Whisper from Red Moon Massacre:

Well... we started out the night with a heavy misting of rain.  As the night went on, the rain began to fall a lot harder.  Little Red and I headed out anyway.  The rain lightened up some.  I was still able to get pretty good scares.

The crowd was a fun one, and took the rain in stride.  As the rain started coming down harder, I found a spot at the photo booth and hung out there for a while, still scaring and staying dry.

Around 10:00 p.m., Little Red and I went into the Mountain.  By then, the rain was a downpour.  We were wondering if management was going to close things down.  I heard that many of the mazes were starting to close.  We then had a shut-down for a while.  At around 11:00 p.m., I was sent home.

As I walked to Warehouse P, the streets were starting to get pretty flooded and it got worse as I headed out to my car.  It was A LOT more flooded.   I hope everyone brought rain gear!

Good night!

Whisper from The Swamp:

Calm like a bomb!

Yeah, I was ready to rip shit up today.  Even when it started raining, I was still pushing the limits as much as I possibly could without breaking the no sliding/no chasing rules during the rain.

I've got something to say though, about this whole rain thing.  I remember back in the day (last year) when they used to pull make-up spots off the streets as soon as it started raining.  Now, they wait for a while before they pull make-up, and I think that is dumb.  Now, I can understand them not pulling the mask street talent off, but when it's a torrential downpour, with no sign of letting up, pull the goddamn street monsters off!

I mean, come on!  It's a f*cking Tuesday!  No one gives a shit, so let's pull the street monsters off so that they can be completely healthy on the bigger days coming up like Friday, Saturday and Halloween.

I love doing Haunt, but I would much rather work a busy day in complete health than be coughing up lungs all night.  It's stupid to keep us out there, especially since all we're doing is standing under the porches talking to guests in line for funnel cakes and whatever else.

Healthy monsters = happy monsters.  How hard is that to understand?

Whisper from The Asylum:

Going into today, I think a lot of people were unsure of how the rain would affect us.  We ended up closing at about 11:30 p.m.

It rained since opening and didn't let up for more than a few minutes at a time.  The maze was a mess by the end of the night with all the leaks it had.  I was able to still have fun, though.

I hope to see everybody back and healthy tomorrow.

Whisper from TerrorVision:

A miserable, rainy Tuesday almost from the moment we opened for biz!

Few guests braved the impending bad weather, and they must have been crazy to do it.  But we can't blame guests who are crazy for Haunt; they keep the event alive year after year.  I got in some good scares despite the rain and huge gaps between straggling groups.

As before, our maze quickly turned from quagmire to lake, and both guests and monsters were soon sloshing around in TerrorVision.  Some of our crew passed around a small blow-up "life preserver" ring - though given how deep the water was in some rooms, the joke prop was fairly practical.

While other mazes were closing, ours was kept open far too late - the standing water on the floor and waterfalls through the "roof" were just getting ridiculous!  Thankfully, I was wearing a mask the few times one of our waterfalls doused a few random guests passing under it.  Not that those soaked people could have gotten much wetter.

They finally cut us loose about an hour early, only to face the next nightmare of changing, packing up and slogging across to Western... where our cars awaited us in the parking lake.  We'll see if the clouds rain us out Wednesday night - you hate to lose a night during Halloween week, but I wouldn't miss the long, rainy drive before and after Haunt!

Sleepy time, so I'll sign off for now.  See you next time, TV fans.

Whisper from Jaguar - Temple of Sacrifice:

It's about 8:30 in the morning, and I just got home.

Last night was basically dead.  Cold, wet and empty.  We had so much fun just goofing around in the maze when nobody was there.  I got a couple really good scares in.

They closed the maze early, and we all went out for breakfast at Norm's.

Then, a few of us went back to the motel and watched movies.

Now, I must sleep.

Whisper from Blood Bayou:

I am not sure if people were just in a bad mood tonight, or if they were just irritated because they bought tickets on a rainy night.  It seemed as though every time I turned around, another one of our monsters was either being pushed, punched or dry-humped!

One guy even took his shirt off in the maze and tried to fight me!  I just laughed at him and waited out back of the maze for our blackout to get him and his group out to meet up with my talent captain and the head of mazes.  The best part was when the guy admitted to her that he removed his shirt to try and draw me into a fist fight, and then he proceeded to try and get me to fight him right in front of management!   But wait!  It gets better!

The girl that was with his group realized that they were not gonna win with what the young man had admitted to doing.  She tried to convince my captain, management and security that I grabbed her ass, which was pretty comical to hear, and then to see all the yellow shirts trying to hold in their laughter at this girl's asinine attempt at a grasp to get me in some sort of trouble!  That failed miserably; security then escorted the young, combative man out of the park.  Security told the rest of the group that was still arguing with security they had two seconds to return to the park or they would be escorted out as well, which quickly shut them up.

I love being the good guy!  LOL...

Well, it started to flood in our maze at about 9:00 p.m. and they kept us open till about 10:30 p.m. when they finally said to go home.  I was so happy - an extra night of sleep!  What more could an EXHAUSTED monster wish for?

Whisper from Hatchet High:

Well... tonight was the shortest Haunt night I’ve had.  Hatchet High had a foot-deep mote surrounding it and thus, closed around 11:30 p.m.  Some brave guests were still walking through the water into our haunted hallways when we closed, but very few.

The "ceiling" in the principal’s room collapsed around 10:00 p.m. and we had various leaks pretty much everywhere.  It was very wet, but I was still having fun scaring the sea of ponchos.  I was growing quite tired of getting smacked with umbrellas, though.

Honestly, the weather wasn’t nearly as bad as that one Saturday.   It was still very difficult getting out of the park, but I think I would’ve rather stayed open and put off going outside into the rain.

Questions about tomorrow are already starting.  Who knows if we’ll open or not?

This all really makes me quite sad.  The last week of Haunt is always the best.  The rain is ruining it.  I want so much just to have fun, be social and scare the crap out of people... this weather is making all of that very difficult.

