The Long, Dark Mini-Golf Course of the Soul

Behold! The Twisted Minds Behind Haunted Manor…If You Dare!

We’re artists over entrepreneurs.  

That’s the collective voice of Derek Lovell and Jeff Roberts, owner/founders of Haunted Manor: Mini-Golf and Ping-Pong Lounge.

We create immersive experiences for people to enjoy.

You might be familiar with their previous endeavor: Horror Escape. It’s that place where you get locked in a dark, elaborately decorated movie-set with a bunch of people who must cooperate to solve a series of puzzles and riddles–and ultimately free themselves from an eternity of darkness. But should you fail…the lights will come on and someone will let you out.

Derek and Jeff sold that business a couple of years ago. 

The business was profitable. Everything was fine. But it had been five years. We always tried to do new stuff creatively within the business, but the challenge was gone. We got so comfortable for so long…it became uncomfortable.

It should have been a celebratory time, but instead it raised some deep, unexpected questions.

We were juggling a lot of ‘life’ stuff. Then we got some momentum on this next project, and boom—the pandemic hit. We had to put it on hold. So now we were stuck. Very limited in terms of creative output. It brought up a lot of questions: What’s my worth without my ability to be expressive? What’s my worth without income? Without running something? There was no more validation from the outside world. Our focus turned inwards. It was our long, dark night of the soul. Except it lasted about two years.

And then out came a nightmarish combination of macabre mansions and children’s pastimes…What the heck, guys?

The Disney experience is a great inspiration for us—it’s always guided by story. That really resonates with us. We’re also both really drawn towards ‘dark’ themes in art—there’s just a sense of curiosity there. Not in our home life at all, but creatively—there’s an innate, shared interest. It’s really just one element of our psyche. One manifestation.  

Ok, so it’s not all that bleak. Haunted Manor is more Tim Burton-esque than Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It’s about intrigue, and playful spookiness, rather than striking actual fear and terror into the hearts of innocent children. 

We needed to appeal to our own [early-30’s] demographic, and to university students, and still be family friendly. So we chose something fun and thrilling, that wouldn’t turn away young families. 

It also taps into a void in the Victorian recreational landscape: on a wintry day in one of Canada’s most rain-soaked cities, there just isn’t that much to do.  

There’s such a major gap in indoor entertainment in Victoria. Even with our second attraction, we’re still turning people away on the weekends. And a lot of them have already tried getting into other places. 

Haunted Manor’s location on Yates near Douglas is what Derek and Jeff are envisioning as a future ‘entertainment district’. Nestled right in amongst the Interactivity Board Game Café and downtown cinema complexes, they might just be right. So how will Haunted Manor evolve with time?

We’re still just gathering data. What are people looking for when they come here? What’s working, what’s not? We’re just looking for more ways to serve people. And there’s also our own need to keep moving forward. We need to keep expressing ourselves creatively, so the space will change and update consistently. But we don’t want to push towards a singular, rigid vision for the future. Things work out better when you don’t.

Haunted Manor: Monday to Friday 3pm-11pm, Saturday & Sunday 12noon-11pm

info@hauntedmanorvictoria.com