[HHN XX Speculation II]

Odd, it seems my post was deleted.

Although I do not know for a fact what DOW actually stands for, I have a couple of guesses based on two theoretical models on what this house will entail. If the house is about a Mutually Assured Destruction experimental biological warfare resource going out of control then I suggest Doomsday Omega Weapon.

However if the military experiment involved a trans-dimensional portal that opened into a rather unpleasant place, then I suggest Demons Of War.

Maybe Dr. Jimmy. I think your close on some things but really off on others.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

Very true, but you have to go back further than that. I know for a stone cold fact that A&D was conceiving HHN 20 all the way back during HHN 18. My honest opinion? I think this year is more of a direct continuation of HHN 18, and the creative team would rather we just sort of...forgot about last year. A feeling I have.

So when did we first begin talking about what we wanted to do for the 2009 Halloween Horror Nights?,” Michael said. “That would probably have been the Summer of 2008. With that year’s event, we were going to be finishing up a three year arc of stories that started with our Sweet 16 event, continued with Carnival of Carnage and then finished up with our Blood Mary / Urban Legends event. And given that we had Halloween Horror Night’s 20th anniversary coming up, we knew that we wanted to build to something really big.

This was from Jim Hill media site, Build to something really big, Sounds like they were planning the big 20th with HHN19 , I just can.t get

the big picture in this years event as tying into HHN19, just the one scarezone from last year is a little vauge as to what they have planned.

And keeping details and info tight says to me that this year is going to be very big. I guess we will know shortly.

You also have to remember that a large portion of this years event was thrown out after certain members left the team and the event was rethought and planned in a new and completely original way. Things where thought of and done very differently this year in terms of planning.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

I think I might have an idea about Sprung Tent 2 (Shadow Creek)

According to Lizette from Destination Theme Park, D.O.W. is a military term meaning 'Died Of Wounds'

I was wondering what could cause a person to die of being dead from wounding when it hit me. Only one type of monster could do something like that: Zombies

It fits the possible theme of a military experiment gone wrong

D.O.W. in this case does not stand for Died of Wounds

Also, Im not sure if this has been mentioned but there is a very popular Irish tale involving a Lantern. I can't believe I didn't think of it till some one mentioned Jack O' Lantern on the LT fb page. Here is what was posted on Facebook:

Well there is of course the tale of Jack of the Lantern which is where the tradition of Jack o' Lanterns come from. It's an old Irish tale about a man named Stingy Jack who loved to play tricks on people.

One day while tending crops in his field, for jack was a turnip farmer you see, Jack found the Devil in his field sitting beneath a tree. Jack never wanting to pass up the chance for a prank said to the Devil, " I am so hungry from tending my crops. If you devil would be so kind as to fetch me a piece of fruit from that tree I would be forever grateful and in return offer you my sole."

The Devil never wanting to miss out on a sole immediate obliged but as soon as he was up in that tree Stingy Jack carved the mark of the Cross in the trunk trapping the Devil in the tree. You see, the Devil could not step hoof on Hallowed Ground. The Devil cursed at Stingy Jack and pleaded that he remove the symbol so that he could escape into the night. Stingy Jack laughed at the Devil and said, "I will let you down as long as you swear to me you will never take my soul!" The devil of course obliged and Jack removed the mark of the cross from the tree allowing the Devil to escape from Jack's field.

Not to long after that Stingy Jack passed away. Having been such a nasty Trickster the gates of Heaven where shut to Jack and he was sent to the Fiery Depths of Hell. The Devil gave one look at Jack and said on to him "I have not forgotten the deal we have made and as forth I cannot take your soul. You are forever cursed to walk the earth from this day forth even if your soul be damed."

Jack turned away from the Devil and began to venture out of Hell back to the Earth but darkness surrounded him. For the first time Jack was scared of the night and the Darkness it brought. He turned back to the Devil and fell upon his knees to beg for forgiveness. He asked the devil for a show of compassion. The Devil responded, "I can offer you no more than this." and he took a burning ember from the Fire of Hades and gave it to Jack. He then sent Jack away into the night to forever walk the Earth. Jack took a turnip from his pocket and carved a hole to place the ember in and used this Turnip as a lantern to light the way.

