Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store

The **Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store** is an annual themed **Tribute Store** open during Halloween Horror Nights, traditionally housed within the Macy's Facade of New York where the gift-shop for *Twister...Ride it Out* used to be. Later HHN Tribute Stores featured cohesive backstories for the tribute stores, set within the continuity of Halloween Horror Nights.

## 2020

### Rooms

* **Beetlejuice**:
* **Frankenstein's Laboratory**:
* **Jack the Clown's Carnival of Carnage**:

### Trivia

* There were flyers and signs for *Doctor Oddfellow's Grand Circus & Exposition*, the circus which Jack the Clown once worked for.
* One of the flyers for Oddfellow's Circus in the 2020 Tribute Store was for "The Horrifying Rat Lady", a character original to Halloween Horror Nights who has been recurring ever since the first *Fright Nights* in 1991. This flyer also identified the circus as being just south of the Shadybrook Sanatorium, a recurring Halloween Horror Nights location.
* The Flyer for the Human Impaler referenced a performer from the original Fright Nights. Posters for Madame Kuszel referenced the central character of the (culturally inappropriate/racist) Fright Nights show, *Madame Kuszel: Gypsy Fortune Teller*.
* A casting-call in the Jack the Clown area was left by the Director, a snuff-film director HHN icon.
* Photographs and pamphlets made tribute to past Halloween Horror Nights.
* Amongst the papers in the audition room was an audition slip for Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue.

## 2021

### Backstory

This Tribute Store was set in an old, possibly haunted house. Messages were left throughout the house by a mysterious former patient of the Shadybrook Asylum who has returned to his old home. A document from Shadybrook provided some information on this patient, such as that he was a 37 year-old male belonging to Carey, Ohio, whose closest known relative was TV-show host turned murderer Lawrence "Larry" Kurtzberg AKA "H.R. Bloodengutz", that he had an existing wealth, and that he used to live within Carey's haunted *Wyandot Estate*. The document noted that the inmate had was previously committed to Shadybrook when he was 15, 18 and 25 years old, that he is prone to severe fear, motion sickness and dizzy spells and has had an ongoing attack of this since October 31 in 1991 at age 30, and that he is obsessed with celebrating the occult by assembling people in a celebration with occult haunted houses, "Scarezones", and worshiping "Icons" while having waited for the night in question for the past 30 years.

The writings left behind by the inmate mentioned not knowing if he's a man or a monster, some sort of community hunting as one on people showing up from all around the town, and ominous predictions of horrors which will commence on that night including: the monster having his mate and feeding (referencing the haunted house *Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives*), leather being ripped from flesh (referencing the haunted house *The Texas Chainsaw Massacre*), the house on the hill which will be haunted (referencing *The Haunting of Hill House* haunted house), icons emerging as one (referencing the haunted house *HHN Icons: Captured*), and it being time to "Unleash the beast".

#### Transcript:

The transcript of messages left by the Shadybrook Inmate:

*"I've been at Shadybrook for so long now. I'm so glad to finally be back in my home. Where I belong. The familiarity of my house is not lost on me and I can see the intrigue of my other side trying to peer out like the dark times. As I sit in my parlor admiring my accomplishments I cannot help but wonder... when will this all happen again. It surely will happen once more.*

*Everything on my walls reminds of me where I've been and who really am. But who am I? Am I a man or a monster? Even I am not sure after the past. But nevertheless my collective possessions and prized trophies do allow for some semblance of normalcy. There's many truths to my adventures I cannot even remember anymore. And yet, I know this is where I belong. My one time desire is to be free.*

*The flirtation I feel with the otherworldly  is becoming too great studying the anatomy of change and what it is doing to me is causing a great sense of urgency  and passion for which I cannot seem to tame. The real question is to do I resist the urges or give again and it's only a matter of time I'm afraid.*

*I ponder what's next. But, it is really out of the question when the duality of myself is at the forefront of my every waking moment in this house...*

*The community is becoming one with me and I am becoming one with them. We worship the same feelings of psychological penetration from untamed forces. I know that they all feel it too. It's coming and it's bigger than ever. The event of the century. I know they will show up in scores of groups! From all around town. The question is...when we all hunt as one how much will we feed?*

*I know what scares me and I know what scares them. The horror will commence tonight.*

*Everything is beginning to become undone... Its happening again. Shadybrook kept me locked away once but not this time. This time the monster will have his mate and feed. The leather will be ripped from the flesh.  The house on the hill will be haunted. And all icons will emerge as one. No more resisting. No more fighting. No more sorrows. It's time to Unleash the Beast!".*

