Remember the days when you were excited standing in line at a haunted house with the anticipation of a good Halloween scare? Usually those haunted houses were quick to get through and after it was over and your 30 bucks were gone, you just didn’t feel like you got your moneys worth.
Well no more complaints thrill seekers! Haunted houses have come a long way since I was a kid and todays scare shows might be more than some you can even handle. With the evolution of special effects, great actors, computer generated situations and famous horror movies, the haunted house business is booming to say the least.
Most all of these haunted houses now make you sign a waver to enter and some are shows so long that you must provide a doctors slip stating you are not at risk of a heart attack. One company operating in California boasts that over 70% of the paying customers end up using the “safe word” to stop the nightmare and be lead directly out and away from the haunted house. Owners of these attractions state that many fights between husbands and wives have broken out in the parking lot due to the extreme psychological mind twister that these places have become.
One company in America is even staging VIP events where you try and spend the night in one of these places and so far only one single person has even made it six hours without tapping out. The mind is a very powerful thing and I can only imagine how many tricks are played on the brain during 6 hours to make you lose sanity.
Halloween and costumes in general are some of my favorite times of the year. While Halloween is mostly about children dressing up as their favorite super hero or Disney Character, it has now become big business for adults and adrenaline junkies alike. I think my days for wanting to be scared like this are over, I can’t even watch horror movies in my own house. I don’t need those images and thoughts in my mind, because once you see something....you can’t un-see it.
Happy Halloween Month Everyone!