April 18, 2025 • 38 mins
Tonight, Mike is joined by Jeff DePaoli, the founder and producer of Wicked New England!
Wicked NE is a Halfway to Halloween Festival celebrating Halloween offerings throughout all of New England, including spooky vendors, stage presentations by local haunts (including Barrett's Haunted Mansion & Spooky World presents Nightmare New England), photo ops, monsters and much, much more.
Mike & Jeff discuss their mutual love for Halloween, how Wicked New England came to be, Dark Universe at Universal's newest theme park, their fandom for all things Spooky World, and more in this wide ranging conversation.
Wicked New England takes place at Old Town Hall in Salem, MA on Saturday, 5/3. Tickets can be purchased on their website.
LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at 508-927-1267!
- We're now an affiliate of Fangoria! Visit Fangoria's Shop & use code HOMETOWNHORRORPOD for an exclusive 20% discount!
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- All Music, Sound Editing & Audio Production by Shaun O'Loughlin of Sky Wheel Media
#wickednewengland #wickedne #halfwaytohalloween #halfwaytohalloweenfestival #halloweenne #halloweennewengland #witchcity #salemma #spookyworld #nightmarenewengland #bhm #barrettshauntedmansion #americashorrorthemepark #horrorpodcast #horrorfactsdotcom #fangoria #fango #ahhpod #americashometownhorror #plymouthma
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Wicked NE is a Halfway to Halloween Festival celebrating Halloween offerings throughout all of New England, including spooky vendors, stage presentations by local haunts (including Barrett's Haunted Mansion & Spooky World presents Nightmare New England), photo ops, monsters and much, much more.
Mike & Jeff discuss their mutual love for Halloween, how Wicked New England came to be, Dark Universe at Universal's newest theme park, their fandom for all things Spooky World, and more in this wide ranging conversation.
Wicked New England takes place at Old Town Hall in Salem, MA on Saturday, 5/3. Tickets can be purchased on their website.
LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at 508-927-1267!
- We're now an affiliate of Fangoria! Visit Fangoria's Shop & use code HOMETOWNHORRORPOD for an exclusive 20% discount!
- A reminder that we're now a part of Horror Facts Magazine!
- All Music, Sound Editing & Audio Production by Shaun O'Loughlin of Sky Wheel Media
#wickednewengland #wickedne #halfwaytohalloween #halfwaytohalloweenfestival #halloweenne #halloweennewengland #witchcity #salemma #spookyworld #nightmarenewengland #bhm #barrettshauntedmansion #americashorrorthemepark #horrorpodcast #horrorfactsdotcom #fangoria #fango #ahhpod #americashometownhorror #plymouthma
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/america-s-hometown-horror--4187035/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Is Halloween not simply one day for you, but rather
a lifestyle throughout the year. If you're craving more spooky
in your life, come to Wicked New England, a Halfway
to Halloween festival, taking place in Salem, Massachusetts, on Saturday,
May third. Wicked New England will offer a curated marketplace
featuring spooky vendors from all over New England, stage presentations
(00:24):
by local haunts, and Halloween offerings, photo ops, monsters.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
And more.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Visit Wickednew England dot info for more information and tickets.
You won't want to miss this celebration of a New
England Halloween. This Halfway to Halloween. That's Wickednew England dot info,
Wickednew England dot info.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Tonight's episode of America's Hometown Heart is brought to you
by our friends at Fangoria magazine. That's right, the first
name in Fright since nineteen seventy nine, is now an
affiliate of America's Hometown Heart, and because of that, we
can now offer you an exclusive twenty percent discount on
any first time magazine subscription or merchandise purchase by heading
over to shop dot Fangoria dot com and using the
code Hometown Horror Pod at checkout at shop dot fangoria
(01:12):
dot com slash Hometown Horror Pod, or just use the
code Hometown Horror Pod at checkout for that exclusive discount
on anything from Fangoria. Tonight's episode of America's Hometown hor
is also brought to you by our friends at horror
Fax Magazine. Never heard of horror Fax Magazine, Well, if
you're a horror fan, they're a name that you absolutely
should know. You can find them over at horror fats
dot com and they're a great resource for all things horror,
(01:33):
including news, reviews, editorials, and lots of other horror podcasts
not only limited to, but including America's at Hometown Horras.
Head on over to horror fas dot com and check
them out. Now, let's get on with the show, all right, folks,
(02:05):
thanks for tuning in to another episode of America's Hometown
Horror Podcast. My name is Mike, and I will be
flying solo today as I am joined by a very
special guest who I will introduce here momentarily. But I
have to say before we get going, if you're a
listener of our show, there's a pretty good chance that
you not only love all things horror, but you also
(02:26):
love Halloween just like we do. And if you love Halloween,
you're probably aware that we're just about halfway to the
high holiday itself and there are a lot of things
to do in the New England area to get your
early Halloween fix. I'll insert my shameless plug here for
our Halfway to Halloween horror movie Trivia that we will
be doing next Thursday, April twenty fourth at Mayflower Brewing
(02:48):
Company in Plymouth. But I digress. My guest this evening
also clearly loves Halloween, so much so that he has
created a brand spanking new Halfway to Halloween Festival that
is coming to Lovely Salem, Massachusetts, on Saturday, May third.
He's also the host of two podcasts, that Halloween Podcast
in Disney Coast to Coast, and I personally first came
(03:11):
across his name from the excellent interviews that he did
on YouTube called Haunted Experiences, where he has interviewed several
influential folks in the haunt industry, specifically Mary Barrett Costello
from Barrett's Haunted Mansion and David Bernalino from Spooky World,
both of whom we've had on this podcast as well,
so it was great to see them out there as well.
So without further ado, I feel like I should introduce
(03:33):
our guests. Please welcome the founder and producer of Wicked
New England, Jeff to Polly. Jeff, it is great to
have you man. Thanks so much for coming on the show.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Of course, of course, so I mentioned I mentioned the
YouTube streams that I watched that you were on before,
but I think I also came across your name through
a mutual friend of ours, Alexander from Halloween New England,
who I saw is involved in your event as well.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Absolutely. Alexander is one of the first people I ever
told about Wicked New England, and I was like, so,
I grew up in Massachusetts. I grew up in Wooburn, Massachusetts,
and lived the first twenty four years of my life there,
but I lived in I've lived in Los Angeles since
two thousand and six, so you know, I go back
to Massachusetts fairly often because my whole family's still there.
(04:18):
But you know, I wanted to talk to somebody who
really had their pulse on what was happening in New
England for the Halloween season, and because I certainly don't
want to be doing something that somebody else is already doing.
I want to fill, you know, a niche that needs
to be filled. And I talked to Alexander, was like,
is there anything like this, and She's like, no, but
we need it, so you know, that's how it all
(04:38):
came about. So she's one of the first people I
ever told about it, and absolutely knew that Halloween New
England would be part of Wicked New England whenever it happened.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So happy to have her makes makes total sense. Her
website is a great resource for everything Halloween, and I
always try to tell as many people as I can
about it whenever it comes up in conversation because she's
great at what she does. But that actually is a
pretty good segue, because I one of the reasons that
I wanted to have you on the show was you know,
obviously I have worked on, you know, an event like
(05:09):
this myself the past couple of years for the Hometown
Haunts and Hops horror con that we've been doing in
Plymouth for the last two years, and I understand the
great deal of work that goes into it behind the scenes,
so it can certainly be a lot. But aside from
being I'm assuming a huge Halloween fan yourself, you know
what made you want to create Wicked New England And
(05:32):
you know, for those those who may be unaware, can
you tell us a little bit about it for people
to experience when they come to this event.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, so I'll start with what it is exactly. So
Wicked New England is a halfway to Halloween Festival and
it's taken place in Old Town Hall in Salem, Massachusetts.
So if you have any Hocus Pocus fans, that's the
building exterior that you see for the big I Put
a Spell on You party in the film, and it's
taking place in that building, which is a great venue.
(06:01):
I actually produced an event there this past September. But
for Wicked New England, it's really about celebrating what New
England has to offer for the Halloween season. So we're
going to be having a big vendor market and one
of the things I'm most proud of. You know, when
I started this whole thing, I said to myself, I
don't want this to be Wicked Salem. I don't want
(06:23):
this to be Wicked Massachusetts. I want this to be
Wicked New England, and I really want to represent what
New England has to offer for Halloween because it's incredible.
New England during the Halloween season is incredible, and so
I have a vendor market full of vendors from all
over New England and beyond. We have people coming from Pennsylvania,
New York even which is amazing. And then there will
(06:45):
be panel presentations. If you're familiar with the building, there's
a stage on the second floor that will be taking
advantage of and having panel presentations by some fabulous folks
like Barrett's Haunted Mansion and Spooky World. As you previously mentioned,
those two are also creating some really cool septicor and
photo ops for it. In fact, Barrett's is getting ready.