It is said on the darkest of nights you can see Jack walking the Earth with his Lantern by his side. Because of this he soon became known as Jack of the Lantern. Shorten over time to become Jack O' Lantern. It is said in-order to prevent Jack from knocking on your door asking for refuge from the night you must carve your own lantern and place it outside of your door. The Irish of course had a large supply of potatoes and turnips so these became the first Lanterns. When they came to America they found that Pumpkins made an excellent medium for carving lanterns and our tradition of carving pumpkins into Jack O' Lanterns was born.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

With the idea of Shadow Creek being a military outpost and everything, I'd think I like to throw in an interesting theory. What if this so called "military outpost" was experimenting with teleportation and they opened up the Gates to Hell, releasing all kinds of demons,monsters, etc. This story line was used in a game called, "Doom." With the Doom movie, that released back in 2006, whose rights is owned by Universal themselves, it's possible they could use the same story line, while also changing some names around to make it fit the the theming.

I really hope this is actually what Shady Creek is. Just read it out loud in a sinister voice...

"Perhaps you’ve never heard tales of this

legendary place sculpted from the Nevada

desert by renowned architect Tom Fazio. May

we assure you, descriptions, however grand, do

not begin to do this masterpiece justice. Shadow

Creek must be played. Shadow Creek must be experienced.

Only then can true lovers of the game begin to appreciate

its breathtaking beauty."

-- Shadow Creek Golf Course (Las Vegas)

How awesome would a sandtrap that's actually a portal to Hell be?! Sends shivers down the spine doesn't it? ha

The speculation Dr. Jimmy and another poster mentioned about the gates to hell (specifically, the military installation DOOM-esque idea and the more widespread, park-wide portals) would make me one happy visitor if it turned out to be true. I've always loved military-pandemic-style houses, from The Thing to Deadtropolis, etc. That would be awesome, in my opinion.

With all the speculation about the image from Shadow Creek, I began to wonder how much military was involved or WILL be. Could there be any chance this was a house of the apocalypse?

The symbol of Alpha and Omega are clearly shown on the logo with the double edged sword going right through the middle of both. It begins to reference the "Yin/Yang" with the black and white. So I began researching more into exactly what makes the Alpha and Omega so significant. Obviously, "Alpha/Omega" are strong symbols in religion. "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end". In Its meaning is found in the fact that alpha (Α) and omega (Ω) are respectively the first and last letters of the Classical (Ionic) Greek alphabet. This would be similar to referring to someone in English as the "A and Z". I know that Universal would not mock religion or someone's religious belief but this could be a strong symbol for the apocalypse as this term is used far more frequently than only in the bible. So what is the significance of this?

I researched more and found that this term is used frequently in video games, which are ironically, also games set in the apocalyptic period. Games like Fallout 3 and Assassins Creed 2 use the term "Alpha/Omega" throughout.

The double edged sword also has meaning as its definition is "something that has or can have both favorable and unfavorable consequences" per Websters dictionary.

Now before you chop my head off and feed it to the wolves, understand this is ONLY speculation and my personal opinion. I figured we needed to look more into the meaning of the symbol and not just state "oh its only a military house" because of the FAUX codenames of the scareactors cast in tent 2.

Maybe a house the is the beginning of the afterworld (like Dr. Jimmy stated a portal into hell) and our double edged sword is the decision or lack there of that led those characters there. Yes, I know there was already a Doomsday house but that doesn't mean we couldn't see another apocalyptic style house again in the future!

Hmmmmmmmmm...

[HHN XX Speculation II]

I have thought that since I heard about the facade and the position that have been reported for that house. One of them was a Carnie, and if I remember correctly, RUN: Hostile Territory from 2006 had a very carnival theme. The scareactors in the house would ask if you would like to play their "games". These "games" did look like you were at a carnival.

Am I remembering correctly or am I wrong?

You're way off. Run: Hostile Territory was based off of movies such as saw and Hostile. Mostly Hostile as the story for the house was rich men would come to pay for the ability to torture people. In 2006 I can't recall any house that had a "Game" feel to it.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

My understanding is that Tent 2 is taking it's inspiration from a different medium than usual.

OK, I've been reading over the speculation threads since they started, but WHY is it considered "carved in stone truth" that there are NO MOVIE HOUSES? Really, it's a Horror Nights in a park owned by a movie studio...no movie related houses makes no sense. EVERYTHING thus far is 100% speculation so why is it considered gospel that there are no movie houses?

OK, flame away....

During the first few years of the event Universal didn't rely on their movie properties for houses. Why does the event HAVE TO HAVE a movie house. Why do we as fans demand a movie house? Some of HHN most popular houses are not movies made into a house. Houses like Screamhouse, Psychoscareapy, scary tales, Body Collectors, and the original run house. Why shouldn't we be demanding more unique houses?

