Sensationally Spooky Haunts for Big Kids

Christmastime may sparkle, but, for many, there’s nothing quite like Halloween. For little kids, it’s about collecting candy and channeling their inner superhero or a favorite T.V., or movie character. Grown-ups embraced the holiday for all the creativity they can pour into high-concept costumes and cocktails.

During the season, teens are caught in the middle, as they are a little too mature for trick or treating and Chucky Cheese but not yet 21. This is where haunted house attractions nicely fill the gap, according to Amber Arnett, current matriarch of family business America Haunts, the nation’s largest collective of haunted attractions.

“My great grandfather was a pastor and was the inspiration behind the Edge of Hell haunted house that my mother and grandmother launched in 1975,” the business leader and mother of four recalls. “They set out to have a place that was between heaven and hell, and the idea was that if somebody walked on the edge, he would encounter all kinds of spirits and demons. The concept has had longevity as it is the longest continuously operated haunted house in the nation.”

Although every America Haunts site is defined by a building’s architectural features, history and geographic location, Arnett believes the magic comes in all sensory forms — sights, sounds and smells — as well as the fact that elements are built by hand for a particular locale. She also describes a first time walk-through as a rite of passage. However, there is also matter of deciding if a teen or pre-teen is emotionally ready for the visceral scares, which is why America Haunts steers its promotions toward those 12 and over.

“You really need to know your child and let them determine if they are ready for this,” she says. “My earliest memories were sleeping in a coffin and I’m fine, and I’ve seen ecstatic 12 year-olds who were proud they got through the haunted house. While I expertly craft various scares and shocks, the challenge is that everybody expresses fear and reacts differently. Even regional differences impact fear. For example, an alligator is scarier in areas where they have alligator attacks.”

Speaking from experience, Arnett says her work is more about the element of surprise rather than the use of excessive gore, as ultimately America Haunts is a family-oriented company providing thrills in a safe environment. For the 44^th season, she points out brave souls will be greeted by a lot of dragons and bees, while zombies will be retreating into the shadows. Some of the America Haunts hangouts include:

• The Edge of Hell, Kansas City, Missouri: Built in the late 1870s, the multistory, brick, former warehouse is located in Kansas City’s oldest area, suited for the “Granddaddy” of Halloween horror, where the oldest continuous haunted house in operation sits today. It got its start in 1975 and returns this season, as a nationally recognized top haunted attraction, along with its neighbor haunted houses Beast and Macabre Cinema.
• The Beast, Kansas City, Missouri: The former John Deere Tractor Headquarters, built in 1888, was transformed in 1991 to pioneer the open format concept for a haunted attraction, where visitors can become disoriented and lost in its “werewolf forest.”  No two visits are the same, with visitors relying on their own instincts to find their way out.

The Dent Schoolhouse, Cincinnati © Headless Horseman Hayride and Haunted Houses

• The Dent Schoolhouse, Cincinnati: The former school, which operated from 1894 until the 1950s, retains an authentic vibe with many of its original artifacts intact, such as the bell operated by pulling the rope on the second floor, chalkboards, heaters and desks, as well as scary machinery from its years as a U.S. Military machine shop. Legend has it, the school’s former janitor, Charlie McFree, killed some of the students whose ghosts still haunt the building.
• Kersey Valley Spookywoods, North Carolina: The star attraction of this haunted house, originally a family farm built in the 1930s, is a fiddler who took up room and board for the night in the upstairs bedroom in exchange for entertaining the family with his fiddle playing and died soon after his final performance.
• Spooky World, New Hampshire: The building began as a Mexican restaurant in 1972. However, the seeds for the future Sleepstalkers and, later, Spooky World haunted house were sewn in 1975 when its chef, Pedro, died of a heart attack in the basement and continued to haunt the building years after. Pedro still whets the public’s appetite for a good scare.
• Cutting Edge Haunted House, Fort Worth: The century-old, four-story red brick building ominously began as a meat packing facility. Naturally, it collected its fair share of urban legends involving murder, firesand hauntings. The original meat processing conveyor system and hooks still hang, and, in 2002, co-creator Todd James knew its raw history was going to give visitors something frightful to chew on.
• The Brokers Building, San Diego: The former rave hot spot was resurrected as San Diego’s site for scares more than26 years ago. The original building was doomed when its foundation collapsed in 1887, and, later, fire destroyed it in 1888.

Other regional haunts of note:

• Tinker Swiss Cottage, Rockford, Illinois: The historic house museum built by Robert Tinker in the 1860s is said to still be occupied by the spirits of the businessman and his wife. At Halloween — and other times of year — the house (literally) comes alive for its Murder Mystery Nights and Paranormal Tour.
• Minnesota (statewide): Corn mazes and haunted houses across Minnesota pop up like weeds, but there is a harvest of haunted houses to be found. However, highlights include downtown Pipestone, featuring the annualPipestone Paranormal Weekend in mid-October; The Lost Souls tour at St. Paul’s Wabasha Street Caves; and the Haunted Ship Tours aboard the SS William A. Irvin, a dry-docked iron ore behemoth in Duluth’s Canal Park.