[Gym Whourlfeld]

I ever was a witness to, to achieve a free admission to my Haunted House, happened several years ago now, but I just had to tell about it again, because it was So Stupid!
Two wagons of Campers from 2 miles away arrived late in the afternoon, we had been busy, it was "The Fall". There might have been 30 or more people getting off of the wagons?
Half of these people were waving sheets of typing paper . They had "Free Admission" "Coupons" in their hot little hands!
They were pieces of white typing paper with a faded copy-attempt and all it said was "Good For a Free admission to ANY HAUNTED HOUSE!"
No date, no year, no name of any Haunt, no saying who might have provided this "wonderful" "coupon, either!
I really felt like typing out a coupon for them saying:"Good for a free brand new car of your choice, just take this to any car dealer." I mean, that is ALL it would have to say on it to get a free , new Car, right?
I had never seen anything so incredibly stupid. A few of them actually thought they had a chance of free entry with this piece of paper.
"WOW!?"
Many of them did pay, get their ticket and go through.
Some I am sure had too much "Egg" on their face to hang around very long. (Our Cats would have licked it off for them! ) For Free!

 

[nosefuratyou]

You don't say how old they were. Kids will try most anything but if it was adults that's pretty lame.

 

[DaveintheGrave]

That is pretty lame.
Gym, you should have let them in for free. Then charge them $40 each to GET OUT !

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

These were mostly adults, maybe very stupid adults, but still tall and old.
Some groups and Taverns sponser hay racks for drinking locations, thankfully not so often anymore.
The only hay rack suitable (in my opinion) had a huge steel pipe cage encompassing the entire thing, nobody could ever become victim to stupidity or gravity with that design.

 

[22606]

Probably a pub crawl-induced moment of brilliance

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

Minutes ago I had a call from "Tater" he and others were on the Bus in Alabama and they were headed back to the Hotel. Many of those Bus-riders had never heard of my Haunt, the Ravens Grin Inn.so Tater passed me around as i talked awhile about my house.
The second guy who was handed Tater's phone heard me say this... in a falsetto voice :"Who is this? Tater is passing me around, I'm not working right now, he knows better... and so it went. Whoever the person was listening to me began laughing.

So.. I never left my haunt tonight, yet I was still on a bus in Alabama!

 

[TheHalloweenGuru]

I don't know man, those plans sounded pretty solid

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

Then the "other" dialog: There they are at my ticket window, total strangers, first time they have ever seen my house...."HI BUDDY! HI PAL! How about a Discount!?'

"No Discounts."
"Oh, come on PAL! We drove a long ways to get here."
" Most people do."
"You mean we have to drive all the way back home and not go through your house?"
"I guess so?"
"Have you ever been here before and taken the tour?"
"No."
"Then why would you think you know what a tour of this house is worth? It takes "Time", it's a guided tour, it takes at least an hour or more to complete, there are seven physical levels here , plus the backyard, we have mazes, Slides, displays, hidden doors, passageways a tunnel under the the ground, my own artwork, and devices I have designed and build, I try to not copy other people's "Stuff", and I talk about the History of this house along with it's "Haunted History" which all means the tour might be 90 minutes long." (90 minutes scares away some, intrigues others) The tour is adjustable for the timid, or small children, we can also adjust the tour to fit your time schedule.
What you will be seeing here is one man's work for the last (now) 29 Years, this all I do for a living, and I have been Open almost every night of the year plus Saturday and Sunday afternoons (unless some dire,unforeseen event might have happened )
there is so much to see here and so much going on, that these factors alone make it impossible for anyone to see or remember, everything here.
Add to this, i have so many different routines I can do here (I don't like to be bored, either!) and there are "paths" we can take through here .
A tour of this house that would see me taking someone around here to see and do everything and see all of my routines and effects might require.. 5 hours?
Or more?
Admission here is $15---

 

[spiney99]

Bravo. I would say print out your discount response and paste it to the ticket window. Well said.

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

"Spiney"----- My first year open my admission was $2.oo, All I had to show wasn't too much.(Old house+wine cellar)

Two young guys were looking at the outside of my house, but the one balked at paying the $2.oo

My question to him was:"Have you ever been through the house before?"
"No, he had not.'"
"Well then how do know how much it's worth? If I had built the" Only" Cadillac convertible,
and you wanted to buy it, you said it was worth $1.98 and i said it was worth $80,000, who do you think
would have better idea as to its worth, me or you?"
When I was finally convinced (by others) that I should then raise admission to $3.oo I built a flame effect
that came out of the tail of the crashed UFO on the roof of my cupola! (Real Flames 50,000BTUs worth!)
Someone would say:"Three dollars!?"
I would push the remote control in my pocket, the lights on it's landing gear would turn on, the flames
Would shoot out the back, making rocket-like rumbling sound!
The customer would be transfixed by the sight, reach into their pocket and hand me the money, never
looking away from the "Show" on the roof!

"I had to raise the admission, because I raised the house!" (Built the cupola, added the flame effect.)

 

[Greenwick]

$2 for even a not very elaborate haunt is still pretty cheap.

i can't imagine driving a long way to go to a haunted house & pretending I wouldn't go in without a discount. Very silly.

 

[spiney99]

Crazy..I have visited several haunts this past season in south Jersey and each was a minimum of $30 after all was said and done. $15 is a steal.
I get that we live in a society where everything is negotiable, but that boggles the mind.

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

For years I would always ask my customers (at the end of the house tour here) "What is THE Most scary, incredible thing you have ever seen in another haunt?"
Sadly, often times they would shrug? Say little or nothing........
One guy told me he returns a large venue haunt every October hoping that they have done some new things.. but they haven't and they have raised their ticket price every year, now well over twice my small-town rate.. but then HE keeps going back and paying Them more money ?? So I guess He's all right doing that?
Many critiques ago I realized the simple adage :"What ever "Works".... "Works!"
We each like to sometimes think that we know something the other guy doesn't , but even if that was true, if whatever he is doing, showing to people works for him and them, then how can anyone be very critical of it?
It's "Working"!

 

[McBernes]

Gym, for all that you are offering in your haunt $15 is VERY generous! 29 years is a huge investment.