One cool thing did happen last night.  I had the pleasure of scaring Hugh Hefner and a few of his Bunnies!  He seemed to be having a good time and it made for interesting conversation during breaks.

So I’ll guess we’ll just have to wait and see about tomorrow!   Maybe I’ll be writing my Whisper on what cartoons I watched at home or something!

Whisper from Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns From Outer Space:

Last week of Haunt.

Hand is better, but not completely healed.  There is still some swelling and the whole palm is bruised.

It rained fairly hard all night tonight, keeping the crowds away.  The ones that stayed were unwilling to be scared because of being wet and bored.

However, we lived up to our characters  - we're clowns and we did clown things.  We chased the few guests with random items we had found, rolled around on the floor and just acted like clowns.

The highlight of the night was when Hugh Hefner and a few of the Playmates came through the maze, then insisted on posing for pictures and shaking hands at the end!  Hugh seemed to have a great time and was all smiles!

Even though the maze was wet all the way through and smelled of wet clowns, it was a good night.

Whisper from Malice in Wunderland:

Despite the rain, tonight was a good night.  Lots of good scares until the rain started to thin people out.

The best part of my night was meeting Hugh Hefner and the Triplets.  I scared one of the Triplets and then I asked if they wanted to play with me.  They told me that they were Playmates and said it was okay.   As two of them put their arms around me, one of them turned to Hugh and said, "She is blonde.  Can she come home with us?"   Hugh replied to them, "Yeah, sure!"

Awesome!  That's all I have for tonight, kids.

Whisper from Curse of the Spider:

It is "Hell Week" at Haunt; six nights straight of scary, scary stuff.  And Tuesday it is cold, wet and Spider is officially a swimming pool!  I'm going to bring water wings tomorrow.

I had a good night.  My area is nice and dry, and the people that didn't get kicked out of the park were in relatively good moods, not to mention there were a lot of good-looking women!  Of course, that is every night.  But if my wife reads this, they don't matter to me.  And if she doesn't read this - wow!  Maybe I should delete that last part... thinking outloud.

Well, we had lots of good scares tonight.  The fun part was swimming back to Warehouse P to drop off the costume.  I was wearing John Kerry... I mean flip flops, and my toes were numb by the time I left our break room.  But my shoes were nice and dry when I got to my car.

Guests are crazy, plain and simple.  I cannot believe they were at the park in that rain until 1:00 a.m.  CRAZY, CRAZY, CRAZY!  I doubt they will close the park again like they did last Wednesday, so I'll see you tomorrow, with wings on!

Whisper from The Asylum:

Tonight started off looking bad, because we all knew it was supposed to rain, but it ended up pretty well.  It didn't rain too long or too hard, and we didn't get shut down.

I was still unable to slide though.  Hopefully, all the puddles dry up by tomorrow.

I forgot to mention that Hugh Hefner came through yesterday.  I scared a Bunny!  That was kind of fun!

Now I need sleep.

Whisper from Malice in Wunderland:

SLOW night.  My wig is wet, my gloves are wet and in general, I have that wet ice skating smell going on.

I worked the line a lot tonight, weaving in and out of the crowd.  Though it was a small crowd, there we plenty of screamers.  I even found that there were a lot of people who like to domino effect their whole party onto the floor.

We brought out some old favorite props from last year.  Cookie Monster, Rabbit and spoon were enjoying their chance in the limelight tonight.

I scared one girl and she decided to take a swing at me.  I dodged it and then she told me I was ugly.  Not sure where the logic from being scared, hitting and then calling me ugly flows.  I retorted, of course.  "Mine is make-up.  How do you make your face look better?"  A low and mean blow, but hey... she tried to hit me.

Sadly, Haunt is coming to an end very soon.  I am getting tired and more and more sick, but I know that soon there will be a time when I can't wait to get back to work and scare people.

My queen kicked ass tonight.  Good job.
::sigh::

Whisper from TerrorVision:

Rainy again, on and off, and cold tonight!

The crowds were better than Tuesday's wet and wild washout, though the cold seemed to freeze either their faces or their "scare nerves," because genuine scare reactions were mysteriously hard to get out of people.   Not for a lack of trying, though we were short several monsters tonight, which didn't help.

The clouds parted enough so we could glimpse the moon turn blood red during the lunar eclipse, which was a cool pre-Halloween special effect.

Not much else to report.  It's turning out to be a much slower build up to Halloween than I expected, mostly due to the weird weather.  I hope that's the end of this pain-in-the-ass rain!  We'll see what Thursday brings.

Be sure to tune in then, fright fans.  Peace.

Whisper from Jaguar - Temple of Sacrifice:

Today was busier than I expected.  It rained, but only a little bit.

We had a couple of talent out of commission due to hangovers.

Usually, it is fairly warm inside of our maze.  But, for some reason, the powers-that-be decided to put our air conditioning on full-blast on a cold, rainy night.

Our talent captain again provided us with the makings for hot chocolate.   Thank goodness for him!

As this week gets underway, I begin to have this sense of trepidation about the end of Haunt.  It feels like I have been working forever.   Yet, at the same time, it oddly feels like Haunt is just beginning.

I have been reinforcing and strengthening friendships that I was blessed enough to have before Haunt began, and have been building the foundations of numerous new relationships.  I begin to fear what may happen when Haunt ends.  Will those friendships I have had for quite some time stay as strong as they have become?  Or, will they grow strained and somewhat distant when I don't get to see those people nearly every day?

Will my new friendships last, or are they just temporary social bandaids for the duration of Haunt?

These are questions, I know, that only time can answer, but I pray that I will be able to maintain and spend time on the new relationships that I have begun, and with the family that I have been so immersed in for this past month.

Whisper from Red Moon Massacre:

Tonight started with rain on and off most of the night.  But it started to clear later in the night.

A LOT of monsters called in sick tonight, so I ended up in the Mountain.   It wasn't too bad.  I was placed at the beginning of a long, dark tunnel.  Since I was dressed in black, no one saw me until I jumped out and shook my shaker can.  I had very funny scares tonight.

There were several times when I could hear people yelling, "I see you!  I see you!"  I know damn well they cannot see me.   So I made an extra effort to let them see me, and they jumped and screamed very loudly.