(07:06):
I won't spoil anything because they certainly wouldn't want me to,
but they're getting ready to make some announcements about you know,
things coming for the twenty twenty five Halloween season, and
you will be seeing the first of it at Wicked
New England, which I'm really excited about, and we'll have
monsters all around and as I said, photo ops. It's
going to be a really fun, fun day and halfway
(07:30):
to Halloween, so very excited for it.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
That's awesome. And I was going to ask you about
the hand attractions that are involved in this, because they're
two of my favorites, Barretts in Nightmare New England. Very
exciting to hear about Barretts because I was going to say,
I know we're getting to that point in the year
where stuff starts to get announced, and I know that
they always have something new and exciting every single year.
And Nightmare New England obviously is top notch as well.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Fantastic, absolutely with a really rich history. And I mean
I grew up going to the Ogs, not the og
Spooky World. I missed the days in the farm. I
was the Foxborough kid going to that location and actually
went a few years ago when I was in Massachusetts
for the Halloween season, I went to their current location.
(08:16):
I was really really blown away by it. I was
very excited when they agreed to take part in Wicked
New England and they're they're in a big way. Like
I said, photo op monsters and a panel from both
Spooky World and Barretts.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
That's phenomenal. So yeah, Spook Magri New England's hay Ride
is I think next to none. It's phenomenal. It's great,
and I just I love this time of year. I
love the Halloween season because hand attractions around here are
one of my favorite things to get myself in the
mood for Halloween. And we have such good ones around here,
so I love to talk about them as much as
(08:49):
I possibly can. I'm happy that you're incorporating that into
your event.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Oh that will be something that becomes a bigger and
bigger part of the event as the years go on,
for sure. Like I want, you know, ideally, the way
that I have vendors from all over New England, I
want haunts from all over New England represented. And you know,
this year we have Barretts's Massachusetts, Spooky World is New
Hampshire and in future years hopefully we're hit in every
(09:14):
New England state.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Awesome. So I was going to ask you, so, so
you mentioned the you know, the sets and the kind
of like the roaming actors portion of it. What can
people expect out of the panels with our haunted attractions
at Wicked New England?
Speaker 1 (09:31):
You know what, let me pull up a spreadsheet so
that I don't miss any Let's say, so Barrett's we're
going to start the day with Barrett's Haunted Mansion doing
some makeup application, so if you get there early at
the beginning of it, you will see some of their
monsters becoming monsters from human to monsters, so they'll be
doing that on stage. And then Which City Walking Tours
(09:52):
are you familiar with them? Yes, yep, yeah, So Which
City Walking Tours is the official sponsor of Wicked New
England and they're going to be giving a presentation about
their offerings and they have a bunch of different tours
available in Salem, Massachusetts. They're great people, they give great tours.
In fact, their offices are right next to Old Town Hall,
(10:12):
so I keep telling people come to Wick in New
England and book a tour for the same day, especially
if you're traveling from any sort of distance like knock
out Two Birds with One Stone. They're really really wonderful.
So Which City Walking Tours will be doing a presentation,
and then Spooky wor Old is coming to do a
presentation kind of a little bit of history, a little
(10:33):
behind the scenes, a little of what you can look
forward to this year with some of their actors and managers.
Stuff like that. Halloween New England. As we're just talking
about Alexander will be there talking about her amazing resource.
Her website is fantastic and highly highly recommend that. I mean,
she is meticulous about updating it and making sure things
(10:54):
are up to date on that website, So can't recommend
that enough. So she's doing a panel. Barrett's Hunted Me
is doing kind of a behind the scenes sort of
panel and history of panel as well with their house
manager and a makeup manager. And then I have a
tutorial somebody's coming to teach. His name is Matthew Davis,
to kind of teach prop making and just tips on
(11:16):
how to create things for the Halloween season. And then
the Wicked ghost Hunters will be part of the event
sharing about some of their ghost hunting stories and experiences.
And we'll wrap up the day with Spooky World back
on stage doing makeup demos. In fact, what I hear,
they're going to be looking for some volunteers in the crowd,
so you never know, if you're there, you might get
(11:38):
chosen by Spooky World to go on stage and have
some makeup applied.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
That's awesome. That's a lot of really cool stuff. I mean,
I get told I was gonna say if you're if
you're a fan of seeing you know, behind the scenes
stuff for hants, especially around this area. It sounds like
things that should not be missed for sure. Did I
see that your podcast is going to be involved as well?
Are you doing a live show from there? I saw
(12:04):
something about that in the website.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
So yeah, my podcast is a promotional sponsor of the
podcast of the event, because obviously I'm gonna let people
who listen to my podcast know about it. But I
will not be doing any moderating because I will be
very busy producing the live event. But the Horror Squad
podcast will be there moderating some of those panels. It
was left up to the panelists whether or not they
(12:28):
wanted like a host moderator or just to do it themselves.
And so yeah, Horror Squad podcast will be represented moderating
some of those panels as I run around, hopefully not
too much, but I definitely I moderate panels a lot
at conventions for other people. Sure, I was like, for
this one, I feel like I need to be available
(12:50):
for whatever might come up during the event.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Oh for sure I can. That's you have it nailed down,
because that's the one thing I would say is you know,
make yourself available having done something similar, but also make
sure you take a step back to kind of enjoy
everything as well and just kind of embrace the chaos,
because once you're there in the middle of it, it's
just it's going and it's going to be awesome. It
sounds like you've quite the event planned.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
So I love moderating panels, So I will say it
hurts a little to be like not moderating at my
own event. So my hope is, like, you know, in
a few years, when we have like a whole team
built around this event, hopefully I'll be able to you know,
at least moderate one of them because it is one
of my favorite things to do. I absolutely love it.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Sure do you have a favorite panel that that you've
moderated just throughout the years?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Oh gosh, whoa god? So many I will mention too,
if that's all right. I of course produced and moderated
a twenty fifth anniversary hocus Pocus panel for Midsommer Scream
in Southern California, and that was amazing. We had a
ton of people who made the movie, from you know,
the film producer creator to the production designer to the composer,
(14:00):
to the screenwriter, to Thora Birch, who played Danny in
the film, like in special Effects and beyond like. It
was a massive, awesome panel at Midsomber Scream and then
for Creepert Real O c which takes place in Orange County, California,
I moderated a panel with the talent from the Night
Member before Christmas. So it was Chris Sarandon who's the
(14:21):
speaking voice of Jack Skellington, and Ken Page, who was
the voice of Oogie Boogie who sadly passed away two
weeks after that event. And wow, I think I was
like the last person to interview him, I think, and
he was amazing and also brought along the artistic producer
and producer of the film for that, So that was
another really fun, memorable panel.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I can see why those might be your favorites considering
your affinity for all things Halloween. Those are two staples
for a lot of Halloween fans. I would say it's.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
A perfect crossover for me, Disney and Halloween. It's like
that fits.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Pretty Yeah, Yeah, that's awesome. I was gonna ask, so
I did see so obviously you have you have your
other podcast as well. I had to ask, since it's
been in the news a lot lately, but the park
not being quite open yet. Have you seen the reactions
or any of the any of the photos that have
come out of the New Dark Universe land at Epic
(15:22):
Universe in Orlando.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Oh, I can't avoid it. So I'm also work as
a journalist and content person for Attractions magazine, so we
kind of cover all of that stuff, and you know,
with Epic Universe, the thing I'm most excited to see
is the whole Monsters area. I have been avoiding it
as much as I can to be honest. Obviously, I've
seen images and stuff, but I'm not watching ride throughs
(15:45):
or anything, because I'll get there, you know, within the
next year or so. And I'll tell you one great
thing about getting a little older, your fomo just gets
less and less and less. And I really I don't
feel this great need or desire to be like I
need to see this now and like watching a YouTube
video of it. I'm just like, yeah, I'm going to go,
(16:07):
and I'm gonna enjoy it with fresh eyes when I go.
So I'm avoiding it as much as I can, to
be completely honest.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
I love that mindset, and you know, it's funny. I've
you know, we obviously we talk a lot of horror
movies on our show, and we kind of all have
adapted the belief that you know. I don't really watch
many trailers anymore for stuff when it's coming out, because
I like to go in as blind as possible, and
I think that it's just so easy to get stuff
spoiled for you these days, and it's so much better,
like you said, to go in with, you know, with
(16:36):
kind of a mild idea of what's happening, but not
knowing everything that you could possibly know. So I will say,
as a gigantic fan of the Universal Monsters, it's been
very hard to try. And you know, if I'm on
TikTok or whatever, swipe away as soon as I see
something like that, because I will eventually get there as well.
