Pennhurst Asylum’s Fate Tied to Data Center Decision

 

Photo: Haunt Hunters App 

by Tara Adams

Writer, Haunt Hunters App 

EAST VINCENT TOWNSHIP, Pa. – Pennhurst Asylum will remain open for the “foreseeable future,” but that could change in the coming years if plans for a data center and tire-burning facility are approved, Owner Derek Strine said in a phone interview Tuesday. 

If approved, the remaining buildings on the site of the former Pennhurst State School and Hospital, now a nationally-recognized haunted house attraction and popular destination for the paranormal community, eventually would be razed, he said.

“Come this year. Come next year. Come in 2027,” Strine said. “At some point, it may be the last year.” 

Strine cautioned, however, that Pennhurst's fate depends on whether the data center plan is approved. 

“At this point, we don't have the approval, so it's going to stay Pennhurst,” Strine said. 

The development proposal includes a 10-year build-out plan with an estimated completion date of 2035, Strine said. The project is estimated to cost $5 billion to $6 billion dollars. 

According to the Data Center Coalition, “data centers are physical locations that organizations use to house their critical applications and data. Anything that takes place online ‘in the cloud’ is powered by a data center.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has supported the construction of data centers throughout the state and has implemented a fast-track permitting process for projects said to create jobs and drive economic growth. 

Pennhurst officials recently submitted sketch plans for the proposed project to East Vincent Township, prompting concerns from residents and township leaders.

The township is working on an ordinance that would regulate data centers, while residents are concerned about the impact of such facilities on their properties,the environment, utility rates, and on the landscape of the area.

“While we respect the rights of the property owner we believe this decision would bring lasting harm to our community and future generations,” a petition filed at change.org states. “Once the land is cleared and industrialized it can never be restored.”

The petition, which had more than 6,500 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon, asks community members, local leaders, and Pennhurst to work toward a solution that preserves the property, “honors its history and protects the environment and quality of life for all who live, work and visit here.”

Strine said there's no guarantee the data center proposal will be approved, adding that several studies still need to be completed, and it would have to go through the various stages of township approvals.

The power study alone would take two years, he said. 

“It's far from a done deal,” Strine said. 

Power studies are necessary to assess energy consumption from data centers, which it describes as “one of the most energy-intensive building types, consuming 10 to 50 times the energy per floor space of a typical commercial office building,” according to the U.S. Department of Energy's website. 

Advantages the Pennhurst site has for housing a data center are its proximity to the Limerick Generating Station and that it already has power throughout the property, Strine said.

Pennhurst opened in 1908 as the Eastern Pennsylvania Institution for the Feeble Minded and Epileptic. Later becoming known as Pennhurst State School and Hospital, it operated until 1987 as an institution for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. 

Overcrowding and understaffing, leading to neglect and abuse, was present throughout Pennhurst's decades in operation, conditions which resulted in the facility's closing.

The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, according to the Pennhurst Memorial & Preservation Alliance. 

The haunted attraction, Pennhurst Asylum, opened in 2010 and has been recognized nationally as among the best in the country. It features four haunts: Pennhurst Asylum, The Morgue, The Tunnels, and The Catacombs. 

For more information about Pennhurst, visit pennhurstasylum.com. 

Photo: Haunt Hunters App 

Fear the Reaper … and the clowns: Scranton haunt delivers national-level scares

Photo courtesy of Reaper's Revenge 

By Tara Adams

Writer, Haunt Hunters App 

SCRANTON, PA – A rusted ferris wheel broods over the darkened wooded trail, squealing as its paint-chipped frame eerily rotates.

It's a piercing sound that stands out among the screams and warped outbursts of twisted clowns and ghouls stuck in a carnival gone terribly wrong.

“That's a real ferris wheel,” Reaper's Revenge Owner Paul Kotran said of the Wonder Wheel. “We do not grease the center bearings, so it sings auautomatically."

A short distance away, an abandoned roller coaster, “Coaster of Doom,” stretches high above a covered walk-through, with a cart stuck atop a hill carrying what's left of an unlucky rider.

A run-down carousel, draped in cobwebs and grit, slowly spins along the trail, a reminder to guests that they've wandered onto foreboding ground.

The eye-catching props are among several large carnival pieces in The Lost Carnival, one of five haunted attractions at Reaper's Revenge. 

Reaper's also features the Haunted Hayride; Delirium, a twisted 3D funhouse, Pitch Black, a high-intensity dark house that unleashes an assault on the senses; and Sector 13, which leads guests through an apocalyptic government science lab full of mutants and monsters.