Around 8:00 p.m., I was taking my break and decided to walk outside and I looked up and was able to see the lunar eclipse.  It was pretty neat to see.

Well, we have four more nights of Haunt.  It's a bitter-sweet ending.   I am glad it's over, 'cause I am tired.  Still hurting some, and our group this year just isn't as fun or enthusiastic as last year's.   But I am sad to see it end, 'cause I do have some great friends that are both monsters and our talent captain.  I also have some
great memories.

Time to go get some ugly rest... see you in the fog!

Whisper from Curse of the Spider:

Well, last night was a blast.  I almost got in a fight with a monster that thinks he is a glorified blackout.  He is one of those guys that just flap their lips and whatever comes out, does just that.

Last night again was fun and cold; Wednesday of Hell Week was cold as hell.  Luckily, it wasn't pouring down rain, although I hear it did rain some.  I wouldn't know, due to me being nice and dry.

I found that last night was a good night to try and piss people off; you know, try and push them over their limit.  Well, people are wussies now, so I started having guests call everybody Ninja Turtles again; it started to spread throughout the maze and when I went to walk through the forest, I got kicked out!  Ha!

Most of last night consisted of screams, laughter and complaints.  Nothing serious, though all of the complaints ended with a fart sound, because that is what I feel about their dumb-ass complaints.

Well I ended up staying up all night because I didn't have work today and wanted to just sleep all day.  I'll see my friends tonight at the Haunt, and for the moron that is a glorified blackout, I'm gonna play a joke on him tonight somehow.

Oh, I wasn't able to find some water wings.  They are "out of season."  That sucks, 'cause I drove around for 45 minutes between jobs trying to find them.  Maybe tomorrow.

Whisper from Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns From Outer Space:

Another slow night.

Spent most of the night just being a clown, running around and taunting guests.

The on-and-off rain made it slippery in the maze and I managed to fall a few times, but it was a good night.

I had some fun scares with other monsters and even scared a girl away from her game in the arcade; she never came back.

This is Hell Week, but the weather has thinned the crowds.  This weekend will be the real monster test.

Tomorrow should be slow again, and I am starting to realize that Haunt is almost over.  I will miss it.

Whisper from Blood Bayou:

Tonight, we started out with a little rain, which made tonight a little slower than I would have liked it to be.  Why are folks scared of the rain?  It's just a little water - some H2O - nothing to fear here, people!  It's not like we are having any acid rain storms or something that is gonna make us melt!  Well, maybe the vampires might just melt - but just their make-up.  It's not like anyone is going to die; well, maybe slip and fall.

Nevermind.  All I know, is it was a slow and boring night.  I tried numerous antics to make my night go faster, but the best one so far was when I went and hid in the bushes of our line with a KBF road cone, waiting for the perfect victim.  When one would come along, I would either yell or I would snarl at them and of course, with the cone, your voice tends to be a few decibels higher, which would really freak some people out.  Some screamed, a few ran, some hit the floor and one girl actually knocked her man over by jumping on the left side of his back so fast he couldn't hold the two of them up, and BAM!  They hit the floor!  I must say, those small periods that I was in there were by far, some funny scares I have had this year...

Now, "It's off to work I go... With a shovel and a pick and a workin' stick, hi-ho, hi-ho, hi-ho, hi-ho..."  Well, I really don't have a working stick or a pick; I just have my trusty ol' computer, pen and paper...

Good night, Good day, Goodbye.

Whisper from The Swamp:

Haunt is winding down and I think we're all feeling it.  It seems like we're all looking for a reason to bash some stupid guest (don't let that be you)!

It was a decent crowd tonight, though.  For the first time, there weren't any problems whatsoever with guests.  So, thankfully, it was a rather quick night.

Tomorrow and Saturday are going to be the big ones.  I wouldn't doubt that both days are already sold-out, so here we go!

Whisper from The Asylum:

I don't have too much to say about tonight.  Nothing too exciting happened.

Everybody's starting to realize Haunt's almost over.  I am so sore and tired right now.  I need sleep, so I can try to survive these next three days.

Whisper from TerrorVision:

The rain went away, and the true Halloween fans showed up!  Much more receptive guests tonight than earlier this week; more into the spirit of the event, and consequently, better scares to be had from them.  Easy to feed off their good attitude and ramp-up our game to reward them accordingly (assuming you can reward someone by scaring the crap out of them).

Plus, ramping-up my med doses helped erase the gathering aches and pains so I could work at full-speed again, which made it a lot more fun.  I get more tired and beaten up every day of the approach to Halloween, but the positive feedback (and howling screams) from guests keeps a monster's fires stoked through the night.

The weekend starts Friday night.  The goal: improve my game each night while preserving my body so I can really give it all Sunday night.   Step one is sleep, so off I go.  Rest well, creatures of the night.

Whisper from Blood Bayou:

Tonight is Thursday, and like so many others, it has been a pretty slow night.  I got here today and I felt something was amiss.

Well since my second year, my best friend Travis and I have been inseparable at Knott's and in our daily life.  When he and I are at Knott's, we scare together, we break together, and we ride together - until this year; his job would not give him the schedule needed to work Haunt.  So this year has been a little different for me, as I do not have my buddy with me and I know he is missing it just as much as I am missing him.   Normally, I see him every day, but this month I think I have seen him twice, which really sucks ass.  Hopefully I will have my partner back next year.

I gained a few fans tonight!  They sat outside of the exit of the Bayou for about an hour watching me work.  Most of the time, I love to make people laugh before I scare the bejesus out of them, or I will just make fun of one person to make the group laugh.  Anyway, after about an hour of non-stop running, chasing, tormenting and taunting, I needed some water, so I bid the group farewell and went on my merry way.

All in all, tonight was fun.  I must go to work now, so CYA...

Whisper from Red Moon Massacre:

Well, here are, coming down to the wire.  We only have three nights left.  It's going to be very busy the next three nights.

Tonight wasn't too bad.  I fed off the guests tonight.  I had some pretty good scares tonight.  I had a couple of people actually go running all the way out of line.

