In 2011 , Scott Griffin buy a slate to the Haunted Hotel in San Diego , which includes an attraction called the Haunted Trail . While he was near the exit , a chainsaw - wielding character jumped out in front of him and Griffin took off run . He fell and injured his radiocarpal joint .
Here ’s where it gets interesting : Griffin filed alawsuitagainst the Haunted Hotel , saying that the attraction should n’t be scare people beyond the marked loss because the visitors may comprehend the bogus antics as realdanger .
Griffin sued for negligence , improper training and supervising , and assault but lost the guinea pig . He appeal and lost again . The appeals court of law say in 2015 , " The danger inherent in the Haunted Trail ’s Carrie burden ending … is exactly the risk Griffin experience " [ author : Erle Stanley Gardner ] .
distinctly Griffin would disaccord . And every year , people take issue with haunted houses that they think have move too far . Whether it ’s that the experience is too scarey , or makes fun of the mentally ill , or causes combat injury or even decease , there is mickle of scandalisation — and sound action — to go around .
Here are nine Halloween - type attractions that have been the subject of controversy . resolve for yourself whether the complaint have merit .
9. FearVR: 5150 Mocks Mental Illness
It seemed like a greatvirtual realityattraction for the 2016Halloweenseason — at least to its creators , anyway . Participants in FearVR : 5150 donned a duet of virtual realness goggles and earphones and were strapped into a wheelchair .
The goggles made it come out as though they were taken to Meadowbrook , a hospital for the mentally ill . Once they arrived , they were terrorized and threatened by a patient who had escaped from her elbow room . Those who find the experience too vivid could push a panic button to end it .
presently after its unveiling at two California theme parks — Knott ’s Berry Farm and Great America — there was a public call . FearVR was offensive to those who struggled with mental illness , multitude articulate .
The drawing card " adds to the injurious , dehumanizing , discriminatory , prejudicial , insensitive , noisome and stigmatizing of genial malady , " wrote John Leyerle , president of the Orange County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in his letter to the chairman of Cedar Fair Entertainment , the companionship behind the attractions . Kay Warren , a genial wellness counselor and married woman of Rick Warren , author of " The Purpose Driven Life " post on her Facebook page to her 149,000 follower that the ride needed to come down [ sources : Bowerman , Zavoral ] .
The theme Mungo Park apace reply , modify the attraction ’s name to simply FearVR , as " 5150 " is a code for someone who is possibly disturbed and may be a risk to themselves or others . But the objection continued , so Cedar Fair Entertainment closed the attracter prematurely and apologized for any offense [ sources : Bowerman , Zavoral ] .
8. Six Flags' Haunted Asylums Switch to Zombies
Cedar Fair Entertainment Company was n’t the only theme park chain that render to turn genial unwellness into a Halloweennightmare . For its annual Fright Fest 2016 , Six Flags debuted a Modern haunt house experience that involved thrill - seekers bumbling through the obsessed hallway of places such as Dark Oaks Asylum ( Six Flags in Vallejo ) and PSYCHO - PATH Haunted Asylum ( Six Flags New England ) .
As visitors made their way through a supposedly abandon asylum ’s maze of corridors , " maniac inmates " and " derange safety gadget " taunted , spout and grabbed at them at every turn .
As with FearVR : 5150 , shortly after the asylums ' scuttle , mental health protagonism groups unleashed a torrent of protests against the stigmatization of those with genial illness . Six Flags apologized and revamped its horrifying Halloween attraction to be one involve zombie , not people struggling with mental malady [ source : Rogers ] .
7. McKamey Manor Is Run Out of Town
McKamey Manoris not just a Halloween drawing card . Open year - round and run byNavyvet Russ McKamey , it ’s billed as a terror attraction . Past guest report that during their " dangerous undertaking " they ’ve undergone fake abductions , been connect up , blindfold , gagged , slapped , held under piddle and forcefulness - fed .
Some have been glut into deep freezer or placed incoffinscrawling with cockroaches . Others have had their heads placed in cages meet with snakes . Some have had their hair edit out off . Most , if not all , issue cover in scrapes , contusion , gash and scratch . Oh , and there ’s no " good word , " although stave will pull you if they think you ’ve had enough . Reportedly , no one has made it the full eight - 60 minutes spell [ sources : Carroll and Ryan , Moss ] .
Entrance into McKamey Manor just demand a contribution of hot dog food to Operation Greyhound , although participants have to be at least 21 class old , signaling indebtedness discharge , welcome forcible and mental spillage from their doctors , and be Skype - test by McKamey .
The Navy veterinarian told The Guardian that the purpose of the experience is to snap off people through physical and psychological stress . Detractors say the attractor is abusive , and those demand in its surgery are sadistic . Still , there are reportedly 27,000 people on a wait inclination to get in [ sources : Accomando , Carroll and Ryan ] .
In 2015 , McKamey prove to move the San Diego attraction to a more low-cost place , like McLeansboro , Illinois . But some citizens in the township ( population 3,000 ) get a looking at the YouTube videos of the experience , boast torture and havoc , and complained loudly on Facebook . Someone even threw a rock at the building McKamey design to charter , cracking a window and causing him to change his mind .
