Do they still do Haunted Houses near you?

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 5:35 pm

The firemen use to do them every year when I was a kid, they would pick a creepy old house that was abandoned, and create a crazy, scary haunted house... I have such great memories of them ...my brother always bawled his head off , but we made him go anyway. I use to close my eyes, and scream the whole way through them...one time we went to one, and 2 of my friends were hanging on me, and their boyfriends were under a bridge and dressed like trolls, and they grabbed our legs, and we screamed and tried to run, but we fell through a wall...it was hysterical.

They don't do them any more because nobody wants the liability of someone getting hurt...we live in a sue happy world, which takes all the fun away for kids today.

hauntmaster · Post by **hauntmaster** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 5:43 pm

A few neighbors of mine always do that every year on halloween... They love to decorate everything on windows, frontdoor, and some little props on their porch.

Even thru, some of my friends from out of town do the same thing as our neighbors do. I do the rest of work for myself, sometimes I have to go help with them how to decorate, or help them to put up the stuffs.

mamawof2 · Post by **mamawof2** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 7:36 pm

They do alot of them around here, also haunted hayrides, haunted forests and haunted corn mazes. This year I am trying out two new things, and I CAN'T wait. The haunted cave and The Krull house in Bristol, Tn. But, we try to do them all. My 16 year old niece is as crazy about it all as I am.

uncletor · Post by **uncletor** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 5:29 am

The Scouts do one...very over the top..you'd all love it...
The Shriners is always fun...and as a Mason, I put some money there...
There's usually two or three more around here....mostly groups for fund raising, but sometimes just folks having fun...

tomanderson · Post by **tomanderson** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 7:02 am

I'm over in Los Angeles, California...these days, you'll find some larger houses, the ten-to-twenty-dollar admission type places. Quite a few of them may spring up around Halloween time, in different parts of the city, and some of these are quite good. I try to see as many as I can reasonably fit in. Theme parks like Knott's Berry Farm and Universal Studios have a go at turning their parks into "haunts."

What I find missing these days--and I think these may be extinct now, at least in this area--is the really small haunted house thing, the kind put on by local community groups, churches and the like. This is probably my favorite type of haunt because it is much more home-made, done on a really small budget and with mostly volunteer help. Typically these used to charge between three and five dollars admission, generally not more than that. (In the early to mid-70's, I'm sure admissions were more like $1.50 or $2.00.)

The last time I saw one of those in Los Angeles was about ten years ago. The rough-hewn nature of these smaller attractions is very special and creates a very different atmosphere...these are less polished technically but have a more primal, "real" feeling. I think these kinds of places are much harder to find now and you are more likely to find them in smaller cities.

uncletor · Post by **uncletor** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 4:39 pm

You are sooooo right, my man..
That home spun quality was one of the things Granny used to stress..she would insist we make our OWN costumes and props..JUST buying them didn't work for her..you had to invest your time and yourself into it..as a result, I'm STILL making stuff out of garbage I find at the side of the road, old displays people will give me, that sort of thing..
The haunted houses are still like that around here..and I imagine in a lot of Cal towns once you get out of the city...

tomanderson · Post by **tomanderson** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 4:46 pm

Yes, in these old-fashioned places, I recall seeing a lot of torn cloth curtains, wood spray-painted black, cheap incandescent black lights, and greasepaint smeared on faces. Maybe an occasional bought prop or mask but very little of that. When I go to a haunted house thing and see all kinds of shiny storebought plastic axes, common Halloween masks and the like, it automatically becomes "not scary" for me...it feels like I wandered into the local Woolworth's or something!

If I can't get anything else, I am more than happy to do these bigger shows with the storebought stuff, but the simpler, cheaper shows deliver much more, I feel.

Dutchess of Darkness · Post by **Dutchess of Darkness** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 11:56 pm

We have one Major Haunted Attraction in our city that draws people from all over, it's really very good. I'll include a link so people can go to their website and check them out. What I like is that you can bring non-perishable food for charity and they give you either a discount or a bonus gift, and I think proceeds or part go to charity. ANyways, here's the link, enjoy.
http://www.reapers.ca/

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 12:36 am

Yeah tomanderson...that's what I'm talking about....they don't do those any more. I remember the very first one we went to...I was in the 4th grade, my brother was in 1st grade....we walked in a room, and your suppose to go over to a coffin...with the lid closed...and of couse someone pops up dressed like a vampire, and my brother bawled his head off, and while your standing there doing that...some other monster who was standing in the corner, comes walking out, and is standing behind you, and you turn around and freak out some more...my brother was a hysterical mess...but we knew all the guys...cause my Dad was a fireman, and the guys were all our friends...they started taking off their masks to show my brother who they were underneath...but he was a mess....but I remember to me it was the scariest thing in my life. We went every year to them...and I remember it was a great thing to do on a date when I was a teenager...cause it is dark, and you could scream, and hang on your boyfriend....my high school boyfriend and I went to one with a bunch of our friends...and we had such a blast.

I remember one that we went to .....it was a big old farm house that was abandoned.....and at the end of it...some guy chased you out of the house with a chainsaw...it was so fun.

The last one I ever went to was 14 years ago...when I was pregnant with my son.....and my sister in law freaked out, because a bat flew at us...and you couldn't see well, and it hit her in the head...and she fell on me, and I fell down, and was scared...I could have been hurt...but I was ok...the coolest thing they did...was ...we went in a room, that was pitch black, and all of a sudden a black light came on...and all these little kids dressed in skeleton outfits jumped up,,,they were cover with a black cloth so you couldn't see them...then they pushed the cover off, and their skeleton outfits glowed in the dark...and they danced around...it was so cool...and so simple....that is what I love about it...is how creative you can be...and it is so much fun.

I wish the world was the way it was when I was a kid...because today everyone is so distrusting...and you can't have fun any more...because your so worried some actual crazy person is going to get you...because there are so many of them out there....I would never let my kid go trick or treating....by himself...like we use to do as kids...but I knew all my neighbors...and I knew all the firemen in my town, and they all stood on the street corners with flares-making sure the kids were safe and directing traffic- the firemen around me now are too darn lazy to stand on the street corners....my son has had fun trick or treating around my town I live in now...but he's getting to big now to do it...he's 14...I am going to try and push it one more year....at least...for him...I went trick or treating up until I was 16...that year I was even on crutches...cause I hurt my knee...but I still had to go trick or treating...and then when I worked at Burger King-my first job-when I was 16...we all dressed up for work.

I don't know if people even do that any more where they work, but I love that kind of stuff.

Dutchess of Darkness · Post by **Dutchess of Darkness** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 1:00 am

Hey Spooky, Yep people still dress up at work here, retial store, grocery stores, banks, restraunts, cab drivers etc. Even the hosptial staff do, many in the ER department do a little and of course the Lab Techs that come and take your blood and do ECG's and stuff they all done. Of course most of the lab techs that work ER on graveyard shifts are vampires cause they take the blood

ALways cheers me up when I'm in there. They do their best to make it fun for those of us who are in there lots, they're a great bunch.

Slightlymad · Post by **Slightlymad** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 8:47 pm

We are lucky in our area say 30 45 minute drive there are so many pro, semi-pro, and charity that in fact you cant see them all if you went to one thurs, fri, sat, sun for sept and oct.

Dutchess of Darkness · Post by **Dutchess of Darkness** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 8:53 pm

Holy, that's wonderful SLightlymad, what an awesome time you must have during the fall season there then.