Today we’d like to introduce you to Nate Shoemaker.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Our journey began over 20 years ago in Southwest Florida. From a young age, Halloween was always my absolute favorite time of the year. Like most kids, it started with trick-or-treating but quickly evolved into much more. Trick-or-treating was not enough, and I began attending haunted house attractions where I became hooked on all things scary. I loved the theatrical performance aspect of scaring and providing a fun experience for others. I started to hide in the bushes at my house on Halloween night and pop out for a great scare as the kids approached with their candy buckets. The next year I added a small graveyard out front and did the same thing. Each year I kept adding more props and scenes, and all of my birthday and Christmas present requests included everything from fake blood, body parts, chainsaws, and more. (My parents should have known this was becoming an obsession.) By the time my senior year in high school rolled around, I was creating full walk-through haunted houses in my front yard with 12+ actors, news coverage, and a supportive and excited neighborhood.
Throughout the next several years while I was in college and beginning my professional career, I took a break from putting on my own haunted house attraction each year. Instead, I focused on attending as many large-scale haunted house attractions as possible – sometimes 3-4 every week. I participated in an advisory committee for a major theme park who was looking to elevate their haunt business, I attended haunt tradeshows (yes those do exist believe it or not) and seminars to grow my technical and business knowledge. This was also where I began to make strong connections with haunted house professionals across the country through networking and various haunt events.
When I moved to Charleston, SC in 2019 and purchased my first home, I knew immediately that I wanted to resume creating exciting haunted events for the community. The first year I started off very modestly to gauge how it would be received by the neighborhood and community, I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged when the response was overwhelmingly positive. After three years, my haunted house event has grown in production quality, attendance, and community recognition. In 2021, the event boasted 10,000 sq. ft of scares, 35 actors and crew, and rave reviews!
Due to the success of my home haunted house, I have created my company – Southern Screams, LLC – as a vehicle to continue to elevate this production and bring professional haunted house attractions to the Charleston area. 2022 is going to be our biggest and most ambitious production ever. Our goal is to become the premier haunted house attraction in Charleston and throughout the Lowcountry.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I am very fortunate to say that overall, the road has been pretty smooth. However, as with any theatrical production, we have experienced our share of surprises and challenges along the way; ranging from tropical storms blowing in the night before opening (and doing A LOT of damage), to coordinating and protecting our cast and guests during a pandemic, there have definitely been obstacles to overcome. Navigating these pitfalls has made our entire team more creative, resilient, and enthusiastic about what we can accomplish together. Throughout this journey, it has been exciting, frightening, and extremely rewarding.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Southern Screams began as a small yard haunt in southwest Florida over 20 years ago and has now grown into an event that people look forward to attending every year. Known for our extremely scary and immersive scenes, guests experiencing our haunted house are transported to a place where their worst fears come to life.
If you enjoy Halloween and haunted houses, we are confident you will enjoy our event. A number of people who have attended have shared with us that it was the scariest haunted house they have ever been through. The louder you scream, the more we smile.
We are also avid animal lovers and always donate a portion of our proceeds to local animal shelters and charities. We want our fur babies to share in the joy of what we’re doing.
Our goal is to provide an exceptional scare experience with top-quality production value, a talented team of scareactors, and a memorable night that you and your friends will be talking about for a long time to come.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
One thing that always surprises people is that I am actually terrified of real blood. I’m talking, even a drop. My knees get weak and I get woozy when I accidentally knick myself shaving. Obviously, in a haunted house, we use a large amount of fake blood, and my position on that is, you can never have enough of it. Bring on the (fake) blood!
Pricing:
- Visit our website for ticket deals.
Contact Info:
- Email: nate@southernscreams.com
- Website: www.southernscreams.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/southernscreams
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/southernscreams
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/southernscreams
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG5DpuPvoOj6rGysgytwDFQ
Cathy
April 7, 2022 at 1:45 pm
Great job as usual Nate…very scary. Good luck with your new adventure
Lindsey
May 16, 2022 at 7:31 pm
Our family has been fortunate enough to be able to attend two years of Nate’s haunted house creations. It is now something we look forward to and the kids talk about it all year!