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For Lexington couple Greg and Laurel Walker, Halloween begins in January. That’s when the couple’s Fright Nights Production Company, which produces nine haunted attraction events in Lexington each Halloween season, gathers all the company’s directors in a room for the first conceptual meeting of the year.
“The one rule that Laurel and I tell them is to pretend money isn’t an object. There are no rules; there are no boundaries; let’s just get ideas out,” Greg says about that initial creative meeting. This approach is how all of the company’s events, which kick into high gear on Oct. 1, have come to fruition.
Some readers might be familiar with the Walker family name from the Walker Properties property management group run by Greg and his brother Chad, which is largely responsible for the revitalization efforts of the corridor along National Avenue known as Warehouse Block. Looking to diversify a bit, Greg and his wife created Fright Nights Production Company in 2011. It all started a few years earlier, when the couple was on a date at the Hustonville Haunted House in Junction City. Avid fans of haunted houses around the state, they noticed a “for sale” sign while visiting and knew they had to make a move. The Walkers purchased the house in ’06 and ran it until ’10 when they were approached by Jacobson Park, which had previously hosted the Trail of Terror. Run by an outside production company, the attraction had been dormant for several years.
“They contacted me to see if there was any interest in picking up the torch where they left it,” says Greg Walker. At first, the Hustonville Haunted House had been kind of a hobby for the couple. “When we did our deal with Jacobson Park, that’s when things really took off.”
Fright Nights’ productions have now expanded to include attractions at three Lexington locations during October alone: Fright Nights at Jacobson Park, Fright Nights at Waveland and Fright Nights at Walker Farm, a 52-acre farm the couple purchased specifically for hosting a new attraction. The decision to add the additional attractions was made after quick and significant growth at Jacobson Park, with increasing lines and waits to get in.
“Our lines were so large and the wait was getting so big, and we ran out of room to do anything else,” Greg Walker says. “We knew we wanted to do zombie paintball ... and so we made the decision to purchase the farm.”
Looking for a way to extend its season – and its expansive inventory of props and costumes – beyond the month of October, Fright Nights introduced a new pilot program at the farm this summer: The Fright Nights Campout Series, a 13-hour overnight spookfest featuring a variety of interactive horror activities. Participants are invited to camp on the grounds in one of the provided tents and interact overnight with a host of ghouls, goblins and other spooky creatures at a level of their choosing – ranging from the tamer “chicken leg” tent site (which are set up in the so-called “pansy zone”), to the full-on “guts” level, a more secluded campsite where just about anything goes.
“We’ve taken your favorite campout games you did as kids and [given] them a Fright Nights twist,” Greg Walker says. “Think of a potato sack race, but here we bombard you with chainsaws chasing you from the front, guys with tazers running at you from behind, monsters all over you.”
Earlier evening activities include tug o’ war with zombies and a monster version of capture the flag called Skull Hunt. After the games have concluded, it’s lights out – but this is when Greg Walker says the fun really begins.
“It is quite possible that you can get your tent sliced in half and they can drag you out of it and shove you in a coffin,” he says – or you can be “kidnapped” and thrown in an army truck, where he says the drivers “may take you to a cage and lock you up, or they may take you to McDonalds and buy you ice cream.”
Confident in the model they created, the Walkers hosted a pilot group this summer in Lexington and also secured locations in Louisville, Ky.; Cincinnati; and Atlanta. The pilot event in Lexington was a hit among the 110 participants and allowed the company to identify areas that could use some tweaking or improving, and the series will hit the road for the summer of 2016, with two tours running simultaneously with two separate casts. The company’s ultimate goal is to host a campout every weekend from May to August; 17 cities have already committed.
If getting woken up by a chainsaw-wielding clown or otherwise spending 13 hours living inside an interactive horror movie doesn’t sound appealing, Fright Nights at Walker Farm also features attractions for the slightly more faint at heart, including zombie paintball and a haunted corn maze.
The couple says the variety of attractions at the farm has helped to bring in a whole new audience to their endeavor.
“The good thing about the zombie paintball is that it has attracted a brand new demographic to what we do, because that’s not supposed to be this intense, scary thing,” Greg Walker says. “You get to scare the monsters in a sense. The zombie paintball attracts every walk of life.”
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Waveland features a traditional but “intense and intimate” indoor haunted setting, including a cast of about 50 local theater actors.
The Walkers stress that the Fright Nights attractions are a safe and interactive space for everyone.
“The larger theme is that we always try to be very sensitive... in anything that we do,” Greg Walker says. “Although it may be intense, we don’t cross that line of being non-family friendly.”
Having three young daughters of their own, the Walkers ensure that Fright Nights Productions can be enjoyed by young children, and even 80-year-old grandmothers. They host a family hour each night at 7:30 to allow children and families to enjoy the sites early in the evening.
As for how their girls have reacted to being around the spooky costumes, Laurel Walker says they have gotten used to it.
“Since they have grown up around it and know it’s pretend, they can just have fun with it,” she says.
The couple says their oldest daughter, who is 8, has even grown to love theater after being around the actors. Greg Walker notes they have one of the largest paid theatrical casts in the city, if not the state.
“We’re very big on recruitment. We have three human resources directors and their full-time job is just recruitment,” he says. “We go to plays, different theater plays around town, and we’ll try to recruit some people from that if we see people we like.”
However, some of the recruiting happens by chance – last winter, Greg Walker was at a bowling alley in Richmond when he spotted a seven-foot-tall guy with a huge beard walking by.
“I stopped what I was doing and went over and talked to him and says ‘have you ever considered working in a haunted attraction?’” he says.
Fright Nights’ current cast sits at 320 for all three events, not including the directors and site managers. The Walkers say the company, which is expecting a total attendance across all venues this month to be between 36,000 and 40,000, has invested about $400,000 to $500,000 just in production materials for the fall season alone – not including land costs – with an additional $50,000 invested in taking the campout series on the road. The couple credits the success and expansion to their entire team of cast members, directors and managers.
“All of that begins with our team,” Greg Walker says. “We have an amazing group.” ss