Tonight I got to take photos with the street wolves.  It was an honor to be part of that.  Haunted Media had us in different places taking photos.  I can't wait to see them.  If you haven't seen Season of Screams that Haunted Media produced, you should.  It's fantastic!

This year, we actually have almost a full Mountain.  The last few years by this time, we only had 1/3 if we were lucky.  Some of you may not know this, but working in the Log Ride is pretty hard.  In most of the places, you are in the dark, by yourself.  There is loud music and it's hot and humid; pretty miserable.  BUT, it is one of the most fun mazes to work.  If you have a great group of people working with you, it makes it very fun.

Our talent captain is pretty cool and she does a great job with and for us.

Well, it's time to hit the sack.  Good night... See you in the fog!

Whisper from Jaguar - Temple of Sacrifice:

Tonight was fairly busy - and incident free!  The time absolutely FLEW by!  I didn't hit my number-of-children-crying goal for the night.  I will have to try harder on Friday.

I have gotten pretty darn good at insulting the guests that say stupid things to me.  That is always fun.

I got groped again.  Although, I don't think he was drunk.

I took some really cheap alertness pills - and they made me feel not-so-hot.   I was really dizzy, cramping up, and nauseous.  But, I worked nonetheless - better to take my mind off of it by working, than to sit in the break area feeling sorry for myself.

That is about it for the night.  Oh yes, NO RAIN!  Yay!  I am looking forward to a great weekend!

Whisper from Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns From Outer Space:

Slow night for a Friday.

The crowd seemed unruly and tired, so the scares weren't there.

I did get a few good ones in, but not a normal night.  Maybe I am off a bit myself; tired, sore and my hand is still stiff and swollen.

Whisper from The Swamp:

It's getting close to the end and, as we say every time it gets this close to the end... DONT F*CK WITH THE MONSTERS!

When guests start messing with us this late in the season, we really don't give a damn anymore.  If beating on you is going to teach everyone else a lesson, this is when it is most likely going to happen.

We have done nothing but put up with moron guests all month and when the slightest push or "love tap" happens, we are going to blow up on you, so don't do it.

And, if you think this is going to be the best time to hit, forcefully push, or hurt a monster in any way, shape, or form, don't expect to be leaving the park in full health.

Other than that, it was a good night.  Big Saturday tomorrow.

Whisper from The Asylum:

Tonight was incredible and more eventful than usual.

First off, there was some big drama.  As the story goes, there was a talent from Bayou hanging out in our break room.  He said or did something that rubbed our talent captain the wrong way.  Then our tech captain chimed in, and a few minutes later the guy was duct taped.   He was then paraded through the maze and put in the plexi cell.   He seemed good spirited about the whole thing.  So less than an hour later, the guy has filled out a statement and security and management is involved and now our tech captain and talent captain are both in hot water.  The term C-file was heard.  So we'll see what happens with that in the next two days.

The other event was a much better and way more positive.  My friend and I were out front working the line as usual, doing a little better than normal, when we noticed the talent captains from Ghost Town going through the line.  That of course, was a red flag to show off somewhat.   So we were doing extremely well.  We had a lot of tag team slides going on.  The talent captains had noticed and stepped off to the side and watched us scare for about 15 or 20 minutes.  They then came up to us and told us how well we were doing and complimented our scares and seemed generally enthused about us.  They wrote down our names and said they'd be telling Craig (the head of street monsters for those of you who don't know) and that streets were in our future.   So, I'm starting to wonder where I'll be next year!

Whisper from TerrorVision:

Since TV loves award shows, we proudly present the First Annual TerrorVision Guests of the Night Awards:

THE AWKWARD MOMENT OF THE NIGHT AWARD goes to a young woman about three minutes after we opened.  Once she recovered, she stared for several seconds at my mask and asked, "Are you my brother?"  Not only was I NOT her brother, I didn't even know how to respond to this totally odd question.  So I shook my head "no" and moved on quickly.  Honestly folks, sometimes you're scarier than we are!

THE "WHERE'S THE YETI MAZE?" AWARD goes to a woman in her 60s, perhaps with her family.  After I scared her group, the woman complained to me, "Your friend out there ate my map!"  Indeed, she held out her Haunt map, and the corners of it looked chewed off.  I did what any monster would do: I tore off another big piece and ate it, leaving her with even less map and the laugher of her family.

WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS AWARD was won later in the night, when a woman scared out of her wits by a monster double-team shouted, "I almost peed myself!"  Well, this warms the cockles of any Haunt creature, and of course only encourages them.  As I went in for more scares, our recipient screamed, "Get away or I'll pee on YOU!"  While the logistics of this threat were intriguing, I moved back into my hide spot: when the yellow river flows, this monster a-goes!  I've sloshed around in enough puddles for one week.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MONSTER AWARD is a tie, presented to the two older teen girls who came through TV late in the night.  Passing by my position and getting a good can-shaking, the pair wheeled around gracefully and surprisingly snuggled up to yours truly for a tandem hug.  All innocent and unexpected, and thanks for showing a monster some love after an exhausting long night.

THE SECOND MOST AWKWARD MOMENT AWARD was reluctantly presented just moments later, when a male guest in his later teens made the very same maneuver and attempted the same approach to me.  Sorry son, Homey don't play that!

It was a very tiring Friday night; sold-out crowds who filed through in a seemingly endless line - apparently our line control crew was just "letting them go!"  So, for the first few hours, we had practically NO breaks in the crowds, and it took us a good couple minutes to follow the herd just to get out and take our breaks.  Naturally, returning from breaks and trying to swim upstream against the crowds took even longer.

A couple times late in the night, I couldn't even make it to my normal position.  I got cut off because the line of guests packing the maze just never ceased.

Plenty of good scares to be had in such multitudes, though.  A monster can pretty much pick and choose the best victims from the crowd - they're very easy to spot, assuming you can get to them to pull off the scare.   But hey, that's why they pay us the big bucks, right?  Er, yeah, right.

