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Eastern Haunters Convention would like to thank everyone!

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  • Eastern Haunters Convention would like to thank everyone!

    I'm going to need a few days to unpack and get caught up with all my emails, but Michael and I just wanted to send out a huge thank you to everyone who attended the Eastern Haunters Convention. We will be putting up pictures, video and more on the website in the upcoming weeks as well as announcements for next year.


    ======== FRIDAY : BUS TOUR ===================



    First, I do not think I can thank Brett, Jason and all the Eastern State Penitentiary staff enough for the professional manner and amazing time we had at their event. When we arrived, the red carpet had been set out, Brett gave us a wonderful introduction for all of the tour guests, and the Eastern State Penitentiary tour guides took over. What an amazing site to see!

    If you have never taken their Museum tour, I highly recommended it, they are open during the days almost all year long!

    Then, Brett and Jason had a special arrangement for us, the entire Wing of Al Capone's cell had been locked down and turned into a catering hall! We all had lunch in the wing and the actual jail cells.

    The Eastern State staff were so helpful, and everything was so well laid out for us....the food was incredible. Michael and Brett had arranged a local Philly restaurant to supply staff and endless food. We could not believe the variety and 5 star quality of the food....from salmon, to salads, fresh rolls, and roast beef, portabello mushrooms, etc.

    Then, the real fun began. Brett claimed that he only had a skeletal staff of actors, but it sure did not feel like that. Between the actors he had, and the famous BAD BOYS SCENIC DESIGN, there were plenty of scares and screams going on. It felt like it was a full running halloween night.

    From Lock Down, to a very well done 3D attraction, touring such a massive stone building itself setup an atmosphere like no other.....I don't want to give away secrets, but this is surely a haunt you do not want to miss around Halloween. The quality of the scenes and props were just great.

    Then, we got back onto the bus, and headed out to the Mutter Museum......
    What a really neat place....
    The best way to describe it would be if someone very scientific, was to start collecting all the old exhibits you used to see in Side Shows at Carnivals.

    "Alive! Alive! Alive!"

    There were some really disturbing sites to see, and anatomical anomolies. There were so many things I never knew existed with the actual skulls and body parts preserved to prove it. One example was people really having a disease that makes them grow large horns (cartilage). Everything from the Mysterious Soap Lady, to complete anatomies of conjoined twins. It is amazing that someone over a hundred years ago decided to gather all this knowledge into one medical location....entire walls of real human skulls, eyes, spines, and flesh. This was a unique attraction for sure!


    Our next step took us the Fright Factory. I had seen their You Tube videos on line so I was really anxious to see how this attraction was, and I was not disappointed.

    When we first arrived, Aven had his staff all prepared and ready for us. They had a large area that was completely setup for us complete with tables, chairs and a great theme. The entire area was dark....a huge evil tree (custom made by Aven and his staff) and broken statues littered this graveyard like atomosphere.

    We learned about the history of Fright Factory, and as well as some of the design aspects while dinner was being prepared.....
    - And speaking of Dinner!!!
    The Food was incredible.....((I have to stop taking these trips, between Eastern State and Fright Factory I think I gained 5 pounds!!!)).

    I had only learned this year, that The Famous John Burton's brother owned a B-B-Q company in New Jersey. It was only a short drive for him and his crew to have everything prepared for us at the Fright Factory.

    The food was MELT IN YOUR MOUTH. I have honestly never tasted better BBQ in my life....the meat just melted off the bones and into your mouth. Hot buttered Jersey Corn, Fresh Bread, Chicken....I felt like I was at an incredible Gothic Picnic at Tara

    Then, Aven unleased one of his specialties...the use of Video in a haunt. They had a beautiful huge backlit Video screen showing a 30+ minute video preshow of the haunt.

    It really set the tone for the haunt. My hats off to the quality of the video....it gives you the feeling that you are watching your local news channel and that you are safe at home watching TV, looking at a horrific event. However, you are about to enter that horrific event!!!!

    We toured all three of their events, and their staff were amazing....the attention to detail with their makeup department was superb (that girl with the cage head like the Jackel in 13 ghosts always got me!!!)

    If you have never seen the Frightfactory, is a great and very long tour. They did amazing detail for such a large area......well worth the cost of admission.

    Then, Aven gave us a lights on tour and you REALLY got to see the detail....I noticed so many more things I missed in the regular tour...I really loved that Pumpkin King foil type of statue in their cemetary....

    Finally, we headed back to the Hotel for the meet and greet run by John Burton.



    ======== SATURDAY : CONVENTION ===================

    On Saturday morning, Michael got up early and did the full walk through to make sure everything was ready. I was busy preparing all the registration information and putting the last minute touches on my booths for the Museum of Mythology. For years I have wanted to display many of my items but there has never been a location or convention that made sense to do it. My market would be the four states near New Jersey (New York, PA, Delaware and Maryland) and I was really excited to get some feedback.