“This is Sector 13 - often imitated, never duplicated anywhere in the United States,” Steve DeEsch, who manages Sector 13, said during a daytime media tour. “This is a big, metal compound. It looks harmless from the outside, from the inside during the day, but you guys will get your fright at night.” 

In its 17th-year, Reaper's Revenge has grown into a nationally-recognized and award-winning haunt known for its large, detailed, elaborate sets; atmosphere; effects; sound; quality of scares and entertainment; and its more than 170 talented actors.

Pitch Black takes guests through a shuttered light bulb factory, which closed in 1924 after an electrical accident claimed the life of the owner's wife and most of his employees.

“However, locals state that Pitch Black Inc. is still very much alive, even though the lights have been off for years,” the Reaper's Revenge website states.

Guests enter the high-intensity, lights-out attraction and must feel their way out, meandering through narrow passages and twists and turns, all while loud, disorienting music, noise, sensations, and unseen scare actors startle them.

The house confuses the senses and is known to be one of the scariest walk-throughs in the country, Kotran said. 

“So, it's brutal there,” Kotran said. “You can't see. You can't hear. It's claustrophobic. It's scary.”

Photo: Haunt Hunters App 

The disorienting sound is achieved by pumping noise through 48 speakers and 10 subwoofers, which make Pitch Black's bumpy walls vibrate. The walls are also wet in some places, which guests have to touch to feel their way out. 

“We tried Vaseline, we tried hand cream, we were looking for something … so we got a bug sprayer and we filled it with water, and I pay somebody every 10 minutes to wet the walls,” Kotran said. “And it took Pitch Black to a whole new level. So the stuff that's on the walls, when it's wet, just feels that much cooler.”

The Haunted Hayride features enormous Hollywood-level sets covering 66 acres, such as a 150-yard cemetery scene in which zombies emerge in fog from mausoleums and real tombstones. They climb aboard the wagon to scare guests, before stopping to perform a choreographed dance to Michael Jackson's “Thriller.” 

Another section of the hayride features an elaborate Alice in Wonderland scene, which begins when riders descend into the rabbit hole. To achieve this effect, the wagon travels underneath a large, $4,000 projection screen suspended from trees that lights up with lasers and colorful, warped patterns.

“I wanted to go higher and bigger. When you see this at night, it's unbelievable. It's better than any Christmas show,” Kotran said. 

Guests encounter the Queen of Hearts on another suspended projection screen, the Mad Hatter, Alice, and numerous detailed props, including a gigantic Ace of Spades, which towers high in the air and then suddenly drops down toward guests on the wagon, providing a rattling scare synced with pyrotechnics.

“Why didn't you listen when they warned you?” the Queen scolded guests as the wagon stops just below her projection. “Why have you come here at all? You think this is your way? No way! It's my way! ... The truth is whatever I make it. I could set fire to this world and call it rain!”

“Off with their heads!” she demanded. 

Reaper's Revenge runs Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through November 2, 2025. For more information, visit https://reapersrevenge.com/

Laughter, lube, and loud-ass noise: FNG takes the stage

Giggles and Jekyll, FNG, at Whisky A Go-Go
Photo: Haunt Hunters App 

by Tara Adams

Writer, Haunt Hunters App 

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Masked in fresh clown paint and wearing greased and gritty, work-worn jumpsuits, FNG crashed the stage at Whisky A Go-Go last week, delivering a loud, crass, and hilariously unhinged debut performance of mostly Faith No More and GWAR songs. 

The five disgruntled clown car mechanics were led by the foul-mouthed and cranky, yet somehow endearing, Giggles on vocals, who interacted with the audience through storytelling and humorous banter throughout the show, which took place on June 25, 2025.

Giggles spoke in a rough and raspy Boston accent as he addressed the crowd, some of whom arrived in clown costumes. 

“It doesn't stand for fucking,” Giggles said of the band's name. “It doesn't stand for farting. It doesn't stand for Fuck Not Giggles. It stands for Faith No GWAR.”

Giggles and FNG are the satirical creation of Matt Montgomery, bass player for Marilyn Manson, also known as Piggy D. and Count D. 

Montgomery told Haunt Hunters App in a prior interview that his Giggles character is based on people he met while spending time in Massachusetts in his 20s. Songs by Faith No More and GWAR kept running through his head as he crafted the project, he said.

