Halloween Time: Do you like haunted houses?

[TurtleWA]

I've been to a few over the years. All different quality and style. Your thoughts?

[IndigoErth]

I love Halloween and all that spooky stuff... but I'm not fond of those haunted house attractions. Love them in their existence, but not being made to go in them. If I was more comfortable with the public like that, I'd rather be on the side that's doing the haunting and decorating of it. (I used to do up our front yard for Halloween. I'd always kind of wanted to make a walk through in our back yard...)


Honestly, I'd rather do a ghost tour of a supposed hunted place.

[Powder]

I lived in one, so, hell nah.

[Optimus Primer]

They're awesome!

[ProphetofGanja]

I'd rather watch a Discovery Channel show about haunted houses than go to an actual haunted house. The last time I went to one when I was a kid I realized "this is lame as hell"

I do love Halloween though, I'm just not into the jump-scare scene of haunted houses

[Prowler]

By haunted houses do you mean thematic haunted houses you see at carnivals and amusement parks or do you mean old houses that give a creepy vibe?

[TurtleWA]

Originally Posted by Prowler

By haunted houses do you mean thematic haunted houses you see at carnivals and amusement parks or do you mean old houses that give a creepy vibe?

I was thinking something like these. But it doesn't matter if you choose to comment on the old houses that creep you out. I'll go with the flow.

[Prowler]

Well the ones in amusement parks and carnivals hire actors, so I don't care about them. As for "real" ones... well ghosts don't exist, so I don't believe in haunted houses. Some houses are noisy at night, but that's not due to paranormal activity.

[IndigoErth]

Now... Disney's Hunted Mansion is not quite the same as the typical Halloween attractions, I love the Disney ride. It's more fun than anything.


I haven't been to too many of those haunted house things, maybe just three or so? But the best known one I've been to is the attraction they do at Eastern State Penitentiary in PA.



Now that place IS supposed to be legit haunted - or so they say - so that's kind of doing both at once, I guess? Though I'd still rather do a ghost tour than the Halloween thing again. Plus, it would get a better/real look around.



Someday I want to do the tour at our Fort Delaware. Having gone with a friend to the meet and greet Jason and Grant from Syfy's Ghost Hunters did prior to it, and then we ended up seeing them and the rest of their bunch leave on the little ferry boat to go over there afterwards... I was rather envious that I couldn't go too. lol (Although having quietly stuck around we ended up meeting Josh Gates too, since he was hosing the live Halloween show they were doing there and was the last to get his butt off the bus and to the ferry.)

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Originally Posted by TurtleWA

I've been to a few over the years. All different quality and style. Your thoughts?

I have been to several of the themed "haunted houses" over the years, including a famous one called Verdun Manor in the town of Forney. (Incidentally it is owned by Disney.) Verdun is very big and elaborate with some really cool special effects. I have also been in several REAL haunted locations as well. One is a sort of visceral pleasure at being scared; the other can (and sometimes does) involve real danger. I've been legitimately attacked by SOMETHING in a location that was known to be haunted. I've also seen and heard things that simply can't be explained.

Originally Posted by Prowler

Well the ones in amusement parks and carnivals hire actors, so I don't care about them. As for "real" ones... well ghosts don't exist, so I don't believe in haunted houses. Some houses are noisy at night, but that's not due to paranormal activity.

The themed ones in carnivals and such can be a lot of fun- on either end of the equation. I volunteered to work one that was for a local charity one year(as a fortunetelling witch) and had fun scaring the patrons. They seemed to enjoy it too, and a few even squealed or backed away.

Ghosts don't exist..... I guess the pizza spatula that flew across the room right next to me after I expressed doubts about a particular nonexistant ghost's presence just flung itself sideways off the table forcefully on its own. Good to know..... Not the only time I've encountered such incidents either. If they don't exist they are doing a darn good job of pretending to!

[Wildcat]

I don't like the mazes, walkthroughs or whatever you wanna call them because they're usually just people screaming at you with flashing lights everywhere. To me that's just dumb even though the costumes and such can be good.

Disney's Haunted Mansion is awesome of course.

As for real haunted places I totally believe in ghosts and the supernatural. Too many weird things happen for all just to be a coincidence or misinterpretations.

I seriously believe the house we lived in 10 years ago was haunted. So many unexplainable noises.

[BubblyShell22]

I love the Haunted Mansion as that was always a fun little ride though I'm not a fan of the other haunted houses and will never go in one.

[TurtleWA]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

I love Halloween and all that spooky stuff... but I'm not fond of those haunted house attractions. Love them in their existence, but not being made to go in them. If I was more comfortable with the public like that, I'd rather be on the side that's doing the haunting and decorating of it. (I used to do up our front yard for Halloween. I'd always kind of wanted to make a walk through in our back yard...)


Honestly, I'd rather do a ghost tour of a supposed hunted place.

