Ireland's Biggest Halloween Event
How they went from 6,000 to 25,000 bookings a year, without changing their infrastructure
6 Terrifying Haunts · 100 Acres of Fear. Deirdre Murtagh runs the largest Halloween attraction in Ireland from Causey Farm, in County Meath. This is the story of how her operation grew more than fourfold without hiring more box-office staff.
Start the story-
6,000 → 25,000
Bookings per year (2016 → 2025)
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+317 %
Growth over 9 years
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3,500 bookings
Within hours on launch day 2025
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9 years
As a TuriTop client
1 · The Context
An Irish farm that became a stage every October
CAusey Farm is a family-run farm in County Meath, half an hour north of Dublin. For eleven months of the year, it operates as an educational farm. Every October, its 100 acres are transformed into Farmaphobia: six horror attractions scattered throughout cornfields, an old slaughterhouse, a woodland, and several barns.
Deirdre Murtagh, owner and organizer, launched Farmaphobia in 2016 with a simple idea: to use the farm’s landscape to create a life-size Halloween experience. The public responded enthusiastically from the very first year. 6,000 bookings in its first season.
The problem arose quickly: bookings were managed by phone and in a spreadsheet. With an event that only takes place six weeks a year and for which demand is concentrated over three weekends, every minute of operation is critical. And all those minutes were being spent answering calls. In 2016, Farmaphobia migrated to the TuriTop booking system Looking for something specific: capacity by time slot and online sales via the visitor's mobile phone.
2 · The Catalog
Farmaphobia isn’t just one experience – there are six of them
Each attraction has its own setting, characters, staff, schedules, and capacity. The entire catalog is displayed to visitors at checkout, and the customer dashboard is used to manage the sale of any combination of tickets. This is the actual catalog for the 2025 season.
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MAZEThe Cornjuring
Maíz embrujado · Poseída
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OUTDOORHellfire High
Bosque · Criatura del Upside Down
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INDOORSlaughterhouse
Carnicería · Butcher
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OPEN AIRBobo's Carnival
Carnaval · Payasos
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DUNGEONThe Crypt
Cripta · Encapuchados
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INDOORZombie Morgue
Morgue · Zombies del staff
Actual set design from Farmaphobia 2025 · Images courtesy of the client.
3 · The Starting Point
Success was killing the operation
Between 2014 and 2016, Farmaphobia doubled its audience. On paper, that’s good news. In practice, however, two ongoing challenges were hindering growth the following year.
Manual Bookings
Each ticket was validated by hand. On busy nights, the line at the ticket booth became the real bottleneck—not the haunted houses themselves. Visitors arrived excited, waited twenty minutes, and began the experience feeling frustrated.
Unable to climb
Demand kept rising, but doubling the box office staff would have eaten into the margin that makes it possible to produce the set design. Farmaphobia needed to handle the peak without adding fixed costs—and without compromising the visitor experience.
Before TuriTop, we were struggling to keep up with demand. Now the system does the heavy lifting, and we can focus on creating bigger, scarier experiences for our guests.
Deirdre Murtagh Owner and Developer, Farmaphobia
4 · How They Solved It
Four decisions that made the difference
Deirdre and her team chose TuriTop in 2016, looking for something specific: an online booking engine with capacity control by time slot. There were no custom developments. These four features, activated from the dashboard in the first year, continue to be the backbone of the operation nine years later.
Venta de entradas automatizada
Thousands of bookings are processed each season without manual intervention. The widget processes payments, confirms bookings, and updates availability in real time.
Staggered time slots
Each group enters at a specific time, with a limited number of visitors allowed. The lines are distributed in a predictable manner rather than piling up at the ticket office.
Panel en tiempo real
Deirdre monitors sales, visitor traffic, and occupancy by attraction throughout the night, and assigns staff to each haunt as needed.
Experiencia de reserva fluida
The checkout process takes less than a minute. No friction, no cart abandonment. The fear stays inside—not on the website.
5 · Nine Years, Four Milestones
The path from 6,000 to 25,000
The milestones that shaped the business's evolution from its first season to the present.
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2016
Farmaphobia launches on TuriTop
6,000 bookings per year · previously managed by phone and spreadsheet.
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2019
Consolidated model
Time slots tested · weekend peaks absorbed without friction.
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2022
Post-pandemic scaling
Demand returns · the platform handles the peak without infrastructure changes.
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2025
25,000 bookings expected
3,500 sold within hours on launch day · +317% vs 2016.
TuriTop gave us the the confidence to dream big. We knew that no matter how many visitors we attracted, the system would handle it. It's been a real game-changer.
Deirdre Murtagh Owner and Developer, Farmaphobia
6 · Lessons Learned
What should someone who's thinking along those lines wear?
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Making a booking is an experience, not just a formality
When the checkout process is simple and transparent, visitors are already in the right frame of mind. The line at the ticket counter ruins entire evenings that the team can't make up for.
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Selling in batches means selling more, not less
Farmaphobia was concerned that the limited number of slots would leave some audience members out. The opposite happened: the predictable distribution made it possible to open up more time slots and accommodate a larger audience without changing the set design.
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A well-structured catalog increases the average order value
With all six attractions visible at the same checkout, most visitors purchase the combo pass. It's the difference between selling a single ticket and selling an entire night out.
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The peak is expected in January, not in October
Nine years using the same platform means that each season is optimized based on actual data from the previous one. The October 2025 operation was planned starting in November 2024.