Greetings! Let me introduce myself. I am Jason Kittrell. I live in a medium-sized city just outside of Nashville, TN. I have a beautiful family, live in a nice neighborhood and work a 40-hour-a-week job as a security administrator. I drive a banged-up Monte Carlo and love to drink Angry Orchard while watching movies on my TV. All in all, I think I have a pretty standard and normal life.
But then there’s my other life. My haunt life.
I have to admit, haunting is in my blood. My dad owned a cabinet shop that was attached to our house, growing up. He had a love for all holidays, but Halloween was one he seemed to spend the most time on. Not that he made elaborate scenes or anything, but because he was always helping me find a costume, or makeup or building a prop so I could scare trick-or-treaters each year. My Uncle Jack would take care of the scares at his house. He had a giant tree in his front yard and would have someone hiding behind it, or even have a ghost swing down on unsuspecting kids. Watching them run in fright, then turn and laugh at themselves, added more to my passion for scares.
As I grew up, my love of Halloween and special effects kept growing. I started at a local magic stand in our mall and began learning the secrets of misdirection, along with some sleight of hand. I got good at it, even making my way to Las Vegas for a chance encounter with Siegfried & Roy. It was amazing to learn from some great magicians, even if it was only for an hour or two.
I joined up with my first haunted attraction in the late 2000s. The haunt, called Monster Mountain, had garnered the reputation as not only one of the best in the state, but also one of the top haunts in the USA. The creepy paths, along with the top-notch set designs, made you feel like you were in a Hollywood horror film. I enjoyed my first couple of years here as an actor, refining my makeup skills, as well as my acting chops as a bumbling-yet-fearsome Zombie hybrid named Cletus. I did such a good job that within a couple of years, I found myself working queue line, as well as helping design the show each year. It was a wanna-be-haunter’s dream come true.
In 2014, I found out my fiancee, who I had met through my time with Monster Mountain, was pregnant. And lo and behold, the delivery date would be mid-September. That was amazing news, but it was one that made me change my career path. With Monster Mountain being deep in the woods, phone service is spotty. I needed to find a place closer to home that understood my desire to be home more during the season. And I found it with Carroll Moore & Brandon Brinkley at their brand new haunted house, Death Yard Haunted Attraction. Being only one mile from my home, it was the perfect choice. I had worked with Carroll and Brandon while working for Monster Mountain and after they had left on some side projects, mainly their haunt at Nashville Nightmare called Dark Descent. Their passion and love for haunting was a perfect match to mine.
Death Yard is still my current haunt home. I work there now as a full-time consultant and tech manager. I help in all aspects of the haunt, from actors to marketing. My haunt life is complete, as I have found some truly great haunters and actors to work with.
So, that is my background. I wanted to get this out in the open, so that you guys and gals who read this and future blogs from me know a little of my back history. I plan on making this blog posting something that is both informative, funny and helps guide your passion for haunting in a way that brings our next top haunter!
Until next time my friends… Live the #hauntlife.