As Austin Powers said, "...and I'm spent!"  Must sleep and plan to set the alarm an hour later in the morning to get much-needed rest to recharge my monster batteries for Saturday night's onslaught... more of the same to come.  Good night, TV fans!

Whisper from Jaguar - Temple of Sacrifice:

Tonight was busy, but not as crazy as I had expected.

At one point, I got hit really hard in the back of the head, but my blackout didn't see who it was and I couldn't throw them out.  That made me quite angry for a while.  Then, I got over it.

One of my favorite moments of the night was when I snuck up behind a girl.   She whispered to me, thinking that I was her friend, "Look, there's one right there," while pointing to another talent.  She turned her head to glance at me as she spoke and, I said, in my creepy voice, "WHERE?!?"  Teehee!  That was definitely a good one.

I made a few people cry, although not nearly as many as I wanted.  I will have to try harder on Saturday.

Two nights left...

Whisper from Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns From Outer Space:

Tonight was a night where we really needed security in the park but they never seemed to be around.

Sometimes, I wonder if anyone really cares about the monsters' safety.

Good scares tonight, even though the crowd seemed to want to harass the monsters more than be scared.  I chased some poor girl through the arcade today, where she took refuge in the employee ladies room where I simply sat outside the door banding on the floor.  The best part was, after the scare, she actually thanked me!

Feels good when you are appreciated sometimes!

Whisper from Red Moon Massacre:

Tonight we were told that it was sold-out.  There were a lot of people, but it didn't feel sold-out, though.

It was a fun night.  The people in the queue were fun.  Since the end of Haunt was coming, I decided to take requests for "Scare My Friend."  If the situation was right and I thought I was able to get an effective scare, I did it.  I think I did the "Scare My friend" request about 20 times and about 15 were good to great scares.

Tonight, as I was walking up and down the queue, I had a group of about six to 8 guys heckling me.  I would walk by and they would say things, toss candy and pretend to be pretty tough.  Most of these guys were fairly big.  Most of the time I would ignore or walk away from people like that.  BUT, I decided to see just how brave these guys were.   I was taking a chance.  This was going to go well or be bad.   I got ahead of them and snuck in line and stood behind a Pepsi machine we have inside of the queue.  Now, imagine me all blacked out head to toe with a mask, standing behind a Pepsi vending machine; the light from the vending machine blinding them from seeing me.  I could hear them coming.

I sank back into the corner, waiting to jump out.  I saw the first couple of guys, they walked past.  I peeked out, looking for the right time to jump out.  I saw my chance.  I jumped out, hitting the machine - **BAM!**

Every one of those guys jumped, moved away and yelled, "Oh shit!"   I just stood there.  I then said, "Well, I couldn't hear what you said earlier.  So what was it you said?"  They said, "Nothing," and laughed and we shook hands and had a great laugh and off I went.  That was my highlight for the night.

The rest of the night was fun running up and down the queue.

See you in the fog!

Whisper from Blood Bayou:

Tonight is Friday, and it is also a sold-out night.  I am in a great mood and ready to work tonight.  My back feels awesome and my knee is not sore at the moment, but I know as the night goes on and the more I slide, my knee is going to start hurting, but that is the way it goes; like I said before, we have 11 months to heal.  I don't need to heal this month.

Tonight was the first night of voting for our AHAB (Annual Haunt Awards Banquet) Awards.  There are five categories to vote in and they are as follow: Dedication and Endurance, Most Creative, Slider of the Year, Rookie of the Year and the big one that means the most is Monster of the Year.  We have two nights to cast our votes and the awards will be presented at the AHAB banquet next week on Saturday.

I have to shove off to bed, so I will talk at you all tomorrow.  Good night.

Whisper from The Asylum:

One day left.  I can't believe it.  Well, before I get too sad, I better write about tonight.

Tonight went by extremely fast for some reason.  It was weird.  I spent the entire night working the line.  I slid through two pairs of knee pad caps.

The memory books came out today.  They're better than last year, but there's still room for improvement.  I found out today that the Crown Jewel of Haunt will be dancing at AHAB.  That's one of the best things I've ever heard!  I can't wait!

Whisper from TerrorVision:

So far, the big Halloween weekend seems very anti-climactic to me: much of the time, the maze is just packed with guests in a constant line, which makes it nearly impossible to get the same good scares we've mastered for the past four weeks.  You just can't jump out and scare people who've been standing in your room staring at you for the last minute or two.

So we monsters really have to work hard for the scares we get now.  I play as many different intimidation, "stalking" games as I can to spot the one guest among the mob in front of me who's still scared I'll do something.  Then I do it.  Like I said before, if I can't scare 'em all, at least I can entertain the rest.

A while back when I was playing the "statue" game with guests, I realized I was reliving one of those Michael Myers POV shots from Halloween... staring through mask eye holes, hearing your own breathing inside the latex.

Well, tonight I played that gag to full effect: I would "stalk" my victim, cornering them since often they had nowhere to run away from me.  I wouldn't shake the can or bang the wall... I would just breathe quite LOUDLY in their ear.  Most of my victims would come totally unhinged or drop to the floor to get away from me at that point.  What fun!

So props to John Carpenter for his little contribution to my scare strategies.   And thanks to all the GOOD Saturday fans and guests who enjoyed a good scare, either as victim or audience.  Lots of appreciative people tonight, which makes a tough night's job more tolerable and worthwhile.

Tomorrow's the big night already... that got here quick.  Must rest up for one last night, the Halloween clearance sale when all scares must go!  Peace.

Whisper from The Swamp:

Well, here it is; the last Saturday night of the 2004 Haunt is over.   And damn, it was a nasty crowd.  Lots of pushers, hitters and drunks.

This is going to be short, 'cause I'm going to write a big one to wrap everything up.

Sweet dreams.

Whisper from Red Moon Massacre:

As I sat out in front of Warehouse P tonight, people were talking about the end of Haunt.  Everyone looked tired and some beat-up.  Some were bragging about their mystery bruises.  It was kinda funny to see a few people limping around.  I know how they feel!