I love all things Universe. I love Halloween Horror Night.
(16:58):
So it's been real tough, but I can't wait to
see what it looks like when whenever I do get
there in person. I've heard it's incredible.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
I've heard it's incredible. I actually know some folks who
worked on it and the animatronics you know, I did
see those when they first tease them, and those look
beautiful for me. The big thing I always want to
know about is the ride vehicle because I'm not the
bravest rider when it comes to theme park, right, so
you know, I get I'm a theme park guy, not
(17:24):
a thrill park guy. And you know, some of these
ride vehicles look pretty intense, so I just I do
like to see what I'm getting into with that and
kind of just be mentally prepared for that. But it
looks beautiful. I'm you know, the the windmill that catches
on fire, Oh my god, I love that detail. And
the land that's super cool, and yeh, it'll be fun.
(17:46):
I'm a big Halloween Hornets fan. I go typically I
go to both coasts, so I've gone to both coasts
for maybe last eight nine years something like that, and yeah,
really I'm going to love that. I'm a you know,
haunted houses, that's my favorite part of Halloween. The thing
I love about Halloween is that there are so many
different areas of Halloween. So like, if you're not a
(18:07):
horror person, you can be like a pumpkin person. If
you're not a pumpkin person, you can be a candy person.
If you're not a candy person, you can be costume person.
And that's what I love about it, Like there's something
for everyone when it comes to the holiday, and you're
not obligated to take part in at all. It's the
no obligations holiday, as I call it.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yep, yep. Your experience may vary based on what you like.
I'm a fan of that as well. I like that
because it's easy, you know, having a younger daughter now
I can still do stuff that I like, spooky, scary stuff,
but it's also fun to do some stuff it's a
little bit more geared towards her, So I completely understand.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
So you're I mean, you're a little far, but not
terribly far from Woburn, Massachusetts, where I grow up. Are
you familiar with their Halloween parade?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
I'm not.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Actually you met. It's always the Sunday before or on Halloween,
and it's usually around one camera. Okay in the city
does like a big Halloween parade and there's like thousands
of people show up for it, and with a young one,
I highly recommend it.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
I will write that down right now. I'll put that
on my list of things to do this side.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I took Alexander to it on so if you if
you talk to her from Halloween, New England, talk to
her and be like, what did you think of it?
I you know, it's such a tradition for me growing up,
so always tell people to check it out.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Sure, I can get behind any town that embraces Halloween
that much that they're going to do a parade for it,
So that sounds incredible. I'll have to check that out
for sure. Anyway, So I feel like we could talk
about it a bunch of different stuff for a long time.
I feel like I should go back towards Wicked New England,
though I also know that you mentioned there are going
to be quite a lot of spooky vendors there as well.
(19:48):
You know, seems like there's going to be a lot
of stuff to walk around, check out, buy some cool,
spooky halfway to Halloween stuff. If people are into that,
Can you tell us a little bit a little bit
more about some of the vendors that are coming.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
I'm trying to get, you know, a nice wide range
of people. We've got candles, which is some of my
always my favorite. I love candles. They're such a cool moodsetter.
So we've got different candle shops with their spooky candles,
and we've got artists coming with paintings and photographers, you know,
people who are crocheting these demented stuffed animals that with
(20:20):
a creepy twist to them. People who are, you know,
demolishing dolls and making some really creepy looking dolls. It
really runs the gamut of different types of vendors and
we have about I want to say, around forty five
something like that, which is a full space. And you know,
(20:40):
it's been a great problem to have, but like I've
been sold out of vendor spots since January, and I
regularly still get vendors reaching out being like can I
take part, And I'm like, I don't have any space
for you. So, you know, I'm really I could be
selective for this event, and when it came to being elective,
it was I want variety. Obviously, it needs to be
(21:03):
spooky or scary, and I really wanted representation from all
over New England. So obviously the event takes place in Massachusetts,
so there's a good number of Massachusetts vendors, but I've
also got vendors from New Hampshire, main Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and
New York, YadA, YadA.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
So awesome, And I feel like that's a that's a
good point to bring up because I meant to ask
you or you know, earlier, because obviously, I think New
England in general is one of the best places that
you can experience the Halloween season, and obviously within New England,
Salem is probably one of the best places that you
can experience Halloween. Having been several times as a Halloween lover,
(21:45):
I love Salem. It's absolutely phenomenal. There's so much to do.
I feel like, no matter what.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Time, how do you like those crowds in October? You're
not going to have those You're not gonna have seasons
in May.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yeah, that's actually so that's a huge benefit of your event.
I use try and go, you know, late summer, that
type of thing before it starts to really get crazy.
But no matter what time of year you go, it's
just there's so much there's so much Halloween adjacent stuff
around there, and it'd always puts you in the mood.
So I feel like it's just it was a perfect
location for you to select to have this event, to
(22:17):
set the Halloween.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Yeah, it felt it felt like a good spot to
start for sure, to launch it. And you know, I
would say the one difficulty with Salem is I'm in
one of the largest spaces they have available and it's
not huge. As I said, it fits about forty five vendors.
How many vendors do you have at your event?
Speaker 2 (22:38):
I think we had a similar amount. It was somewhere
between like three last year, so we know.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Not a small amount, but also not a massive amount.
When you talk about like big conventions, those will have
like three to five hundred vendors. So certainly not small,
but it's it's about as big as you can get
in Salem if you're looking for an indoor location, because
I will say I am not a brave at enough
event producer to produce an event in New England that
(23:04):
is fully outdoors because I am all too familiar with
the weather in New England, you know, destroying an event
and also a Halloween season. You know, I really commend
these people like a Spooky World who does an outdoor
hay ride as a major part of their event and
a big selling point of their event. You have one
(23:24):
rainy Halloween season. I'm not saying one night, but like
if the season is a pretty rainy one, that can
really hit you hard. And those are passionate people doing
those sorts of things. I get the desire to do
an outdoor event because it's amazing. I mean, New England
Halloween weather can be incredible. It can also destroy your event.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
For sure, and I think that that's one of the
best aspects of Nightmare New England right now is the
fact that it's setting me in the woods, a very
creepy area of the woods right along the Merrimack River,
which it's that adds a different element to that. But
I can tell you from my experience as the last
couple of years. So the first time we did Hans
and Hops, we did it in October of twenty twenty
(24:11):
three on a Saturday, and we happened to have the
I think it was the warmest Saturday in October in
like a decade something like that. It was in the
low eighties, which was perfect. We were able to move
some stuff outside and it was actually it was like
hot running around trying to talk to people, get people
set up. I was sweating bullets. But then this past
year we decided to move it up to the end
(24:32):
of September, and we also had it on a Saturday
and it poured buckets the entire day. We had a
whole outdoor area planned with vendors and a separate beer
garden at the brewery that we have it at, and
we had to scramble rearrange everything, bring everything inside, find
space for people. So it was a lot more of
(24:54):
a cramped atmosphere. I actually think it created a little
bit more camaraderie for the people that were in there.
It was a little bit more fun, I thought. But
it was definitely tight. So yeah, the weather up here
can be spotty. It's definitely a factor.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
I've got a note that I love how you call
it Nightmare New England and I'm so old school still
calling it Spooky World technically Spooky World present.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Nightmare New England. Yeah, so it's so I started going
to you mentioned the original location on the farm in Berlin.
I started going when I was very young. I went
a couple of times out there, and then I kept
going in Foxborough and I've been obviously throughout the years
as they've moved. You know, one of the first ton
of attractions I have done it at Canopy yeah, Canopy Lake. Yeah,
(25:40):
I've done that one as well. I really liked the
location there and now. But having talked with uh, you know,
David from the original Spooky World and the people that
have been producing the Spooky World documentary, I did get
the impression that a lot of people do consider them
to be separate entities. So it's kind of just a habit.
(26:01):
But I know it is Spooky World presents Nightmare in
New England now, so I don't know, it's just a.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Ye, something interesting is and I would agree. I think
people see that it's two different you know eras of
Spooky World for sure and sure so when I started
working with them for Wicked New England, one of my
first questions was like, hey, when like I post about
you guys being part of the event, can I say
Spooky World or do you want me to say Spooky
(26:27):
World presents Nightmare New England, Like what's the correct phraseology?