    This was our first year so I really didn't know what to expect, and I'm sure many of the vendors felt the same way. I knew I was going overboard with my booths, but I was impressed by how many vendors were just as crazy as myself!!!

    I salute Jeremy from the Creepy Collection for his booth......what a Crazy Setup! We had people talking about it all weekend long constantly!!!! The signs alone were enough to make you KNOW what a fun industry we have....Bloody Rabbits $15! ...as Don King would say --> "Only in America"

    We were glad to see the bustle of activity with the vendors, and so many of the vendors had such a big hit that many of them signed up for next year right on the spot.

    I thought there was going to be some fights at the Specter Studios booths with so many people rummaging through their bins fighting over what to purchase before it was gone.

    We also got to learn about Halloween Scream, a great year round store selling Halloween product at incredible prices.....if you need large Foam Chain for example..this is the place to go. He was one of the nicest people I met the entire convention and it made my weekend.

    So many vendors, and so many ideas swirling in my head from them all... Castle Blood debuted new statue lines that were incredible....Tatoo is already talking about driving down next year just to drive back with those!

    Der Mord had some really interesting devices never before seen by the industry and the air cannons on display by Hollywood Controls were amazingly loud! Also, they had probably the best intense strobe light I had seen.

    The Hot Wire Foam Factory was a big hit, and they even had to sell their display pieces due to the demand for product....they were a LOT of fun to talk to and I was so happy to show them many of the things I created for the museum out of foam.

    One vendor I couldn't believe had so much product and variety was 'Rotten Jacks Creep Shack'. I heard quite a few people talk about hard to get items that they had in stock...the liquors shirt was a fan favorite....

    Grendel's Den wowed me with their Cthulu style (and singing ability, as well as sense of humor - hehe..."Look, a Jedi!"), Safari Anomolous had a bee wall that would have made Disney jealous, and Mr Skeleton should have been Mr Order Talking Skeleton.

    This was also the first chance I had to see F!@#!ed up stuff, if you get a chance to see them, really take notice of the quality of their work....even down to the detail of the eyes....I look forward to seeing more product of theirs in the future.

    I also was able to pick up tons of contact lenses (I had not gotten a chance to see the Contact Lens company since 2004)....always a great great product.

    I think the best line we heard of the day though came from John Denley of Boneyard productions. He was talking to John Burton and told him, "I looked at my watch and I had made back the entire cost of this trip in the first 42 minutes of the convention"

    Robert Kocher & Michael Bruner
    Eastern Haunters Convention

    ---- Next post....seminars and the Costume Ball
    Robert Kocher
    Xanthar of the Museum

    The Village of Darkness
    www.TheVillageOfDarkness.com

  • #2
    Mhc

    Thanks Rob - the props for the set up goes to my partner ( business not life) Robert Dudzieck, our general manager Brian ( Ombie) Koppen and Robert's friend Matt . I also would like to thank our actors and the other actors we had that came from The Scare Brothers , The DingelBerry ( or smething like that Neil or Chet help me out here ) Fire Dept and Chris from Festival of Fear and Frightful Nights.
    The chef for the evening was supplied by Michael and the Convention and was Joel Burton brother to Splat King John Burton who spoke at the seminars. Additional entertainment for the evening was supplied by my four year old son Noah ,who thinks every kid lives like this .

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    • #3
      You guys did a great job for this year's EHC, it was great catching up with some old friends and meeting some new ones.

      Allan

      Comment


      • #4
        Seminars!!!

        The Seminars worked out very well....so well that it caused us a problem.

        We had gotten a large room for the seminars, which held 75 seats.....we figured....no problem

        Boy were we wrong....

        So many of the seminars quickly became standing room only! Every time Tattoo opened his mouth, more people squeezed in......John Burton, Ricky Dick, and John Denley all had the same problem....so many of the original founders of the industry.

        We had all the seats filled, all the standing spaces filled, and I had to turn away about 20 people for some of the seminars....we are going to have to get a much bigger room next year for that...we were floored by the response to the seminars.

        The only glitch we had was the Larry seminar.....prior to the seminar the room was jammed packed with people (all holding HauntWorld magazines) waiting for Larry. His lecture was one of the most anticipated lectures of the day and quite a few people were talking about it. Unfortunetly, Larry had a last minute large media engagement and although Larry tried to make it in time, he could not. We held out for as long as we could, but then just had another speaker fill in. Many were dissapointed, but everyone understood and also knows that Larry is very busy. Hopefully we can offer the chance to have him speak again in the future...he always has a large eager crowd!

        I got a chance to listen to the entire Voice from Hell Seminar.....Dick Terhune is a really great guy with some really cool knowledge...I recommend him sometime...

