E110 SCARY STORIES

            Nicolas plops down his $13 on the counter and enters the haunted house. A bunch of crazy teenagers are running around screaming, crying, laughing. Blood boiling, and body sweating, he takes his first steps further into the house. A zombie jumps out and starts chasing his with a chainsaw. The zombie leaves and the room is dark. All that is heard is the changeling fence, and the evil laughter of the, so-called, zombies.

 

            Each year, thousands of terrified people voluntarily walk through these haunted houses, corn mazes, and other attractions. Before entering, they have a pretty good sense of what is about to come, what they are going to experience, and what they are going to feel.  So why do these people put themselves through these moments of terror for fun? Is being scared fun?

 

            I conducted an interview with Nicholas Sabatini: An 18 year old, freshmen in college, thrill seeker that loves walking through these haunted attractions. When Nick was asked what he attributed his interest in haunted attraction to, he responded, “I attribute my interest to the social aspect of it all. I started going to them because one day my friends asked if I wanted to go with them. Although I was very nervous when they asked me, I wasn’t going to chicken out and not go with them so I went. I found that although these attractions were obviously scary, I enjoyed them and was also able to laugh at the reactions of my friends”.

 

Some people go to these haunted attractions because they “are always looking for something new and exciting to do”. These places tend to the needs and wants of these thrill seekers to spice up their everyday life. The people who like these tours the most don’t necessarily find it scary. It is “more adrenalin pumping then actually very scary. I get more of a thrill out of it than anything else. If you try and look at the scary things as being funny, then it isn't so bad. It is also hilarious watching my friend’s reactions when someone in costume jumps out at us or starts chasing us”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            “Who doesn’t get at least a little scared when something pops out at you out of nowhere? Having someone chase you, even if you know who it is, has a scary aspect about it”, said Nick.  Although walking through this haunted attraction is indeed scary, these people know how to laugh it off and are not scared for a “prolonged period of time”. Now one is not to say that fun is in just being frightened. Most people will argue that they only put themselves through the initial feeling of terror for “the social experience”. When asked to expand on that, Nick replied, “I feed off their fear and they feed off of mine. It is nice to share the moment with other people who are experiencing the same thing. I find their fearful reactions quite entertaining. After we are done and on your journey home, he get to talk about what we experienced and laugh at everyone’s reactions”.

 

            The zombies, the chainsaws, the clowns can come back and haunted people in their nightmares. Their brain “replays some of the things that scared them the most”. They all occur during REM sleep when the brain in most active. It can be caused by stress, traumas, medications and more. Our bodies relive the “trauma” of the anxiety instilled within us with the anticipation of something popping out at us as we walk through the haunted houses, corn mazes, and obstacles. Many people have a differing opinion about the age that a child could handle such fear instilled during a haunted tour. Many businesses in the haunted attraction industry say the recommended age is 12. Others say it is all up to parent about their child’s ability and mental state. In my opinion 12 is way too young because kids have not been exposed to many frightening things at this age.

 

            People find being scared very appealing. As Nicholas expounded, “In regular life you are not frightened that much so it is interesting and exciting to experience something frightening and something different than your everyday life. It is fun talking about what was scary for you and what wasn’t to the people you are with. It is a contrast with the typical things we all do in a day”.

 

            What does this say about our culture? People may argue that people need this extra excitement because our everyday life is getting boring. Our culture and society are not offering us unique and different experience on a regular basis. Many people are head deep in work and school that they don’t have time explore and escape this little office they call their work place. Going to these haunted attractions gives people, in the short three hours of the night spent there, enough of a sense of “I just did something other than work and school”.

 

            There are certain tactics people use to help them get through these haunted walking tours and attractions. The workers dressed up “prey on the person in the group that outwardly show their fear”. This is usually the person that is hiding their eyes or clinging onto one of their friends for dear life. Thrill seekers look to make themselves seem like the “bigger, not scared, too good for this” type person. By doing this, it may actually aid in the process of not being scared. By looking at the zombies and clowns as just people in costume, tourists can walk through with less of a sense of fear.

