JENN McKINLAY: I remember my first haunted house. It was put on by the boy scouts in our small northwestern Connecticut town. There was a lot of giggling and slimy stuff and jump scares. It was the length of the stage in the school cafeteria/gym but it felt like a mile to my seven-year-old self.
Full disclosure: I was the kid who could never let a hand or foot be uncovered by my protective blanket lest the monsters that roamed my room at night grab me.
Needless to say, after one jump scare to many, I grabbed my mom's hand and death gripped it all the way through the exit where I turned to her in relief only to discover she was not my mom. Not a monster but not my mom. I was teased mercilessly about that for years.
When the Hooligans went through their first haunted house, oldest was fearless. Nothing scared him. Not the spiders climbing the walls, the snakes on the ground, the zombies trying to grab him, or the vampire rising out of the coffin. Youngest desperately wanted to go through but he was terrified. Our solution? I covered his eyes with my hand and we went through together and while he jumped at the creepy noises, he managed to get through it. Now, they both go to those elaborate Scream Farms, but I'm good. I don't see well in the dark and the potential for me to wet my pants is high (sorry for the overshare), so, no thank you.
Tiffany Haddish and Andy Lassner visit a Haunted House
How about you, Reds and Readers? Are you haunted house fans or no? What experiences have you had in haunted houses?
No haunted houses for me, thank you very much. Didn't go to them when I was a kid; don't go to them now . . . .
ReplyDeleteDoes Winchester mystery house count? I remember visiting it. I’ve seen haunted houses in movies though I have no memory of visiting haunted houses in real life.
ReplyDeleteThe software company where I worked for many years held a Spooky Trail every year. Groups would elaborately decorate their cubicle areas or conference rooms, and employees brought their kids to follow the map and walk through it. Some of those geeks got very elaborate - and spooky! We tech writers did, too. (Sites were labeled little kid-friendly ... or not.) In general, I'm not one for haunted houses, although a good surprise can be fun, like when the stuffed zombie on a dark porch turns out to be a real person handing out candy.
ReplyDeleteMy youngest and his wife spend a huge amount of time creating what might be called a grotto to hand out the kids candy. There are sights and sounds and costumes and scary music - I suspect it is quite a production and the highlight of their neighbourhood. They plan it for most the the year. It is never the same.
DeleteThe only one I have been through is at Disney. I've been through it a bunch of times, as a teen, a young adult, with my kids, with my grandkids. It's tame compared to the one in the video clip, but fun. I wouldn't choose to do one at a fair or anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteI am a one and done when it comes to Haunted houses.It is the darkness and not being able to see what’s coming that bothers me. I went with friends in high school. First we watched what I think was the original Dracula movie in the school auditorium which I didn’t care for either. I think it was probably all out on as a fundraiser for student council or some such group.
ReplyDeleteI really don’t like going in caves either.
When I was younger I loved going to haunted houses because I scared them by my actions - I could sense when the next person or item was going to show up. As an adult, I'm not a fan because technology makes it more advance and my heart can't take it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a teenager I went to my one and only haunted house. It was some sort of youth group event, with a party at one part of the property and the haunted house next-door to it. The haunted house was set up in a barn. We either walked or crawled through a maze, depending on what part of the maze we were at. The walls were created by bales of hay. Creatures jumped out at us from behind the “walls.” I started sneezing nonstop, and then wheezing. I hadn’t had an asthma attack in about seven years, and I was totally unprepared for one.
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t wait to get home.
DebRo
Our local wildlife park does a scary walk every year around Halloween. It was always well attended over the two weeks that it was on offer. This reminds me that I have not seen any ads about it – I wonder? Anyway, the high school kids were the animators. They loved it and were sworn to secrecy as to what happened behind the scenes… all to scare the walkers. I cannot offer firsthand experience as it does not appeal to me.
ReplyDeleteMelissa the hurricane is said to be coming our way for tomorrow night – rain (lots of it – yah! We had rain a few days ago – soft and gentle and more than we had all summer in total. At least the earth is primed to accept a deluge) and high winds. There is a lot of rumble about moving trick or treating to Saturday or just hold it in fire departments tomorrow night. We get no kids anyway, so will enjoy our crispy crunch bars by ourselves – possibly in the dark.
