By Charly SHELTON

It’s 100 degrees outside. Kids are enjoying their last bit of summer vacation. I haven’t even seen a sweater in four months. Time for the Halloween season to begin. Pumpkin Spice everything!

This may seem a bit premature to most people but, for those in the haunt industry, it is already past starting time. Each year, those in the industry get going on their main focus – creating a haunt, or haunted attraction. These spook-house walkthroughs are popular in late September and October, and they take months to prepare. “We started in June,” said Mark Shelton, one of the lead designers of this year’s Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station Haunted Jail. “There’s a lot to do, from the blue-sky planning stage to the budget to the building to inventing the new contraptions we need to really sell the effect. It doesn’t happen in one season. We’re always looking for new things to add all year.”

Shelton was in attendance at the Midsummer Scream at the end of July. The horror convention takes place each year at midsummer to mark the kick-off of the haunt season, showcasing new tech and ideas to be incorporated into this year’s haunts, most of which are in the later stages of design or early stages of fabrication. The convention attracts every type of horror fan – from the biggest names in the business, like Knott’s Scary Farm and Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights, to the home haunt designers to those who just love going to haunts and dressing up at Halloween.

John Murdy, director of Creative Development and executive show producer at Universal Studios Hollywood HHN, was excited to be at the event again to share his love of horror with hundreds of like-minded fans. He took the stage with USH HHN art director and production designer Chris Williams and, for the first time ever on one stage, east coast and west coast combined in welcoming senior director of Creative Development and Entertainment Michael Aiello from Universal Studios Florida HHN.

“We live Halloween 365 days a year; it’s a never-ending cycle of horror since we’ve all started working on this. So it’s never too early to talk about Halloween,” Murdy said for the three panelists.

In addition to answering fan questions and giving a sneak peek at what is coming up this year with the “Stranger Things” maze, the “Trick ‘r’ Treat” maze and more, the three answered questions about the industry in general and how to get into the big leagues at theme parks.

The convention consisted of a show floor with various booths and vendors, and a Hall of Shadows with over a dozen mini-haunts erected in the hall for the duration of the show. The vendor items were a mix of black-clad goth merchandise, Etsy-esque cute goth style (for example, a picture of Lily Munster on a pink-and-black bow), and various haunt tech booths like hot wire sculpting for making tombstones, scent effects by Escential Resources FX and masks galore.

One thing rarely found amid the sea of witches and warlocks was actual witchcraft.

“We were [at the convention] last year and we noticed that everyone was dressed in black and there were no greens or browns, and yet they say they’re witches. That’s not what a witch is. That’s more goth,” said Rev. Paul Messerle of the Celtic Cork Witch Bottle Company.

Messerle is a third-degree high priest of the Cabot Kent Hermetic Temple in Salem, Massachusetts. He brought to the show floor a touch of what witchcraft is really all about – connection to nature and doing good works.

“Our goal as witches is to help people, to heal people and to make sure that we’re giving them the opportunity and the ability to live the best life they can possibly live,” Messerle said.

He creates witch bottles, which are spells or rituals performed with positive intention that are poured into each bottle to affect change or enhance areas of the recipient’s life. For example, the Horne bottle is for connecting with the energy of the forest and nature, no matter where a person might be. The Hallow bottle is created to facilitate messages to and from the great beyond, hopefully providing closure. The Salem bottle is an important one that Messerle produces, as he is a witch from Salem, site of the witch trials that forced the practice underground therefore preserving it for modern generations.

Under a full moon, Messerle combines things like allspice, apple, incense, witch cloth, pumpkin seeds, moss and many other ingredients, and seals up the spell within a rum bottle, as rum was the chief import of the Salem harbor. This bottle is accompanied with a short incantation or prayer that it might bring the recipient connection with the power of all the witches who have come before.

This booth, as well as a few others, brought some balance to the black and very dark grey tones of most of the con. And although horror and haunts are fun, it was nice to see the lighter side and the truth of witchcraft.

In the coming weeks, CVW will be revealing more from Midsummer Scream and its vendors, as well as more announcements and insights coming up between now and the next haunt con, ScareLA, taking place at the end of August.

  Charly Shelton