Claire Dunlap and David Markland grew up at opposite ends of the country. The co-founders of Midsummer Scream, and L.A. haunt community movers and shakers had Halloween experiences that were starkly different.
Claire remembers trick or treating in a sub-tropical October in Hawaii. David’s parents had to drive him house to house in a chilly rural Connecticut. But years later, they met in L.A. and they, and really the entire haunt community, is much happier for it.
“I’ve always had a love of Halloween since I was little. One of the earliest pictures I have is me dressed up as a witch,” Claire says. “I made sure I had a good costume and Halloween was my first party out of college.”
But she was not exactly the Goth chic or fan girl at the party. “I have never been a fan of horror per se,” she says, preferring “more traditional Halloween, with leaves and trees and a harvest moon and owls and creepy noises. Not gore. My favorite is the mood. What is beyond and outside and mystical and magical and things we don’t know about.”
Claire had to develop a taste for the macabre over time.
“Some of my earliest memories was my stepdad scaring the crap out of me,” she says. Claire grew up with movies like The Exorcist and Night of the Living Dead. “I didn’t enjoy being scared, but as I progressed, I did begin to enjoy the ghost story. The deeper mystery. My stepdad got me into reading Stephen King. I used to be terrified, and now I use it to go to sleep.”
David grew up reading magazines like Starlog and Fangoria and says, like Claire, “I’ve always loved ghost stories. When I moved from Toledo, Ohio to Connecticut, it was woodsy and I wasn’t outdoorsy, but then I read the book Michelle Remembers during the Satanic panic [of the 1980s] and I was obsessed with finding [Satanists] in our town.”
Claire returned to Los Angeles after years away and David moved to LA in his 20s and got into writing, eventually creating the creepyla.com site. The first time they met was through mutual friends at the now-defunct Melrose Avenue rock club, The Gig.
“I didn’t realize they were trying to get us to meet,” she says. “We saw a friend’s band, got introduced and started chatting. We didn’t exchange numbers.” A little later they bumped into each other again at a Hollywood club, Goldfinger, “which I found out later wasn’t coincidental.”
But despite the outside forces, she was not convinced.
“I thought he was kind of annoying,” she says. “I thought he was cute, but we had an interchange at the beginning of the internet. It was three months before we went on a date. His dear friend called me and asked me if I would be willing to go on a date with him and I said ‘yeah, if he calls me.’”
When they finally did go on a date, David had a test to see if they were really compatible. He took her to the cheesiest place he could think of: Universal CityWalk.
“I didn’t date much. Probably because I was a schmuck,” David says. “We were getting along really well. We liked the same bands. It came up she liked Halloween and I didn’t say anything. I thought it was too random.”
Claire remembers the moment too. “He got really quiet. And I thought, ‘Oh, this is done.’”
But the date didn’t crash and burn, and eventually they merged their Halloween parties. Claire’s were pumpkin carving parties and became quite the production. David says it was just an excuse to get together. “I had no interest in being part of events.”
Nevertheless, David created the vendor-driven Scare LA in 2013. Claire liked his creativity and resourcefulness and she helped out. They weren’t officially partnering on the event, but worked well together. Then they co-created Midsummer Scream in 2016, one of the two largest haunt community events every year.
“I remember telling him I wish there was something we could do together,” she says. “It was organic, but we have skill sets that balance each other. It’s been a learning experience and rewarding. He’s a creative mastermind. I pay the bills. He’s really good at the social media the tech stuff, and I’m good at encouraging our staff. I’m more the detail-oriented things and trouble shooter.”
David says “both of us are fairly fearless. It’s a business, so if we have to do something that isn’t fun we’ll just do it. she’s quicker to jump in and do something if it’s important. It’s a good match. Claire jumped in at the beginning to do things I didn’t know how to do. We both have to tell each other to put down our laptops on some nights. We talk about it We’re good sounding boards on stuff. We don’t always agree, but we trust each other.”
But they’ve given up some of the speed — and cost — of Los Angeles for some Southern . At least a bit. They still actively produce events for L.A.
“We couldn’t buy a house in L.A., so we bought one in Savannah,” David says. “It’s supposedly the most haunted city. It has spooky vibes, and it feels more ‘haunted mansion’ than New Orleans. We wanted something Victorian. It’s over 100-years old.”
Together, David says “Halloween has becomes our lives.”
Claire agrees. “It’s a bond. It’s effortless between us. Our tastes adjust, but it works out great.
We have met so many of our friends because of this community, and it’s that community of understanding, because we like to wear black,” she says. “It’s not deranged.”