So idk where you guys all stand on halloween or whether you like it or not. and I think i generally like the idea of it, but i never really do much on halloween except maybe watch a scary movie. But this year i've gone to multiple haunted houses and it's awesome.
I went to the
13th floor haunted house and it was pretty intense. it's two stories, you start out in the basement and then go up a floor, I think. I went with a school organization so I got in for free, and while in there, because I freaked out and ran through one of the rooms, I caught up to my academic advisor (he had gone in with the group prior to my group) and cowered behind him for the rest of the haunted house. And while that definitely diminished the scare factor, cause he was really nonchalant about people with weapons jumping out at us, I was able to observe all of the effort that goes into the decor and the themes of each room, while also being slightly scared. And that was really cool. This haunted house had various themes, varying from an asylum, to a basement where murders occur, a graveyard with the undead jumping out at you, an elevator with a crazed bellhop, and then you know, the getting chased out by the guy with the chainsaw. There were other rooms, but I don't remember them all, this was a couple of weeks ago.
I also went to six flags, and during october they have fright fest, which is halloween-themed, and they have 4 haunted houses and 3 scare zones and I went to all of them. And these are much smaller and not as scary because well six flags has little kids going there and stuff, so while it took us probably a little longer than 20 minutes to get through all of the 13th floor, the ones at six flags were no more than 4-5 minutes each.
The first one we did, I was with friends, was a clown themed one that required 3D glassses so any concept of a wall we might have had was gone because the paintings and the pictures and the paint designs were all 3D. So this one was mostly scary clowns jumping out and screaming while you try to find your way out and this one was probably the shortest.
The next one we did was called RockKill High and it was a tour through a high school filled with zombie students and staff. We had a guide named Wendy, and she had the whole eerie-undead-child thing down really well. She didn't say anything unless you were lagging behind the group at which point she'd get all up in your face and yell to keep up with her. We walked through hallways, classrooms, a school nurse's office with a dead kid, a playground, and such, and it was pretty cool. Not too scary. I think this one was the longest one.
Then we did one called Hotel Fangerosa and it was a vampire hotel thing, and it was pretty typical. You know, vampires jumped out, tried to kill me, and then guided me in the right direction to where i'd find the next vampire trying to suck my blood. It had really cool decor, and I think that's my favorite thing about haunted houses, all the effort that is put in to make the room look incredibly scary and creepy and I feel like no one even looks at it because there's someone jumping out at you.
The last one was called Total Darkeness and they made everyone walk in holding on to each others shoulders in a train formation because it was completely dark. The point was to find your way through with the occasional help of a goblin flashing a light and yelling "this way!" Except we kept crashing into not helpful goblins who just screamed at you and flashed multiple lights. That one was confusing and disorienting but it didn't feel scary because I think what makes haunted houses scary is the creepy atmosphere and the scary things everywhere you look and not knowing when someone is gonna jump out or where they're going to jump out of, and you're just waiting for it to happen, so you're scared.
The actors in these haunted houses were also much less up in your face and no chasing occurred, like it did in the 13th floor. (x
The scare zones were decorated areas you could walk through that had some sort of monster theme and they'd try and scare you as you walked through, but they were short and were mainly for getting from one place to the other. There was a zombie one, a crazy clown one, and a troll one.
So I like haunted houses, but I am weak, I get scared and nervous and want to run through so I can't be the leader of the group, but I like being second. I like looking at all the stuff they put in the rooms and I like guessing where people are gonna jump out of and trying not to be scared when they do jump out but being scared anyway. I also always somehow make eye contact with the people that do the scaring so they'll target me and that's uncool. But it's fun. and scary.
Also, I enjoy themes that are completely unreal because I know they're not real, like vampires and ghosts and zombies, but, BUT, there's another haunted house in town,
Psycho Asylum, and I feel like that one would be a bit more traumatizing because people do actually go crazy and do crazy murderous things, This haunted house is not themed off of folly and silly fictional horrors, it is themed off of something, that while im sure is a long stretch, could, hypothetically, be true, like psycho serial killers, and idk, crazy people, i haven't been, and I don't think I will. It makes me uncomfortable.
Also, our school hosts Boo Bash, a fun and safe way for children to trick or treat in this neighborhood! They come to our dorms and we give them candy and there's like carnival games and attractions in the courtyard and parking lot and we dress up and have fun with kids. It'll be fun. I loved halloween as a teeny child, and I will ensure these children do too (:
