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elionwyrThis is the rough draft of article #1. I'm going to bed....zzzzzzzz...
Haunters Helping Haunters:
That’s What Friends Are For
Timmy had a dream.
It was a pretty simple dream, really – in the grand scheme of things, some would say, it wasn’t even a very big dream. But there it was, inspired by talking to fellow haunters, and Timmy very much wanted to make his dream – building and operating his own haunted house - a reality.
Not that haunting was a new subject to him. With a strong background from working with the Jaycees, Tim was responsible for the publication of the first commercial book on haunted house construction to come out since Phillip Morris’ classic, "How to Operate a Financially Successful Haunted House."
It would be natural, when contemplating a dream, to turn to the advice of friends.
Which is exactly what Tim did.
Friendships are something clearly precious to Tim. This shines through especially strong when he talks about the people he’s built relationships with in the haunted attraction industry.
“Doug [Ferguson], I met before anyone. When I was doing the book, I read somewhere that one of the members of the magicians’ club was working on a book called Phantasmechanics. I had a friend introduce us, and we had breakfast every Friday…We talked about haunts all the time,” Tim laughs, “and my magician-friend just stopped showing up!”
There are two other main players in Tim’s haunted tale.
“I first met Oliver Holler in 1996, when he was the editor of Haunted Attraction Magazine,” Tim recalls. “I wanted to run some ads for my upcoming book, so I emailed him. He showed tremendous interest in it!” The two met at the Chicago Transworld show in March 1997, where Tim’s book was launched. (Oliver bought the very first copy.)
Another friendship formed that same weekend, when Cliff Martin ran into Tim at the entrance to the convention room. Considering the two men only lived two hours apart, it’s ironic that they had to travel all the way to Chicago to meet..ironic, but fortuitous.
Over the next few years, friendships formed became stronger. Emails were exchanged; visits were made; and haunting was definitely a part of those connections. “Cliff and I have swapped a lot of stuff,” says Tim. “My father left me several tombstones and monuments, and since Cliff could use them, I was happy to give them to him. The next time he came down here, he handed me a new computer and printer…his business had been selling them cheap!” So when, in 1999, Cliff decided he was ready to tackle the daunting task of building a permanent location for his haunt, Hacker House...and suddenly found himself falling behind schedule…friends rallied to help.
Doug Ferguson’s place in Louisiana became a meeting place. Oliver and Terry Holler traveled down from North Carolina, as did Tim from Tennessee, and the four met up with Tom Tom Wohlburger and the Spookywoods crew at Cliff’s location in Pilot Mountain. As Cliff tells it, “We had a haunt-raising! I had been talking to Oli about building the most amazing façade possible…and talked him into designing it! Although we ran afoul of the building inspector on the façade in late August, and ended up quickly building the current façade, the ‘most amazing’ façade was a wonderful idea, and the pieces later became [a] tower, a major part of our outdoor maze, Tentacular – which Oli also helped with by coming up with a concept drawing of the tower itself (and coming up with the name)!” Cliff adds, with a smile, “ I have much thanks and appreciation for all of those guys…they didn’t have to do it…but out of the kindness of their hearts, and the sweat of their brows, they pitched in to help a backwards bumpkin with his twisted dream.”
With the construction of Hacker House, a precedent was set, and Tim’s dream gained a stronger voice. He decided that Crone House would come into being in 2000, making its first appearance within a Kingsport, TN mall.
Though Cliff wasn’t able to physically be in Tennessee, he assisted Tim with prop loans, floorplan brainstorming, and moral support. Oliver traveled with Tim to Virginia to help pick up props from yet another friend, Woody Thomas; the two were met back in Tennessee by Terry as well as 4 other people from the Hollers’ Haunt Factory crew.
Oliver remembers, “[We} chalked out his maze on the floor, then put up over half his walls! …The Haunt Factory has also loaned him a truckload of props for the past two years.”
