Regarding tricksters

[bassmonkey1962]

My GF and I attended Knott's opening night, last Friday, Sept. 21......I fully understand, by purchasing a ticket, I am, for all intents and purposes, "allowing" myself to be "scared." I am NOT, by any means, going to "hit an employee," merely because he or she has "scared" myself, or anyone in my party. After all, I bought a ticket TO be scared. That IS the purpose.......
HOWEVER, within a few minutes of opening, one of the "Tricksters" came up, BEHIND me, and "knocked" my map out of my hands. Realizing, this IS a Haunt, I dismissed this action. I am NOT a confrontational, or violent person...........we laughed it off, albeit, drudgingly.
PLEASE, do scare us, but, you DO NOT have to become so aggressive. As my GF and myself continued approaching the park, yet again, this Trickster came up behind us, SCREAMED in my GF's ear, and proceeded to verbally attack her, in a very offensive way (I won't elaborate on specifically WHAT this pumpkin head actually said)...... AGAIN, we dismissed it as "Haunt Tactics," even though these comments WERE quite offensive. I am not, by any means, a bad ***, but, in any other social environment, as her BF, if anyone else had made these comments to her, I would have busted them across the chops.
We chose to linger in Ghost Town for a few minutes, you know to appreciate Ghost Town talent, AND, to get our psyche prepped for the rest of the park. HOWEVER, this person, for whatever reason, chose to torment us. I GET IT, it IS Haunt, that IS why we paid our $$$$ to attend.......but yet, this Pumpkin Head got, in our opinion, a bit waaay too close to us, as in a mere few inches......and he (or she) insisted on throwing our some very offensive verbal attacks.
I have read on facebook and twitter, other complaints about the tricksters, ie knocking food out of patrons hands, etc. We DID bring this to the attention of a security guard, who told us, "That's what you paid for."
I find it hard to argue that point, but I DID NOT pay to have my GF verbally assaulted. Scare us, jump out at us, whatever, but Christ, this person seemed a bit overly aggressive, and hellbent. Call us wimps, but this person DID seem intent on crossing the line.............We WANT the scares, but we did NOT pay to be verbally assaulted. There IS a fine line, between SCARES and VERBAL assaults.
Based upon messages I have read elsewhere, apparently we are not the only "victims." I actually called Knott's GUEST RELATIONS the next day (after being on hold after a good 80-minutes), and they told me, "Well, it IS a Haunt, you do know what you are getting into." I told them, "Yes, in regards to SCARES, I GET IT, but I did not pay nearly 80 bucks, for my girlfriend to receive disrespect, and sexual verbal harassment."
Does anyone else have similar stories? AM I being too much of a wimp? I HAVE been attending since 1986, and, despite the magnificent scares I have received, over the years, I have NEVER encountered myself, or anyone in my party, being verbally assaulted in such a way.
SCARES are one thing, but knocking food out of patrons hands (as I have heard of), and making sexually crude comments to females, is just, simply, way beyond the boundaries of a FUN scare.
Comments?

[cruise]

Without being there it is hard to say, though knocking anything out of your hand/touching anything that is touching your person clearly is out of line. If you were scarred and dropped it, that is another thing, but it sounds like the map/food was knocked from your hands.

As far as verbal assaults, this, at least from my past experience, seems to be a part of the event. Whether you encountered a scaractor that took this too far is hard to say, but vulgarity is to be expected. Again, obviously there is a line here, but without having been there it is hard to say. Generally, the scaractors I have seen will stop/tone something down if you make the transition from fun/playful scarred or disgusted to obviously actually upset. If you are in a situation like this probably best to say something to the scarnactor and let them know that they are actually ruining your night (in a polite way). After all, they are there to make sure you have fun.

[lynxwiler]

The stripe-shirt Tricksters are the bullies of the bunch and I think are meant to bring the Trick to the "Trick or Treat" maze.

I know these monsters have received training in how to scare guests, but I wonder if they're taught how to know when to back off.

[jcruise86]

Maybe the street monsters should be required to wear scary nametags with their monster names on them. This wouldn't work for characters in the mazes, but for the ones out in the streets it could make them accountable, and help Knott's get rid of truly Satanic eggs after the opening weekend and reward the excellent monsters. Knott's would be smart enough to know that just scaring someone would not be a serious complaint (in fact it should be rewarded), but behavior described by bassmonkey1962 should not occur. I'd guess we interacted with at least 30 monsters on Saturday, Sept. 22, and every encounter was delightfully dreadful.

[fearmeloveme]

If you don't mind me asking, what kinds of things was he saying to you both?

[unclemike]

Different people have different tolerance levels of offense. Since you refuse to say what the Trickster actually said, I don't think we can objectively say whether or not you're overreacting.

But since you felt you had to bold thirty-six words in your post to get your point across, I'm kinda leaning towards "overreaction."

[RegionsBeyond]

From a review on another forum, report of seeing Tricksters deliberately approach, heckle and follow a younger couple walking back from just buying a funnel cake, leading to the 'guest' male's head being forced into the funnel cake as he sat and him physically grabbing the performer and chasing them off, while security staff watched and did not interfere. For Haunt, if there was a real fight, that wouldn't be the case at all. Therefore, if you see a physical confrontation with these specific characters, it's pretty much guaranteed to be staged with a 'plant' guest and security watching (yellow shirts, they'll be easy to spot).

