Issue Date: October 21, 2007

In this article: Top 10 haunted attractions in the U.S.

Halloween!

The New BOO!

Haunters use high-tech methods to terrify their patrons -- but keep some old-school scares, too.

By Brian Truitt

To our credit -- and much to the chagrin of those in the things-that-go-bump-in-the-night business -- scare tactics along the lines of Orson Welles' Halloween "War of the Worlds" radio prank just don't work anymore. The gore-filled horror movies released seemingly every other week and an excess of screen violence have desensitized Americans so much that it's difficult to frighten people these days. But that hasn't stopped the haunted attraction industry. Next to Christmas, Halloween is the second-largest commercial holiday in the United States, and according to Hauntworld magazine, there are more than 4,500 haunted attractions in the country. It's big business, too, taking in up to $500 million a year in ticket sales.

"If I can make you jump back and hit the floor, I've done my job." -Ed Terebus

Obviously, people are dying to be scared. So to get that football player to hide behind his girlfriend, or to freak out a group of guys so badly that they leave their grandma behind, "haunters" use advanced technology and some tweaked older techniques. "That's the most fun you can have: scaring people," says Tim Gavinski, president of the International Association of Haunted Attractions and a former "home haunter" who runs two haunted houses in Wisconsin. "This industry is so high-tech, and it's because that's what the consumer is expecting."

Arguably the biggest of all the season's events, Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida uses innovative content and technology to heighten the spooks for all eight haunted houses -- from audio triggers to special effects to enhanced lighting. This year, horror movie icons Leatherface, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees each gets his own house in the park.

"The computer is a great tool," says Jim Timon, senior vice president of entertainment for the amusement park, "but you can never scare the living daylights out of somebody using a computer simulation. You've got to really get in a space and bring Freddy Krueger out of a wall and terrify someone."

At Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, the amusement park has outfitted its "vampires" with magnets on their hands and legs, allowing the creepy creatures to climb on walls and around unsuspecting guests during its HalloWeekends. Companies like Distortions Unlimited also are responsible for some of the fear factor, coming up with truly gruesome toys for haunted houses. Among them: "The Electric Chair," in which an exquisitely detailed latex body is strapped to an electric chair and thrown around viciously as a fog machine and sounds of electric current add eerie ambience.

Sometimes, computer animation or technology is used simply as a distraction while a haunter instead scares with a lower-tech item, such as a rubber spider. At The Darkness in St. Louis, Larry Kirchner has shrunk the size of its theme rooms to make visitors feel claustrophobic and uses old standbys such as freaks with chain saws. ("In the haunted house business, that's No. 1: People are afraid of chain saws," he says.) And in Pontiac, Mich., at Erebus -- Guinness record-holder for the world's largest walk-through haunted house -- owners Ed and Jim Terebus have been catapulting a corpse they affectionately call "Uncle Freddy" at crowds for more than 15 years now.

"We have things that grab you, bite you, land on top of you. I'm gonna put you in a room, slam the door, dump 10,000 balls on your head and bury you alive," Ed Terebus says. "If I can make you jump back and hit the floor, I've done my job." What's the ultimate scare? Getting you so unnerved in advance that you don't even want to go inside. Just take note of the "chicken exit." You may need it.