And they were like, Spooky World's fine, which I will
say actually surprised me a little bit, but I love
that they embraced it. Obviously, it's a brand, right, like
that is a New England, well known brand from I
think what was at nineteen ninety one was the first year,
so yeah, yeah, it's an institution in the New England area,
(26:49):
so they're smart to embrace that name for sure. I know.
I see the poster behind you, And the funny thing is,
is I David Bertel you know, gave me a poster
similar to that, but it has Elvira on it. And
it's just that the level, you know, orange paper with
black ink. But it's so iconic and I got to
get mine in a frame and up on the wall
like you have it because it's so great.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah. So I think this is from like ninety two
or ninety three. I don't know the exact year, but
it's yeah, I absolutely love it. I try and collect
as much original spooky world memorability as I can. I
have the I have the VHS.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Have that. So I'm making myself because I totally had
that VHS tape. But at one point in my life
when DVD became everything, I transferred everything to DVD and
got rid of all the VHS that I had, And now,
like an idiot, I'm rebuying a lot of it on eBay.
But that VHS tape, especially if it's unopen, goes for
(27:44):
a good chunk of change on eBay these days, I
will say, folks, it's one hundred percent available on YouTube
as well. If you just want to watch it. You know,
it's a little cheesy, but if you want the nostalgia
of it, go to YouTube. Don't spend one hundred bucks
on a VHS tape onny Bay.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Oh yeah, I mean there's certainly a lot of cheese
in there. But I I know exactly the YouTube videos
you're talking about. I have them saved on a YouTube
playlist that I have in rotation in my house every October,
just let it play through that and a bunch of
other old school Halloween stuff from the nineties and the eighties.
So it's yeah, that's totally my vibe. It brings me
right back, So I love that. But yeah, I have
(28:25):
I have the tape. I have a couple of tickets,
like paper tickets I have. I have a bumper sticker
that I still have. It's not stuck anywhere. So I
have a couple of things that I've collected throughout the
years that I love. I did at one point have
a Jason Vorhees mask signed by Caine Hadder that I
(28:45):
did lose, which sucks but it's okay.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
I still let me ask you this when it comes
to Spooky World. Are you a fan of the jingle
or not so much? It's America's or the original one
the world? Yes or no? You love it?
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Love it? I love it? Say I feel like it
just maybe it's just I'm biased because it holds such
an emotional connection for me. But like we have, like
you know, if we're if we're doing a particular topic
on our show, I created like a little ninety second
fake like advertisement, real ind quotes that I have old
(29:23):
school like Halloween commercials. Like I it's like a Creepy
Crawler's commercial audio in there, but it also has like
an old school radio commercial for Spooky World in there
with that jingle, So you know, don't hopefully nobody sues me.
But it's just like a little cool thing. So I
hear it all the time. It just always got me
in the mood for Halloween. So I'm you a fan of.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Me, you know, because I have very nostalgic ties to
it as well. But it just makes me laugh because
and I've told David Bertolino this, I was like, it's
the most like jovial Halloween jingle. Ever, it's like the
complete opposite of what it's advertising. But that's the jingle
you have, but now it's it's iconic, right, So I'm
(30:01):
very much ride in the middle line with that. I'm like,
I get why you can love it, and I get
why you can hate it. But it does make me.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Laugh, oh for sure. For sure brings you back to
a time that no longer exists. My friend. Yeah, so
I know we're kind of getting up against you, like
I do kind of just want to go back to Okay,
I was, I got a scutin in about seven or eight,
(30:29):
but if so, basically so for Wicked New England. I
do obviously want to talk about So. I know it's
the first year that you're doing this and obviously you
don't want to put the cart, you know, before the
horse here. I know that you did mention like in
the future, you have some things that you've been toying
around with, what you want to do, what you want
the event to be. Can you talk a little bit
(30:50):
more about that, what you want this to do.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
I would love this to just keep getting bigger and
have as many New England Halloween businesses take in it
as possible. So you know, I, as I mentioned the beginning,
this is not Wicked Salem, This is not Wicked Massachusetts.
I do not feel like I am burying a steak
in my current location for this event. I see it
(31:15):
moving around. Maybe not next year, you know, maybe I'll
be in the same spot next year. We'll see. But
I hope it gets bigger and therefore outgrows where it
currently is, because as I mentioned, it's kind of the
biggest spot available in Salem at the moment.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
So sure, awesome, Yeah, I can understand that. Do you
are you looking to you think, obviously this is very
Halloween centric. Do you foresee it moving towards like a
little like a like horror movies at all, like actors panels,
that type of thing.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yeah, I don't ever see it becoming like a celebrity event.
That doesn't really interest me, to be honest. Part of
it is because I just live in LA and I'm jaded,
and I see these people all the time. It doesn't
really excite me all that much. But at the same time,
it's just, you know, I know that there are other
conventions doing that, doing great stuff with that in the
New England area. Would I have the best case scenario
(32:12):
is I would have celebrities for a panel, like for instance,
I did the Hocus Focus panel for Midsomber Scream, and
I would love to do something like that. But to
become a convention where it's like line up and take
photos and get autographs from your favorite horror celebrities, that
doesn't excite me as much. To be honest, not saying
it would never happen, but I can confidently say that
would never be the focal point of what I'm trying
(32:34):
to create. I'm trying to create because to me, that
stuff is not really wicked New England. That's wicked and horror.
But once again, like the emphasis event of this event
will always be about Halloween and horror stuff in New England.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Love it, I love it. I love that you're keeping
it focused on that local New England scene.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Yeah, I mean I would the space would be like, actually,
something like a Hocus Focus would make sense because it
was shot in New England and obviously takes place in
New England. If they're you know, if Stephen King wanted
to take part in the events some year, you know
he's up in that area and so like that would
be the kind of stuff. I always try. I could
eat these words in the future, but I try to
(33:19):
make it fit within the theme. It's honestly kind of
a pet peeve of mine. Like, for instance, you mentioned
my Disney podcast, and like, I know a lot of
podcasts that will start straying from their original theme, especially
what I'm eleven years into my podcast, so like they'll
start being like, well, let's start doing Universal Studios episodes,
(33:40):
and I'm like, not unless we're tying it into Disney
conversation somehow. Like I'm just I'm just that person, Like
I'm adamant about this is our theme, this is our genre,
this is our niche, let's stick to it and do
it that. I'm a quality over quantity type of person.
I have no interest in being the biggest, but I
(34:00):
very much would like to be the best at what
I do.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Got to respect that eleven years, that's a long time
doing a podcast.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
It was literally up until this year. This year I
switched to a once a month format, but before that
it was once a week pretty much all year. I'd
take about a month off, and for a couple of
seasons I was doing twice a week. So there's a
level of insanity when it comes to me, because that
is just cruel and unusual punishment for yourself.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Cool man. I mean that's yeah, I say, work. We're
on year five right now of our show, so I
thought that was a lot. But yeah, eleven, that's that's
a lot. So that's that's that's awesome. But I respect you.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah, it isn't funny because for me, I know, when
I started the podcast, I was like, what can I
talk about every week for like an extend, Like my
thought was for a year, what can I tell? What
are fifty two ideas I can come up with? And now,
like hundreds of episodes later, I'm like, oh, I guess
there's a lot to talk about.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Yep. Sure is. It helps you get it. It's funny
what you can think of and get creative for topics.
It's you know, sometimes does require a little bit of work,
but you can definitely do it. There's all sorts of
conversations you can have about any particular topic. That's what
it is a podcast for everyone out there that probably has.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
That's my favorite thing about doing it for so long
is like my episodes can get really niche these days
or just random, like you know in Los Angeles, we
have the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and I'm like, let
me talk to the people that run that place. I'd
love to know the history behind it and stuff like that.
And you know, in our first year, first few years
of a podcast, you're not gonna be hitting that stuff.
You're gonna hit the most obvious things. You're gonna hit
(35:41):
all the theme parks and stuff. But I love getting
a really niche about weird stuff within Disney and or Halloween.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
I totally see where you're coming from there. Man. As
a fellow podcaster, I feel like I talk about all
sorts of niche stuff all the time, a lot of
stuff about horror movies and everything in between. So well, dude,
this is a great conversation. I'm so happy that that
you came on. I'm super thrilled for you. That the
events come in in just a few short weeks. Hopefully
this episode should be out i'd say, you know, before
(36:13):
the end of this week. So again. The Wicked New
England Halfway to Halloween Festival is taking place in Salem, Massachusetts,
on Saturday, May third, starting at eleven am right eleven
to seven Okay. Tickets available on.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Your website with New England dot info, I n FO
not dot com dot info, Wicked neew England dot info.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
Awesome. Well again, this is Jeff to Polly, who is
the founder and producer of Wicked New England. Jeff, thanks
so much for coming on and talking about the event.