[HHN XX Speculation II]

How about Test Subjects?

A military experiment gone wrong. If DOW = died of wounds, we may get more zombies or some form of genetic mutation.

In this case DOW may not mean Died of Wounds.

[HHN XX Jobs & Auditions]

Expect ABU

Why?

[HHN XX Jobs & Auditions]

Grrrrrrrrrrr, I missed my phone call today about my role. Got a voicemail saying they would call me back on Friday. No number left to try and reach them. I swear they're doing this on purpose.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

This year is going to be much more movie-free than the last few. Start thinking of more original ideas, stuff made in-house. Don't just jump to the first film you can think of.

I agree. It certainly makes for boring speculation if the first thing people do is just assume its a movie house or try to relate it to a previous house. We have all this information on the Hollywood scarezone, a possible greek house and other small tidbits that we could be speculating on but all people want to do is talk about how they think psychoscareapy is coming back, or the Crazies, or how excited they are because they think for sure Freddy is coming back. Im all for letting people speculate till the cows come home but it get annoying to hear the same thought over and over even after it's been stated by people in the know that they are way off.

How about this for speculation: Universal is holding auditions on saturday and sunday this week for various acting roles for Bill and Ted, Halloween Horror Nights, and Grinchmas. However, theres no official audition for the RHPS tribute. Could this be confirmation that there will not be RHPS this year or is it possible they will secretly cast the show from those auditioning to sing in the Grinchmas show?

[HHN XX Speculation II]

Sprung Tent 2:

- Facade

Scene 3 - Observation Deck

Scene 6 - Military Storage

"Pitchfork", "Bed Victims", Patients, "Full-Dow" & "Half Dow" - masked scareactors with shaved heads

REMINDS ME OF "THE CRAZIES"

I agree with thestranger, I'll be honest I Havent seen the crazies but I have been told the gist of the movie and tent 2 reminds me of what I was told. Also one thing I have been thinking about and it's kind of a stupid observation but I know that in the preview I saw there was a pitchfork being drug(?Grammar correct?) so maybe this pitchfork casted person is the person inthe preview carrying the pitchfork?? Please do keep in consideration that I haven't seen this film so I could be completely off the wall.

It was a pretty awesome scene in the movie but im not sure the overall feel of helplessness the scene created would work in a haunted house where you spend maybe 30 sec at most in a scene. I am interested to see if the pitchfork means an actual pitchfork.

Once again though, I have a feeling this house wont be too close to the crazies based on the dows but we'll see if maybe some inspirration caries over.

[HHN XX Jobs & Auditions]

I'll be at orientation on the 5th as well.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

HHNRumors posted a new role:

UPDATE: Spector - SS22

[HHN XX Speculation II]

Im not buying any of it. The HHN logo could have been easily photo shopped off the banner on the current site and the photo of the women looks way to fake be anything actually in the parade building. If this was actually from inside the parade building I would expect to see a set piece or something that proves where in a museum. Not some badly drawn image of what clearly is suppose to be Bloody Mary.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

Okay...sure, you could be right. But then we have TJ on record, and on tape saying otherwise.(click here to hear that) He says and I quote "next year will be a scrapbook of years past...we'll see characters from all the other years come together".

Sounds like a reunion to me. People always read too much into these things, and in the end they always say "See I told you!" but rarely say "Yeah I was wrong".

But remember, HHN 19 was brought to you by the word "classic"

So your going to base this years theme off of what TJ said in a podcast that was post SEPTEMBER of 2009. You don't think things could have changed since then? Insiders have already stated that this years event was overhauled from the original concept.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

well, about what dr. Jimmy said, I reaaly wish and hope that is side B as well, and with all this speculation and ideas, It should be,

But I am afraid that it will end up being Side A, and It would just be a Reunion, the reason for this is that Uni gets to use the same icons and props, and also The GP would probably like this idea better, If everything is new and awesome, It would not make any difference to the GP, I doubt the GP will pay too much attention. Same with the movie houses, I am almost convinced by you guys that there are no movie houses, but then again movie houses can be a big ticket seller for HHN, depending on the movie. I don't know,

I feel like we as fans just naturally expect for this year to be a reunion year with movie houses and the return of the icons because thats what we know from the past. We have gotten our selfs into a position where we have just assumed that everything is a repeat house this year so we've started making conclusions from things like vans and non-descriptive role titles. We're not taking the time to think outside the box.