Tim’s brother, who had helped build the first half of Crone House, came back to join the team, and by the end of that weekend, the second half was finished.
“I don’t think I would have gotten the doors open my first year if it weren’t for [their] help,” Tim reflects.
But 2001 brought with it a whole new bundle of headaches…and a new crop of generosity…as another location in the Kingsport mall fell through last September.
“It was the last Friday in September,” Tim relates. “My wife was going over to give them the check; I had already talked to the newspapers about advertising; and we were told the mall owners had changed their mind at the last minute.
“ I almost decided not to do it, but I’d already taken the time off from work - 3 weeks with no pay.
“I called Oliver, who said, ‘Listen, you go up and find a place.’
“‘Oliver, I have looked and looked, unsuccessfully, and now I’m supposed to find a place in one day?’
“‘Yes. You can find a place. Done is good.’”
Armed with this advice of one true friend, Tim then followed the advice of another – his mom – and checked out a location she had mentioned to him. It was one he’d noticed but hadn’t looked into before.
By that Sunday, Crone House had found a new home.
“ I started working the next weekend…we moved everything in. I still had another week of work, and as soon as my time off started, we had 8 days to finish construction.”
Enter yet another duo of friends.
Chris Evans (an IAHA member) called Tim right before the new location had been found, asking if he was doing a show. “I told him, ‘Well, I don’t know for sure.’ He answered, “When you find a location, let me know if you need any help.’
“’Well, I’m on a shoestring budget, and…I can’t pay.’
“’ I don’t expect you to pay I just want the opportunity to help because I learned a lot from you through your book.’”
Chris ended up driving from Nashville twice to help out for a total of three days. His efforts were joined by those of Jeff Preston and a great local crew. [See sidebar] “Jeff’s been great because he’s had all the same headaches with fire marshalls, moving, this and that… it got to be such an excruciating experience at times, and it was great to have someone [else] to help me.”
“This year was the best show I’ve ever done,” Tim says wistfully, “and that’s why I’m so disappointed we didn’t have the numbers I wanted. September 11th hit us hard. I wanted everyone to see it, it was that good a show. We only had two bad comments that I knew of , and one was a guy who was mad because we wouldn’t let him in for a dollar!” Tim laughs. “The newspaper misprinted our ad. Instead of saying $1 off, it read $1/night!”
Certainly, Tim’s tale is one woven together by dreams and friendships. “I am just amazed at the level of help and just unselfishness that Cliff and Doug and all my friends in the business have shown and offered without me asking,“ he marvels. But here, in this microcosm of haunting, friendship has built a support network precious and good.
May those seeds sown take root and grow.
SIDE BAR
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Crone House Hall of Fame – 2001
Phil Harkleroad – “He was incredible. He was working full time, and still came out every night, slaving away, not expecting anything.”
Kermit Johnson - Line Manager. “He’s a local magician who heard about the show in 2000 and actually booked time off this year to come work for me, along with his wife.”
Shane Ford – Show Director.
Bill Tiller – Maintenance Supervisor. “He carries an electric screwdriver and a flashlight with him at all times. When things would break, he was always right there.”
LeAnn Tiller – Lead Actor
Dave Garber – Security. “’Brother Dave’ worked mall security in 2000. He’s in the National Guard, and was called to active duty as a result of the terrorist attacks on September 11th. At the last minute, he came back and started working full time doing security. He wears a fulll security uniform and it’s a comfort to have him there. With Brother Dave around, I can walk away and everything runs by itself!”
Steve Mohans – Lead Actor/Host. “He’s really into theatre, and he really gets into the part. He’s got this long, long dark hair and a beard; he can turn on this creepy countenance he’s got…it just freaks people out. His job is to lead people from the ticket booth into the haunt’s parlor.”
Melanie Harkleroad – Wife. “I could never have done any of this without her. The bottom line is, it wouldn’t mean anything if not for my wife backing me up.”
