A second Slaughterhouse video interview

On Halloween night we visited Slaughterhouse and finally got to see it at its current location. I’d seen it at three different spots over the year, so I think the only one I missed was the very first year in 2010 when it was “Big Al’s Slaughterhouse.”

I will have a whole recap of the attraction, but for now, here’s Lefty…

Tunnel of Terror video

Ever wonder just what a “haunted car wash” is? So did we, so we visited Tommy’s Express Tunnel of Terror last week and found out. This video is mostly raw footage of what they were doing outside the car wash, and then a few snippets of things they had inside. It was mostly lots of clowns with knives messing with people in their car 😉 FUN! And my car now shiny again.

Tommy’s Express Tunnel of Terror 2023

Review on Google, Yelp, Facebook…

After you are done voting, please help others know where to spend their money by reviewing the haunted houses on Facebook, Google and Yelp.

Facebook is important since it shows up high in search results. Google is important because that’s what Android phones use. Yelp is important because those are the reviews that show up on iPhone. (Obviously you can use Google and Facebook on anything, but it’s important to note that Yelp is a default for iPhone reviews.)

To make it easier, I have made this page with links to all the haunt’s review pages:

Click here to Review.

$10 off Haunted Woods on Mon 30 and Tue 31

Tonight (October 30) and tomorrow (October 31), you can get $10 OFF a trip through the Carlisle Haunted Woods by showing a post from their Facebook page. Go to the link below and scroll to find the discount offer:

https://www.facebook.com/hauntedwoodsdsm

You must show them the offer loaded up from their Facebook page. Be sure to give their page a Like or Follow while you are there.

What is Beggars’ Night?

When I moved to Iowa in 1995, I learned that Des Moines did not celebrate Halloween. Or rather, Halloween was just a day, and trick-or-treating was on the night before – Beggar’s Night. I guess I didn’t know if it was Beggars Night (plural), or Beggar’s Night (singular possessive) or Beggars’ Night (plural possessive). Somewhere my 7th grade English teacher is probably rolling in her grave over that sentence.

And, it wasn’t just “trick or treat!” Kids would tell jokes to get candy.

“How does a ghost say hello?”

“How do you boo!”

My s/o’s grandson, repeatedly, at Living History Farms Family Halloween and Blank Park Zoo Night Eyes…

At the time, a friend from Illinois who had also just moved to Iowa (we both moved to work at the same place) told me he heard it was so the adults could go drink and party on Halloween night without running over trick-or-treaters. I suppose that seemed plausible, so that is what I believed.

I did learn a bit more over the years. For instance, Wikipedia has an entry on the subject:

Beggars Night – Wikipedia

They say it is “Beggars Night” or “Beggars’ Niight,” and mention it is also a thing in a handful of other cities — including Houston, Texas which is where I grew up! (Not a true Beggars Night — just one “small neighborhood” that decided to stop giving candy to kids outside their neighborhood, and they did so by doing it the night before and not doing anything on the 31st.)

Over the years, I do remember reading articles (possible in Des Moines Register) that did not actually know why it existed here, but that changed in 2000 when this was published (and republished in 2015, it seems):

Why Des Moines goes trick-or-treating on Beggars’ Night, not Halloween (desmoinesregister.com)

Halloween vandalism in the 1930s created generations of kids not experiencing the Halloween night tradition of trick-or-treating.

Happy Beggars/Beggars’ Night, everyone! Tonight and tomorrow (Halloween) are the final two nights with haunted attractions operating in the area. Get out there and boo something fun before the Christmas decorations take over…