        Rob
        Robert Kocher
        Xanthar of the Museum

        The Village of Darkness
        www.TheVillageOfDarkness.com

        Comment


        • #5
          Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!
          Lordgrimley.com for the very best items on the net.

          Comment


          • #6
            Here are few pictures from the make-up war and the costume ball. We all had a great time!
            First picture is of all the entries. The female prison guard from Terror Behind the Walls won, and our unrehearsed creation, Delmer, took 2nd place.
            The last pic is of some of our people with Ricky Dick at the costume ball.
            Attached Files
            sigpic
            Louis Brown
            Owner, operator, and dish washer
            at
            DarkWood Manor

            Comment


            • #7
              Sounds like a great time was had. Wish I could have went. Oh, well, always next year.

              Comment


              • #8
                There was a convention ?

                There was a convention ?

                Seriously - it was an incredible time and I was pleasantly shocked at how well our
                vendors did. ( John Denly covered all of his expenses and made a profit in the first 42 minutes of the con) Most of our vendors have already requested double the table space for next year.

                The seminars ? Almost all of them were STANDING ROOM ONLY!! Good Lord, do I need to book a movie theater here ?

                It seems that we have created an incredible success here. (and we need to expand already - oh joy...-> mild sarcasm.)

                NOTE: One quick correction to Rob's extremely detailed post above- the Meet and Greet was run by our EXTREMELY talented vendor laison Daelynn Farrell (who btw - made the convention a smashing success by making all sure of our vendors were well fed and cared for and loved)

                Michael ( and I wanted today off to rest ) Bruner
                Michael Bruner

                The National Haunters Convention - OVER 100 vendor booths!
                Valley Forge, PA
                http://www.nationalhauntersconvention.com

                The Cadavers Cotillion
                http://www.cadaverscotillion.com

                Get behind the scenes tours to the best haunted attractions!
                http://www.haunttour.com

                `

                Comment


                • #9
                  ...

                  Yes, special thanks to Daelynn who actually filled in doing a few jobs that we didn't even know existed.

                  She even rotated Eastern Haunters Convention staff into vendor tables during seminars.....and all were thankful. It is staff like her that really help us run such major events....
                  Robert Kocher
                  Xanthar of the Museum

                  The Village of Darkness
                  www.TheVillageOfDarkness.com

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Write up a report with pics so we can print this in the next magazine!!! Give us the scoop on all the details on '09 so we can release that in the next magazine.

                    Larry
                    Larry Kirchner
                    President
                    www.HalloweenProductions.com
                    www.BlacklightAttractions.com
                    www.HauntedHouseSupplies.com
                    www.HauntedHouseMagazine.com

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Thanks again everyone. we went and where fortunate enough to go on the haunt tour as well. I have to say for a first year con it truly was amazing. I wish they had more vendors(but it's a first year convention) but at the same time the fact that it was still small was also a benefit because we got to know a bunch of really cool people. there where lots of giveaways and once you got talking with the vendors lots of info and freebees including cool little $5 chips that where good for any of the vendors given away for answering trivia in between panels. The panels needed more space(again it's a first year convention) but you couldn't overlook the quality of the speakers and most where useful for yard haunters as well as industry pro's. most of the people we talked to ended up spending more than they had planned on the vendors once they where at the convention but again and again they where happy to have done it. I can't stress enough tho if you missed it this year plan on going next year and make it on the tour. it was horrific from the start and you cant beat not having to stand in lines for the haunts and then getting behind the scenes with the people who run them but you heard the details above. I'm gonna say it was more than worth every penny (at twice the price < / psycho smile >). look forward to seeing everyones pictures hopefully the new site will have a gallery of the best. this nearly outgrew itself already so where do we sign up now for the next two years?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Thanks Guys!

                        I had a great time at the convention, all three days were awesome and I thought the bus tour alone was well worth the $250.00. We met alot of great people, picked up alot of haunt tips and spent way to much money. Thanks guys for all that you did to put together the EHC, it was my first convention but it won't be my last. Thanks again!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I want to say to, as vendor liason for the EHC, that my vendors were wonderful to me and the EHC crew and were so easy to deal with! I appreciated every one of them! Thanks to Michael and Rob for giving me the opportunity to be part of this wonderful creation on greased wheels!
                          Thanks to all my vendors, staff (Neil, Dan, Larry, my hubby John, Titas and Sue) and the people who came. I met you in the bar, in the halls, and in the vendor rooms and you were all great!

                          Thanks!
                          Daelynn Farrell

                          And thank you Stabbo for.......whatever you do! LOL
                          Last edited by daynjohn; 05-06-2008, 05:06 PM.

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                          • #14
                            Thanks Daelynn

                            Daelynn,
                            Thanks for that little extra attention you gave us :wink:
                            See ya next year.

                            Scott & Kathy
                            Scott Ames

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Loking forward to having you as vendors next year guys! :-D

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