Today we’d like to introduce you to Billy Messina.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Netherworld pretty much came about out of a love for Halloween and the need to fill in the blanks between film jobs back in 1996. Being a make-up effects artist/prop maker, such jobs were often few and far between here in Atlanta at the time, so in order to avoid another series of extended stints on the road I joined forces with my now business partner Ben Armstrong and we decided to give a different kind of haunted house a try.
Back in the 90’s Haunted Houses relied heavily on horror movie content (think Friday the 13th & Nightmare on Elm Street characters) but we wanted to create something that was not only all original but also crafted in a manner more akin to a movie set than what folks (all around the country, not just here in Atlanta) had come to expect from a commercial haunted house. We spend a year developing content, building wall panels in my driveway and looking for a location. In September of 1997, we opened Netherworld for the first time in a 4,000 sq. ft space in Kennesaw, GA.
By the close of the season, we knew we were onto something as the public really seemed thrilled to see such detailed environments in a haunted house. In 1998 we moved to Norcross on a seasonal basis and in 1999 we took the leap and signed a long-term lease at the former Georgia Antique Center. The core crew kept our day jobs for quite some time as critical success doesn’t necessarily always mean financial success. Our attendance grew slowly over the years but our expenses also continued to grow, so suffice to say, we had more than a few very lean years.
Over time though, we started to get recognition, not only locally but also on a National level, garnering Top 10 Haunted House ratings from genre focused publications like Hauntworld Magazine and Fangoria. These rankings led to being featured on National Television and this is when people really started noticing and appreciating what we were trying to do. Soon folks were flying in from all over the country just to come see our attractions. At the time, this was almost incomprehensible to us.
Now in 2018, we are about to open in a new building in Stone Mountain which sits on almost 10 acres and has over 70,000 square feet (nearly 3X the space we had at our disposal at our previous location). In addition to our haunted house, the new location has allowed us to open multiple year-round escape games, dedicated meeting spaces and a museum of monsters and movie props, We plan to expand on these offerings greatly in the future.
Has it been a smooth road?
Being seasonal in nature, the biggest challenges are often totally out of your control. The weather first and foremost since if it rains, even in the afternoon, often times people will just stay home for the evening. Everyone’s hometown heroes the Atlanta Braves were a phenomenon in the 90’s and even though we were rooting for them too, their continued appearances in the post-season absolutely affected attendance on critical October weekend nights back in the day.
And then there was the time in 1997 when we had 8 people show up on a Thursday night… yes 8. Where was everybody? Watching Seinfeld. We’ve been lucky enough to have an amazing core crew of people, some of which have been with us since Day 1 so that has definitely helped us persevere through the day to day challenges that continually present themselves.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Our primary business at Netherworld is, of course, our haunted house and our goal from the beginning has always been first and foremost to entertain. We have always strived to create an environment where folks would be “wowed”, where they would see things that they would not see anywhere else and they would share an experience with their friends/loved ones that they would hopefully remember fondly for years to come. We know that experience starts the moment they arrive, as such, people have come to expect a certain level of quality and entertainment from the moment they walk onto our grounds.
We’ve always tried to go above and beyond in terms of people’s expectations of what a haunted house is or should be, and thankfully over the years we’ve become known as one of the most high-quality attractions of its kind in the country. In fact, in 2013, Hauntworld Magazine name Netherworld the Most Influential Haunted Attraction of All-Time.
Pricing:
- Netherworld Haunted House $23 for one haunt (The Awakened) or $28 for both (The Awakened & Subject: Unknown) Sun – Thurs
- Netherworld Haunted House $28 for one haunt or $35 for both on Fridays & Saturdays
- Escape The Netherworld – $28 public gameplay or $35 for private gameplay
Contact Info:
- Address: 2076 West Park Place – Stone Mountain, GA 30087
- Website: www.FEARWORLD.com
- Phone: 404.608.2484
- Email: questions@fearworld.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/netherworldhauntedhouse/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/NetherworldHauntedHouse/
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/hauntedatlanta
- Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/netherworld-haunted-house-stone-mountain
- Other: www.EscapeTheNetherWorld.com
Image Credit:
Todd Ferren
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