits the entertainment industry — everything from movies to theme parks — with creating a more demanding public.

"With the large haunted houses, it's not just for kids anymore," Sanburn said. "Ten years ago, all we had were teenagers that would come to the haunted house because they wanted to get scared and have a guy with a chain saw chase them."

His 40,000-square-foot facility, open from late September to early November, has 13 themed indoor and outdoor areas and on a recent Saturday drew a record 5,000 people. While he charges $15 a head, he spent $260,000 renovating before the season. Like many haunted house operators, Sanburn said by the time he recoups his costs he only makes a profit in the final days.

"You work all year for those last few nights," he said.

The numbers involved in running such an operation can be downright scary. Sanburn relies on a staff of about 120 people as well as hundreds of diamondback water snakes, a seven-foot boa constrictor named Esmerelda, an ample cast of rats and enough Madagascar hissing cockroaches to partially cover several apparently unflappable employees.

Larry Kirchner, owner of The Darkness and Creepy World attractions in St. Louis, spent about $175,000 renovating ahead of this season to add such amenities as a cave complete with two waterfalls, a bamboo bridge and a forbidding Incan temple.

"The customers these days expect what they've come to expect from anything in America anymore. You've got to think over the top," said Kirchner.

"When I first started back in 1994 we could put one on for $1,000," said Kirchner, 38. Like Sanburn, he has made a full-time job of running his facilities, which he expects will draw a combined 70,000-80,000 people during the season, which runs until early November.