As the storyline goes, Giggles and his FNG crew, who are members of the Los Angeles-area band, The Lords of Sin, feel disenfranchised by and fed up with the government, society, the people around them, and a declining clown car mechanic business, Montgomery explained. 

So, they took to the stage to earn some extra money and vent their frustrations through music. 

“Business is down, so we gotta fucking come out here and wave our fucking dicks around and play some songs that you don't know to make money,” Giggles said. “Because like everybody, we're fucking starving!” 

At the start of the set, Giggles told the audience that the band would ease into the performance but then quickly tore into a roaring rendition of “People” by The 1975.

“Wake up, wake up, wake up!” Giggles shouted to start the song. 

Some of the songs in the set included “Krak Down,” “Salaminizer,” and “Americanized” by GWAR, and “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies,” “Land of Sunshine,” and “We Care a Lot” by Faith No More.  

FNG also debuted an original song called “Hank,” which tells the story of a nasty and now deceased man the band, clearly, does not miss.

“And thank God he's dead, too … fucking prick,” Giggles said during the song. 

Giggles, FNG, at Whisky A Go-Go 
Photo: Haunt Hunters App 

During “Land of Sunshine,” Giggles threw dozens of fortune cookies to the audience, along with red clown noses. 

“This next song was written entirely by fortune cookies,” Giggles said. “Bet you didn't know that, smart guy.”

He told a story that a (seemingly fictitious) restaurant called Land of Sunshine, with a tagline of “Hot and Spicy Takeaway,” sponsored fortune cookies for the show. The fortunes contained lyrics to the song, along with the band's website, fngisfun.com.

FNG also sold Land of Sunshine takeaway boxes filled with FNG merchandise. Each “Crappy Meal” came with five fortune cookies, a guitar pick, coaster, sticker, buttons, and a bottle opener. 

“We may never do this again. You're witnessing our own bullshit history. I don't know, we may start that OnlyFans page afterall, what do you guys think?” Giggles asked, receiving supportive cheers from the crowd.

FNG ended the night with “We Care a Lot,” and “Americanized.”

“We're all very Americanized here. We're going to have a good summer being Americans, right?” Giggles said with a scowl. “USA! USA! … Let's get fucking Americanized.”

After the show, fans made their way out of the venue, discussing what they had just seen on stage.

“That was fun,” one concertgoer said. “It was a lot better than I imagined it would be.”

“It's not something you normally see at a concert,” another fan said. “I'm glad I came.”

Just before the show ended, Giggles had some words for fans who turned out to watch the debut performance.

“I'm sorry we did this to your fucking faces and your ears,” Giggles said before pausing. “Actually, I'm not that sorry.” 

Giggles is pissed, and he's bringing the band

FNG
Giggles: Front left
Photo courtesy of Matt Montgomery

Clown band FNG to debut at Whisky A Go Go on June 25th

by Tara Adams

Writer, Haunt Hunters App

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Fed up and grease-streaked, a cantankerous crew of clown car mechanics, led by Piggy D. as salty frontman Giggles, will soon unload their frustrations on stage through warped reinterpretations of Faith No More and GWAR songs. 

FNG's debut is set for June 25 in a one-night-only show at Whisky A Go Go. 

“You’re going to hear a bunch of angry-ass clowns venting their feelings through music you may or may not know,” said Matt Montgomery, Marilyn Manson bass player and the mastermind behind FNG, which stands for Faith No GWAR.

Montgomery, also known as Piggy D. and Count D., will sing lead vocals as Giggles the Greasecap. Los Angeles-area metal band, The Lords of Sin, make up the other members of the clown band. 

About six years in the making, and his idea for the band being around even longer, Montgomery said FNG is an outlet for the disgruntled clowns to express their frustrations with everyday life.

“The clown car mechanics represent a marginalized demographic of hard-working Americans males. They are living in our modern-day society and dealing with the issues we are all facing,” Montgomery said. “We would obviously draw a massive target on our backs if we used a more ‘realistic’ demographic of humans to tell this story.”

“The clowns allow us to display ourselves as a group of people who feel disenfranchised and let down by our state and federal governments, by the friends they have, by the women they try to date, by the bands they like,” he said.

And while the clowns might be disgruntled about the world they live in, they still have to pay the bills - not an easy task in a diminishing field. Performing live will help supplement their income as clown car mechanics, according to the storyline.

“The clown car business is a tough racket. You don’t see as many clown cars on the road like you used to. If you take the seat out of your stupid cyber truck, you can fit, like, 87 clowns in there,” Montgomery said. “But ya need someone who knows what they’re doing to pull that off. That’s what we do. We will transform your car into a functional clown car for today's world. It's a niche business that's slowly dwindling into obscurity, which is why we've turned to live performance, to pay bills. It was either this or we start stripping, and no one needs that!”

