In the Immortal Words of R.L. Stine...

Readers beware, you're in for a scare!!

If you read Goosebumps as a kid, your childhood was awesome.

That being said, today is opening night for the vast majority of the haunts in the Louisville Area. HELL YEAH!!! It's finally here, we've only been waiting eleven months for it!! Woo hoo!!  **Does happy dance** Gah, I'm so excited, I can barely contain myself!!

Aly and I are headed out tonight to kick off the haunting season with a little Danger and a little Run. Considering this is the only kind of running this fluffy girl is gonna do (aside from that awkward attempt to run away from scary people in the haunts) still takes place in a car, you guessed it...DANGER RUN!!

We love the Run. Really. We get so flippin confused and lost, and we NEVER get close to the right mileage, but I'll be damned if we don't have the time of our lives doing it! We're starting tonight and good lord willin' we'll finish it tonight too. I can't WAIT to see what haunts are on the run this year. In case you missed an earlier post, there's a couple new things about the run this year.

1. You can start from your own driveway. That's pretty cool! They have the ability to customize your clues to navigate you to the first haunt from your driveway. Granted, I'm willing to wager that at some point it's going to take you by the closest Lowe's starting gate anyway, but still, an excellent option. We're not taking advantage of that one this time around, because we scored free tickets from their Freebie Friday's, so for the sake of convenience we're going to the starting gate. Like them on Facebook and watch out for Freebie Friday's for your chance to win free tickets too-they give them away every Friday through the last weekend of operation!!

2. There are FOUR (yes, that's right, FOUR) haunts on two separate trips. Each time you go on the Run you still only visit two haunts, but you can go on the run twice and hit up four haunts (or go ten times and experience so many different possibilities for getting lost and seeing some spooky stuffs!!) which is a really epic change! I will be going twice to get the full effect of the newly improved Run this year.

So, yeah, pretty awesomeness. I really can't wait, we're heading to the Hurstbourne Lowe's starting gate at around seven (I know, it won't be fully dark, and that's a little bit of a bummer, but we can't be out till 2am tonight. Stupid real life always seems to get in the way...but we're still psyched. I should have a review of Danger Run up on the blog by noon tomorrow, and SPOILER ALERT!!!! I will be reviewing the haunts on the Run separately, however they will be immediately after the Danger Run review. So, if you don't want to know what the haunts are, I recommend NOT reading the two haunted reviews until after you've gone on the Run. As much as I want everyone to read all my reviews, having no clue where you're going is a really big chunk of the fun of Danger Run.

If you've never been on the Run before and you're curious what it's like, head on over to Dangerrun.com and take the virtual Test Drive. Solve the clues, figure out which way to go, and get scared online before heading out to do it in your car!!

Looking forward to getting the sh*t scared out of us tonight, and hoping for a wonderful start to the haunted season!! Pleasant nightmares, my friends.

What's Happening on Friday the Thirteenth?

It's so close...can you smell the fear??

With Friday the 13th sneaking up on us, I'm debating on attending the Slenderman contest at Asylum Haunted Scream Park, but I have a bum knee that might make running away from this guy in the woods at night with only a flashlight prove much more harmful than fun. But I wanna do SOMETHING. I mean, Friday the 13th doesn't happen every month, ya know...lol! It's opening week for some haunts, with most of them opening next week or later. 

What should I do this weekend to get the Halloween season started off right??

Join the Reviewing Team!!

Do you love haunted houses? Do you live in Louisville or one of the surrounding areas? Wanna review haunted attractions this Halloween season?

Sweet!! We are looking for a new reviewer or two-or even a small group of friends that wanna do some reviews-to join us this Halloween season. And yes, to us, Halloween IS a season; it's the only one that really matters!

For the 2013 season, we wanna have a lot of reviews, and I have the horrible feeling that Aly and I can't do them all without going completely and utterly broke. We promise not to make you go broke either, but hey, if you're already planning on going to a haunt, why not review it and help others, right? We recently posted a list of haunts we're interested in visiting (time permitting), but if you know of a haunt or two worth visiting or wanna help us knock off some of the ones on this list, we could use your help.

I should start by saying neither Ashley or Aly get paid to review houses, so this isn't a job, it's just a great team to be a part of while helping others and getting the sh*t scared out of you. Some haunted attractions DO sometimes offer free tickets or discounted tickets to review groups, so be aware, there are sometimes perks to being a part of a review team! It's not a guarantee, and you should expect to pay admission for every haunt you visit, but I know some places will-on occasion-hook up a review group.

I sometimes get in touch with the haunts ahead of time to let them know we'll be coming. (But why, Ashley, isn't that cheating?) Not really, no. Because sometimes, when you're working a hundred hours a week then go to your second job, you might just run out of steam, and your work get a little lower quality than the other 13 days in a row that you've worked. But if someone comes along and mentions that the boss is in town and you could be reviewed or judged or evaluated, you perk up really quick, because you want your boss to know that you DO work hard. You don't wanna be caught examining the backs of your eyelids because you just pulled a double shift and are running on pure adrenaline. Sometimes, you fall behind, your quality isn't perfect, and in a job scenario, this can get you fired. or at the very least get you in trouble. It's not an accurate representation of your talents. So in respect for those actors who are working their second jobs and still meeting their commitments at home and at their primary jobs, I like to mention that the boss (review group) is coming, so they CAN show me what a good job they do. Would it be nice if everyone had so much adrenaline and energy in them all the time that they can put on a perfect show with every 6-person group that comes through the doors for both of their nights off for several weeks? Yeah. But we're human, and despite their makeup and costumes, the actors are human too, and they deserve to have proper representation of their hard work. Granted, even with a heads up, there are some haunts that suck. I've been to them, and I won't go back. (Not mentioning names here, so don't ask.) Those haunts can and will receive a poor review if they don't meet our expectations.

Now, as a reviewer, what is expected of you? Not that much, I promise.

We request that you visit at least a couple of haunted attractions in and around the Louisville area. I don't wanna stray too far away, since the blog is "Locally" Louisville, lol. I mentioned before we won't make you go broke, so please don't think I'm going to force you to take seven of the most expensive haunts and visit them in a 5 week period. That's not fair to you, and I just am not that mean. Aly might be...nah, even she's not that mean. *Ow, Aly just hit me.*

When you visit the haunts, we ask that you rate it on BOTH a 5 star and a 10 star scale. I know that sounds redundant, but a 3/5 might be a 6/10 or a 7/10. Maybe even a 4/10. The difference between a 4 and a 7 is huge. We also ask that you rate it on shock value vs actual scare, props, set design and use of space (a large space can feel too empty and a small space can just not deliver on the scares), costumes, value for the money spent, uniqueness, and overall entertainment of the haunt. It's not like a secret shopper where you have to time how long it takes to get scared or get your tickets or stand in line...just have fun, let us know a few key factors, judge the haunt, and write a review. Mine are in-depth, yours don't have to be quite so long.

So, if you're interested, click "Contact Me" and let me know!!

Happy haunting!!