The haunt awards, like Horrorlust itself, are the result of an evolution. The 2013 crop will be the sixth annual edition for most of the awards — Rotten Pumpkin, Eerie Vibrations, Dark Horse, Killer Automatons, Pulse Pounder, and Monster all debuted following the 2008 haunt season. The Prop Master and Samhain Awards were both added at the conclusion of the 2011 season, thus making this the third consecutive year for those respective distinctions.
The oldest award that we recognize is of course, Haunt of the Year. This award predates Horrorlust, indeed Haunt of the Year goes back even further than Hallowblog, the predecessor to this blog. Not long before I began chronicling all of these wonderful haunted adventures my merry band of travelers and I would simply agree upon the best attraction of the Halloween season. And so you’ll notice that in the annals of Horrorlust, that the Haunt of the Year Award is officially recognized as having originated in 2005.
As an interesting aside, it’s worth noting that these awards were initially called the Haunt Trinity Haunt Awards. If you delve into the depths of past Horrorlust posts you’re sure to come across such a phrase. The Haunt Trinity was a nickname I fashioned once a upon a time for a frequent trio of haunters. The group was comprised of myself, Jason (my older brother), and our good friend John who is sometimes referred to in these posts as the Disco Devil or simply, Disco.
I used to get a kick out of the name; I even spun spur of the moment rhymes about it and haunted attractions but mostly I think it merely served to annoy everybody else. After a time, it was rarely just the three of us participating in the beloved haunt excursions; a half a dozen or more friends and acquaintances regularly rotated in and out on any given night. My brother began to joke that the nickname Haunt Trinity was a misnomer.
A couple of years ago he found work in a new field and his schedule changed drastically; allowing him to partake in the haunted festivities only a time or two per season. This roughly coincided with the advent of Horrorlust and so it has been since 2011 that the annual awards have shared the namesake of this blog.
Readers, if you need a refresher on any of the awards please refer to the other posts under the “Awards” category, where full descriptions are posted. As a historical footnote, it’s worth mentioning that we began to recognize an honorable mention for each award in 2009 although those are not listed in this post. Interested parties are referred to the aforementioned entries found under the “Awards” category.
Fun Fact: No haunted attraction has ever been named Haunt of the Year on more than one occasion. In fact, there exists just two haunted houses that claimed the same award in multiple years. House of the Dead (Terror Town) won the Killer Automatons Award four consecutive years from 2009-2012. Deadly Intentions secured the Monster Award in back-to-back years during the 2008 and 2009 haunt seasons.
Rotten Pumpkin
2008: Templin’s Night Terror (Wyandotte Jaycees)
2009: Jackson’s Underworld
2010: Leo’s House of Horror
2011: Anxiety Alley
2012: Scream Machine
Eerie Vibrations
2008: Homer Mill
2009: Bowbee’s Nightmare (Haunted Hollows)
2010: The Haunted Farm
2011: Catacombs & The Rusthole (Darksyde Acres)
2012: Bloodview
Dark Horse
2008: Realm of Haunted Minds
2009: Extreme Scream
2010: Woods of Darkness
2011: Krazy Hilda’s Barn of Doom
2012: Dimensions of Darkness
Killer Automatons
2008: Erebus
2009: House of the Dead (Terror Town)
2010: House of the Dead (Terror Town)
2011: House of the Dead (Terror Town)
2012: House of the Dead (Terror Town)
Pulse Pounder
2008: County Morgue (Chainsaw Creek)
2009: Bowbee’s Nightmare (Haunted Hollows)
2010: Demonic Demons
2011: Catacombs & The Rusthole (Darksyde Acres)
2012: Slaughter House (Slaughter House Adventure)
Monster
2008: Deadly Intentions
2009: Deadly Intentions
2010: Realm of Darkness
2011: Catacombs & The Rusthole (Darksyde Acres)
2012: Sinister
Prop Master
2011: Tent of Terror (The Boneyard)
2012: Barn of Horrors (Erwin Orchards)
Samhain
2011: October 14, 2011 (Krazy Hilda’s, Chelsea Feargrounds, The Boneyard)
2012: October 12, 2012 (Erwin Orchards, Slaughter House Adventure, A Nightmare on Elm Road)
Haunt of the Year
2005: Nautical Nightmare
2006: Erebus
2007: Realm of Darkness
2008: House of the Dead (Terror Town)
2009: Bowbee’s Nightmare (Haunted Hollows)
2010: Demonic Demons
2011: Catacombs & The Rusthole (Darksyde Acres)
2012: Sinister
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