Photo courtesy of Matt Montgomery 

Faith No More and GWAR songs seemed to be a natural fit for FNG's story.

“As I was crafting the story of this band, the music I kept hearing in my head was those two bands,” Montgomery said. “Lyrically and thematically, they hold a broad range of subject matter.”

But FNG won't be acting as a tribute band. They’re putting their own interpretations on the songs - through their own artistic lens - as chaotic as that might be. 

“As much as we are accurately performing the music to the best of our ability, we aren’t playing them as a tribute or cover band, or claiming we wrote it,” Montgomery said. “It's a repurposing of the original intent of the songs. We are hanging our beliefs on what ‘WE’ believe is the interpretation of the lyrics - perhaps repurposing them from their original intent.”

FNG took shape after Montgomery watched The Lords of Sin rehearse several times. He approached the band with his idea, and they embraced it.

“It’s such a bizarre thing to try and pitch someone, let alone an already functioning band,” he said. “I actually went to watch the The Lords Of Sin band rehearse a few times, playing their own songs. I thought they were a really fantastic local metal band, and I wanted to give them any assistance that I could. At some point I got up the nerve to pitch them this idea, and they got excited about it, which gave me some validation that it was so insane it just might work!”

Montgomery, a former longtime member of Rob Zombie's band, performed as Giggles during Zombie's 2023 tour. The character is based on a cross section of people he knew in Boston, where he spent a good portion of his 20s.

While he might be a bit on the cranky side, Giggles resonated with audiences, Montgomery said.

“The audience seemed to connect with him, as did I! He seemed like a natural leader and spokesperson for FNG,” Montgomery said. “He's a little heavier on the salt than I would be!”

Aside from their twisted take on Faith No More and GWAR, concertgoers might hear an original song by FNG. The band didn't intend to create original music, but it developed as a “byproduct” as the group spent time together, Montgomery said. 

“That was not something I was looking to do with this project in any way,” he said. “But it happened, and now we’re kind of excited about it. So you might hear one of those songs. Maybe.”

But regardless of whether an original song makes the setlist, the audience will get a chaotic mix of metal, punk, satire and rage.

“We are honestly just looking to entertain and have fun,” Montgomery said. “As much as we take our performance seriously, we don't take ourselves seriously. This is an ‘Anti-Band’ doing everything opposite of what a normal working rock band would do. We aren't trying to succeed or ‘make it’ as a modern rock band. We have already succeeded by just being alive. If anyone shows up to party with us, it's a bonus!”

If You Go

When: Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Where: Whisky A Go Go, West Hollywood, CA

Lineup: Verona on Venus, also making its debut performance, joins FNG on the bill. 

Doors: 6 p.m.

Tickets: Available through TicketWeb here.

Photo courtesy of Matt Montgomery 

Books and Brews: Horror Book Club and Coffee Shop Host Chilling 45th Anniversary Tribute to “The Shining”

 

Taylor O'Brien and Mox Leonard of Bookmarked & Buried at Catfight Coffee 
Photo Courtesy of Bookmarked & Buried 

A Letter to The Haxans: My Favorite Ghoulish Duo

There was something enchanting, maybe even witchy, about the first time I heard The Haxans. It was as though I stepped into a haunted house, but where glam met spooky, where horror met rock, and where every track felt like Halloween came early and never left.

I guess you can say it was fate. I was in my car listening to a random playlist Spotify recommended when “Dirty Magic” came on. That haunting, catchy tune stopped me in my tracks. It was love at first listen. I needed to know who this band was. And from that moment on, I was hooked.

But they’re more than just a band. They’re a mood. They're a spell cast in an autumn shadow. 

Ash Costello, with her commanding presence and bold vocals, gives voice to the beautifully weird sentiments that often cross my mind. And Matt Montgomery, aka Count D., brings the mystery and musical wizardry, wrapping every song in electric darkness and heapings of pumpkin spice.

The Haxans make it fun to be different. They don’t shy away from the strange or the spooky. They celebrate it. Their music makes you want to dance in a cemetery, laugh in the dark, and wear black as a badge of honor. They welcome the misfits and Halloween-forever crowd. 

