Combined Minds

Why do we love being scared & lore behind haunted houses

Words by Ambar Ramirez & Carmen Macri

Carmen: We won’t bore you with the details you should already know if you truly are a “Folio” fan (wink wink), but with Halloween right around the corner, let’s chat a bit about why we enjoy being frightened and subject ourselves to things like haunted houses. 

Ambar: The tradition of going to a haunted house can’t exist without Halloween; in the same breath, Halloween can’t exist without this tradition. Haunted houses are a rite of passage to properly celebrate the spooky holiday, but as journalists, we have to question why this is the case. According to “Smithsonian Magazine,” haunted houses date back to 19th-century London. 

Carmen: In 1802 Marie Tussaud introduced public horror to Britain with a wax sculpture exhibition of decapitated French figures including King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Marat and Robespierre. Tussaud’s wax figures were strikingly accurate, for a grim reason — she had crafted death masks of many guillotine victims during the French Revolution. When she later established a permanent exhibit in London, she fittingly named her macabre display the “Chamber of Horrors” — a label that endures with the museum to this day. 

Ambar: Throughout the 20th century, modern haunted houses began experimenting with different themes, and it was clear that people’s appetite for horror was growing. Halloween-themed haunted houses first popped up during the Great Depression, when American parents were looking for creative ways to keep restless kids occupied. It was around the same time trick-or-treating became a tradition. Parents wanted to give pranksters and bored children, who had turned to vandalism and other mischief out of boredom, a way to channel their energy — legally.

Carmen: But why though? Why do people enjoy being scared?

Ambar: I’m so glad you asked.

Carmen: Me too. According to research the amazing Mallory Pace did in her “Desire for Doom” article a few months back, there are a few explanations for why we not only enjoy but seek out the thrill of being frightened. One being adrenaline junkies – who’da thunk? Jonathan Bassett, a psychology professor at Lander University, said as much when asked about the subject: “Watching murder, blood, gore and horror, gets them kind of the same level of arousal, physiologically, that low sensation seekers might get from more mundane kinds of experiences.”

Ambar: The desire for doom also taps into the satisfaction people get from facing their fears. As Bassett explains, “The idea is that the more tension we feel in the moment, because of the unpleasantness, the greater the satisfaction we feel when it’s over.” There’s a sense of accomplishment and pride in conquering the things that scare us the most. That said, I have a serious phobia of cockroaches, and no amount of exposure therapy will ever make me feel good about encountering one.

Carmen: I think I would rather die. All right, now that we’re on the charming topics of cockroaches, death and doom, let’s get into one of the most infamous “haunted houses”—if that’s even the right term. Really, it’s more of a torture house, but we’ll gloss over that for the sake of the column. Enter McKamey Manor: a glorified masochist’s playground where someone’s dark and twisted fantasies come to life, minus the consequences. 

Ambar: We can thank Russ McKamey for taking haunted houses to a whole new level of terror. In 2001, he started by turning his backyard into a kid-friendly haunted house attraction, but for some twisted reason, possibly rooted in untapped childhood trauma, he decided that wasn’t quite enough. McKamey shifted his focus to scaring adults and created McKamey Manor. To get in, visitors had to sign a liability waiver that basically gave McKamey the legal right to torment you however he saw fit.

Carmen: In 2017 he relocated to Tennessee but didn’t stay long because the city and state did not want him there, so he relocated, again, to Alamaba which is where he currently resides (sort of, he is actually in jail now for SA and attempted murder –shocker!) The tour drags on for eight to 10 grueling hours, though no one’s ever actually survived the full ordeal. At first, McKamey didn’t allow safewords (because, of course), but he eventually caved, letting guests tap out whenever they hit their breaking point. The place runs year-round and, unbelievably, there’s a waiting list of over 24,000 thrill-seekers dying to get in. It is not the average haunted house; here the workers can actually physically assault you, cut your hair, pull your teeth, blindfold and cuff you wherever they see fit — basically, they can beat the shit out of you, free of charge. (There’s a pun in there if you know where to find it.)

Ambar: Don’t know why anybody would want to face those types of horrors, let alone be tortured — if you crave being scared shitless, maybe stick to legal, classic haunted houses. For example, Halloween Horror Nights or 13th Floor. Or you can just watch scary movies from the comfort of your home. Or if you’re Carmen, you can watch many real-life horror story documentaries. 

Carmen: True crime documentaries are a story for another time.