Haunted houses aim to scare up ino≠ensive fun
Halloween and haunted houses go together like the Fourth of July and fireworks, the New Year and resolutions, Thanksgiving and food comas.
The more heart-rate-rising and scream-inducing the better, too. At least for the fright lovers among us, that is.
This Halloween, though, some haunted-house operators are finding themselves in hotwater in thewake of the four nightmarish beheadings of American journalists and British aidworkers in recent months.
Busch Gardens in Virginia earlier this fall removed props from its annualHowl-O-Scream following complaints about severed heads. The Florida location also toned down some scenes.
Locally, haunted-house owners said they have not received any complaints so far this year.
“We try to stay away from current events,” said Josh Holder, owner of the Frightmare Compound, a haunted house inWestminster. “We want it to be a fun attraction, not something that goes over the line.”
Visitors to Frightmare won’t see any severed heads or decapitated bodies this year, either, although it’s more coincidence than intention.
One of their sister attractions, theUnderworld HauntedHouse inNorthglenn, though, does have some decapitated bodies among its frights. It opened to the public Oct. 10.
Plans were made well before the recent events, Holder said. The props are not part of a beheading scene.
“We’ll have to see howit plays out,” Holder said. “If people take it the wrongway, that is something wewould change, for sure.”
In the aftermath of the Columbine High School shootings in 1999, Frightmare scrapped one scene where an actor pointed a shotgun loaded with blanks at patrons, Holder said. They haven’t had one like it since.
“It’s tasteless— it’s not scary,