Horror Hub: Smoky Mountain Terror 2026
Day One
Friday was the first day of the event, and before we arrived to the convention I treated my mom to lunch at Aubrey's. Once we were fed, it was off to the con!
Right away we ran into the amazing Madam Leota, she gave us a fortune and we later found her booth where she had some amazing handmade props!
I ran into a good friend of mine that has a booth at our local flea market that sells signed merchandise, so I got the scoop from him about where I needed to head first. He directed me to David Howard Thornton's line, and the line was super long but it moved really quickly. I didn't get a photo with David, but I did get his autograph for my horror scrapbook and that absolutely made my day. David and Jada were super nice, but I didn't talk for too long because the line was super long for him.
I kind of wandered around a bit and gave the celebrity meet and greet area a chance to die down. While I was out and about, I saw this beautiful art piece that was made from a bottle cap, a deer tooth, and a cicada wing. Naturally, in true weird girl fashion, it had to come home with me.
Once the meet and greet area had calmed down I circled back around and got Damien Leone's autograph as well. Damien was also super nice, and I really enjoyed getting to meet him! I look up to him a lot because he's literally living every indie artist's dream right now and he was super cool. I didn't get a photo with Damien either, simply because the autograph/photo packages were just out of my budget, but I'm happy to add his signature to my scrapbook.
I saw this really awesome Scooby-Doo themed booth, and honestly I could have stayed there all day but there was a lot to see!
We also met this amazing Art the Clown, who had a little gift for us (yikes!) I did not catch their username, so if anyone knows who this Art cosplayer is, please let me know so that I can properly credit them! I have not been able to find them tagged anywhere on other Smoky Mountain Terror posts.
The last meet and greet booth that I hit for day one was Ken Kirzinger who played Jason Voorhees in Freddy vs Jason. This one I was most excited for because I am a huge Jason fan. Freddy vs. Jason was actually my very first slasher movie, and Jason was the first horror character that I felt I really connected with. Ken was so down to earth, and it was really fun discussing the character that had basically become the symbol of my preteen/teen years. I actually did get a photo with him, he was offering a free photo with every autograph, and he was nice enough to let my mom join in, as this was her first horror convention.
With the meet and greets done, we ventured out to the panel room for a slashers panel with Nick Castle and Ken Kirzinger. I finally got an answer to a question that had been bugging me ever since I saw the first Halloween movie, which is how did Michael learn to drive? Well, according to Nick, we don't really know and it didn't make sense to have him driving around but maybe there was a driver's ed class at the Smith's Grove Sanitorium? There were a lot of fantastic questions asked at this panel, and it was super fun!
When the panel wrapped, I was allowed to attend my first ever movie premiere! Deathwoods will be hitting your screens on ScreamBox and Amazon Prime this upcoming Tuesday. This film is a modern take on 80s slasher films, and it was a really fun watch however I did have to leave the screening early because I got dizzy and it just wasn't a good idea to linger.
With day one going over so smoothly, I was super excited for day two, so let's get into it!
Day Two
Day two of the con was a bit interesting and it was somewhat miserable, because we got a much later start than usual. Part of what made day two so hard was the fact that I wore my work books and my work boots weigh about 9 pounds total they are super heavy factory grade boots. We had to walk over a mile to the event venue because there was no parking so by the time we got there we were exhausted. We also accidentally matched, I let my mom borrow my Friday the 13th shirt, I wore my hoodie, and when we picked my dad up for the event he had bought a shirt as well it was completely unplanned!
Despite being worn out from the hike to the convention center, I immediately went to hop in line to get an autograph from Nick Castle, who played Michael Meyers. Nick was amazing, and genuinely a really sweet guy (which seemed to be the theme for all of the actors, directors, and other celebrities that we met). The most important thing for me, though, was my dad getting to meet Nick. My dad is who introduced me to the slasher films, and Halloween has always been his favorite franchise, I bought his ticket to the event as a birthday/father's day gift and I am so excited he got to meet him.
We also got a photo op with Nick, which was a professional 8 by 10 photo, and the photo is amazing they were super nice and gave us 2 copies, Nick was obviously awesome, but the event staff was really rude to a degree that I have never seen at similar events and for no reason. This was something that had been going on throughout the entire event, to the point that even the celebrities in attendance were starting to say something about it.
With our photo op done, we had one more thing on our agenda for day two, which was to go to the Terrifier panel. I loved seeing the chemistry with the cast, you could really tell that they love their job, they love their fans, and they really enjoy what they do. It honestly felt more like hanging out with friends, which was really fun. Unfortunately, my hands were super shaky so I accidentally blurred the photo!
Day Three
For day three of the con, I decided to just really wander around and look at all of the booths. I also finally took a picture of this awesome Freddy Krueger car, which I still can't get over it was so detailed!
I also made little trading cards for Ken Kirzinger, Nick Castle, Damien Leone, and David Howard Thornton, however I foolishly did not take any photos of them! I really enjoyed passing them out though, and I hope they liked them. Damien Leone did say he liked my art style and y'all... after being told by art schools that my work was "unmarketable" and that I would have to change the way I do things to be more palatable, hearing one of my idols say that they liked my work just really made my entire day.
Closing
I had so much fun at Smoky Mountain Terror, I will definitely be going back next year and I really hope they have more people come to see us! The only thing I hope they change is maybe giving their event staff some training on professionalism, and also I hope they are a little more organized next year. Other than that, its a great con and I really feel like I got my ticket money's worth! I want to give a big thank you to all of the people that came out to see us, and of course 8LugCircus for hosting the event, it was so fun and it really made my creepy little heart happy. If you want to see more from me feel free to click the link below where you can find my other socials. Y’all take care, and thanks for stopping by!
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