Doesn't mean the straw-grabbing and map stealing aren't real, but their more extreme actions seem to be centered on a guy and girl younger couple who are in on the action given the pizza incident reports from opening night. Doesn't mean all scare tactics used on general guests are the best, but it still is 'in control' or part of the character brief as assigned.

[dth316]

This all seems rather annoying. Even just "map slapping" or ripping it to shreds would get me a bit peeved. Vulgar harassment, especially sexual, and more especially if it doesn't cease after a comment or two, MAY make me a bit offensive towards the scareactor and that's just being HONEST and I am a seriously mild mannered person. If they wanna act like a bunch of jerks, as long as they can't touch, and they continue to do it despite my obvious "offness" from it, I don't see why we can't do the same right back, including immaturish actions such as spitting on them or throwing a drink in their face. All is fair, right?

For the record, I'd do neither. I wouldn't wanna risk being kicked out from KSF haha

[clara]

This all seems rather annoying. Even just "map slapping" or ripping it to shreds would get me a bit peeved.

I had mental picture of a Trickster "ripping" my map to shreds and I think I would just be like "WTF?" I giggled at that comment.

About what the OP posted, I have heard similiar stories as to his. Straw stealing, maps being tossed out of hands etc. However, I did not know that they could actually toss out verbal insults. The last Knott's Haunt I went to was a long time ago, back in 2001, I believe, so I'm sure things are much different now but back then the performers were not even allowed to talk to guests much. I think one scared my sister and she screamed "oh God!" and the performer said "God isn't here now...." and we all giggled and laughed but then he was off to scare others. There was no following or harrassing or touching things in guests hands.

Just sounds annoying to pay money for.

[NGW]

^yeah, as much respect as I have for the people that put Haunt on and a good number of the talent there, the overall quality of the staff has seriously gone down hill, they've become increasingly disrespectful, juvenile, and seem in it for different reasons than before. A couple years back I was going through Day of the Dead with my girlfriend, was our first trip together and I was really excited getting her in on my yearly tradition with the guys, one of the monsters (believe it was around the La Llarona or Chupacabra scene) would not leave her alone, it's usually not so bad when monsters follow people, but he got her backed into a corner crying, and he was right on top of her to the point where his mask was touching her face. I didn't care that security was right there, I told him if he didn't knock it off I was going to kick his ***. We were escorted out of the maze. She didn't go through a single maze the rest of the night and is now completely against the event. I'll still go with the guys, but it is a shame I can never share my favorite event of the year with her because Knott's doesn't do a better job regulating their cast.

[scotchtape]

The Tricksters really are a rather mischievous bunch. However, I'm a little startled at this. The two pumpkin heads really are the bullies of the group. Is the man who was pulled from the crowd just an actor for the opening ceremony/rope drop, or was it an actual guest who was randomly pulled out? It looks like it's all in good fun, but just a little curious.

The moment happens at 5:55


I guess the pig masked character gave him a piece of candy for being a good sport at least.

[NGW]

Funny enough, outside of the opening ceremony, right when they let us in the gates, before the actual event started, and in Trick or Treat, my group didn't see a single Trickster the entirety of last night.

[Dratsab]

Funny thing is Peoples Straws have been disappearing For YEARS at haunt as well as Maps. More so in a certain scare zone. This year with the Tricksters, Its Allowed, where as before it was something That was done for the Monsters entertainment and generally not approved of. Problem is the people of today dont have as thick of skin as people in years past, and they get annoyed at the dumbest of things. Last time I checked Straws are available at every snack stand... If your straw was taken, rather than get all bent out of shape, simply get another one as you walk to the next spot. If you only get 1 replacement and it gets taken again then thats your own fault. You should have grabbed 2 or 3, Just sayin. Remember, Your paying $4 for the Liquid, Not the Straw. Same with a Map. They are Free and available everywhere in the park.
Oh and NGW, I saw the tricksters about 8 different times during my travels through the park, on Sat the 29th

[dth316]

Oh yeah, just walk to another restaurant, despite your plan at the moment or however far you are from one or if you're not already dead tired from walking around, because some idiot wants to come by and snatch your straw for some juvenile prank? THEN...... grab 2 or 3 straws for the sake of them being pulled out AGAIN? - _ - That's ANNOYING, no matter how you look at it. We can call it squared if the trickster hands me a piece of candy after.

[Dratsab]

Well now you have Knowledge for your next visit, Protect Yo $^&t... You see, When the straw is taken correctly... as in You do not know it was done. That moment when you go to Take a drink and your trying to find the straw with your mouth expecting it to be there and its not.... Its a Hilarious event to watch. Just because you dont find it amusing, there are 100's of guests that will Laugh their *** off. I drink from cups without straws all the time.... I remember nights where We would take the Maps from people and then give them a Map from the previous yr. It was our version of sending the guests looking for things that Didnt exist. (VIP maze) and now Knotts actually has one.