It's a lot of fun to talk and we should,
we should, we should hook up again sometime. Have you
back on the show to talk about some spooky stuff.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
I like that. Thank you so much for having me
and letting folks know about the event. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Oh my gosh, of course, yeah, it's my pleasure. This
is the type of stuff that, you know, one of
the things about our show. You know, we talk a
lot of horror movies, but I love talking about the
local New England Halloween type stuff as well. It's one
of the one of the things that about our show
that I think makes us a little bit different than
your average horror movie podcast. So it's one of my
favorite things to talk about. So I'm so happy that
this is happening for you. And again it's the Wicked
(37:24):
Wicked New England Halfway to Halloween Festival on Saturday May
third in Salem, Massachusetts.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
Jeff.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Thanks again, man, we really appreciate you taking the time.
I have a good with my friend, all right, talk soon. Bye.
Hey everyone, it's Mike from America's Hometown Horror, and I
want to say thanks again for listening to another episode
(37:50):
of our show. If you're interested in more local Plymouth podcasts,
I'd highly recommend you check out the show from our
friends over on the Inneed re Art podcast network. In
addition to America's Hometown on Horror, you can find shows
from Anebriart, The Old Colony, Caste, Bar Talk, Theme Park Legends,
and Retrodoctopus, So head on over and give them a listen.
Is Halloween not simply one day for you, but rather
a lifestyle throughout the year. If you're craving more spooky
in your life, come to Wicked New England, a Halfway
to Halloween festival, taking place in Salem, Massachusetts, on Saturday,
May third. Wicked New England will offer a curated marketplace
featuring spooky vendors from all over New England, stage presentations
(00:24):
by local haunts, and Halloween offerings, photo ops, monsters.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
And more.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Visit Wickednew England dot info for more information and tickets.
You won't want to miss this celebration of a New
England Halloween. This Halfway to Halloween. That's Wickednew England dot info,
Wickednew England dot info.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Tonight's episode of America's Hometown Heart is brought to you
by our friends at Fangoria magazine. That's right, the first
name in Fright since nineteen seventy nine, is now an
affiliate of America's Hometown Heart, and because of that, we
can now offer you an exclusive twenty percent discount on
any first time magazine subscription or merchandise purchase by heading
over to shop dot Fangoria dot com and using the
code Hometown Horror Pod at checkout at shop dot fangoria
(01:12):
dot com slash Hometown Horror Pod, or just use the
code Hometown Horror Pod at checkout for that exclusive discount
on anything from Fangoria. Tonight's episode of America's Hometown hor
is also brought to you by our friends at horror
Fax Magazine. Never heard of horror Fax Magazine, Well, if
you're a horror fan, they're a name that you absolutely
should know. You can find them over at horror fats
dot com and they're a great resource for all things horror,
(01:33):
including news, reviews, editorials, and lots of other horror podcasts
not only limited to, but including America's at Hometown Horras.
Head on over to horror fas dot com and check
them out. Now, let's get on with the show, all right, folks,
(02:05):
thanks for tuning in to another episode of America's Hometown
Horror Podcast. My name is Mike, and I will be
flying solo today as I am joined by a very
special guest who I will introduce here momentarily. But I
have to say before we get going, if you're a
listener of our show, there's a pretty good chance that
you not only love all things horror, but you also
(02:26):
love Halloween just like we do. And if you love Halloween,
you're probably aware that we're just about halfway to the
high holiday itself and there are a lot of things
to do in the New England area to get your
early Halloween fix. I'll insert my shameless plug here for
our Halfway to Halloween horror movie Trivia that we will
be doing next Thursday, April twenty fourth at Mayflower Brewing
(02:48):
Company in Plymouth. But I digress. My guest this evening
also clearly loves Halloween, so much so that he has
created a brand spanking new Halfway to Halloween Festival that
is coming to Lovely Salem, Massachusetts, on Saturday, May third.
He's also the host of two podcasts, that Halloween Podcast
in Disney Coast to Coast, and I personally first came
(03:11):
across his name from the excellent interviews that he did
on YouTube called Haunted Experiences, where he has interviewed several
influential folks in the haunt industry, specifically Mary Barrett Costello
from Barrett's Haunted Mansion and David Bernalino from Spooky World,
both of whom we've had on this podcast as well,
so it was great to see them out there as well.
So without further ado, I feel like I should introduce
(03:33):
our guests. Please welcome the founder and producer of Wicked
New England, Jeff to Polly. Jeff, it is great to
have you man. Thanks so much for coming on the show.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Of course, of course, so I mentioned I mentioned the
YouTube streams that I watched that you were on before,
but I think I also came across your name through
a mutual friend of ours, Alexander from Halloween New England,
who I saw is involved in your event as well.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Absolutely. Alexander is one of the first people I ever
told about Wicked New England, and I was like, so,
I grew up in Massachusetts. I grew up in Wooburn, Massachusetts,
and lived the first twenty four years of my life there,
but I lived in I've lived in Los Angeles since
two thousand and six, so you know, I go back
to Massachusetts fairly often because my whole family's still there.
(04:18):
But you know, I wanted to talk to somebody who
really had their pulse on what was happening in New
England for the Halloween season, and because I certainly don't
want to be doing something that somebody else is already doing.
I want to fill, you know, a niche that needs
to be filled. And I talked to Alexander, was like,
is there anything like this, and She's like, no, but
we need it, so you know, that's how it all
(04:38):
came about. So she's one of the first people I
ever told about it, and absolutely knew that Halloween New
England would be part of Wicked New England whenever it happened.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So happy to have her makes makes total sense. Her
website is a great resource for everything Halloween, and I
always try to tell as many people as I can
about it whenever it comes up in conversation because she's
great at what she does. But that actually is a
pretty good segue, because I one of the reasons that
I wanted to have you on the show was you know,
obviously I have worked on, you know, an event like
(05:09):
this myself the past couple of years for the Hometown
Haunts and Hops horror con that we've been doing in
Plymouth for the last two years, and I understand the
great deal of work that goes into it behind the scenes,
so it can certainly be a lot. But aside from
being I'm assuming a huge Halloween fan yourself, you know
what made you want to create Wicked New England And
(05:32):
you know, for those those who may be unaware, can
you tell us a little bit about it for people
to experience when they come to this event.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah, so I'll start with what it is exactly. So
Wicked New England is a halfway to Halloween Festival and
it's taken place in Old Town Hall in Salem, Massachusetts.
So if you have any Hocus Pocus fans, that's the
building exterior that you see for the big I Put
a Spell on You party in the film, and it's
taking place in that building, which is a great venue.
(06:01):
I actually produced an event there this past September. But
for Wicked New England, it's really about celebrating what New
England has to offer for the Halloween season. So we're
going to be having a big vendor market and one
of the things I'm most proud of. You know, when
I started this whole thing, I said to myself, I
don't want this to be Wicked Salem. I don't want
(06:23):
this to be Wicked Massachusetts. I want this to be
Wicked New England, and I really want to represent what
New England has to offer for Halloween because it's incredible.
New England during the Halloween season is incredible, and so
I have a vendor market full of vendors from all
over New England and beyond. We have people coming from Pennsylvania,
New York even which is amazing. And then there will
(06:45):
be panel presentations. If you're familiar with the building, there's
a stage on the second floor that will be taking
advantage of and having panel presentations by some fabulous folks
like Barrett's Haunted Mansion and Spooky World. As you previously mentioned,
those two are also creating some really cool septicor and
photo ops for it. In fact, Barrett's is getting ready.
(07:06):
I won't spoil anything because they certainly wouldn't want me to,
but they're getting ready to make some announcements about you know,
things coming for the twenty twenty five Halloween season, and
you will be seeing the first of it at Wicked
New England, which I'm really excited about, and we'll have
monsters all around and as I said, photo ops. It's
going to be a really fun, fun day and halfway
(07:30):
to Halloween, so very excited for it.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
That's awesome. And I was going to ask you about
the hand attractions that are involved in this, because they're
two of my favorites, Barretts in Nightmare New England. Very
exciting to hear about Barretts because I was going to say,
I know we're getting to that point in the year
where stuff starts to get announced, and I know that
they always have something new and exciting every single year.
And Nightmare New England obviously is top notch as well.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Fantastic, absolutely with a really rich history. And I mean
I grew up going to the Ogs, not the og
Spooky World. I missed the days in the farm. I
was the Foxborough kid going to that location and actually
went a few years ago when I was in Massachusetts
for the Halloween season, I went to their current location.