It's also been assumed that this years theme has to directly relate to the scarezone that popped up last year. Maybe at one point in time it did. But haven't inside sources stated that the event was overhauled significantly after certain individuals had left.

I also think we are also misinterpreting the website. I feel that people are reading to much into statements like "a new era of horror begins" and "built upon nineteen years' worth of ghoulish creatures and nightmarish frights." Lets look at these statements for a second.

First the obvious, a new era of horror begins because we have reached a new plateau in the number of years the event has been running. HHN has had multiple Era's already and the website split them up into four sections: Origins, Early years, expansions, and iconic era. If we are entering a NEW era, then the event has to distinguish itself from PAST eras. I don't know about you but a reunion year doesn't sound like something NEW to me.

Now the statement I think people are putting to much stock in is "built upon nineteen years' worth of ghoulish creatures and nightmarish frights." I think this is where everyone has gotten the idea that this year is a reunion year because they are taking the statement to literal. Every year of HHN has been built off the last. Each year the powers that be try to find a new way to further the event while learning from the past what works and what doesn't work. You can reference the past without ever actually including the past.

I think its very plain to see we are in for an entirely new year this year with a subtle nod to the past. This event will not be a re-visioning of the past through old houses and icons but instead will be built on the lessons and legacy of the past while delivering all new scares and themes based on original ideas.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

New positions:

# UPDATE: Ice Queen - New York

# UPDATE: White Rabbit - Location needed (assuming Hollywood)

# UPDATE: Zombie - Parade Building

Ice queen and chainsaws... hmm.

Was it year 13 that had lost continent split between fire and ice? There was an ice and fire queen in that scarezone.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

Let me say that I'm not terribly hungry for spoilers, I do not care to learn everything about HHN XX before I walk into the park, as I hope to, on opening weekend.

But I have no problem with information that would normally be released before the event begins. In about seven weeks we will all know the names of all 8 houses and 6 scarezones and will have been given official descriptions of them.

I have heard from many highly reliable sources who have always given accurate information in the past two very different scenarios about what HHN XX will entail.

One version which I will call "side A" maintains that this will be a reunion year very similar to Sweet 16 with houses being returns of old houses from previous years and at least one house based directly on a movie.

"Side B" however, insists that this will be literally "A New Era of Darkness" and other than the scarezone on Hollywood Blvd. will consist of all new houses and scarezones. None of which will be either based on nor even inspired by a movie.

At first I sought to reconcile these divergent accounts, taking my cue from the old fable of the Blind Men and the Elephant. In that story each blind man felt part of the elephant and thought he knew the whole, he only had a piece of the truth which was far more marvelous than he had imagined. So I had hoped, that the sources had only heard part of what was going on, and neither being wrong the truth would encompass all of what they had learned.

But after further inquiries I am afraid there can be no reconciliation, these accounts simply contradict each other.

Among both sides there are individuals whom I have come to hold in high regard, well respected people who I cannot believe would deliberately lead us astray, and some personal friends of mine.

Thus I almost feel like giving up any further speculations at all. I fear that if I do so, I may be insulting people who I admire by publicly contemplating that they are either completely wrong or worse, liars.

In order to do so I must speculate delicately, avoiding any absolute statements that would implicate any of these people in any such wrongdoing. I cannot take sides as it were, even though in my heart I feel that one side is far more likely to be correct than the other. I will not openly state which one that is. I certainly hope that in all instances that when one side is ultimately proven wrong, it will merely be an instance of they themselves having received bad information. This is further likely as one of their primary sources of information is no longer available this year. However there are some individuals who truly are in a position of knowing exactly what to expect, so if these are proven wrong it will become particularly difficult to ever fully trust them again.

But, although I will not take sides on who is right, I will say that I hope it is Side B. I would much rather see an all-new event, wouldn't you?

That being said what do we actually know this year?

Two soundstage houses we know almost nothing about. The third is presumed to be based on Greek mythology.

The Disaster Queue house has a garage door, a van, a crooked fence, and characters include a mechanic and a carny.

The Jaws Queue house includes burnt wood and the presence of a Valedictorian, a Nightmare Man, and someone in bed clothes. I have also been given the name of another person in this house in strict confidence, and will not reveal it here. I will say that it has absolutely no connection to any previous speculations about this house. The only other clue I will give is that it should be great fun talking about this house sometime in mid-September.

The Parade Building house includes the Rat Lady and a vortex.

One of the tents will have a house with a museum, a mummified corpse and a doctor.