 

            The haunted attraction industry is increasing. More people are being lured into the haunted scene. As David Weiss stated in an article about his own experiences, “It felt strangely liberating to leave the comfort zone, controlled as the conditions were. The fear we experience in that time give us a rush, and makes you feel more alive.” (Weiss). When people make it all the way through one of these haunted attractions, they feel a sense of satisfaction. Although everyone knows that nothing about these haunted attractions are real, they get a sense that they defeated the ghosts and zombies. “"It's not that they truly enjoy being scared," says Sparks, professor of communication at Purdue University. "But they get great satisfaction being able to say that they conquered and mastered something that was threatening. They enjoy the feeling that they 'made it through.”’ (WebMD).

 

            The haunted attraction industry has grown to be a $300 million dollar industry. There are approximately 2500 world-wide with the majority of them being located in the United States. The average haunted attraction averages roughly 8000 paid guests. This industry has gotten so large that the Haunted Attraction Association was created. This association is the voice of all things that happen in this industry. It is a place where member can share ideas, and experiences through networking events, newsletters, magazines and more.

 

            Contrary to these thrill seekers, there are many people who wouldn’t dare step foot into one of these attractions. They find no appeal in being scared. To them, the feeling of fear and terror only causes a hinderance and discrepancy in their lives rather than a source of entertainment and fun. Eliza Osborne, an 18 year old, freshmen in college, “chicken” who has a fear of  things popping out of nowhere shows the other side of the haunted attraction industry.

            Eliza went to “a haunted house in Wildwood New Jersey and it was the worst experience of my life”. For her, the idea of “screaming,crying and clinging onto friends as hard as possible for the entire time” was a horrible night out with friends. Many people fear  the dark and strongly dislike “the anticipation of knowing that someone was going to jump out and scream at any moment”. “Some of them would even touch me so no matter how hard I tried hiding, I couldn't escape everything that was scaring me,” Eliza illustrated.

 

            These people are often looked at as “scaredy cats”. But as Eliza went on to tell me, “I don’t need to be scared to be social. I would never go back to any haunted attraction like that. If my friends ask me to go I will kindly say no to the offer and meet up with them after it. I hate being scared and don’t find any appeal to it”.

 

            Haunted attractions are just a quick temporary scare. People have another type of eagerness to surround themselves with something scary. People will go as far as to buy haunted house to live in. “62 percent of americans would consider buying a haunted home”, according to The Blog (Piper). These people like to tell others the story of who died in their house or what ghostly activity occurs there. It gives them a sense of empowerment that they can live among the spirits and still be ok. While other people would be scared away from living in these types of places, these people get a constant adrenaline rush from it.

 

            For the extreme adrenaline junkies when it comes to fear, a new company in New York, called Extreme Kidnapping, formed that stages kidnapping. “For a rather hefty price tag (ranging from $1,500 to $4,000), a newly formed business in New York will arrange to have you abducted, tied up, gagged, and kept confined for hours or days to instill as much fear in you as possible. The specific twists and turns of your own kidnapping can be customized depending on your own preferences and idiosyncrasies for personal terror” (WebMD). Extreme Kidnapping has a pre-interview where they find out everyone’s specific fears and plays to them during this customized kidnapping.

 

            The fear is in the eyes of the beholder. There can be a fun side to scary. The reactions, the heart pumpings, the screams, and the thrill excite people. They will do whatever they can to instill this sense of fear in themselves. It gives them a little excitement in their lives because it contrasts drastically with their everyday life. Not everyone is scared of the same things.

 

            “This is really freaking me out”, ”AHHHHHH”, “I am definitely going to die in here”, “OH MY GOD”, “I’m so scared”, “get me out of here”, “Get away from me!”

 

 

Works Cited

"Why Do Thrill Seekers Love Being Scared?" WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 15 Nov.

2015.

Weiss, David. "The Lure of Haunted Houses." Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 15

Nov. 2015.

"Piper, Leslie. "62 Percent of Americans Would Consider Buying a Haunted Home

 [INFOGRAPHIC]." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 15

Nov. 2015.

Sabatini, Nicolas. personal interview. 11 November 2015

 

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