(08:16):
I was really really blown away by it. I was
very excited when they agreed to take part in Wicked
New England and they're they're in a big way. Like
I said, photo op monsters and a panel from both
Spooky World and Barretts.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
That's phenomenal. So yeah, Spook Magri New England's hay Ride
is I think next to none. It's phenomenal. It's great,
and I just I love this time of year. I
love the Halloween season because hand attractions around here are
one of my favorite things to get myself in the
mood for Halloween. And we have such good ones around here,
so I love to talk about them as much as
(08:49):
I possibly can. I'm happy that you're incorporating that into
your event.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Oh that will be something that becomes a bigger and
bigger part of the event as the years go on,
for sure. Like I want, you know, ideally, the way
that I have vendors from all over New England, I
want haunts from all over New England represented. And you know,
this year we have Barretts's Massachusetts, Spooky World is New
Hampshire and in future years hopefully we're hit in every
(09:14):
New England state.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Awesome. So I was going to ask you, so, so
you mentioned the you know, the sets and the kind
of like the roaming actors portion of it. What can
people expect out of the panels with our haunted attractions
at Wicked New England?
Speaker 1 (09:31):
You know what, let me pull up a spreadsheet so
that I don't miss any Let's say, so Barrett's we're
going to start the day with Barrett's Haunted Mansion doing
some makeup application, so if you get there early at
the beginning of it, you will see some of their
monsters becoming monsters from human to monsters, so they'll be
doing that on stage. And then Which City Walking Tours
(09:52):
are you familiar with them? Yes, yep, yeah, So Which
City Walking Tours is the official sponsor of Wicked New
England and they're going to be giving a presentation about
their offerings and they have a bunch of different tours
available in Salem, Massachusetts. They're great people, they give great tours.
In fact, their offices are right next to Old Town Hall,
(10:12):
so I keep telling people come to Wick in New
England and book a tour for the same day, especially
if you're traveling from any sort of distance like knock
out Two Birds with One Stone. They're really really wonderful.
So Which City Walking Tours will be doing a presentation,
and then Spooky wor Old is coming to do a
presentation kind of a little bit of history, a little
(10:33):
behind the scenes, a little of what you can look
forward to this year with some of their actors and managers.
Stuff like that. Halloween New England. As we're just talking
about Alexander will be there talking about her amazing resource.
Her website is fantastic and highly highly recommend that. I mean,
she is meticulous about updating it and making sure things
(10:54):
are up to date on that website, So can't recommend
that enough. So she's doing a panel. Barrett's Hunted Me
is doing kind of a behind the scenes sort of
panel and history of panel as well with their house
manager and a makeup manager. And then I have a
tutorial somebody's coming to teach. His name is Matthew Davis,
to kind of teach prop making and just tips on
(11:16):
how to create things for the Halloween season. And then
the Wicked ghost Hunters will be part of the event
sharing about some of their ghost hunting stories and experiences.
And we'll wrap up the day with Spooky World back
on stage doing makeup demos. In fact, what I hear,
they're going to be looking for some volunteers in the crowd,
so you never know, if you're there, you might get
(11:38):
chosen by Spooky World to go on stage and have
some makeup applied.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
That's awesome. That's a lot of really cool stuff. I mean,
I get told I was gonna say if you're if
you're a fan of seeing you know, behind the scenes
stuff for hants, especially around this area. It sounds like
things that should not be missed for sure. Did I
see that your podcast is going to be involved as well?
Are you doing a live show from there? I saw
(12:04):
something about that in the website.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
So yeah, my podcast is a promotional sponsor of the
podcast of the event, because obviously I'm gonna let people
who listen to my podcast know about it. But I
will not be doing any moderating because I will be
very busy producing the live event. But the Horror Squad
podcast will be there moderating some of those panels. It
was left up to the panelists whether or not they
(12:28):
wanted like a host moderator or just to do it themselves.
And so yeah, Horror Squad podcast will be represented moderating
some of those panels as I run around, hopefully not
too much, but I definitely I moderate panels a lot
at conventions for other people. Sure, I was like, for
this one, I feel like I need to be available
(12:50):
for whatever might come up during the event.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Oh for sure I can. That's you have it nailed down,
because that's the one thing I would say is you know,
make yourself available having done something similar, but also make
sure you take a step back to kind of enjoy
everything as well and just kind of embrace the chaos,
because once you're there in the middle of it, it's
just it's going and it's going to be awesome. It
sounds like you've quite the event planned.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
So I love moderating panels, So I will say it
hurts a little to be like not moderating at my
own event. So my hope is, like, you know, in
a few years, when we have like a whole team
built around this event, hopefully I'll be able to you know,
at least moderate one of them because it is one
of my favorite things to do. I absolutely love it.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Sure do you have a favorite panel that that you've
moderated just throughout the years?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Oh gosh, whoa god? So many I will mention too,
if that's all right. I of course produced and moderated
a twenty fifth anniversary hocus Pocus panel for Midsommer Scream
in Southern California, and that was amazing. We had a
ton of people who made the movie, from you know,
the film producer creator to the production designer to the composer,
(14:00):
to the screenwriter, to Thora Birch, who played Danny in
the film, like in special Effects and beyond like. It
was a massive, awesome panel at Midsomber Scream and then
for Creepert Real O c which takes place in Orange County, California,
I moderated a panel with the talent from the Night
Member before Christmas. So it was Chris Sarandon who's the
(14:21):
speaking voice of Jack Skellington, and Ken Page, who was
the voice of Oogie Boogie who sadly passed away two
weeks after that event. And wow, I think I was
like the last person to interview him, I think, and
he was amazing and also brought along the artistic producer
and producer of the film for that, So that was
another really fun, memorable panel.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I can see why those might be your favorites considering
your affinity for all things Halloween. Those are two staples
for a lot of Halloween fans. I would say it's.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
A perfect crossover for me, Disney and Halloween. It's like
that fits.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Pretty Yeah, Yeah, that's awesome. I was gonna ask, so
I did see so obviously you have you have your
other podcast as well. I had to ask, since it's
been in the news a lot lately, but the park
not being quite open yet. Have you seen the reactions
or any of the any of the photos that have
come out of the New Dark Universe land at Epic
(15:22):
Universe in Orlando.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Oh, I can't avoid it. So I'm also work as
a journalist and content person for Attractions magazine, so we
kind of cover all of that stuff, and you know,
with Epic Universe, the thing I'm most excited to see
is the whole Monsters area. I have been avoiding it
as much as I can to be honest. Obviously, I've
seen images and stuff, but I'm not watching ride throughs
(15:45):
or anything, because I'll get there, you know, within the
next year or so. And I'll tell you one great
thing about getting a little older, your fomo just gets
less and less and less. And I really I don't
feel this great need or desire to be like I
need to see this now and like watching a YouTube
video of it. I'm just like, yeah, I'm going to go,
(16:07):
and I'm gonna enjoy it with fresh eyes when I go.
So I'm avoiding it as much as I can, to
be completely honest.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
I love that mindset, and you know, it's funny. I've
you know, we obviously we talk a lot of horror
movies on our show, and we kind of all have
adapted the belief that you know. I don't really watch
many trailers anymore for stuff when it's coming out, because
I like to go in as blind as possible, and
I think that it's just so easy to get stuff
spoiled for you these days, and it's so much better,
like you said, to go in with, you know, with
(16:36):
kind of a mild idea of what's happening, but not
knowing everything that you could possibly know. So I will say,
as a gigantic fan of the Universal Monsters, it's been
very hard to try. And you know, if I'm on
TikTok or whatever, swipe away as soon as I see
something like that, because I will eventually get there as well.
I love all things Universe. I love Halloween Horror Night.
(16:58):
So it's been real tough, but I can't wait to
see what it looks like when whenever I do get
there in person. I've heard it's incredible.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
I've heard it's incredible. I actually know some folks who
worked on it and the animatronics you know, I did
see those when they first tease them, and those look
beautiful for me. The big thing I always want to
know about is the ride vehicle because I'm not the
bravest rider when it comes to theme park, right, so
you know, I get I'm a theme park guy, not
(17:24):
a thrill park guy. And you know, some of these
ride vehicles look pretty intense, so I just I do
like to see what I'm getting into with that and
kind of just be mentally prepared for that. But it
looks beautiful. I'm you know, the the windmill that catches
on fire, Oh my god, I love that detail. And
the land that's super cool, and yeh, it'll be fun.
(17:46):
I'm a big Halloween Hornets fan. I go typically I
go to both coasts, so I've gone to both coasts
for maybe last eight nine years something like that, and yeah,
really I'm going to love that. I'm a you know,
haunted houses, that's my favorite part of Halloween. The thing
I love about Halloween is that there are so many
different areas of Halloween. So like, if you're not a
(18:07):
horror person, you can be like a pumpkin person. If
you're not a pumpkin person, you can be a candy person.
