I'm always a little wary when I get a hand-addressed manila envelope in the mail and the package has a strange bulge to it. Not wary enough to leave it closed, but wary nonetheless.

From inside the envelope, I pull out a press release for a new haunted attraction coming to the Pittsburgh region this fall called Haunted Expedition.

"We find people are bored with the same old haunted attractions,"says Sean Berger, CEO of the company called Haunted Expedition Inc. "Customers are becoming less satisfied with walking through hallways and having actors jump out and scare them. They want to be immersed into a life-like experience."

How Immersive? so immersive that you'll ... well, the picture says it all:


Look, I'm no Don Draper and I didn't call anyone on Madison Avenue, but I'm pretty sure this is a freakin' brilliant piece of marketing. According to the press release, the venue, which is described as a "hands-on" show, has been opened the past two Halloween but without a formal launch. Berger says, "We wanted to make sure we had everything down pat before we went full swing into advertising."

Full swing? I think fully loaded would have been better. But, again, I'm no Don Draper.