I’ve had my fair share of haunted house experiences and all I can say is that they aren’t for me. I love fall and all the festivities with the season like pumpkin patches, corn mazes and Halloween movies, but when it comes to haunted houses, I’ll pass. Haunted houses are dark, scary, cold and gross. I know, that is quite frankly the whole point of a haunted house and that’s just the part I don’t understand.

I do not love the “thrill” of haunted houses. Maybe they’re too scary, or I’m just not a fan of random people jumping out at me and screaming. Normally, in a haunted house, you would walk through dark rooms with creepy decorations, unsettling lighting and people lurking in the shadows waiting to jumpscare. The thought behind a haunted house is that you are walking through a house that is filled with evil spirits that either want you out or are trying to kill you (not actually). 

Because haunted houses are based on the same format, the haunted houses themselves most of the time turn out to be totally cliche and predictable. Many haunted houses have a layout or a theme, making their actors, their decorations and overall their entire house tacky and expected. These places embody many disturbing themes of violence, supernatural horror and death that can be over the line, or too intense. This is obviously not ideal and can become harmful to people and young kids as they start to desensitize themselves from the violence and from the horror, making it almost normal. They get away with these unoriginal designs and decorations because the haunted houses are so dark inside, you don’t see it coming and it still works.

According to an article by Chris Heller from the Smithsonian Magazine, “These days, haunted houses are no longer just about creepy characters and hyper-realistic horror. Instead, the industry has flocked to all sorts of new, extreme frights: zombie runs, escape games, and experiences seemingly designed to traumatize.”

Fall has many other wholesome activities that don’t involve overwhelming amounts of fear or terror. Activities like pumpkin carving, apple picking and fall baking. With fall having so many options for fun activities, I don’t understand the draw or the attraction to haunted houses. One of my favorite things to do in the fall is bake fun fall treats and have movie nights with my friends, a healthy activity where I’m not in a constant state of fear or panic.