Thirteenth Floor is a well known name in the haunt industry. They are the folks responsible for operating some of the most iconic haunts in the industry including Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor, LA Haunted Hayride, Delusion, and multiple 13th Floor haunted houses across the country. It makes perfect sense that they would make a showing at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, aka IAAPA. Yet, even though the convention had a dedicated space for haunters known as the Haunting Grounds, Thirteenth Floor took space on the main show floor.
A horror-focused company on the show floor of a theme park convention isn’t entirely unheard of. In fact, others like DWL Studios, FearWorm, and Sally Dark Rides were out there too. Yet this felt like a move to a broader audience. We were able to catch up with CEO & Founding Partner, Chris Stafford, during IAAPA to chat about the company, its place on the scene, and where it all started.
The story begins when Stafford was a young teen, growing up in Denver. A friend asked if he wanted to go scare some people. Questioning the legality of it, the friend explained that it was a gig to work at his family’s haunted house over Halloween. It was here that Stafford found his love of the scare. It was also here that Stafford met Warren Conard, who would later go on to become a business partner.
As the years passed, Stafford worked his day job while nurturing his annual Halloween fix scaring guests at Frightmare. Sadly, a few years later, tragedy struck the team when the owner/operator passed away. With the haunt up in the air, Stafford and friend Conard, decided to stay on and help the family run it.
2001, Chris’s banking career was taking off. Having just married his wife a few years prior, and with a family on the horizon, Stafford took stock of things and explained to Conard that he loved haunting but a stable career had to come first. There was no more time to haunt. It was a place that nearly all haunters eventually get to; the decision between stability, or the unpredictable nature of following a dream. He and Conard had talked about opening something new. but it had to make sense. It wasn’t a hard no. “But,” Chris said, “If the opportunity ever comes up…”
Just a couple of months later, Conard reached out to Stafford with an opportunity. A property in Denver had just become available that seemed to be a perfect fit for what these two wanted to do. After a quick look at the space, they quickly jumped into development. By the next year, 2002, they had their first location up and running. What started as a hobby, a labor of love, became something more. At this point though, Stafford’s thoughts were on his kids. They would have the opportunity to have sort of the same experience that he did growing up.
In 2006, Stafford really started thinking. “‘I could really scale this’ I thought” Stafford said. He proposed the idea of scaling the business to his wife but she questioned the idea. Stafford explains, “She was like, ‘You have an awesome job, a great schedule, and you want to go do haunted houses?'” Stafford agreed that it would be a risky move at the time and took a step back.
2008 came and with it, a crippling financial crisis. As a banker Stafford’s job was safe but his sanity was not. He explains,” Things got really miserable really fast.” Reassessing the situation his wife then realized it might be the right time to do the haunted house thing. After some looking Stafford and his business partner leased a building in Denver and that became the 13th Floor Haunted House.
The first year of the 13th Floor haunted house was a hit. The next year, in 2009, Stafford attended Transworld’s Halloween and Attractions show in St. Louis Missouri. It was there that Stafford met two haunters from San Antonio. Texans Dan McCullough and Jon Love eventually reached out to Stafford and proposed they share the work and the risk on a new haunt in San Antonio. In 2010 13th Floor opened a San Antonio location and had great results. The following year they followed the success and opened in Phoenix.
So that is how Thirteenth Floor came to be what it is today. While this history was informative, we wanted to know what has led to Thirteenth Floor’s success in such an unpredictable space. What was the secret sauce? We pressed about Thirteenth Floor’s ability to acquire and expand properties. Could that be the model? “The goal has been to grow on both fronts.” Stafford explained, “though, lately, acquisition has helped.”
Why was Thirteenth Floor on the main show floor at IAAPA and what is the secret to their success?
Stafford then reflects on the past 5 years. “A lot of people called to inquire about other creative tasks outside of the Halloween scope” Stafford explained, “I got tired of saying no. Primarily things began in haunt and horror, but all recently requests have been all over the board. I have been getting inundated with Christmas over the last few years,” Stafford explained. “We looked at creating production spaces to do what we needed to do, but to also give them the bandwidth to take on projects for other people.” The writing was on the wall. It was time to once again, take a chance and expand.
Today, Thirteenth Floor has two production shops with one in New Orleans and one in Los Angeles. With that comes the staff for a creative studio business. That is why Thirteenth Floor is on the show floor at IAAPA. Touring the booth we immediately notice the lack of scary stuff, much less, Halloween. Sure, there is a pumpkin in an outhouse and a few clowns. But over two thirds of the booth highlighted their work with immersive scenes and interactive technologies. With a wider scope of services and two shops, Thirteenth Floor was there to expand into more than just horror and Halloween. They are now a full fledged creative production firm looking for business.
In the end, Stafford made the strange journey from haunter to banker to haunt entrepreneur. He laughs when people are surprised at how “normal” he is despite identifying as a “Halloween kid.” The road to scary success was in part due to timing but there is more to it. “I think you have to have balance and passion,” Stafford mused, “and an acumen how to get it done. If you are all numbers and no creative passion, it doesn’t work.” Catching himself, Stafford quipped one more thought saying, “When you don’t trust your gut. things go wrong.”
We thank Stafford for taking the time to chat with us and eagerly await what’s coming next for Thirteenth Floor.