The other tent has an enormous façade and includes an observation deck and military storage and will be populated by bed victims, pitchforks and something called "dows". Warning! inane speculation to follow: Could dow simply refer to the Dow Jones average? Is this to take place in a New York highrise where the common folk have taken up pitchforks to attack the evil stockbrokers who are responsible for the current state of the Economy? [/inane speculation]

As for the scarezones, one remains a mystery. I would guess that it would be located on the Avenue of the Stars - based only on previous years' locations, but Universal may have other ideas.

On Hollywood Blvd. we have a scarezone full of old friends, according to Side B we will only see them here to say goodbye and the zone will lead us towards something "really, really cool".

In Shrek Alley the scarezone seems to be related to the Greek house.

In Kidzone we have "willow huts".

At Mel's we have "con-artists".

And now based on subtle clues we know that there will be chainsaws not only on Hollywood Blvd. but also in NY, weilded by very large men who may turn out to be clowns.

If I where a betting man, I would place all of my money on what "Side B" is saying.

Also, while not entirely accurate, I personally feel the answer to what a Dow is, is fairly simple.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

There's only been 1 icon house in the Jaws queue. Not that common. And it only has the longest lines because of its location.

I would actually be more willing to say Jaws has held more than just one icon house. I would be willing to count the F13 house and Saw house as both being "icon" houses. So it has had an icon house for the last three years in a row (longer if you want to count the Storyteller being in the Dungeon of Terror at sweet 16.) Plus it was the location of the Dungeon of Terror for the first two years of the event.

[Bill & Ted Speculation]

I would die of extreme happiness if there was a Doctor Who reference. The tardis and the phone booth both being used seems to me just insanely epic. Even if the doctor wasn't involved it would be cool to just have the tardis.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

I def think the right icon could do well in terms of selling merch. Sad thing is, I only think that Jack could be that right icon.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

Direct movie houses no, But indirect is always an option, Loosely based off of a move does not make it a movie house. They could take parts from several movies, and combine them into one story. I am not talking a Die In type house, Just think Demon Cantina.

C_D as a former scene mate I would think you would have more faith in me. I get what your saying though and I could see maybe the pitchfork scene appearing in the house but the overall house isn't inspired by The Crazies. Now referencing the Crazies? I couldn't say.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

Gotta disagree with the Fusion hypothesis, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that a scene with half-dead persons, pitchforks, patient victims, military persons, etc could only point to The Crazies. It was a a HUGE hit in the horror genre which involved people becoming half-dead, a great scene with victims strapped to beds as a "Crazy" went from bed to bed stabbing them with a pitchfork, and the whole thing was orcestrated by the government.

Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?

Well I can say with 100% certainty that it is not a house based on the movie the Crazies cause there are no movie houses this year. I am not saying that the house is based on the comic or even inspired by the comic but I think there are things I mentioned worth thinking about in terms of speculation.

[HHN XX Speculation II]

Okay, so here is some random speculation on tent 2. So now we have Full Dow and Half Dow as two roles in the house. I took into consideration we have a possible military theme and I typed DOW MILITARY into google. One of the results was that DOW is a common military abbreviation for "Died of Wounds."

So it's possible the role title refers to individuals who have died from being attacked or wounded some how. One would be a full body figure with wounds and the other could be the classic half body corpse that is still living.

However I also tried to think out of the box when I discovered a name of a character called Dow Cook from an old comic series called Fusion. Here is a description of the comic from wikipedia:

The world of Fusion is centuries in our future, when a series of galactic wars have led to a spiraling arms race between "tekkers and splicers" — that is, between those who take a technological and technocratic route to improving humanity, and those who have abandoned humanity altogether through genetic engineering. The story involves the exploits of a group of space mercenaries in an era when humans who have not been enhanced either genetically or cybernetically, are becoming extremely rare.

And here is a character description for Dow Cook:

Synthetic human bio-engineered invulnerable to shock and trauma and with enhanced self-healing ability.

While the information on the comic is limited, but I wonder if any individual in the series who has been cybernetically enhanced is refereed to as a "Dow." This works for roles titled Full Dow and Half Dow cause it could mean a person who has been fully altered and a person who is half altered.

Here a photo of the comic:

[HHN XX Jobs & Auditions]

Auditioned yesterday and got my call today... life is good. Kind of. Friends are still waiting for their calls.

Good to hear! I was glued to my phone today just hoping and praying they would call me to tell me my role. I think I'm more interested in finding out if they are going to make me shave my head or not.