Kallie Waller

Writer

What if people could define why they enjoyed haunted houses in three words. 

Some people would say scary, fun, enticing, but why do these words come to mind when  thinking of a haunted house?

Rachel Feltmen and Sarah Kaplan of the Washington Post, and gave an explanation on the science behind why kids and some adults attend haunted houses.

 “When our bodies are primed for danger-which is the physical state in which fear puts us-we achieve a weird kind of high,” said Felltmen and Kaplan.

That high is called an adrenaline rush, which is caused by their fight or flight response. 

The fight or flight response is triggered once the body thinks they are in a dangerous situation. 

The fight or flight response is also triggered by their nervous system thinking they need to have an acute stress response, resulting in their fight or flee reaction.

The adrenaline they feel sends dopamine into their nervous system, triggering a sort of relief or “high” after they are out of the situation that happened to cause  the reaction. 

Most people consume horror,or fear, to feel the stimulation that the fear brings to their body.

The research from the article Ascend, written by Haiyang Yang, and Kuangjie Zhang gives information about the psychological reasoning behind why people love to be horrified. 

The research discovered suggests that people who love to be scared possess a psychological “protective frame.” Yang, and Zhang stated

The three categories of these physiological frames include a safety frame, detachment, and lastly how confident people are in the sense that they will be safe in the situation. 

The safety frame is a psychological state in which people feel they need to be safe or are safe in that present situation.  

Secondly, the detachment frame, in which almost all humans detach themselves from the sense of an unrealistic reality. 

The detachment is the psychological state of knowing the situation people can be in is not real, and they are just actors. 

The last frame is the confidence people feel in their safety of the situation, which can be interpreted in many ways. 

The confidence frame is the development of their control over the fear they will encounter. 

In a situation they can’t control, their mind starts to spiral into a psychological state that can result in panic and unstableness. 

Haunted houses do not pose any threat to people but they do pose a threat to their need to know and be in control. 

What scares everyone is the fear of not knowing the situation or what could happen. 

Studies show that Halloween is the second largest celebrated holiday in the United States.

Many people celebrate Halloween, but it is recorded that mostly men, between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four, enjoy the horror of haunted houses. 
Marlow High School decided to bring the statistics to the students.  

Ten students from each grade 9- 12, were asked if they enjoyed haunted houses and an explanation as to why or why not.

Sophomore Kyleigh Baker expressed the reasoning behind why she loves the experience of haunted houses.

“I enjoy haunted houses because it’s a really fun experience for family and friends. It’s something you know you will have fun at. Also, you know it’s not real so you can enjoy it more” Baker stated.

Twenty-seven out of thirty-four students voted that they enjoyed the thrill of haunted houses but, 

seven out of thirty-four students stated they do not like the thrill of a haunted house.

Senior Marissa Krautbauer, does not like the “high” of haunted houses.

“Haunted Houses play on my fearful side, which I know is the point, but they leave me scared to the point of a dangerously high heart rate”, Krautbauer said.

With Halloween just around the corner there are many fall activities other than haunted houses to celebrate the cool fall weather such as pumpkin patches, pumpkin carving, and many more.