\u201cI think people need monsters. Wouldn\u2019t it be depressing if there was nothing out there worse than people?\u201d Allen said recently on the Horrorble podcast.<\/p>\n
Dark Hour operates its own production company and fabrication shop, where its artists create all of the creatures, sets and props used in the haunted house and museum. The team also operates a monster-making school, which began offering classes in 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the exhibits and everything that you see, we make in-house,\u201d Shannon says. \u201cWhen we make it in-house, it\u2019s a very unique look.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allen is the operation\u2019s primary designer and monster maker, the \u201cgenius\u201d behind the haunted house, she says.<\/p>\n
Visitors can explore on their own ($16) or take a guided tour ($23) with museum employees dressed as rangers, who explain the legends and lore behind each of the museum\u2019s creatures. <\/p>\n
Some guests even suggest creatures from their own hometowns and regions.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who aren\u2019t from Texas are like, \u2018I grew up in Santa Cruz. I\u2019m from Maryland,\u2019 and they get super excited, like seeing a friend,\u201d Shannon says. \u201c\u2018That\u2019s a Jersey Devil. I\u2019ve seen it. I used to live up north.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the biggest surprises, they say, has been hearing from people who believe they have encountered the creatures themselves, with one going so far as to email recordings of strange noises heard outside their homes. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who have seen things want to be heard,\u201d she says. \u201cThey have a desperate need to be heard. And we didn\u2019t expect that either.\u201d<\/p>\n
And with each visitor suggestion, the Hoppses are taking notes. Part of an upcoming expansion includes an alien section and the viral raccoon named Jimothy. The alien exhibit will even include a cow rising into the air.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s putting a little humor in there because people are going, \u2018Oh my God, this is intense,\u2019 and then there goes the cow,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
The humor of it all distinguishes the museum from the next-door haunted house. Dark Hour is designed to scare people. The museum is more family-friendly and \u201cfright-free.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of kids who end up coming to us, which surprised me,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s very important, while this is dark and it\u2019s intense, that it is accessible to kids and families.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the future, a \u201cdark zone\u201d will eventually give the museum somewhere to place its more intense creatures and displays that families or more sensitive viewers can skip. <\/p>\n
The museum isn\u2019t designed to be stuffy and stagnant. In addition to the incoming additions, the museum also hosts events like Cryptids and Cocktails, a lecture series with a fully catered dinner, a cash bar and a presentation by cryptozoologists. <\/p>\n