Tonight was just as much fun as last night.  There were a lot more teenagers to hunt down and scare.  Walking up and down the queue, I looked for the ones who weren't paying attention and I would sneak up behind or next to them and wait for the right moment and lunge forward, growling.  I found A LOT of people not paying attention tonight!

I spent some time around the photo booths tonight.  I would watch people get in, take their pictures and just before they would step out, I would stand in front of the door.  As they opened the curtain, I would jump forward and bark, scaring them back into the booth, screaming!   The funnier part was, I turned around and
found a large crowd waiting and watching and then they laughed and clapped after I did my scare... it was funny!

Time to head off to bed.  Must have rest for tomorrow night.

See you in the fog...

Whisper from Jaguar - Temple of Sacrifice:

Tonight was rather eventful.

We were pretty darn busy, and the scares were good.

I had some girl who started hitting and kicking me when I scared her.   I told her not to touch me and she then put her hand over the bridge of my nose and my forehead, and pushed me.  I opened the emergency exit and told her to get out.  She didn't even fight me.

I actually broke character for the first time in front of a guest.  I had this girl who was crying, obviously VERY upset.  I pulled off my mask so that she could calm down a bit, then I took her by the hand and led her through the maze.  Her family could not thank me enough.   It actually felt pretty darn good.

At one point, at the top of the queue, I had three very frightened girls in different groups that I was calling by name.  I ran back and forth between them for quite a while.  The rest of the guests found it quite amusing.

The employee sale started tonight, and I headed over there on my break and bought a few items.

I also picked up my memory book.

Afterward, we all headed over to Norm's, which was insanely packed.  Then, a few of us headed out and got a hotel room at about 7:30 in the morning.

Just one night left until it is all over...

Whisper from Blood Bayou:

Well, it is now Saturday and I feel the sadness coming on.  We only have tonight and tomorrow night left here at Haunt and this is the time that I don't look forward to.  All year long, all I can think about is getting into my costume and tormenting people that pay to be scared, though I do not look forward to the people that go there thinking they are big bad-asses; if you take away the big and the bad, what you have left are asses, and that is all they are.

My night started off a normal, fun evening, until the bungholes started showing up.  You know - the ones that are just asses.  Within the time span of an hour and a half, I was kicked, slapped, had a shoulder driven into my nose, threatened to have my teeth knocked down my neck and had my mask almost tugged off the back of my head.  Unfortunately, my mask wont come off that way; it will only drag me to the ground on my back.  There is only so much one person can take, so by that point, I was so enraged I felt I needed to go and relax for a few minutes before I did something I would regret.  I went and sat in the break room for about 20 minutes and smoke a few cigs.  I came back out to finish the night with a bang.

This is the last night for voting for the AHAB Awards.  I still have about 10 people that had not voted, but by the end of the night, I got them all to vote so we should have a pretty good race to the finish for some of the awards.

I am off to bed.  Tomorrow night is the last night.  I am beyond sad at this point...

Whisper from Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns From Outer Space:

Huge crowds and great scares!

We were all on tonight, chasing guests and acting clownish.  There were a few unruly fools in the park tonight, and they found that we simply would not tolerate their games.  I personally took a zero-tolerance policy with them and if I even thought they could be a problem, I removed them from the maze myself.

We are short talent, as several people simply could not cut it and had quit, so there was a bit of moving around, trying to cover all the rooms.   And I really think that made it a bit more fun.

Tonight, I actually used a shaker can.  Well, 11 of them in a mesh bag.  I hadn't used one all year, and got the idea from Jabber over in CS.  And it scared the hell out of everyone.

Funny how people like to start drama.  I got a lot of, "Jabber won't like that you stole his idea."  Come on, people!  First off, I doubt he is the first one to use this idea, and second, I told him about it and he was thrilled that I was using it.

Wow!  One more day!

Whisper from The Asylum:

I don't know how to write this entry.  The last one.

Once I had left the park and got into my car, I realized how much I'll miss Haunt.  I also realized why people come back year after year.  This has been the best experience of my life.  I'll definitely be coming back for many years to come.

Whisper from TerrorVision:

What a long, strange trip it's been.  I'll try not to write the same things other Whisperers have already written in years past - and I'll fail - so here it goes anyway:

In many ways, my rookie season at Haunt was nothing like I expected, yet very familiar too.  I'm not new to haunting; I've been doing this kind of work for over 13 years with another haunt, I'm just new to how Knott's does it.  I learned there's not much difference in some areas, a world of difference in others.  Some of it good, some not so much, but it's been a great education and fun experience, for sure.

In part, actual scaring duty was nothing new to me, but the volume and lengthy schedule of it certainly was!  I was in no way prepared for what 25 nights of Haunt actually meant: not in the sleep deprivation, nor in how the schedule would turn my life upside down, and certainly not in the heavy toll Haunting takes on a monster's body.  It'll take quite a while to work out all the kinks, strains, and to get my back on speaking terms with me again.  But I must say, after weeks of aching and hobbling around, Halloween night proved to be a natural pain-killer - as I arrived tonight, I hadn't felt this good in weeks, but that's adrenaline for you!

Tonight's Halloween crowd was much lighter than I expected, but I guess not surprisingly so for a Sunday night.  It was near-perfect scaring conditions for me: small groups naturally separating themselves so I could focus on getting good scares and stringing them out as long as I could.   Very different from the last two nights of sardine-can packing of the maze.  The pace was almost leisurely by comparison, which let me really ENJOY scaring people, and the guests seemed to enjoy it just as much - what a great Halloween gift and high note to end the season on!

I must thank some people: first, to "S" who became my Haunt mentor and guide from the first night of orientation when he pulled us new TerrorVision people together outside the Western gate; he's a generous guy who embodies the spirit of Haunt and the best it has to offer, and this Rook appreciates your support and friendship.

To my partner in crime, "B," who quickly became a pal and another valuable source of Haunt info and education, on matters great and trivial - I salute you and enjoyed scaring with you; we made a good team.

To the entire TerrorVision cast and crew: I'm proud and glad to have served my first tour of duty with you; we endured our share of hard times as the "red-headed stepchild" maze of Haunt, but you all did a great job and proved yourselves to be monsters with character.