“It’s very important to have a good crew that works well and gets along with each other.” - Tim Harkleroad
Haunters Helping Haunters:
That’s What Friends Are For
Timmy had a dream.
It was a pretty simple dream, really – in the grand scheme of things, some would say, it wasn’t even a very big dream. But there it was, inspired by talking to fellow haunters, and Timmy very much wanted to make his dream – building and operating his own haunted house - a reality.
Not that haunting was a new subject to him. With a strong background from working with the Jaycees, Tim was responsible for the publication of the first commercial book on haunted house construction to come out since Phillip Morris’ classic, "How to Operate a Financially Successful Haunted House."
It would be natural, when contemplating a dream, to turn to the advice of friends.
Which is exactly what Tim did.
Friendships are something clearly precious to Tim. This shines through especially strong when he talks about the people he’s built relationships with in the haunted attraction industry.
“Doug [Ferguson], I met before anyone. When I was doing the book, I read somewhere that one of the members of the magicians’ club was working on a book called Phantasmechanics. I had a friend introduce us, and we had breakfast every Friday…We talked about haunts all the time,” Tim laughs, “and my magician-friend just stopped showing up!”
There are two other main players in Tim’s haunted tale.
“I first met Oliver Holler in 1996, when he was the editor of Haunted Attraction Magazine,” Tim recalls. “I wanted to run some ads for my upcoming book, so I emailed him. He showed tremendous interest in it!” The two met at the Chicago Transworld show in March 1997, where Tim’s book was launched. (Oliver bought the very first copy.)
Another friendship formed that same weekend, when Cliff Martin ran into Tim at the entrance to the convention room. Considering the two men only lived two hours apart, it’s ironic that they had to travel all the way to Chicago to meet..ironic, but fortuitous.
Over the next few years, friendships formed became stronger. Emails were exchanged; visits were made; and haunting was definitely a part of those connections. “Cliff and I have swapped a lot of stuff,” says Tim. “My father left me several tombstones and monuments, and since Cliff could use them, I was happy to give them to him. The next time he came down here, he handed me a new computer and printer…his business had been selling them cheap!” So when, in 1999, Cliff decided he was ready to tackle the daunting task of building a permanent location for his haunt, Hacker House...and suddenly found himself falling behind schedule…friends rallied to help.
Doug Ferguson’s place in Louisiana became a meeting place. Oliver and Terry Holler traveled down from North Carolina, as did Tim from Tennessee, and the four met up with Tom Tom Wohlburger and the Spookywoods crew at Cliff’s location in Pilot Mountain. As Cliff tells it, “We had a haunt-raising! I had been talking to Oli about building the most amazing façade possible…and talked him into designing it! Although we ran afoul of the building inspector on the façade in late August, and ended up quickly building the current façade, the ‘most amazing’ façade was a wonderful idea, and the pieces later became [a] tower, a major part of our outdoor maze, Tentacular – which Oli also helped with by coming up with a concept drawing of the tower itself (and coming up with the name)!” Cliff adds, with a smile, “ I have much thanks and appreciation for all of those guys…they didn’t have to do it…but out of the kindness of their hearts, and the sweat of their brows, they pitched in to help a backwards bumpkin with his twisted dream.”
With the construction of Hacker House, a precedent was set, and Tim’s dream gained a stronger voice. He decided that Crone House would come into being in 2000, making its first appearance within a Kingsport, TN mall.
Though Cliff wasn’t able to physically be in Tennessee, he assisted Tim with prop loans, floorplan brainstorming, and moral support. Oliver traveled with Tim to Virginia to help pick up props from yet another friend, Woody Thomas; the two were met back in Tennessee by Terry as well as 4 other people from the Hollers’ Haunt Factory crew.
Oliver remembers, “[We} chalked out his maze on the floor, then put up over half his walls! …The Haunt Factory has also loaned him a truckload of props for the past two years.”
Tim’s brother, who had helped build the first half of Crone House, came back to join the team, and by the end of that weekend, the second half was finished.