Yeah the haunting setup would be to die for. I think the morbid creative aspects would be a blast to work with. Abandoned hospitals and prisons would be very exciting to explore. Count me in.

Originally Posted by Powder

I lived in one, so, hell nah.

Any idea what was haunting it?

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

I have been to several of the themed "haunted houses" over the years, including a famous one called Verdun Manor in the town of Forney. (Incidentally it is owned by Disney.) Verdun is very big and elaborate with some really cool special effects. I have also been in several REAL haunted locations as well. One is a sort of visceral pleasure at being scared; the other can (and sometimes does) involve real danger. I've been legitimately attacked by SOMETHING in a location that was known to be haunted. I've also seen and heard things that simply can't be explained.

How did you get attacked? If you don't mind sharing about it.

Originally Posted by Wildcat

I don't like the mazes, walkthroughs or whatever you wanna call them because they're usually just people screaming at you with flashing lights everywhere. To me that's just dumb even though the costumes and such can be good.

I think to have a worthy experience it needs to be well done. Screaming and flashlights are kinda lame.

[DarkFell]

I've worked for two haunted houses; one that was open during the Halloween season, another that is open year-round. (The other haunted house closed down after Halloween in 2012 or 2013. I forgot which year.)

They were Nightmare on Grayson and Ripley's Haunted Adventure.

Supposedly, both attractions were/are actually haunted. One of them is located downtown which has an infamous mission and two hotels (one of them was a hospital at one time), and all three of those are said to be haunted as well.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Two seperate attacks (same day and same location but different spots); one I was physically PUSHED down a flight of stairs at an apartment complex built next to a burned down "mansion" that was once a children's home and a mental institution at different times, by an invisible "hand" on my back. Was not hurt fortunately but it was frightening none the less.

The other incident- same day and complex but a different building- I was walking from one building to the next (I was there to hang flyers on doors for our pizza delivery place) and the cover for a fire extinguisher box was ripped of its hinges (and lock) and thrown off a balcony at me. It only missed hitting me because I stopped when I heard the sound and looked up. It missed me by inches and hit the ground and shattered right in front of me. This was actually the first attack. The other one came several minutes later- and closer to the haunted place.

I refused to go back to hang flyers there after that. Would go anywhere else, and had no problems with the spook inhabiting the store itself (the pizza spatula incident I mentioned previously- he had a strange sense of humor for a ghost lol) but SOMETHING did not want me in or near that burned place!

[Utrommaniac]

I volunteered at a Haunted House only once. It wasn't very exciting. I had to hide behind a wall and thump it.

Naturally I was told to not do anything if any kids were really really scared, as was the case with one. I still wish I had taken off my hood and went out to tell him that everything was okay.

Afterwards I went through with some girls my age who were nervous to do it, and felt better when I said I volunteered.

[DarkFell]

I will admit that the scare tactic mentality hung around with me after I 'retired' from the haunted attraction biz. Helping my folks with the trick-or-treaters resulted in being told to stop scaring the kids a few times. I did get some teenagers a few times; most of them were friggin' lazy and came right up to our doorstep ... no costume on but they brought a pillow case for candy.

Now I wind up scaring kids without even trying anymore. The bad part is it is actually the parents that would tell their little three-year-old to walk up and they would often say "Go on honey.. say trick-or-treat."

Let's just say that the kids would just look up at me and most of the time, they won't even say a single word.
And I don't wear any gory facial props, just a bad make-up job on account of being near-sighted. :B

[BubblyShell22]

Wow, Duckie, that would definitely freak me out!

[The Deadman]

I used to go to the haunted house attractions up in PA all the time a few years ago. Some were good, like Field of Screams, and some just...werent.

[blindturtle02]

Originally Posted by DarkFell

I will admit that the scare tactic mentality hung around with me after I 'retired' from the haunted attraction biz. Helping my folks with the trick-or-treaters resulted in being told to stop scaring the kids a few times. I did get some teenagers a few times; most of them were friggin' lazy and came right up to our doorstep ... no costume on but they brought a pillow case for candy.

Now I wind up scaring kids without even trying anymore. The bad part is it is actually the parents that would tell their little three-year-old to walk up and they would often say "Go on honey.. say trick-or-treat."

Let's just say that the kids would just look up at me and most of the time, they won't even say a single word.
And I don't wear any gory facial props, just a bad make-up job on account of being near-sighted. :B

Yeah I think I'd prefer scaring rather than being scared. I mean, the only thing I'd have to look forward to would be the jumpscares if I randomly decided to enter a haunted house anyway. Too many people screaming to describe anything, so I'm usually standing around in the midst of all the screaming saying things like,"Who was that again?! He was wearing a what now?! Blood dripping from what?! Oh well, uh, aaaaah, I guess!" I'd be more interested in the layout of the place, the various costumes, and all that. Sounds like it'd be a lot of fun to set that stuff up.