Their songs are catchy spells; pop-infused, goth rock anthems that live in your bones. “Slick Black Coffin,” “Lights Out,” “Young Blood” — each track is a love letter to the night. “Fall Into You,” not just my favorite song by The Haxans, but my favorite song - period, is hauntingly romantic and addictive. 

And their aesthetics? From skulls to glitter, from eerie elegance to playful fright, their style is a match for anyone who lives for October vibes year-round.

So, here’s to The Haxans: the soundtrack to my spooky soul. Thank you for being unapologetically weird, beautifully dark, and ridiculously fun. You didn’t just make music. I found a piece of myself in your world. And I’ll keep dancing in the night for however long your music is playing.

Forever Halloween, 

Tara Adams 🧡🖤

Cognetti Dishes on New Hell House LLC Movie; Departure from Found Footage

Photo: Haunt Hunters App 

by Tara Adams

LEHIGHTON, PA – The new and possibly final Hell House LLC movie will be shown in 500 to 600 theaters across the country for one week before it streams, Stephen Cognetti, writer and director of the horror franchise said in a recent question and answer session with fans.

“So if you want to see it in a theater, make it that week. Don't have any plans that week,” Cognetti joked. “Don't be like, ‘Oh, I'm on a Disney cruise.”

The new installment, Hell House LLC: Lineage, will hit theaters on Aug. 20, but which theaters will be showing haven't yet been revealed. Cognetti said he hopes a theater in his hometown of Scranton, Pa., will show the movie.

Cognetti spoke to fans during a Halfway to Halloween event at Waldorf Estate of Fear in Lehighton, Pa., a haunted attraction where the first three Hell House LLC movies were largely filmed. 

The latest movie is a departure from the first four installments, because it is the first in the series that isn't shot in found-footage style. 

Cognetti said some Hell House fans are having a hard time with the change.

“I have seen a surprising amount of Reddit threads calling me an asshole,” Cognetti said. “And, I'm like ok, at least they're talking about me. That's good. You want people to know your film. So, they're talking about Hell House, so that was cool. But people are not happy about this.” 

He said he understands their concerns and explained in-depth the reason Lineage is not a found footage film. 

“I get it, because I am a lover of found footage myself “ Cognetti said. “So, I know people who love Hell House love it because of found footage. And I get it. I think found footage is such a unique way to tell scary stories.” 

The reason for the change, however, was that the story he wanted to tell in Lineage, including history-wise, wasn't a good fit for found footage-style. Found footage would appear forced, he said. 

While there are a few found footage moments in Lineage, he said the film would “suffer” if it had been shot entirely as a found footage movie. 

“When I started penciling out what the story was going to be for lineage, I knew it was going to be worse off as a found footage film,” Cognetti said. “It was going to be forced. It was going to be forced to have cameras and characters having dumb reasons for why they're recording stuff.”

Cognetti said the scares in Lineage are better through old-fashioned storytelling.

“I realized, ‘Oh, the scares are playing so much better and the story, what I want to tell, is actually going to be better because I'm not telling a story that's justified by someone holding a camera videotaping someone,’” Cognetti said. “It's just a very organic, third-person perspective, fly on the wall traditional storytelling. And it's better off for it. The scares are there. It does have a couple of found footage moments that are fun.” 

Marcel Aube, an administrator of the more than 2,700-member Facebook group, Hell House Fanatics, said a recent group poll showed that 99 percent of fans who participated in the poll are receptive to the change to traditional storytelling, as long as the story is good. 

“I do think it's scary,” Cognetti said. “If you like Hell House for the story, you're gonna love this. If you like Hell House for the scares, you're gonna love this. If you like Hell House for found footage, you're going to be, like, meh, this sucks. Why did I ever come. Why did you tell me to cancel my Disney cruise?”

Cognetti said, however, he thinks fans will fully understand the departure from found footage once they see the film. 

“I really think it will be better served. When you see it, you'll be, like. Ah, this was the right move. I hope “ he said. “I just think it's going to be a lot of fun. I wish I could tell you more. I wish we were doing this when, like, a trailer had been released, so you could see. It looks awesome.”

Cognetti encouraged fans to get to theaters when the movie is released. He said the movie's sound is impressive.

“Seeing it in theaters is really important, because I just, actually, two days ago, I wrapped up the 5.1 sound design with the mixer … It's like you're going to be enveloped in this film. It's going to hit you from all angles. You're going to be inside the locations where we want to be. It's really, really well done.” 

Cognetti also told Hell House fans that Lineage is considered the last Hell House LLC movie - for now. He left open the possibility that it could return years down the road. 

Photo: Haunt Hunters App