“I don’t think I would have gotten the doors open my first year if it weren’t for [their] help,” Tim reflects.
But 2001 brought with it a whole new bundle of headaches…and a new crop of generosity…as another location in the Kingsport mall fell through last September.
“It was the last Friday in September,” Tim relates. “My wife was going over to give them the check; I had already talked to the newspapers about advertising; and we were told the mall owners had changed their mind at the last minute.
“ I almost decided not to do it, but I’d already taken the time off from work - 3 weeks with no pay.
“I called Oliver, who said, ‘Listen, you go up and find a place.’
“‘Oliver, I have looked and looked, unsuccessfully, and now I’m supposed to find a place in one day?’
“‘Yes. You can find a place. Done is good.’”
Armed with this advice of one true friend, Tim then followed the advice of another – his mom – and checked out a location she had mentioned to him. It was one he’d noticed but hadn’t looked into before.
By that Sunday, Crone House had found a new home.
“ I started working the next weekend…we moved everything in. I still had another week of work, and as soon as my time off started, we had 8 days to finish construction.”
Enter yet another duo of friends.
Chris Evans (an IAHA member) called Tim right before the new location had been found, asking if he was doing a show. “I told him, ‘Well, I don’t know for sure.’ He answered, “When you find a location, let me know if you need any help.’
“’Well, I’m on a shoestring budget, and…I can’t pay.’
“’ I don’t expect you to pay I just want the opportunity to help because I learned a lot from you through your book.’”
Chris ended up driving from Nashville twice to help out for a total of three days. His efforts were joined by those of Jeff Preston and a great local crew. [See sidebar] “Jeff’s been great because he’s had all the same headaches with fire marshalls, moving, this and that… it got to be such an excruciating experience at times, and it was great to have someone [else] to help me.”
“This year was the best show I’ve ever done,” Tim says wistfully, “and that’s why I’m so disappointed we didn’t have the numbers I wanted. September 11th hit us hard. I wanted everyone to see it, it was that good a show. We only had two bad comments that I knew of , and one was a guy who was mad because we wouldn’t let him in for a dollar!” Tim laughs. “The newspaper misprinted our ad. Instead of saying $1 off, it read $1/night!”
Certainly, Tim’s tale is one woven together by dreams and friendships. “I am just amazed at the level of help and just unselfishness that Cliff and Doug and all my friends in the business have shown and offered without me asking,“ he marvels. But here, in this microcosm of haunting, friendship has built a support network precious and good.
May those seeds sown take root and grow.
SIDE BAR
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Crone House Hall of Fame – 2001
Phil Harkleroad – “He was incredible. He was working full time, and still came out every night, slaving away, not expecting anything.”
Kermit Johnson - Line Manager. “He’s a local magician who heard about the show in 2000 and actually booked time off this year to come work for me, along with his wife.”
Shane Ford – Show Director.
Bill Tiller – Maintenance Supervisor. “He carries an electric screwdriver and a flashlight with him at all times. When things would break, he was always right there.”
LeAnn Tiller – Lead Actor
Dave Garber – Security. “’Brother Dave’ worked mall security in 2000. He’s in the National Guard, and was called to active duty as a result of the terrorist attacks on September 11th. At the last minute, he came back and started working full time doing security. He wears a fulll security uniform and it’s a comfort to have him there. With Brother Dave around, I can walk away and everything runs by itself!”
Steve Mohans – Lead Actor/Host. “He’s really into theatre, and he really gets into the part. He’s got this long, long dark hair and a beard; he can turn on this creepy countenance he’s got…it just freaks people out. His job is to lead people from the ticket booth into the haunt’s parlor.”
Melanie Harkleroad – Wife. “I could never have done any of this without her. The bottom line is, it wouldn’t mean anything if not for my wife backing me up.”
“It’s very important to have a good crew that works well and gets along with each other.” - Tim Harkleroad
