Frequently Asked Questions

• Why "Spoooky" with three "O"s?

  Because spooky.biz was super expensive, and three "O"s is fun! But if want to make a contribution toward the purchase of spooky.biz, let us know!

• What are the requirements for a business to be considered?

  • The spot is a permanent business/location—not a pop-up or a limited time-event. It can be seasonal as long as long as it has a permanent, fixed location.
  • The spot is not a haunted house attraction. There are other good directories for those. (see the next question)
  • The spot is not simply a location reported to be haunted. It must also offer some other goods or services (merch, food/drinks, memorabilia)
  • It's not a Spirit Halloween, or other large chain. This is really intended for small businesses. It's okay if they have multiple locations, as long as it's not a franchise.
• Why only businesses, and not haunted places, etc?

  There are already plenty of directories for haunted places (like, reportedtly haunted buildings, etc), as well as for haunted attractions. If that's what you're looking for, check out the following:

  • Frightmaps
  • HauntedUS.com
  • HauntedWorld.com
  • Haunted Places Around the World: Dots on Maps
  • Haunts.com
  • The Scare Factor
• What qualifies as "spooky"?

  Yeah, sometimes it's not obvious. I just try to make a judgement on whether a significant portion of the business is themed or selling things that are clearly in the realm of spooky. So maybe it's a collectibles shop that doesn't exclusively sell horror collectibles, but it's still got enough to make a horror fan want to check out—I'll count that, for example.

• Was this site made by A.I.?

  No. I'm a professional web developer, and while I do use some A.I.-assisted coding tools, I built this site myself (with Astro and Google Sheets, if you're curious), and I personally hand-entered and manually verified all of the data for each business in the directory. It wasn't prompted into existence, or vibe coded. Long live the human internet!

• Why isn't my business, or business I'm a fan of listed?

  I may just not know about it yet—please go fill out the submission form, and if it's a good fit, I'll add it!

  If you've done that and it's still not listed, here's a few reasons it may not have been included:

  • It didn't meet the criteria outlined in the submission form
  • It just didn't feel quite spooky enough
  • It didn't meet our ethical standards. The niche of 'oddities' definitely has some overlap with what I list, but if the business showcases items that I would consider to be exploitative, or in bad taste, I'm not gonna list it. (example: real human remains, etc)
  • The business owner is known to be a bigot, fascist, or some other kind of shitty person.

  If you think I've made a mistake, please let me know.

• Can I pay to have my business listed first?

  Nah. At least not at this moment. Part of the reason I started this project was because some alternatives were inundated with ads and paid listings. I'm not saying I'll never do it, but I'd need to find a way to do it that doesn't feel annoying. Let me know if you have any ideas!

• How can I support Spoooky.biz?

  Aww, thanks—that's so sweet of you!

  I hope to have some merch in the future, but for now you can support us in the following ways:

  • Sharing the site with all of your spooky friends and family
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Submitting a business to the directory if you know of one that's not listed
  • Report corrections or updates to businesses in the directory—each listing has a link to report a change
  • Opening up your dream spooky business! More spooky businesses is good for my business!
  • Leave us a tip on our Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/spoookybiz
• Who's behind this?

  

  Me—Hi! I'm Matt Soria. I'm a photographer and web developer, and a huge fan of all things Horror, Halloween, and spooky! I have too many favorite horror movies to list here, but I have a whole website dedicated to my horror movie-watching habits at halloween.mattsoria.com if you're interested. I also run a Dead Meat Kill Count fan site call The Numbers.