What is the history of haunted house attractions?

Question

Who started the Scare houses?
What was the first one?
Where was the first one?
When did the first one open?
Why did they create it?
Was it a success?

Answer 1

Interesting question, and a difficult one to answer with any authority since I don't think there has been any research on the matter.

Elements can be traced back historically. Ancient Egyption, Greek, and Roman temples used automation to open doors and make statues of the gods move or speak. Labyrinths and mazes have been around equally as long. Sideshows, Freakshows, and Museum of Oddities have existed since around the mid 1800s (ie Barnum's Museum). Carnivals and amusement parks developed dark rides, like the Tunnel of Love, designed to scare and force couples closer together in a time where physical intimacy was frowned upon in public. There were also the spiritualists and medium shows, often presented by magicians and debunked by Harry Houdini, where the dead were supposedly contacted and left messages for the living.

At the same time, Halloween has evolved from its European origins. Early in the 1900s, Halloween was called "Devil's Night" and children dressed in costumes and committed harmless acts of mayhem, like throwing flour at neighbors (see the film "Meet Me In St. Louis" for an example).

I would hazard a guess that sometime in the mid 1900s that someone decided to join all these elements together in a walk-through Haunted Attraction (HA). Halloween by this point had turned into trick-or-treating. Many of those in the HA industry recall a time when JayCees or other organizations would find an abandoned house or building, put up a maze, and jump out at the patrons or tell a spooky interactive story.

Modern HAs all have something in common with these early beginnings. An HA is definitely a show, sometimes telling a story, sometimes a loose collection of nightmareish scenes. Disney developed its Haunted Mansion in the 1960's as a walk-through attraction initially, until it was determined that a ride would have a greater throughput of patrons per hour. Most HAs are seasonal attractions now, although there are a few that remain open year round. Some of the earliest from that same period on the Atlantic amusement boardwalks have closed or burnt down.

The success of an HA is difficult to gauge. Certainly the concept continues so there must be an element of success. However, those in the industry claim that the days of "if you build it they will come" are long over, and modern attractions have to compete with gory movies and television, and provide bigger and better thrills and scares to draw an audience, as well as allow for marketing the seasonal attraction to the public.

As to the "why"s of building an HA, there are those in the industry who ask that very question year after year. Why do they do it? Since the recent nightclub fires and previous fires in HAs around the country, building codes have become so strict as to shut down or prevent many attractions from ever opening. Then there are the difficulties inherent in dealing with animatronics and their upkeep as well as motivating actors. Most in the industry would tell you that building an HA is no way to make a quick buck - if the show isn't very good people won't return a second time and word of mouth spreads quickly. Most professional and home haunters will admit they do it because they love it, just as anyone in theater, music, dance or any of the arts will answer the same way.

I'm sorry I couldn't be more specific to your answer, but maybe there's a book in there somewhere.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What is the history of haunted house attractions?
Who started the Scare houses?
What was the first one?
Where was the first one?
When did the first one open?
Why did they create it?
Was it a success?

Answer 3

History Of Haunted Houses

Answer 4

It was started by monks in the 15th century to add income to help harvest the grape crop.