Reference: Baker, C. (2024). Three - Dimensional Fear: The Presence of Narrative in Theme Park Halloween Festivals. Event Management , 28 (4), 631 – 647. https://doi.org/10.3727/152599524X17077053867665 Do you like to get scared in haunted houses and Halloween mazes? What leads visitors to be shocked and thrilled, and drawn to these horrors? A University of Central Florida researcher examined the haunt's story or theme and its presentation in Halloween theme parks and attractions. She collected data from 112 US, Europe, and Asia haunted mazes and 20 theme park-based Halloween festivals. Results? Haunted houses use storytelling to build a captivating environment that attracts guests who want a good scare! They found 9 main themes: carnival (circuses and clowns), clinical settings (hospitals, prisons, and doctors), depravity (slaughterhouses butchers, and torture chambers), fantasy (forests, fairies, and monsters), gothic (haunted manors, vampires, and ghosts), maritime (pirates, and sea creatures), occult (rituals, witches, and Satanic figures), sci-fi (alien invasions, disasters, and zombies), and small-town terror (cornfields, campsites, and murderers).  Core themes, a unifying message, and unusual or grotesque scary characters are important for scaring guests. Creating the ultimate scare takes more than creating a spooky environment with monstrous imagery in a multisensory design. Storytelling is what pulls us into a most wonderfully terrifying experience and builds to the spooky heart of a good 3D haunt!

Written by Kristin M. Harris, Ph.D.