VIDEO: This Kentucky Haunted House Has a Chainsaw Santa Inside

0:03 Caloroga Shark Media. Hello, I'm Johnny Mac with five good news Halloween stories. Congratulations to Brandon. You see, last year, Brandon's pumpkin was 2,465 pounds and he was the runner up. But this year, He took the championship at the 2025 Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh Off in Half Moon Bay, California.

0:36 How heavy was the pumpkin, Johnny Mac? It was 2,346 pounds. Last year's winner, Travis, now his was 2,471 last year. He said the pumpkin he attempted to grow for this year's way off ended up splitting earlier in the season, so he had no shot. He decided to attend the event just to cheer on his friends as a spectator.

0:56 Brandon's 2,346-pound pumpkin wins him the prize of $ 21, 114, $ 9 per pound of pumpkin. There's a bonus prize of $ 30, 000 if you break the world record. That record, by Travis, he's the guy whose pumpkins split, That record from 2023, 2,749 pounds. Good luck next year if you're going to try and win that. Cole, Cam, and Caden all share a love for the holidays. They trace it back to Grandma Karen, who decorated their family home in 1960 every holiday season.

1:29 Cam said, there have been decorations at that house for 30 years. I took over by myself the last 10 years. It got hardwired in my brain. I started doing it. And every year, the crowds drawn to their holiday displays grew bigger. The family has now encouraged people to bring canned goods for Dare to Care, a local food bank based in Louisville, Kentucky. Then they had some tragedies. Cole was killed at age 18. Cole's memory goes on. Cole had jokingly pressured Cam to buy a 10-foot replica of Bumble, the abominable snow monster. They wound up doing that. Caden said it's not the biggest display, but it's something for Cole.

2:04 Now they have ScareVue Haunt, a volunteer-run haunted house. Cam said, on average, we have 15 to 20 actors every night, so every scene has at least one actor. There's over 150 animatronics inside, so it's very immersive. ScareVue Haunt is a multi-themed 20-minute walkthrough to Killer Kringle, a blood-soaked Santa Claus wielding a chainsaw. Now, if you're a little kid and that's a little too scary, they have a one-hour window where they keep the lights on, they dial it down a little bit. You know, I don't know if you want to do that Santa thing. Cam said, I was going to quit Halloween, but got the opportunity to do this, and my love and passion for it all came back. Are you dressing up your pet for Halloween?

2:42 My wife was just talking about that yesterday, and I was like, I don't know if the dogs want to do that. The National Retail Federation says about 23% of consumers plan to dress up their animals this year. The top looks, pumpkins, hot dogs, bumblebees, ghost bats, Target shopping carts, and bubble bath tub outfits. Pet shop owner Mike says Halloween is becoming a very close second to Christmas for pets.

3:07 Lion manes will cost you about $ 15, jerseys $ 25 to $ 40, and a simple bandana, $ 5 to $ 8. Now this next story, I don't think it's good news. I think this is one of those episodes where I do four good news stories and one bad news story. Now listen to this. Mike from Nevis, Minnesota is famous for handing out what he calls five handfuls of candy to every trick-or-treater. He said the whole lawn and driveway and everything will be full of kids, even the high schoolers come. This year, his bulk candy shipment, about 100 pounds of candy, disappeared amazon told him it had been delivered sent him the photo on the doorstep by the time he got home the boxes were gone he told amazon it says my candy's been delivered but i didn't get the candy they

3:48 said yeah it was delivered in a special van he reordered the candy everything from snickers to tootsie pops and plans to be fully stocked in time for the big night he said they're not stealing from me they're stealing from the kids And you may have noticed that Halloween is bigger and earlier than ever. Some people started Halloween podcasts for some reason. You know, it's really getting out of control this Halloween. Total spending is expected to reach a record $ 13 billion. That's almost four times more than 20 years ago. And 20 years ago is 2005 these days.

4:20 I know, you know, if you're of a certain age, you go 20 years ago and you think, what was 20 years ago, like 1985? Oh, no, no, no, no. 20 years ago is 2005. The average American will spend about $ 38 on Halloween this year, up from $ 18 in 2005. Why is Halloween starting earlier and earlier? Retailers say they want to sell as much as possible before November 1st.

4:39 Once November 1st hits, nobody wants to buy a 12-foot skeleton. Oh, I'll push that back. I saw a 12-foot dog skeleton at Home Depot on Saturday, and I have my eyes on popping in there in early November to see if I can get it at a discount. A business professor says the big trick for retailers is preventing this holiday from starting before the 4th of July. Wow. And those are your five good news Halloween stories. Trick or treat.