MapMuse - Locate Haunted House Attractions Near You

...sets, sounds, lighting, and other special effects, is designed to frighten patrons who typically purchase tickets for the privilege. These events are open to the public and commonly held throughout the month of October, leading up to Halloween. However there is a small sub-set of dark attractions that are open all year long. Over the years, dark attractions have expanded their scope beyond the "haunted house" format to include any place that is either ominous or foreboding, such as abandoned factories, old prisons or early 1900s-era hospitals/asylums.

Running and owning dark attractions and haunted houses is an industry in and of itself. It is estimated there are around 3,000 operating every year in North America alone. There are also a great many haunted houses run as non-profit charity fundraisers by such organizations as the Jaycees or Kiwanis Clubs.

Events held in older, slightly dilapidated buildings utilize the natural atmosphere with strategically placed special effects, lights and props, while others will construct elaborate scenery and contain amusement park quality mechanical figures and illusions. On the same token, actors in these dark attractions might be dressed either in masks or greasepaints and basic costumes, but those with higher budgets often opt to dress their characters in customized outfits and elaborate make-ups. Another difference to be found is that some dark attractions present their event as following a storyline (i.e., the tale of madness and murder that lead to the building being haunted), while others present a random order of scenes and tableaus designed to shock and startle the patrons. Visitors to these dark attractions may be escorted through by tour guides (possibly in part to help deter potential encounters between actors and patrons who were suddenly startled or are under the influence of alcohol). Other attractions may be run as self-guided events, letting the patrons follow a set path and thus get more "up close and personal" with the ghouls and monsters therein.

The "Haunted Mansion" is an attraction at Disneyland in California, and at other Disney parks under various similar names such as "Phantom Manor" at Paris Disneyland. With costumed attendants (or "cast members"), rotating "Doombuggy" ride vehicles with onboard sound coordinated to the succesion of "scenes", elaborate Animatronics, ghostly reflections on glass, rear-screen projections, ultraviolet light, strobe light, fiber-optics, elevators and faux elevators, and various other theatrical effects, these are the most sophisticated examplars of the genre.