WEBVTT

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This video is not about a haunted house as

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in a house that has a ghost in it.

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This video is about the history of

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haunted house attractions.

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Specifically, American haunted house

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attractions.

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A form of live entertainment

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that simulates the experience of

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visiting haunted locations

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or storylines typical of

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horror fiction.

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In this video, I'm gonna touch on three

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key moments in the evolution of the

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American haunted house attraction:

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The Depression

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The Mansion

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and The Fire

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(laughing)

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That's amazing!

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That's so scary.

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I spent a lot of time looking for books,

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documentaries, whatever.

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But I could not find any long-form

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comprehensive history of haunted houses.

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There are a ton of documentaries about

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individual houses--whether home haunts or

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professional ones--along with tons of

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promotional videos or fan-made videos

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about bigger and more famous attractions,

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but as far as I could find, they all focus

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on a limited number of houses, with little

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attention paid to overall history.

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For general short-form haunted house

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history sources, the two I saw cited

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the most were were a short but dense

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section of Lisa Morton's book

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"trick or treat: a history of halloween"

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and a Rebekah McKendry's article for a

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(questioningly) 2013

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(normal voice) special edition of Fangoria

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After hunting down an archived version

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online, I found out later

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to my surprise, while at Netherworld

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that you can buy it for like eight dollars

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at the Netherworld gift shop.

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So I did.

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Most short haunted house histories

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I've found start by talking about

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Marie Tussaud and The Grand Guignol.

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Sorry for French pronunciation.

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I'm doing my best.

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Both McKendry's Fangoria piece and

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Adam Warner's "The History of

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Haunted Houses: A Fight for Frights

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as Tastes Change"

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which interviews both McKendry

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and Margee Kerr, a haunted house

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consultant and sociologist who studies

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trends in fear, start earlier.

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McKendry starts with the

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Ancient Egyptians.

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"Mazes, moving walls, self-opening

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doors, traps and the use of snakes

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were commonplace in preserving treasures

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and dead royalty."

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Outside of maybe some traps

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like pits or like

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false endings to tombs,

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I had trouble finding any evidence

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supporting what she's talking about here.

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But we can say the myths of these traps

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certainly endured

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and maybe inspired the moving walls and

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mummy scares of modern haunted houses.

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Kerr says, "From the beginning,

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Greeks, Romans, and other

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ancient civilizations created Gods to

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speak to their fears of an

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unforgiving world.

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To bring these fears to life,

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they put on plays, spawning theatrical

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techniques still used in today's haunts,

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like fog, fake blood, and trapdoors."

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Again, though

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I couldn't find any evidence of use of

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smoke or fog effects before the

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Globe Theatre, which had occasional use

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of cannons or fireworks.

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And in reference to the cannons, according

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to bardstage.org, "This particular Globe

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Theatre special effect, eventually

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leading to the fire of 1613

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which lead to the total destruction of

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the Globe Theatre, within just two hours."

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Anyway.

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"As civilizations grew and people migrated

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a fear of the elements transitioned into

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a fear of other people in the form of

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ghosts, demons, and witches.

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Christians in the Middle Ages traveled

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from town to town,

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putting on plays and pageants to scare

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locals away from sin.

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By the 1800s, industry was booming,

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and with it the fear of a rapidly

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unrecognizable world, one fueled by

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electricity and other

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mystifying inventions.

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This sparked a renewed interest in

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ghosts, spirits, and the supernatural.

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People paid to watch magic shows, get

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their fortunes told, and enter houses

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supposedly haunted by spirits."

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Horror was incorporated into all sorts

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of theatre and attractions.

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According to a whole bunch of different

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sources, Marie Tussauds