Like a lot of people, Dwayne Sanburn was a teenager when he first visited a haunted house. But unlike most teens, Sanburn didn’t just want to take another pass through the attraction as soon as he hit the exit—he wanted to create and operate his own.
“I eat, sleep and breathe Halloween,” he tells Business Report in its new Entrepreneur feature.
Sanburn spent a decade pursuing a career in nursing—his second love—and perfecting his business plan before opening The 13th Gate in downtown Baton Rouge in 2002.
During his nursing days, he ran a haunted house in Alexandria in his free time. Then in 1998, he expanded to Baton Rouge by working with the Louisiana 4-H Club to operate large, portable haunted houses at LSU.
By 2001, Sanburn felt the market could support a permanent attraction. A year later, he opened The 13th Gate on St. Phillip Street. The haunted house has evolved and expanded through the years to include new attractions like the adjacent Necropolis 13 New Orleans-cemetery.
Sanburn’s unsurpassed dedication to his craft is evidenced by the accolades that continue to pile up for The 13th Gate. Over the past 15 years, the attractions has been ranked as the No. 1 haunted house in the country three times by industry trade publications and consistently ranked among the top 10 over the past decade.
“I can tell you right away that the reason we have been so successful is the people who’ve been working for me are very dedicated to this place,” he says.
Read the full Entrepreneur feature. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