I am an expert on haunted Houses. My Uncle Horace was possessed by a Lithuanian plate spinner, but only on alternate Thurdays. My Cousin Thaddeus had what we thought was an imaginary friend whom he would give a ride home to after every high school dance, only to let her off at the local cemetery. Grandpa Elmer claimed the spirit of Jack the Ripper came to him on a full moon, at least that's what his defense lawyer asserted. And my younger brother Casper, who sadly passed in childhood, was the friendliest person you'd ever want to meet, even if he looked very pale.
ReplyDeleteLucky Cousin Thaddeus, at least he had a regular ghoul friend.
DeleteI laughed so hard at this! Thanks, Jerry, for brightening a very grey day!
DeleteDebRo
Life is scary enough, without deliberately walking--under your own steam!--through a dark place with who knows what jumping out to accost you and spike your blood pressure. It is not for me.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to plan my last (I swear) Halloween party for next year, and reviewing my decorations, etc. We always have a costume contest, and some of our friends have showed up looking pretty gruesome (and thankfully, unrecognizable), but I don't do gross or startling in my transformations. On purpose. No food that resembles body parts, either, except eyeballs that are clearly not eyeballs, like deviled eggs with olive pupils.
The scariest thing in recent years was a wizened ghoul I made for the front porch with a short stepladder, PVC pipe, plastic foam skull, lighted eyes in a mask, bony hands on the end of coathanger wire covered in pipe insulation, and draped with heavily dyed and spray painted layers of gauze. It scared the UPS driver TWICE. But I don't like those jump scare skeletons and whatnot that react when the motion sensor goes off. Your mileage may vary.
Am I invited next year, Karen? Maybe I could combine it with an author gig or two!
DeleteYes! All my kids will be here, so I can't offer a room, but absolutely, we would love to have you join us!
DeleteIt will be my (three weeks late) 75th birthday party!
DeleteNope. :-)
ReplyDeleteSince I am not really a Halloween fan, I'm going to give a pass to haunted houses.
ReplyDeleteBut my kids love them.
As I look forward to my Michael Connelly book signing tonight FINALLY, let me just say that I think I went to a haunted house as a kid at some point or another. But they were never really my thing.
ReplyDeleteHowever, my best friend Ann...she's a huge fan of them. Before she left on her World Retirement Tour, she used to go to haunted houses all over the place. Heck she even worked at one that a friend of hers ran. And while she's on Leg 2 of her WRT, she actually stopped down in either Atlanta or New Orleans (I forget which at the moment), so she could visit some "haunt" friends and go to at least one venue while she was there.
She used to host Halloween/Christmas parties that had horror themes like when you had to come as either your favorite dead celebrity or your favorite living celebrity made up to look like they were dead. Another time, each room in the house was decorated as one of the seven deadly sins.
Another person that I know chiefly through the local music scene works at a haunted house every year. He, his wife and his daughter actually work there for the whole season.
It's just not my thing. If I want the bejeezus scared out of me, I just look at the news or my own life. That's enough to scare anyone. HA!
Jenn ~ The "overshare comment"...I think I wet my pants just a little over that one..haha! Too funny!!!
ReplyDeleteI always looked forward to Ellen's Haunted House videos every year with Andy. He was the real deal.
Halloween is my favorite "holiday" but you would never catch me in one of these haunted houses or even watching a horror flick. Go figure...
Eyes a little misty. Jenn, how wonderful when you needed mother’s hand there was a hand for you to hold. The world needs more kindness of strangers. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteNow, I must be really twisted because my first thought was "wouldn't that be a great start to a suspense novel?"
DeleteI avoid haunted anything. No houses, no spooky movies, nope not going, watching or participating.
ReplyDeleteThis is an experience I have somehow missed, and I think I am okay with that!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely hate being scared and that is all haunted houses have ever done to me, so nope. Hard pass. I've never understood the folks who flock to horror movies and haunted houses. It is difficult to imagine paying good money for someone to scare me. Right now life is quite scary enough, thank you. -- Victoria
ReplyDelete