### Trivia

* The identity of the 2021 Tribute Store's Shadybrook patient is still unknown.
	+ One theory is that its a character who has yet to be met/truly introduced.
	+ Another speculation is that he may be "The Asylum Patient", the unofficial icon of *Halloween Horror Nights XIV* who was a perpetually terrified insane-asylum patient of unknown identity.
* Various artifacts related to Halloween Horror Nights appeared within the 2021 Tribute Store. Some were more connected to Universal's production, while other were tied to HHN lore. This included:
	+ A map of *Terra Cruentus*.
	+ A hardcover book with the symbol of the *Strengoits Legion* on it.
	+ Astone with the logo of *Legendary Truth: The Collective*.
	+ Boxes/blocks with the different Legions of Horror logos.
	+ Moulds, maquettes, concept-art, models and sculpts of various HHN characters and locations.
	+ Halloween Horror Nights pamphlets.
	+ Black-and-white photographs of various Halloween Horror Nights characters and locations.
	+ Busts and portraits of the different Halloween Horror Nights icons and display cases with props related to them.
	+ A portrait of Mary Shelley.
	+ The Storyteller's Terra Cruentus book and various other Terra Cruentus related props.
	+ An August 13, 1872 newspaper from the *Thunder Canyon Press*, covering the backstory of the *Ghost Town* haunted house. Nearby was an annotated map trying to locate the eponymous ghost-town of *Lightning Gulch*.
	+ A criminal profile of Stanley R. Rails from the *Hellgate Prison* haunted house.
	+ A 4th grade report card from Hillside Elementary school, referencing the town of Hillside from the Field of Screams scarezone. Nearby was a comic titled "The Rhyme of the Corn" which said student read in the story of that scarezone.
	+ The last-will-and-testament of Gunter Karl Dietze from the backstory of the *Horror in Wax* haunted house.
	+ The shooting-log for fictional Universal horror film *Horror Nights Nightmares*, from the haunted house of the same name.

* The Shadybrook patient's document mentioning him believing people should "Be excellent to each other and party on" is an allusion to the Bill & Ted's shows of Halloween Horror Nights.
* It is very possible that the 2021 Tribute Store's setting was in recurring HHN location Carey, Ohio, given how the inmate mentioned returning home and the documents identify him as hailing from Carey. It can further be taken that said tribute store took place in the Wyandot Estate, a haunted house within Carey, Ohio which was featured in *Legendary Truth: The Wyandot Estate*, which the patient is identified as having previously lived within.

## 2022

### Backstory

This tribute store was set in the shut-down *Tribute Theater* of New York City which had shut down in the 1940s after a series of poisonings. The theater was preparing to reopen as a Halloween attraction presented by the mayor, not realizing that his candy-maker sponsor "Major Sweets" was the former-owner responsible for the poisonings.

### Trivia

* The Tribute Theater setting of the Tribute Store was reused outside of Halloween Horror Nights for the 2022 Summer Tribute Store.

## 2023

### Backstory

This tribute store was themed to the *McPherson's Collectibles Cards & Comics* comic-book shop in New York City. The inside was themed around comic-book stories published by "Tribute Comics", and presented by the Cryptkeeper-like character "The Curator".

### Trivia

* *McPherson's Collectibles Cards & Comics* took its name from Charlie McPherson, a character from *Halloween Horror Nights: Reflections of Fear*.
* The events of, "False Idols" take clear inspiration from the works of H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937); namely, the wooden idols and tentacled monster resemble Cthulhu from *The Call of Cthulhu* (1928) while the fish people resemble the Deep Ones from *The Shadow over Innsmouth* (1931).
	+ This was fitting to the McPherson's facade/theming as Lovecraft originally wrote for pulp publications.
* The Kitty Kat Club, Finnegan's Bar-Grill, and Delancey Apartment Hotel were both referenced in Boris Shuster's 2023 Tribute Store appearance, referencing locations in Universal's *New York* themed area.
* The comic-book shop had posters for "Music Fest '69". This referenced the story of the *Vamp '69* scarezone tied to the backstory of that year's icon, Doctor Oddfellow.
* A sign near the entrance identifies the shop as a vampire free zone with no exceptions. While appearing to be a joke, vampires are a real population of monsters within the Halloween Horror Nights universe and had a notable presence in the story of Halloween Horror Nights 32, referenced within the shop by its Music Fest posters.

## References

1. ↑ https://halloweenhorrornights.fandom.com/wiki/Halloween\_Horror\_Nights\_Tribute\_Store\_(2021)