Also I thank our talent captain, Tony, our second in command, Richard and our Tech, Dallas: you kept us running, protected us, went the extra mile and frankly, endured a lot of B.S. on our behalf, and we all appreciate your hard work.

Last but not least, to the gang here at TPA including Rick, who in small and big ways also helped me with my Knott's learning curve, from before hire day and orientation to... tonight, our closing night of Haunt fun and madness.

I consider all the above new and valued friends, and hope to see you again soon!

The veil of fog is dissipating for 2004, and with it these observations on our Haunt season.  Thanks again to Rick for asking me to participate in this log of our memories - after some time has gone by, I look forward to reading the entire Whispers '04 again, to see (and remember) just what the hell's been going on these past five weeks!

I hope friends and fans of Haunt enjoyed reading along, and that my own weary observations made sense at least some of the time.  I'm glad for the experience, and despite the exhaustion I feel even now, I wouldn't have traded it for anything.

Until the summer sun wanes and long autumn shadows stretch across the streets of Ghost Town, and the fog once again descends to usher back the next season of mirth and mayhem, I bid you all good night, good bye for now, and peace.

TerrorVision now ends its broadcasting day.  Thanks for tuning in.

Whisper from The Swamp:

Merry Halloween, everyone!  That's right, not only was it a merry Halloween in The Swamp, it also snowed!  No, I'm not joking... seriously.   We even had a Christmas tree!

Anyway, I was just chilling most of the night.  I did a few slides but my legs have had it.  I have spent a lot of time this year sliding and I figured my legs deserve the break that's coming to them.

So that's it!  It's all done for another year.  Here comes the speech, bitches!

Last year was, by far, my worst year at Haunt.  I had a mask problem, along with relationship problems, and it was all in all, a very shitty year (listen to the song "Rhubarb" by Aphex Twin.  That should give you a good idea of how I felt last year).  Not once last year did I say that I wasn't going to come back to Haunt, but I felt that I had lost a lot of what I had gained working in my years before.  But when you put the past behind you, learn from the pains that have taken pieces of you, you become a better person.

This year was no exception, whatsoever.

When I came in this year, it was like I was a completely different person from last year, or the years previous to that.  I came in ready to rock, no matter what the costs were.  It came down to me realizing that I wasn't doing Haunt for the other monsters; I was doing Haunt because I wanted to do it.  All the friends and everything that have come along are just an extra added bonus and all my friends know that I love them very much.

Haunt is one great experience; one I will remember for the rest of my life.  It's not much, other than a little less than a month out of the year with a salary that's less than a fry chef's at McDonalds, but still a lifetime experience, nonetheless.  Everyone that has come along the way, has supported me, helped me, loved me; I will do my best to give it all back tenfold.

This may sound like I'm retiring from Haunt and well, that has yet to be seen.  I'm going to do my very best to keep coming back, but you never know what might happen between now and then.  I just want to let everyone in my Haunt family know that they mean the world to me and I would step in front of a bullet for many of you.

For those of you who worked in The Swamp with me - you guys are the greatest.   You guys have been there to back me up when I bullied the wrong person and, even though you knew it was my fault, you still jumped in and backed me up.  You guys are the best family a guy can have and I do plan to stay in The Swamp for quite a while, so don't any of you go anywhere, either.

For the ones we lost for one reason or another along the Haunt stretch, I, we, missed you guys.  Haunt isn't as much fun without you and I hope you guys can make it back next year and rejoin the family which has had such a great affect on my life.

Thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way, whether you're a fan or a monster, or anything in between; thank you so much.  You have done more than your share to support me and it is the greatest feeling in the world to have such a family as this one.  You are all my flesh, blood and bone and who knows where I would be right now if it wasn't for all of you.

I know I'm going to want to say something else as soon as I get this out so, to cover all that up, thank you one more time.  It has been one hell of a great year and I could not have made it all the way through on my own.  I love you all and maybe we'll meet again in the future.

Whisper from Red Moon Massacre:

Tonight was Halloween.  The last night of Haunt.  It's definitely a bitter-sweet end.

I am glad it's over, 'cause I am sore and tired and in need of rest and recuperation.  I am sad, because it will be another 11 months 'till Haunt starts again.  I will not see most of my Haunt family again until then.

Tonight, I had a lot of fun with the guests.  The ones that I could, I heckled in my monster voice.  It was a lot of fun doing that.  Everyone laughed and played into what I was doing.  The funny thing is... we had screaming and laughter at the same time!

Tonight was not very busy at all.  It felt like a Wednesday or Thursday night.  Toward the end of the night, people were tired and not getting as scared.  Little Red and I worked the lines for a while until they closed the line.

As the night started coming to an end, I sat at Warehouse P watching and listening to everyone.  I saw a lot of hugs, tears, laughter and goodbyes.  It was truly a family-like setting.

I want to thank Theme Park Adventure and the people on the boards for supporting us (monsters) and coming out to see us.  Thanks, Rick, for allowing me to take part in "Whispers."

Until the veil lifts and the fog rolls in... see you next year in the fog!

Whisper from Jaguar - Temple of Sacrifice:

I can't believe that it is over already!  It just now really hit me.  My entire life, for the duration of a month, has come to an end.

We were busy, but not packed, on the final night of Haunt.  Whether it was the fact that it was Halloween, or that I was giving my final hours everything that I could muster, the scares were really quite lovely.

When the maze closed, all of the talent hopped onto Jag and rode it four times straight.  We screamed so loud that the guests below in Fiesta Village were all staring up, wondering what was going on.

There was this elation amongst all of us.  A feeling of completion and contentment, a cycle finished, come full-circle.  There was a really happy vibe when we all hopped aboard the ride.  Any drama and negativity were cast aside.  For that moment, we were free.

There were a lot of tears tonight - and, for once, I think that the majority of them were shed by the employees.

I really did not think that I would be so sad when Haunt ended, but the "What now?" question keeps running through my mind.  A month of wonderful, sweet, exhausting chaos and then a sudden, cold return to the humdrum of everyday life.

