Ever since the Egyptians, humans have been evolving toward haunted house attractions. The level of sophistication in the scares and gore effects continues to rise over time, but the purpose remains the same: to scare the pants off you.
AI Summary
This episode of Stuff You Should Know dives into the spooky world of haunted house attractions, exploring their surprising history and evolution from ancient Egyptian grave protection to modern multi-million dollar scare businesses. Josh and Chuck trace how these attractions grew from Victorian wax museums and dark carnival rides into today's elaborate haunted houses run by everything from local JCs chapters to professional companies. They also get into the nuts and bolts of running these operations, from safety regulations and "throughput" calculations to the extreme haunted attractions that push the boundaries of what people will pay to experience.
American Horror Story
2011
★ 8.1
"that new clown and, um, American horror story — Chuck mentioned posting about a scary clown character from American Horror Story on their Facebook page."
— Chuck
🎬
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1910
17m
★ 0.0
"some sort of tableau of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — Josh was explaining how Victorian-era wax museums included scary displays that laid groundwork for haunted houses."
— Josh
Friday the 13th
1980
1h 35m
★ 6.4
"Friday the 13th, that's like Hallmark horror — Josh used Friday the 13th as an example of slasher movies, which he considers different from psychological thrillers."
— Josh
Hell House
2001
1h 25m
★ 6.2
"there's a documentary called Hell House on these things, I think, from like 2002 — Josh mentioned this documentary about religious haunted houses designed to scare people into Christianity."
— Josh
Hellraiser
1987
1h 34m
★ 6.9
"the first couple Hellraisers — Josh praised the early Hellraiser films for their effective use of medical instruments as horror props."
— Josh
"It's the haunted attraction version of, I don't even know what they're, I don't watch any of them. Hostel. — Josh compared extreme haunted houses to torture porn films like Hostel that focus on gore over story."
— Josh
The Innkeepers
2011
1h 41m
★ 5.4
"The Innkeepers, though, is a slow burn that managed to pay off — Josh praised this Ti West horror film for building genuine suspense rather than relying on gore."
— Josh
The Karate Kid
1984
2h 7m
★ 7.2
"Your ode to the Karate Kid was beautiful — A listener email praised their discussion of The Karate Kid from their karate episode."
The Woman in Black
2012
1h 35m
★ 6.1
"It's called Either the Lady in Black or Woman in Black, and it stars a grown-up Harry Potter — Chuck recommended this Daniel Radcliffe horror film to Josh as a genuinely scary movie."
— Chuck
Top Gun
1986
1h 50m
★ 7.1
"It's like, oh, she's got the same name as that lady from Top Gun — Josh realized Kelly McGillis from The Innkeepers was the same actress from Top Gun."
— Josh
Wolf Creek
2005
1h 39m
★ 6.2
"did you ever see Wolf Creek? — Josh recommended Wolf Creek as an example of psychological thriller horror set in the Australian outback."
— Josh
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