Tweet
Let me begin by saying thanks to those of you who replied to my last post...both here and privately. As I continue to wade through a lifetime of memories, collectables, and all things haunted, my frustration continues to build. My question is simple...what does one do with 30 / 35 years worth of Halloween/ horror/ haunting?
I don't know how many of you have visited the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame...but if you haven't it is something you need to do before you shed your mortal body. It is fabulous on any number of levels. You have to be thankful for those old things that have escaped the garbage dumpster as it would have been so easy for so much to have ended up there.
Another great place to visit is Sam Phillips' Sun Studios in Memphis. This guy discovered Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and of course Elvis. There is an "X" on the studio floor. That is exactly where Elvis stood when he recorded "That's all right mama". The stories and the memorbelia are priceless.
So as I stand here looking at the front of the New York Daily News from the summer of 1983 and read how a Haunted House Fire at Great Adventure killed 8 kids, as I thumb through the first Haunted House book by Phil Morris, as I find a catalog by Denny Dehm, or Spookems, or any one of the dozens and dozens of companies that have long ago gone away...I have to ask...what is to become of us and our history? As I sift through my archives I know the process has already begun. How many of you remember Trisha Drain? She headed the Transworld seminars before Dennis Gorg (who some of you may not remember). We all know the terrific job Steve Kopelman has done with Thrillvania. Does everyone remember the name Lance Pope or do that name not ring true with all of you? Who was JB Corn? We all took the Transworld tour in Kansas City back in November. How does Dennis Kingsolver play into that?
My point is that although it is highly unlikely, how cool would it be to have a Haunters Museum? A place where in decades to come the world of Haunting, Halloween, and Horror could put their finger down and say HERE...RIGHT HERE...this is how it started, these are the guys that blazed the trail that we today are walking. Look at those old posters, those old tee shirts, listen to that guy Rich Hanf talk about standin tall and doin it all...look at the web site that came before Hauntworld, look at that first issue of Haunted Attraction, Fright Times, check out those old Transworld show programs, and so much more.
I promise you this. What I am doing now, you guys will also do. It might not be til next year, or in 5 years, or for some of you maybe it won't be for 20 years...but you all will do it. And when you do you will ask yourself one simple question. Throw or NO?
As I look at the first Cinema Secret or Morris catalog...throw or no? As I look at the How to Manual by Michael Cruz...throw or no? How anout the VORTA tapes personally sent to my by Drew Hunter years before he was IAHA's first President...hell...years before there was even an IAHA? Throw or no? How about this old newspaper clipping from the Dallas Morning News which talks about this frustrated architect that designes haunted houses when he is not designing car dealerships? Throw or no? Because if I say Throw em...and years from now you say Throw em...we become an industry without a past...without a History.
I don't know if we will ever get a building...maybe a museum could be set up in some tractor trailers and rolled out only at Transworld time. As we approach another Transworld show all I know is this... if we don't start thinking about this now, by the time we need it...it will already be too late.
Speaking of Transworld...Haunts come and go. People come and go. Spookyworld (the original) proved that. There is a lot of Flux in this business. The one constant in our history has been Transworld. They have always been there. They have always been the rock...the one thing that could be counted on in a business that doesn't allow you to count on much. When your foot hits that tradeshow floor you know you are "there" you know you are "home". Through the good times and the bad Transworld has always looked upon us as their own...as family. There are other tradeshows of sorts... but no other show is as important...has the history, knows the history...is in every way part of our history...if we ever do have a museum of haunting, Transworld has to be right in the middle of it. Rich Hanf
I don't know how many of you have visited the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame...but if you haven't it is something you need to do before you shed your mortal body. It is fabulous on any number of levels. You have to be thankful for those old things that have escaped the garbage dumpster as it would have been so easy for so much to have ended up there.
Another great place to visit is Sam Phillips' Sun Studios in Memphis. This guy discovered Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and of course Elvis. There is an "X" on the studio floor. That is exactly where Elvis stood when he recorded "That's all right mama". The stories and the memorbelia are priceless.
So as I stand here looking at the front of the New York Daily News from the summer of 1983 and read how a Haunted House Fire at Great Adventure killed 8 kids, as I thumb through the first Haunted House book by Phil Morris, as I find a catalog by Denny Dehm, or Spookems, or any one of the dozens and dozens of companies that have long ago gone away...I have to ask...what is to become of us and our history? As I sift through my archives I know the process has already begun. How many of you remember Trisha Drain? She headed the Transworld seminars before Dennis Gorg (who some of you may not remember). We all know the terrific job Steve Kopelman has done with Thrillvania. Does everyone remember the name Lance Pope or do that name not ring true with all of you? Who was JB Corn? We all took the Transworld tour in Kansas City back in November. How does Dennis Kingsolver play into that?
My point is that although it is highly unlikely, how cool would it be to have a Haunters Museum? A place where in decades to come the world of Haunting, Halloween, and Horror could put their finger down and say HERE...RIGHT HERE...this is how it started, these are the guys that blazed the trail that we today are walking. Look at those old posters, those old tee shirts, listen to that guy Rich Hanf talk about standin tall and doin it all...look at the web site that came before Hauntworld, look at that first issue of Haunted Attraction, Fright Times, check out those old Transworld show programs, and so much more.
I promise you this. What I am doing now, you guys will also do. It might not be til next year, or in 5 years, or for some of you maybe it won't be for 20 years...but you all will do it. And when you do you will ask yourself one simple question. Throw or NO?
As I look at the first Cinema Secret or Morris catalog...throw or no? As I look at the How to Manual by Michael Cruz...throw or no? How anout the VORTA tapes personally sent to my by Drew Hunter years before he was IAHA's first President...hell...years before there was even an IAHA? Throw or no? How about this old newspaper clipping from the Dallas Morning News which talks about this frustrated architect that designes haunted houses when he is not designing car dealerships? Throw or no? Because if I say Throw em...and years from now you say Throw em...we become an industry without a past...without a History.
I don't know if we will ever get a building...maybe a museum could be set up in some tractor trailers and rolled out only at Transworld time. As we approach another Transworld show all I know is this... if we don't start thinking about this now, by the time we need it...it will already be too late.
Speaking of Transworld...Haunts come and go. People come and go. Spookyworld (the original) proved that. There is a lot of Flux in this business. The one constant in our history has been Transworld. They have always been there. They have always been the rock...the one thing that could be counted on in a business that doesn't allow you to count on much. When your foot hits that tradeshow floor you know you are "there" you know you are "home". Through the good times and the bad Transworld has always looked upon us as their own...as family. There are other tradeshows of sorts... but no other show is as important...has the history, knows the history...is in every way part of our history...if we ever do have a museum of haunting, Transworld has to be right in the middle of it. Rich Hanf
Comment