Universal: 5 Halloween Horror Nights burning questions answered

ORLANDO, Fla. — During the first week of Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, we learned a lot about the creatures and stories involved in the 2023 houses and zones. We met blues musician Pinestraw Spruce, encountered Vecna of “Stranger Things” fame plus yeti out the wazoo and even were reunited with a couple of Dueling Dragons.

Still, there were lingering, burning HHN questions, which Lora Sauls, assistant director of creative development and show direction, agreed to field. We chatted about the age of Dr. Oddfellow, the marching Megans and the whereabouts of Carey, Ohio, which in real life is Sauls’ hometown.

Q: Are adjustments made after the first weekend of HHN?

A: Halloween Horror Nights is an ever-evolving, live event. … We want to make it perfect for our guests, so after that first weekend, we listen to what our guests are loving, we’re seeing what our guests just want more of and we’re trying to make sure we’re doing the best and putting the best out there for our guests. So what I can say is Halloween Horror Nights is a living and breathing event. And there are always ways that we can better our scares for our guests.

Q: The proximity of the scare actors makes us wonder “Are we back to prepandemic closeness?”

A: We do not touch our guests. That’s one thing we pride ourselves in. But we want to get as close to our guests to give them that startle scare. So yes, Halloween Horror Nights is back. It’s our 32nd year, and we’re doing bigger and better things. And we’re focused on really getting that amazing scare in our scare zones and in our haunted houses.

Q: What’s the deal with Dr. Oddfellow, who has a hand in the Twisted Origins haunted house and all five scare zones, which are set in different time periods? Is he, like, really old or what?

A: He is timeless. … He has gained immortality through stealing the souls of humans, and he really, truly gained that immortality in Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins in his circus. In the 1920s, he was an adventurer. He was a collector of sorts. And so he went to this jungle, and he had heard about this skull that would give you power. He found this skull, which would then become the top of the cane of souls. As soon as he found the skull, he felt the skull talking to him and giving him this power that he had never felt before. He also felt the skull giving him the power to manipulate things and beings into his own doing.

He felt the power of the skull … He knew he had to collect the souls of human beings in order to gain more immortality from this skull. While in the Dust Bowl, he affixed it to his cane, and that’s where you got the cane of souls. And that’s why in the circus, in Twisted Origins, he is inviting these murderers to be a part of his twisted carnival act, so that they can murder for him, so he is just collecting their souls within this carnival. That is where, in the 1930s, Dr. Oddfellow gains his immortality. And then he lives with this for several decades. In about the 1960s he realizes he wants more, he’s not done with this.…

So Dr. Oddfellow has been collecting things and becoming so immortal that he’s kind of been waiting in the shadows. He allowed Jack (the Clown) to have his time at Halloween Horror Nights. And this year, he felt like it was his time. He collects the souls of those who enjoy fear and enjoy the chaos and enjoy deceit and so he is here because if he collects every soul that comes in to Halloween Horror Nights, he will become the most powerful immortal in the universe.

Q: Where can we see the dancing Megans in action?

A: Well, it’s a bit of a pop up. We want you to stumble upon them, not search them out. We are calling them our Megan flash mob. They come out and they do — in Megan’s true form — our Megans do this dance that is very kindred to what you might have seen in the “M3GAN” film, and then they kind of spread out and do a really short photo opportunity. But it is very short, and then they disappear. They will pop up at a couple of various locations around the park. That’s going to vary – even days and times may vary. We want it to be a surprise and delight for our fans.

Q: Did we overlook where Carey, Ohio, fits into things this year?

A: Carey, Ohio, was a part of the event for a very long time. And I’m not going to say that Carey’s never going to come back. But we wanted to step away from Carey, Ohio, for a few years and see what we could create without leaning on that fictional town.

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