If you're not a candy person, you can be costume person.
And that's what I love about it, Like there's something
for everyone when it comes to the holiday, and you're
not obligated to take part in at all. It's the
no obligations holiday, as I call it.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yep, yep. Your experience may vary based on what you like.
I'm a fan of that as well. I like that
because it's easy, you know, having a younger daughter now
I can still do stuff that I like, spooky, scary stuff,
but it's also fun to do some stuff it's a
little bit more geared towards her, So I completely understand.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
So you're I mean, you're a little far, but not
terribly far from Woburn, Massachusetts, where I grow up. Are
you familiar with their Halloween parade?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
I'm not.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Actually you met. It's always the Sunday before or on Halloween,
and it's usually around one camera. Okay in the city
does like a big Halloween parade and there's like thousands
of people show up for it, and with a young one,
I highly recommend it.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
I will write that down right now. I'll put that
on my list of things to do this side.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I took Alexander to it on so if you if
you talk to her from Halloween, New England, talk to
her and be like, what did you think of it?
I you know, it's such a tradition for me growing up,
so always tell people to check it out.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Sure, I can get behind any town that embraces Halloween
that much that they're going to do a parade for it,
So that sounds incredible. I'll have to check that out
for sure. Anyway, So I feel like we could talk
about it a bunch of different stuff for a long time.
I feel like I should go back towards Wicked New England,
though I also know that you mentioned there are going
to be quite a lot of spooky vendors there as well.
(19:48):
You know, seems like there's going to be a lot
of stuff to walk around, check out, buy some cool,
spooky halfway to Halloween stuff. If people are into that,
Can you tell us a little bit a little bit
more about some of the vendors that are coming.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
I'm trying to get, you know, a nice wide range
of people. We've got candles, which is some of my
always my favorite. I love candles. They're such a cool moodsetter.
So we've got different candle shops with their spooky candles,
and we've got artists coming with paintings and photographers, you know,
people who are crocheting these demented stuffed animals that with
(20:20):
a creepy twist to them. People who are, you know,
demolishing dolls and making some really creepy looking dolls. It
really runs the gamut of different types of vendors and
we have about I want to say, around forty five
something like that, which is a full space. And you know,
(20:40):
it's been a great problem to have, but like I've
been sold out of vendor spots since January, and I
regularly still get vendors reaching out being like can I
take part, And I'm like, I don't have any space
for you. So, you know, I'm really I could be
selective for this event, and when it came to being elective,
it was I want variety. Obviously, it needs to be
(21:03):
spooky or scary, and I really wanted representation from all
over New England. So obviously the event takes place in Massachusetts,
so there's a good number of Massachusetts vendors, but I've
also got vendors from New Hampshire, main Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and
New York, YadA, YadA.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
So awesome, And I feel like that's a that's a
good point to bring up because I meant to ask
you or you know, earlier, because obviously, I think New
England in general is one of the best places that
you can experience the Halloween season, and obviously within New England,
Salem is probably one of the best places that you
can experience Halloween. Having been several times as a Halloween lover,
(21:45):
I love Salem. It's absolutely phenomenal. There's so much to do.
I feel like, no matter what.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Time, how do you like those crowds in October? You're
not going to have those You're not gonna have seasons
in May.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yeah, that's actually so that's a huge benefit of your event.
I use try and go, you know, late summer, that
type of thing before it starts to really get crazy.
But no matter what time of year you go, it's
just there's so much there's so much Halloween adjacent stuff
around there, and it'd always puts you in the mood.
So I feel like it's just it was a perfect
location for you to select to have this event, to
(22:17):
set the Halloween.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Yeah, it felt it felt like a good spot to
start for sure, to launch it. And you know, I
would say the one difficulty with Salem is I'm in
one of the largest spaces they have available and it's
not huge. As I said, it fits about forty five vendors.
How many vendors do you have at your event?
Speaker 2 (22:38):
I think we had a similar amount. It was somewhere
between like three last year, so we know.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Not a small amount, but also not a massive amount.
When you talk about like big conventions, those will have
like three to five hundred vendors. So certainly not small,
but it's it's about as big as you can get
in Salem if you're looking for an indoor location, because
I will say I am not a brave at enough
event producer to produce an event in New England that
(23:04):
is fully outdoors because I am all too familiar with
the weather in New England, you know, destroying an event
and also a Halloween season. You know, I really commend
these people like a Spooky World who does an outdoor
hay ride as a major part of their event and
a big selling point of their event. You have one
(23:24):
rainy Halloween season. I'm not saying one night, but like
if the season is a pretty rainy one, that can
really hit you hard. And those are passionate people doing
those sorts of things. I get the desire to do
an outdoor event because it's amazing. I mean, New England
Halloween weather can be incredible. It can also destroy your event.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
For sure, and I think that that's one of the
best aspects of Nightmare New England right now is the
fact that it's setting me in the woods, a very
creepy area of the woods right along the Merrimack River,
which it's that adds a different element to that. But
I can tell you from my experience as the last
couple of years. So the first time we did Hans
and Hops, we did it in October of twenty twenty
(24:11):
three on a Saturday, and we happened to have the
I think it was the warmest Saturday in October in
like a decade something like that. It was in the
low eighties, which was perfect. We were able to move
some stuff outside and it was actually it was like
hot running around trying to talk to people, get people
set up. I was sweating bullets. But then this past
year we decided to move it up to the end
(24:32):
of September, and we also had it on a Saturday
and it poured buckets the entire day. We had a
whole outdoor area planned with vendors and a separate beer
garden at the brewery that we have it at, and
we had to scramble rearrange everything, bring everything inside, find
space for people. So it was a lot more of
(24:54):
a cramped atmosphere. I actually think it created a little
bit more camaraderie for the people that were in there.
It was a little bit more fun, I thought. But
it was definitely tight. So yeah, the weather up here
can be spotty. It's definitely a factor.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
I've got a note that I love how you call
it Nightmare New England and I'm so old school still
calling it Spooky World technically Spooky World present.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Nightmare New England. Yeah, so it's so I started going
to you mentioned the original location on the farm in Berlin.
I started going when I was very young. I went
a couple of times out there, and then I kept
going in Foxborough and I've been obviously throughout the years
as they've moved. You know, one of the first ton
of attractions I have done it at Canopy yeah, Canopy Lake. Yeah,
(25:40):
I've done that one as well. I really liked the
location there and now. But having talked with uh, you know,
David from the original Spooky World and the people that
have been producing the Spooky World documentary, I did get
the impression that a lot of people do consider them
to be separate entities. So it's kind of just a habit.
(26:01):
But I know it is Spooky World presents Nightmare in
New England now, so I don't know, it's just a.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Ye, something interesting is and I would agree. I think
people see that it's two different you know eras of
Spooky World for sure and sure so when I started
working with them for Wicked New England, one of my
first questions was like, hey, when like I post about
you guys being part of the event, can I say
Spooky World or do you want me to say Spooky
(26:27):
World presents Nightmare New England, Like what's the correct phraseology?
And they were like, Spooky World's fine, which I will
say actually surprised me a little bit, but I love
that they embraced it. Obviously, it's a brand, right, like
that is a New England, well known brand from I
think what was at nineteen ninety one was the first year,
so yeah, yeah, it's an institution in the New England area,
(26:49):
so they're smart to embrace that name for sure. I know.
I see the poster behind you, And the funny thing is,
is I David Bertel you know, gave me a poster
similar to that, but it has Elvira on it. And
it's just that the level, you know, orange paper with
black ink. But it's so iconic and I got to
get mine in a frame and up on the wall
like you have it because it's so great.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah. So I think this is from like ninety two
or ninety three. I don't know the exact year, but
it's yeah, I absolutely love it. I try and collect
as much original spooky world memorability as I can. I
have the I have the VHS.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Have that. So I'm making myself because I totally had
that VHS tape. But at one point in my life
when DVD became everything, I transferred everything to DVD and
got rid of all the VHS that I had, And now,
like an idiot, I'm rebuying a lot of it on eBay.
But that VHS tape, especially if it's unopen, goes for
(27:44):
a good chunk of change on eBay these days, I
will say, folks, it's one hundred percent available on YouTube
as well. If you just want to watch it. You know,
it's a little cheesy, but if you want the nostalgia
of it, go to YouTube. Don't spend one hundred bucks
on a VHS tape onny Bay.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Oh yeah, I mean there's certainly a lot of cheese
in there. But I I know exactly the YouTube videos
you're talking about. I have them saved on a YouTube
playlist that I have in rotation in my house every October,
just let it play through that and a bunch of
other old school Halloween stuff from the nineties and the eighties.
