I pull into Ky Special FX located in the South End of Louisville. Not quite a stones throw from Waverly Hospital but close enough. During our previous phone call, Owner of Ky Special FX, Mike Bisch recalled spending time as a teenager at the abandoned TB Hospital grounds. Probably because at that time the building was ominously in the background near his local neighborhood. “I always recall Waverly as just a peaceful place, I never felt threatened there.”

Things start a little astray when I find Mike coming out of his workshop garage. Apparently, he mistakes me for someone coming over regarding a Craig's List post for a large laser he produces. After a few minutes of confusion we are on track that I am from Night Mansion Magazine and he explains “Man, it's been a long, long week.”

“That's our master copy” Mike explains. The coffin has a weathered crate like appearance and is decorated with a steel cross. It has the air of something Dracula could have been crated into for his oversea voyage. The coffin is all natural wood that has been specially aged without using varnish or paints. “The last thing you want in your haunted house is the smell of fresh varnish or paint after you've busted your tail all season to open.”

Mike is no stranger to special effects. As he explains his dad worked in the business for a lengthy period of time. “Eventually I got an idea of what a broad field special effects actually is. A lot of people think it only has something to do only with Halloween, a lot of the stuff we do has more to do with theater.”

We sit down at the computer and he shows me a picture of the shop with props hanging everywhere. This image looks more like what I am accustomed to from a special effects company. “That's what we're going to start looking like next month.” He pulls up images of Customized coffins, half coffins, mangled doors, clothing, crank ghosts and customized animatronic props.

“My number one rule is that I want the animatronics to be upgradeable.” He explains that the boards he puts into the props can have new programs written for them to make the props react differently at a minimal cost. The boards can even be exchanged into various different props. “Every year someone wants to make a change, it's part of the entertainment business.” Quality is something he stresses many times during our conversation. “We're a young company, there are other companies out there that want to get a ten thousand dollar prop into your haunt and once it works one time...that's all they care about.”

Kentucky Special FX has a copyright on a fluorescent dye, a dye they use specifically for their crank ghost props. “There are fluorescent spray paints that some people use that is destroyed when it is hit by sunlight or ages. Ours are weather proof, I've got some that are like four or five years old that have been outside in the snow and every storm we've ever had and they held their color just perfect.”

The company has also worked with magicians before, Mike pulls up a few pictures of a coffin trick he created and seems especially proud of the intimacy of the illusion. The stage hands or grave robbers if you will, roll in a wooden coffin. After showing the audience all sides of the coffin, the body of a skeleton is revealed inside. Within seconds, a blast of CO2 obscures the front of the coffin and once it dissipates the magician has switched places with the skeleton you saw seconds before. The illusion took about six months to complete. “We went back to some early magic from the nineteen hundreds, the audience is literally sitting ten feet from the stage. It's pretty astounding to see in person.”

Mike built various static pieces for the Louisville Science Center including a mummy recreation display and a space suit. Other props include “the ark” from Indiana Jones and recreations of pieces from Resident Evil. “There's nothing that we don't make, if someone wants something we will make it.”

One of the cool custom props requested by a client was a customized 13th hour grandfather clock. This prop looks like something someone lifted from Disney's Haunted Mansion. In the daylight it resembles your standard clock, when triggered it transforms into a glowing clock possessed by an angry spirit. As the hands begin to spin around, a booming chime erupts while green LEDs add an additional glow. “It's got a sub woofer system in it that literally makes you feel each strike in your chest, you're not going to find a scarier clock.”

Despite the fact that Mike impresses me with their work and his technical expertise, I'm still wondering why few of us have heard of this innovative company before. Surely we should have seen them at the likes of Transworld, Hauntcon or the Haunt Show in St. Louis. “I've always felt that these shows really cater to more cash and carry items, a lot of the custom stuff doesn't do well enough to cover the expense.” But that doesn't mean that his company hasn't expanded into the home haunter markets. “We walked into MidWest and when we left our tent was empty.”

Dropping a tent load of stuff at a show like Midwest is very good business indeed.

Mike is active with Haunters for Hoosiers, an organization which assists women with breast cancer. Not only did his company contribute to the cause, he also juggled running both his booth and helping out on the Hoosiers booth at the Midwest Haunters Convention. “I was trying to run the business, my wife and I kept swapping places to check on the other booth and by the time we got home we were zombies.”

Like a mad scientist who never gets to truly see his creations live in a meaningful way, he seems eager to get his work in front of a local audience where he can truly experience their reactions. “That's the funniest thing about all of this, in the past four years we have not done anything at any of the immediate local haunts, I want a season to scare the hell out of people.” I think we're going to see a lot of Kentucky Special FX's work in the local area. Like his 13th hour clock, Mike seems possessed by his business. “I want to do things right because when someone receives a completed piece, I want them to be happy with it.”

Mike Bisch can be contacted at:Kentucky Special FX 502-836-1674 or visit Kentucky Special FX