For me, however, it may be a bit more conclusive than for others.  Circumstances next year may prohibit me from returning to the monster family.  It feels like this end is really final.

However, the sadness is bitter-sweet.  Feeling down because it has ended merely means that I had an incredible time when it was happening.   I will try my hardest to work (and write for you) again next year.   Even if I am unable to work, the memories and friendships from this past month will be in my heart always.

To my fellow monsters - I adore you all!

Until (hopefully) next year, this is the Whisper from Jaguar signing out.

Whisper from Blood Bayou:

Well, here we are, at the end the last night the final curtain.  Though I am sad, I am also glad.  My body has had enough.  I am sure it wouldn't be so bad if I did not work a day job, but I do.

Tonight, I think I had as much fun as one person working Haunt could possibly have.  I got to work with one of the best monsters in the park.  He is a rodeo clown on Ghost Town streets and he is the counterpart to, who many believe to be the best monster the park has seen - his name is Monstar, and he is one of my personal friends, and one of the greatest guys I know.

I am glad I was asked to take on the role of the Bayou Whisperer.  I am, however, sad that some nights I did not write as much as I could have.  I want to give a huge thank you to Rick West and the TPA team for the coverage they give to the park and the inside look they give to the readers; if only we could reach everyone that goes to the Haunt, maybe then we could have a perfect park where no monster is assaulted and the guest can just go and join their imagination and enjoy what we have to offer.  For this attempt, I also thank Rick and TPA.

To all the readers, I hope to see you all next year.  Thank you all for your support and enthusiasm; you are the reason we all stick around to work each and every year.  So until then, have an awesome year...

TPA's 2004 Blood Bayou Whisperer

Whisper from Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns From Outer Space:

Last night.

It was slow; not too slow, but slow enough that we all got to screw around a bit and have a bit more fun with the guests.  On Saturday night after we closed, we found a fish in our maze, most likely from another maze because of us telling all the guests to say "fishy" every time they see a monster in the beginning of the run.  But our uber-tech managed to clean it up and the smell was gone.  We retaliated by telling the guests to say "clown fish" to the monsters, and did not let it get us down.

Used the bag-O-shaker cans again, which I have dubbed the "Clown Chainsaw," and found that if I slide and bounce it on the ground, it is even more effective than any other method.

At the end of the night, we gathered outside for a final pic and began the final trek to Warehouse P, where we waited in line for an hour for our final "incentive" - hats and employee t-shirts that had way too many misspellings on them.  I wonder if Knott's checks these things.  I mean, "Gauntlet" isn't that hard to spell, and I am a spelling retard!

Afterward, a bunch of us clowns ended up at Norm's and stayed till dawn, sharing stories and tired recounts of the past month.

On the plus side this year, I had: one puker, two pissers, dozens of people that ran into walls trying to escape and five people that just couldn't stay in the maze.

On the down side: one busted-up and bruised hand, five kicks/shoulders/slaps in the groin, one twisted ankle, miscellaneous cuts on my hands and arms and more mystery bruises than I can count.

It was a great year at Haunt, and I enjoyed being your C3 Whisperer.

I can't wait for Haunt '05!

Clown Fish

Whisper from San Francisco:

And that's a wrap for Halloween Haunt 2004's Whispers in the Fog.  It's taken a bit longer to finish than I'd anticipated, but like many of the participants this time around, I found myself quite ill half-way through October and it took its toll; I was unable to catch up with all of the Whispers pouring in to my Inbox.  Thanks for being so patient with us while we've played catch-up!

I'd like to thank all of our participants this year for giving so selflessly of yourselves.  God knows, the last thing I'd want to do after being at Haunt all night would be to come home and write.  All I would want would be my bed, pillow and sleep.

Being a part of Whispers in the Fog sounds like a blast at first to just about everyone.  However, everyone involved soon becomes aware (sometimes painfully) that it's a difficult, long road.  It's anything but a cake walk.  I like to think of it as Theme Park Adventure's own version of Survivor.  Everyone starts off strong, but by the end, only a handful usually remain.  It's that small group that I am especially proud of - not only have they toughed it out and delivered, they've succeeded in doing what we have set out to do each year - give our readers an open, honest, no bullshit look at the inner-workings of Knott's Scary Farm.

Not all of it is pretty, perhaps there is too much drama and maybe it disappoints some readers to learn that Haunt monsters are only human, just like all of us.  On the other hand, I'd like to think that Whispers not only enlightens, but encourages future monsters out there to want to become part of this special group of people.  I can only hope that there are teens out there reading through Whispers thinking that they want a piece of the action themselves next year - or maybe the year after that; as soon as they are old enough to do it.

And I can only hope that fans and casual visitors of the Scary Farm read Whispers and understand the hard work and back-breaking effort these people make for us on a nightly basis at Knott's.  And that goes for the entire crew - from monsters to blackouts, from show performers to security officers, from the folks selling 3-D glasses to Jack Falfas, who never seems to sleep during Haunt and who supports his employees 100%.

We're honored to give the public a glimpse inside the world of Haunt.  In October, more than 37,000 people wandered over to TPA to see what was happening in the world of the Scary Farm; that is a record for us - and I am confident that we gave them just what they were looking for and then some.

The coverage continues now into the end of the year - but this chapter comes to a close.  The voices have fallen silent and the whispers disappear in the breeze.  Winter is coming quickly; there is a chill in the air that will be thawed by the warmth of spring.  Then comes summer and before you know it, we'll be sitting here together again listening to the wind howl through the eaves and the whispers from the darkness.

As always, it's been an incredible journey - I probably get the biggest kick out of Whispers than anyone else.  After hours of editing and posting them on the site, it's impossible not to become emotionally involved with this group of people's stories.  When they come to an end, it's very sad for me - I have ties to all of these people and feel I have made the journey with them, albeit from 500 miles away.

Enough rambling for one year.  I'm proud of our Whispers 2004 team; they kicked ass and survived through boredom, asshat guests, floods, points, flaring egos and all of the trials that make Haunt... Haunt.

Thank you all.