Fiendish Friday Interview :: David Norton Haunted House Auctioneer

::Editor's Note: This is part of an ongoing series where we interview the people behind the Horror/Haunted Attraction business. This week we speak with David Norton, who is the #1 auctioneer for Theme Parks/Haunted Attractions in the US. Who knew?...In other words his full time job is to go around and liquidate these attractions when they have to be sold. Talk about a niche job! ::

Explain to our readers what you do for a living?
We sell all types of tourist attractions (amusement parks, carnivals, antique carousels, museums, FECs, haunts, unusual collections) at auction. We perform the auctions on-site. We also do many appraisals of the amusement industry.

Is this your full time job?
Yes – 110%

How did you get into auctioning off Theme Park rides?
I sold a small park in the early 1970's in northern Indiana – Buck Lake Ranch – and the specialty took off from there.

What is the strangest thing you ever auctioned off?
We sold the World's largest privately owned zoo, including a trained elephant act and the oldest Lowland Gorilla. One of our best auctions was the Rocky Point Haunted House. A small four room haunted mansion scene sold for $44,000, 8 framed marquis at $6,300, coffins from $400-1,500, 4 foam gravestones $1,100, pneumatic headless zombie $2,000, pneumatic leaper $1,650, faux mausoleums from $3,000-5000 each and a mirror maze was gone at $19,800. Other prices realized included a WWII searchlight at $18,750, forest maze $4,400, various pneumatic tricks from $500-4,000, Frankenstein table at $7,150, rocking boat captain’s room for $7,150, scary carousel at $11,000, asylum facade $4,125, groups of costumes totaled over $10,000 and fog machines averaged $550 each.