This interview is part of an ongoing series of features about the people behind the scenes of the horror film and haunted attraction industries. This week we are interviewing Virgil Franklin, a mainstay of the horror film and haunted attraction music industry. His albums have sold thousands of copies and are used in hundreds of haunted attractions all across the U.S. and Canada.
Why did you first become interested in the haunted house/horror business?
I’ve been a longtime fan of horror for as far back as I can remember. If you’ve read my bio on my website, you know that my older brother and I started making “haunt tapes” using two reel-to-reel recorders and an old sound effects record back when I was very young. As a youth I was a regular in the local Jaycee’s haunt and other smaller club haunts.
If you fast-forward to four years ago, I was at a birthday party with my son at the local skating rink. During October the rink doubles as a haunted attraction. I was talking with the owner, an old friend, and he asked me to write some music for his haunt. I agreed and a couple weeks later I presented him with drafts of a CD that would become Out of the Ether. He was incredibly impressed and told me about the haunt “industry” and that I should market it. He pointed me to a few names in the industry. It was Leonard Pickel that responded to me and encouraged me from there.
When did you first become interested in music?
I come from a family of band geeks and musicians; everyone played something.We were far from wealthy and music always served as an escape for me, a place I could create my own world so to speak. I stuck with it, joining band, competing in contests, forming a garage band here and there; I was always involved in music at some level. I went to college and onward to a teaching career. I’ve literally traveled the world playing; from France to the Grand Ol Opry. I currently instruct music and band at two K-6 schools, teach college classes, do clinics on music and education and teach privately.
What job do you do right now? Is the haunted house/horror job your full time gig?
I’m in a real strange position right now as far as composing is concerned. I truly started getting into the haunt industry just for the fun of it and to give my son and family a little something to do together. We all work the haunt together; my son and I as actors and my wife does makeup. The haunt music thing has really taken on a life of its own here of late and has grown into a second career. I still teach and likely always will, that is until I am forced to choose between music education and composition.
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