If you'd like to share your story....

Have something you want to share with our group? Interested in sharing your biography with the group, or a photo from your vacation? Have a blog, podcast or Etsy shop you'd like to promote? This is the place to do it.

Send MikeVegas72 a private message if you have something to share, and he'll make sure it gets posted here for the group to see.

Here's a tidbit from Mike, about a part of his life he has mentioned once or twice:

As somebody who always loved the creative, creepy fun of a haunted house at Halloween, I realized as a young college graduate that it might be a lot of fun to work at such an establishment.

That nearly happened 20 years ago. I had applied to be an actor at a haunted attraction by mailing in an application. I was hired sight unseen. I thought that was a bit odd. I was a bit concerned about the commitment I had to make to the job, so I opted not to accept the position. The dream was not realized that year. I sometimes wonder how my life would have been different had I went through with working that season.

I didn't give much thought to working at a haunted attraction again for several years. I had a modest surgery in January 2006, and as a result I told myself I needed to make a point to try a few things that I had neglected to do, to experience things I might have otherwise dismissed.

Late that summer I saw an add for a new haunted attraction opening up that fall at our big corporate amusement park. The amusement park is named Valleyfair, and they were going to offer haunted attractions during the fall, called ValleyScare. I was a bit hesitant to apply for a job working weekends at the amusement park, but I figured if not now, then probably never. So I applied to be an actor and worked four weekends in October as a pirate in Carnage at Crimson Isle. All these years later I still have fond memories of some of those nights.

What I thought was going to be a one-season gig turned into something more. I didn't make many friends that first year, but I enjoyed it enough to return. But I opted to move to a different attraction. I saw great potential in working as a member of the Mangler Asylum. I became a mad doctor, and I had a lot of fun with that for four seasons.

I lost my lust for acting after five years. I didn't hate the job, I was still good at it, but some nights felt too much like work. On your best nights, the adrenaline rush carries you through, and you have a lot of fun. That wasn't always the case in 2010, and I decided to walk away, with no long-term plan in the haunt industry.

I was curious, however, about what it might be like to work in a non-corporate environment, and in 2011 I worked a handful of nights at another area attraction, Screamtown. They had an asylum themed attraction, as well, so I worked a handful of nights there. I enjoyed it, overall, and under other circumstances might have worked there for multiple seasons.

I didn't make many friends at Screamtown, as I wasn't a regular part of their crew. But more than that, I missed working with my ValleyScare friends. By 2012 the amusement park had stretched its schedule out, and for the past several years the park has been open for six or seven weekends leading up to Halloween. I didn't want to act for seven weekends, but I went back to ValleyScare in 2012 as a blackout.

Blackouts are basically maze babysitters. I am not a park security officer, but I pretend I have authority. I am in and around the maze to provide assistance in a variety of ways. I refill water bottles for actors, I escort guests out of the maze if they're too scared to continue, I yell at guests who can't keep their hands to themselves, I pick up garbage and cell phones off the floor and occasionally I call the park security office if there's a significant issue.

As an actor, I learned how valuable it was to have competent assistance while working. You're not supposed to break character, after all. I didn't want to be an actor every weekend, but a job that allowed me to work with, and help, my friends? I welcomed the opportunity.

Being a blackout is most definitely a job. I am not part of the entertainment, but I get to watch my friends do their job, and that's a great perk of the job. I walk laps through the maze most of the night, sometimes not sitting down for six hours, but it's worth it at the end of the night.

I didn't have any grand plans for my return to ValleyScare. I was an actor for five years. I never would have guessed my career as a blackout would last longer than my career as an actor. But at the end of the 2018 season I had logged seven seasons as a blackout. And I'll likely go back this fall for another season.

I have a few friends that have been there since the early days, like me, but most people don't last more than five seasons. I didn't plan to work two seasons, and at the start of year 2, I was pretty sure there would be no year 3. Funny how life works.

I spent four years as a blackout at the asylum. Those of us who worked there over the years consider it a family. Unfortunately the asylum was retired after the 2016 season. For the two years following I was a blackout in the butcher shop.

Last fall I ended up being assigned to an outdoor scare zone, a different kind of environment, to be sure. (When you're essentially exposed to those walking through an outdoor area, it takes a different level of talent as an actor each night. I'm not sure I could have done it, even in my prime.) I enjoyed working for what I affectionately referred to as "Clown Town," but due to staffing shortages I wound up spending half of the season working at Zombie High, a traditional maze. I enjoyed working at both attractions last season.

I still love the work, but a part of me still misses the asylum, and always will.

Regardless of when it all ends, my life has been connected to Valleyscare for the past 13 years, and I have lifelong friendships as a result. That's an incredible gift I never expected, even after completing my second season at ValleyScare, as you can read below, if  you wish.

I ran out of things to write about, and interest, a few years ago, but I wrote about my adventures as an actor, and other things, for the first several years of my employment. I go back and look at them now and again. They remind me of tidbits I have forgotten, and help me better remember some of my fondest memories. You can read a short note I wrote four weeks after Halloween 2007, if you want to see how much blogging I did. (According to the blog account, there are 131 entries from 2006 through 2015.)

If you took a few minutes to read this, I hope it was worth your time. By the way, I don't blog about working at a haunted house any more, but I have a blog I do try to keep fresh, although not as often as I'd like.