http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/S...20News/1956896/

The haunt business is probably one of the hardest to get started in, that is if looking to have a average size attraction, the initial cash outlay and with credit issues now, I wouldn't excpect a lot of new big houses to open anytime soon.

I have read a few articles on The Beast and The Edge of Hell and the attractions sound amazing.

Locally I recomend anyone check out Dead Acres aka the Haunted Hoochie near Columbus. Absolutely amazing attraction.

Great find Terpy.

Yeah, it is a big investment. But, my cousin just got a house on this huge farm with tons of forest area (A little over 10 Acres overall) and I am trying to convince him to open up a haunted trail. He already has tractors to pull hayrides (He even made one for his son's birthday party) so it would just be paying for actors (which me and my friends would gladly do for free) and some haunted scenery. Really it would probably only be a few thousand dollar investment. Charging $15 a person with 2000 people over the few week haunt season would equal around $30,000. Minus the scenery he would still make $20,000 which sounds pretty good to me.

Man $15 is pretty steep. I only know of a few massive haunts like Dead Acres and Land of Illusions that can charge $15 or more. You might consider $5 to get the crowds and lower their expectations for the haunt. Also the driving force or any haunt is marketing and advertising. Just because you build it, does not mean they will come. Trust me if it were that easy, everybody and their brother would have a haunted house.

It takes lots of planning and money to do something like a haunted house. Its not somethign you can just crap out.

If you are putting one of these on, do NOT forget the insurance. If you have none, and someone falls or is injured, or just claims to do so or be injured, you could easily lose everything you have, even if you succeed in any litigation. A word to the wise....

If you are putting one of these on, do NOT forget the insurance. If you have none, and someone falls or is injured, or just claims to do so or be injured, you could easily lose everything you have, even if you succeed in any litigation. A word to the wise....

And that is where the cost-outlay is...in the insurance.

It is the same way with Demolition Derby Promoters. Anyone can put a demo derby on, but few can be successful at it like my parents were in the late 80's. Activities where people can be injured have astronomical insurance costs, and that can make starting them not feasible.

And do NOT make the mistake of thinking that a homeowner's policy or umbrella will cover the situation. Particularly if a fee is charged, in all likelihood, it will NOT. This is not guessing time. Find out. For sure. And if you can't afford the insurance, you really can't afford to do it. Period.

Not to mention if you make your easy $30k dont forget you have to pay taxes on that money... Afterall it cannot just show up in your bank account and then not be claimed as income. The IRIS while big and slow, will find it and then life is not so good.

Might want to think about spinning the haunted attraction off in to its own buisness entity, that way you are not baring the full blunt of liability but the company can take the hit and if something bad happens you dont loose everything.

So how easy does it sound now?