So it's yeah, that's totally my vibe. It brings me
right back, So I love that. But yeah, I have
(28:25):
I have the tape. I have a couple of tickets,
like paper tickets I have. I have a bumper sticker
that I still have. It's not stuck anywhere. So I
have a couple of things that I've collected throughout the
years that I love. I did at one point have
a Jason Vorhees mask signed by Caine Hadder that I
(28:45):
did lose, which sucks but it's okay.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
I still let me ask you this when it comes
to Spooky World. Are you a fan of the jingle
or not so much? It's America's or the original one
the world? Yes or no? You love it?
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Love it? I love it? Say I feel like it
just maybe it's just I'm biased because it holds such
an emotional connection for me. But like we have, like
you know, if we're if we're doing a particular topic
on our show, I created like a little ninety second
fake like advertisement, real ind quotes that I have old
(29:23):
school like Halloween commercials. Like I it's like a Creepy
Crawler's commercial audio in there, but it also has like
an old school radio commercial for Spooky World in there
with that jingle, So you know, don't hopefully nobody sues me.
But it's just like a little cool thing. So I
hear it all the time. It just always got me
in the mood for Halloween. So I'm you a fan of.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Me, you know, because I have very nostalgic ties to
it as well. But it just makes me laugh because
and I've told David Bertolino this, I was like, it's
the most like jovial Halloween jingle. Ever, it's like the
complete opposite of what it's advertising. But that's the jingle
you have, but now it's it's iconic, right, So I'm
(30:01):
very much ride in the middle line with that. I'm like,
I get why you can love it, and I get
why you can hate it. But it does make me.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Laugh, oh for sure. For sure brings you back to
a time that no longer exists. My friend. Yeah, so
I know we're kind of getting up against you, like
I do kind of just want to go back to Okay,
I was, I got a scutin in about seven or eight,
(30:29):
but if so, basically so for Wicked New England. I
do obviously want to talk about So. I know it's
the first year that you're doing this and obviously you
don't want to put the cart, you know, before the
horse here. I know that you did mention like in
the future, you have some things that you've been toying
around with, what you want to do, what you want
the event to be. Can you talk a little bit
(30:50):
more about that, what you want this to do.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
I would love this to just keep getting bigger and
have as many New England Halloween businesses take in it
as possible. So you know, I, as I mentioned the beginning,
this is not Wicked Salem, This is not Wicked Massachusetts.
I do not feel like I am burying a steak
in my current location for this event. I see it
(31:15):
moving around. Maybe not next year, you know, maybe I'll
be in the same spot next year. We'll see. But
I hope it gets bigger and therefore outgrows where it
currently is, because as I mentioned, it's kind of the
biggest spot available in Salem at the moment.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
So sure, awesome, Yeah, I can understand that. Do you
are you looking to you think, obviously this is very
Halloween centric. Do you foresee it moving towards like a
little like a like horror movies at all, like actors panels,
that type of thing.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yeah, I don't ever see it becoming like a celebrity event.
That doesn't really interest me, to be honest. Part of
it is because I just live in LA and I'm jaded,
and I see these people all the time. It doesn't
really excite me all that much. But at the same time,
it's just, you know, I know that there are other
conventions doing that, doing great stuff with that in the
New England area. Would I have the best case scenario
(32:12):
is I would have celebrities for a panel, like for instance,
I did the Hocus Focus panel for Midsomber Scream, and
I would love to do something like that. But to
become a convention where it's like line up and take
photos and get autographs from your favorite horror celebrities, that
doesn't excite me as much. To be honest, not saying
it would never happen, but I can confidently say that
would never be the focal point of what I'm trying
(32:34):
to create. I'm trying to create because to me, that
stuff is not really wicked New England. That's wicked and horror.
But once again, like the emphasis event of this event
will always be about Halloween and horror stuff in New England.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Love it, I love it. I love that you're keeping
it focused on that local New England scene.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Yeah, I mean I would the space would be like, actually,
something like a Hocus Focus would make sense because it
was shot in New England and obviously takes place in
New England. If they're you know, if Stephen King wanted
to take part in the events some year, you know
he's up in that area and so like that would
be the kind of stuff. I always try. I could
eat these words in the future, but I try to
(33:19):
make it fit within the theme. It's honestly kind of
a pet peeve of mine. Like, for instance, you mentioned
my Disney podcast, and like, I know a lot of
podcasts that will start straying from their original theme, especially
what I'm eleven years into my podcast, so like they'll
start being like, well, let's start doing Universal Studios episodes,
(33:40):
and I'm like, not unless we're tying it into Disney
conversation somehow. Like I'm just I'm just that person, Like
I'm adamant about this is our theme, this is our genre,
this is our niche, let's stick to it and do
it that. I'm a quality over quantity type of person.
I have no interest in being the biggest, but I
(34:00):
very much would like to be the best at what
I do.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Got to respect that eleven years, that's a long time
doing a podcast.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
It was literally up until this year. This year I
switched to a once a month format, but before that
it was once a week pretty much all year. I'd
take about a month off, and for a couple of
seasons I was doing twice a week. So there's a
level of insanity when it comes to me, because that
is just cruel and unusual punishment for yourself.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Cool man. I mean that's yeah, I say, work. We're
on year five right now of our show, so I
thought that was a lot. But yeah, eleven, that's that's
a lot. So that's that's that's awesome. But I respect you.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah, it isn't funny because for me, I know, when
I started the podcast, I was like, what can I
talk about every week for like an extend, Like my
thought was for a year, what can I tell? What
are fifty two ideas I can come up with? And now,
like hundreds of episodes later, I'm like, oh, I guess
there's a lot to talk about.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Yep. Sure is. It helps you get it. It's funny
what you can think of and get creative for topics.
It's you know, sometimes does require a little bit of work,
but you can definitely do it. There's all sorts of
conversations you can have about any particular topic. That's what
it is a podcast for everyone out there that probably has.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
That's my favorite thing about doing it for so long
is like my episodes can get really niche these days
or just random, like you know in Los Angeles, we
have the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and I'm like, let
me talk to the people that run that place. I'd
love to know the history behind it and stuff like that.
And you know, in our first year, first few years
of a podcast, you're not gonna be hitting that stuff.
You're gonna hit the most obvious things. You're gonna hit
(35:41):
all the theme parks and stuff. But I love getting
a really niche about weird stuff within Disney and or Halloween.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
I totally see where you're coming from there. Man. As
a fellow podcaster, I feel like I talk about all
sorts of niche stuff all the time, a lot of
stuff about horror movies and everything in between. So well, dude,
this is a great conversation. I'm so happy that that
you came on. I'm super thrilled for you. That the
events come in in just a few short weeks. Hopefully
this episode should be out i'd say, you know, before
(36:13):
the end of this week. So again. The Wicked New
England Halfway to Halloween Festival is taking place in Salem, Massachusetts,
on Saturday, May third, starting at eleven am right eleven
to seven Okay. Tickets available on.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Your website with New England dot info, I n FO
not dot com dot info, Wicked neew England dot info.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
Awesome. Well again, this is Jeff to Polly, who is
the founder and producer of Wicked New England. Jeff, thanks
so much for coming on and talking about the event.
It's a lot of fun to talk and we should,
we should, we should hook up again sometime. Have you
back on the show to talk about some spooky stuff.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
I like that. Thank you so much for having me
and letting folks know about the event. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Oh my gosh, of course, yeah, it's my pleasure. This
is the type of stuff that, you know, one of
the things about our show. You know, we talk a
lot of horror movies, but I love talking about the
local New England Halloween type stuff as well. It's one
of the one of the things that about our show
that I think makes us a little bit different than
your average horror movie podcast. So it's one of my
favorite things to talk about. So I'm so happy that
this is happening for you. And again it's the Wicked
(37:24):
Wicked New England Halfway to Halloween Festival on Saturday May
third in Salem, Massachusetts.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
Jeff.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Thanks again, man, we really appreciate you taking the time.
I have a good with my friend, all right, talk soon. Bye.
Hey everyone, it's Mike from America's Hometown Horror, and I
want to say thanks again for listening to another episode
(37:50):
of our show. If you're interested in more local Plymouth podcasts,
I'd highly recommend you check out the show from our
friends over on the Inneed re Art podcast network. In
addition to America's Hometown on Horror, you can find shows
from Anebriart, The Old Colony, Caste, Bar Talk, Theme Park Legends,
and Retrodoctopus, So head on over and give them a listen.
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Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.