Scaring for a living

One of the "Worries" of running a haunt-business is hoping people return to see your "show" again.
Halloween and scaring people also get into possibly many people slipping into a "Revenge" mode, (In case you never noticed this or didn't realize it?)
Why do haunt customers punch actors? Why do haunt customer vandalize props? Revenge for scaring them , or They are Drunk, (Or after the assault, pretend to be? might be the two major reasons theses problems happen.
I satisfy my own person little EGO-TRIP by building up the anticipation, then scaring them with a 10-cent item, that is so common that they probably threw some of those same items into their own household trash that week before they came to see my place.
For the most part my scares have not made the majority of my patrons into people seeking revenge,but rather seeking a second or third time through here with friends to then watch their friends reactions to the silly things I do .
One very well-known man in this business once gave me a very unlikely item for a haunt,I have since used that item in every tour and even gotten some extreme reactions from other Haunters! Some of which had bragged:"I have never gotten scared in any haunted house!" then they fell to the floor, or jumped straight up into the air as they said ,"AGH!!
Two very proficient haunters were very bothered by just being seated in my front room watching a video (As they sat there with maybe 15 other haunters) I had made and were actually thinking they might be killed! This was all ruined when my Wife walked into the room carrying "Mister Tuxedo", then they thought things just might be more normal here than not.
I also used to use "Mister Tuxedo", the actual live cat to scare many people...being open every night and weekend afternoons gave me So Much time and so many experiences to experiment using my ideas that most will never have, I'm not saying I'm super-smart or anything like that, Contrare! I have had the on-going opportunity to keep on trying things, that's all.

You should check out Hauntcon here: http://hauntcon.com/

I've never been but I randomly saw an article about it a few months ago. It's an offseason con event for haunt enthusiasts to share ideas, sell and buy things, and generally just learn about and make connections in the haunt community. I'm sure you can find out about year round events.

Also, look up horror websites like bloody-disgusting.com, shocktillyoudrop.com, and dreadcentral.com. They're pretty good year round sites that keep you informed on all what is going on in the horror genre and community. Sometimes you can find out about events there as well.

I know you said you don't want to run a haunt, but you might be able to find an existing haunt that could use volunteers or seasonal workers to assist in the planning and set up but would not require you in any way be in charge of the event. Although you're not scaring year round, it might be nice simply to be involved and to assist with the planning and work that goes into it, you may find fulfillment doing that, and especially knowing that when the time does come you will be actively dishing out the scares that you helped set up. I'm sure the longer and more involved you get, the more input and ideas you'll be able to provide as well with whoever does run the haunt. I know in the Virginia/Maryland area there are numerous forest haunts that set up pretty extensive walk throughs in wilderness areas. I was in Washington DC a few years ago in October and drove to one about an hour out of the city. I was impressed, it was pretty immersive and obviously required a lot of planning and work to set it up. That might be your best bet is to just get involved with a seasonal haunt that requires year round work. And from there you might actually end up learning about a year round haunt, or something.

I'm the same way, I don't think I would ever want to run a holiday type business. I love Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years too much that I would never want the stress of running a business to overtake my enjoyment of the season. Right now it's just a hobby for me that I start gearing up for in August so by the time the season gets here in mid-September I am ready to decorate and participate and start doing the things I enjoy. But I could probably see myself at some point getting involved in a similar capacity as what I described.