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The haunted house attraction has become inseparable from Halloween. The experience of slinking into a dark house full of terrors is a perfect fit for the holiday, and it's no surprise that about 2700 official haunted attractions are active in the USA during this time period. Millions of people want to be frightened and the exhibitions of terror have satisfied that need for many years. In this article we'll look at where this tradition started and how it evolved.
Halloween History: The Origin of Haunted Houses
The origin of the modern haunted house might be traced back to a Marie Tussaud exhibition in London. In 1802, she created wax likenesses of decapitated figures of the French Revolution, such as Marie Antoinette, Maximilien Robespierre, Jean-Paul Marat. In 1835, Tussaud's permanent exhibition in the English capital would be called the Chamber of Horrors, setting the template for future monikers.
Early in the 20th century the macabre was increasingly monetized. The first ghost house is said to have debuted at an English fairground in Liphook, in 1915, replete with demonic screams and shaking floors. These so-called ghost houses would continue to be popular attractions at Edwardian fairs.
Back in the USA, during the Depression Era, Halloween had become raucous, with idle teenage boys using the pranking tradition to get up to mischief. They set off explosions, blocked roads with traps and started fires. Communities needed a way to placate these trouble makers. This is where trick-or-treat and the haunted house came in - as a way to bribe the kids into good behaviour. For instance, at the end of each trick-or-treat route there would be a haunted house. A 1937 pamphlet describes how to create the atmosphere of these early DIY haunts:
"An outside entrance leads to a rendezvous with ghosts and witches in the cellar or attic. Hang old fur, strips of raw liver on walls, where one feels his way to dark steps....Weird moans and howls come from dark corners, damp sponges and hair nets hung from the ceiling touch his face."
This book also suggests modifying a chair to deliver a mild electric shock or, alternatively, to perform fake surgery behind a backlit screen. The bar for haunted attractions would be set in 1969 though, with the establishment of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, which utilized refracted light, voice acting and pneumatic technology to bring complex illusions to life. Its popularity can be seen in how it attracted more than 82 000 people through its doors in one day, only shortly after its debut.
The impetus for haunted houses grew in the 1970's. Blood Manor, in St. Mary’s County, opened in 1971 and became the first independent, professional haunted house business. In this decade the United States Junior Chamber, a civic organization for teenagers, put up haunted houses to fundraise, which was so successful that by the turn of the decade there were around ten of these institutions in every city. Commercial enterprises noticed the growth in the sector and created their own attractions, frequently pulling in prop makers and practical effects experts from Hollywood to work on it.
By the 1980's the slasher movie had become popular and characters from these blockbusters would be increasingly common fixtures in haunted houses. These were early forms of cross-promotion, benefiting both the movies and the haunted house industry. In 1984 eight people were killed in a New Jersey haunted house after a blaze had broken out, kicking off the enactment of more stringent safety regulations. Volunteer organisations became forced out in the ensuing decades as more investment flowed into the industry. Nowadays the sector generates around $300 to $500 million annually and is still big business.
Thank you for reading!
The haunted house attraction has become inseparable from Halloween. The experience of slinking into a dark house full of terrors is a perfect fit for the holiday, and it's no surprise that about 2700 official haunted attractions are active in the USA during this time period. Millions of people want to be frightened and the exhibitions of terror have satisfied that need for many years. In this article we'll look at where this tradition started and how it evolved.
Halloween History: The Origin of Haunted Houses
The origin of the modern haunted house might be traced back to a Marie Tussaud exhibition in London. In 1802, she created wax likenesses of decapitated figures of the French Revolution, such as Marie Antoinette, Maximilien Robespierre, Jean-Paul Marat. In 1835, Tussaud's permanent exhibition in the English capital would be called the Chamber of Horrors, setting the template for future monikers.
Early in the 20th century the macabre was increasingly monetized. The first ghost house is said to have debuted at an English fairground in Liphook, in 1915, replete with demonic screams and shaking floors. These so-called ghost houses would continue to be popular attractions at Edwardian fairs.
Back in the USA, during the Depression Era, Halloween had become raucous, with idle teenage boys using the pranking tradition to get up to mischief. They set off explosions, blocked roads with traps and started fires. Communities needed a way to placate these trouble makers. This is where trick-or-treat and the haunted house came in - as a way to bribe the kids into good behaviour. For instance, at the end of each trick-or-treat route there would be a haunted house. A 1937 pamphlet describes how to create the atmosphere of these early DIY haunts:
"An outside entrance leads to a rendezvous with ghosts and witches in the cellar or attic. Hang old fur, strips of raw liver on walls, where one feels his way to dark steps....Weird moans and howls come from dark corners, damp sponges and hair nets hung from the ceiling touch his face."
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| A group of boys at a Halloween party during the 1930's. |
This book also suggests modifying a chair to deliver a mild electric shock or, alternatively, to perform fake surgery behind a backlit screen. The bar for haunted attractions would be set in 1969 though, with the establishment of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, which utilized refracted light, voice acting and pneumatic technology to bring complex illusions to life. Its popularity can be seen in how it attracted more than 82 000 people through its doors in one day, only shortly after its debut.
The impetus for haunted houses grew in the 1970's. Blood Manor, in St. Mary’s County, opened in 1971 and became the first independent, professional haunted house business. In this decade the United States Junior Chamber, a civic organization for teenagers, put up haunted houses to fundraise, which was so successful that by the turn of the decade there were around ten of these institutions in every city. Commercial enterprises noticed the growth in the sector and created their own attractions, frequently pulling in prop makers and practical effects experts from Hollywood to work on it.
By the 1980's the slasher movie had become popular and characters from these blockbusters would be increasingly common fixtures in haunted houses. These were early forms of cross-promotion, benefiting both the movies and the haunted house industry. In 1984 eight people were killed in a New Jersey haunted house after a blaze had broken out, kicking off the enactment of more stringent safety regulations. Volunteer organisations became forced out in the ensuing decades as more investment flowed into the industry. Nowadays the sector generates around $300 to $500 million annually and is still big business.
Thank you for reading!
Once again very interesting.
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