Haunted Attractions
www.parkworld-online.com The late Rocky Point Haunted House in Salt Lake City The Spanish company Monsters International put
the United States haunt industry on notice in 1991 with Terror on Church Street in Orlando, Florida. It was an attraction with great sets, great actors typical of an October style haunted house, but this was a year-round haunted operation; a business model that had not been attempted in the States before. The first haunted event to utilise celebrity
appearances to drive attendance was David Bertolino's SpookyWorld near Boston, Massachusetts. What started out as a single haunted hayride evolved into the largest attended, independently owned, multi-element Halloween event in the country before its demise in 2004. Sadly, each of these legendary attractions went
out of business; some due to the retirement of the owner, some to increased restrictions and some due to poor business decisions. However, other attractions have taken up the banner and pushed the art form even further. Netherworld in Atlanta, Georgia; 13th Gate in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana; House of Shock in New Orleans, Louisiana; Erebus in Pontiac, Michigan; the Dent School House in Cincinnati, Ohio; and the Bates Hotel and Haunted Hayride near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, are leading the haunted industry in high detail, layered themes and amazing actors in great costumes and make-up. The top United States theme park event is
Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios, Orlando, with a full time, year-round staff devoted to creating the most imaginative and frightening attractions, and with new and different themes each year. Halloween in its present form is a truly American
holiday, but haunted houses and amusement park Halloween events are appearing around the globe. Ocean Park in Hong Kong offers Halloween Bash, a frightful event designed for adults. Disneyland in Tokyo is offering frightening Halloween events with haunted attractions too intense for children; something that even the Disney parks in the states are not doing. England seems to be where haunting is getting its
strongest foothold. One of the first to see Halloween's potential was Stuart Beare of Tulleys
JUNE 2010 Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando 31
Farm in Sussex, who has been experimenting with various forms of scare entertainment since 1994. The farm's Shocktoberfest event is one of the largest and most elaborate seasonal events in the UK offering both daytime and evening attractions. At Warrington in Cheshire, Spooky World offers attendees a seasonal fright as do Frightmare in Gloucestershire and Farmageddon near Ormskirk, Lancashire. UK amusement parks are also getting in on Halloween. Alton Towers' Scarefest (now Terror at the Towers) and Thorpe Park’s Fright Nights have been operating since 2002, and are credited with kick-starting the trend. Even some of the castles in England are operating haunted events on property, such as Merlin's Warwick Castle, which now boasts a year-round Dungeons attraction, not to mention the recent explosion of year round haunted attractions in London and elsewhere (see ScareCON review, page 22).
Dancing with the Devil With any type of amusement, there is a fine line between entertainment and insult, and haunting is no exception. People are very easily offended and this can tie the hands of the attraction designer looking for the latest greatest cutting edge scare tactic. For instance, scenes with a hanging have been a touchy subject in the States lately, and beheadings would also be inappropriate for the scary times we live in. Devil worship is a subject that haunt designers usually steer clear of, but the House of Shock in Louisiana took exactly the opposite approach. They embraced the worship of Satan as the theme to their entire event, with 30ft flames shooting off a preshow stage emboldened with a pentagram. Needless to say, the event and its owners received the wrath of everyone …everyone except the visitors who came in huge numbers to see what the all the buzz was about.
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amusement park, Halloween events drive patrons to the property during a month that historically has low attendance and introduces new people to the park; promoting return visits in summer
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