The Appeal of a Haunted House

Roaring chainsaws search for you, clowns bearing an eerie smile glare into your eyes, and the dead stroll right along side you:
Welcome to the Haunted House.

It begins on the line, before you enter.

Blood-curdling screams echo from the mansion walls, as patrons wait in wonder for what lies behind that black wooden door.

They’re here for the thrill, and will spend upwards of $50 to get it.

It’s like living through your favorite horror movie step by step, scene by gruesome scene.

Christ Zanin is the casting manager of Kevin McCurley’s Haunted Mansion in Poughkeepsie, New York. He likes to prep his actors before showtime:

"I want blood guts and gore, and I want a whole lot
more. You are all possessed by Satan himself."

A mass-murderer that can’t control his compulsion to kill, slices up his victims right in front of you, while fake blood squirts from his wounds.

He barrels with laughter as you run away terrified, into the next scene.

What makes this macabre experience so alluring?

Patrons say it’s a way of dealing with death and their own mortality. Psychologists think it’s also a release of aggression through socially acceptable behavior.

Dr. John Hogan, a St. Johns University Professor of Psychology thinks that it's a "way to express these emotions in an artificial and fictitious environment."

According to Eric Minton, in his article for Psychology Today, this type of environment is all about playing on your fears.

The creators of the Haunted Houses, he says, "are masters at exploiting our fear of dying, especially in a gruesome manner."

The scare, according to the article, is based on two main elements: there's something there and it does something that you don't expect it to, or nothing's there and it appears, and it's the adrenaline that results from either experience that people are seeking.

According to a New York Times article titled, "The Thrill of Being Scared Keeps Fright Industry Going" other psychologists agree there's a "rush people get facing fear", and one of the top ranked fears among human beings is death;
the main element of the Haunted House.