McKamey continue put in San Diego until 2017 when he moved the attracter to Summertown , Tennessee , and open a 2d location in Huntsville , Alabama [ sources : Seling , Vollers ] .
6. Erebus Haunted Attraction Leads to Leg Fractures
Sherri Turner catch more than she bargained for in 2014 when she stepped into the four - story Erebus Haunted Attraction in Pontiac , Michigan . Once inside its dark corridor , Turner alleges , a move wall knocked into her , causing her to slip and fall down down . The result ? Several stern shift to her left leg , soft tissue injuries to her back and spine , and various other affliction [ sources : Turk , Young ] .
Turner sued , alleging unsafe operating consideration in the 100,000 - square - foot ( 9,290 - hearty - meter)haunted house , inadequate level and gangway lighting , and other insecure condition . The lawsuit also alleged the attraction — for five seasons name the world’slargesthaunted mansion by the Guinness World Records — caused injuries not only to Turner , but to other customers .
Two years later , the lawsuit was settled for $ 125,000 , possibly because Erebus Haunted House did n’t command customers to sign a exit . Instead , it only printed a disclaimer on the back of each just the ticket , in gain to warn sign . possessor Jim and Ed Terebus say their stalk attractor , open near two decades , is safe [ sources : Phillips , Khoury , Young ] .
5. Hanging at Creepyworld - for Real
In perhaps one of the most grisly Halloween attractor incident , an employee at Creepyworld , a frequent " screampark " in suburban St. Louis , accidentallyhangedherself from a slip noose in 2011 during one of her shifts . Unfortunately , the visitors believe it was part of the experience and ignore her .
Jessica Rue , then 18 years old , was in one of the obsessed house ’s rooms — a gruesome , blood - souse bathroom — when she slipped off a tub as she was trying to scare visitors . As she fell , she get her neck stuck in a gin that was part of the scene . It allegedly took somewhere between two and 10 bit before a coworker find her and sheer her down . By then she had cease breathe . Rue was in acomafor three days [ source : Claims Journal ] .
The day after the chance event , the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ( OSHA ) investigated and found three serious guard intrusion , after which OSHA punish Creepyworld parent company Halloween Productions Inc. $ 10,500 [ origin : Claims Journal ] .
Post - coma , Rue start suffering from little - term remembering loss , vexation , blackouts and spirit vibration . Relatives say she got easy frustrated , fight to find her way home and basically had a changed personality .
In 2012 , Rue process Halloween Productions Inc. and its proprietor , Larry Kirchner , for carelessness and dangerous work atmospheric condition . Relatives say the noose , for one affair , should have been a split up - away prop and not bolted to the ceiling [ rootage : Claims Journal ] .
4. Pennhurst Asylum Gets a Little Too Intense
The Pennhurst Asylum attraction in Philadelphia , opened in 2010 , and face controversy from the get - go . It ’s housed in a formermental quickness — originally named the Eastern Pennsylvania State Institution for the Feeble - Minded and Epileptic — that first opened in the other 1900s . Its patient were people who abide from mental illness or were physically disabled .
But the place was shut down in the eighties after written report of patientabuse , mistreatment and nasty atmospheric condition — all of which extend to one of America ’s first abuse - link class - action lawsuits . Some people said it was inappropriate to house an amusement - focused attraction at the internet site [ source : Campisi ] .
And then thing got more vivid . In 2011 , Steven Chrzanowski got several leg hurt after two employees somehow caused a hospital layer to taste him in the human knee while he was brook in line at the Halloween attracter [ origin : Campisi ] .
Chrzanowski , whose injuries require surgery , sued Pennhurst ’s operator for what he described as the negligent , regardless and foolhardy act of the employees that result in his ruined knee . He require for compensatory damages of more than $ 75,000 plus other link costs [ rootage : Campisi ] .
3. The Darkness Actually Caused a Death
the great unwashed be intimate they may be frightened to death at a haunted house , but they do n’t expect to actually die . Nevertheless , a obsessed house was entail in the death of 15 - year - old Brittney Holmes .
During Halloween 2009 , Holmes chew the fat The Darkness , a haunted mansion in Soulard , a historic French neighborhood in St. Louis . As she walked through the attraction , the asthmatic teen was forced to inhale its artificialfogand various other olfactory property .
On the way of life plate , Holmes had external respiration problems . By the time she reached a infirmary , her brain had n’t had oxygen for at least seven minutes . Holmes kick the bucket a year afterwards , after being in avegetative statethe full fourth dimension . Her aesculapian government note topped $ 1 million [ source : Hahn ] .
The Darkness had posted several sign warning away people with respiratory problems . Holmes had been asthmatic since the age of 4 and was allergic to a variety of things , including grass , detritus and mildew . However , Holmes ' parents , who do not last together , each sued Halloween Productions Inc. , which operated The Darkness [ origin : Hahn ] . Halloween Productions also execute the said Creepyworld .
2. Clowns Attack at Massacre Haunted House
Regina Janito , her 17 - year - old girl and three of her girl ’s friends planned to take the air through the Massacre Haunted House , often rated Illinois’scariesthaunted house , in 2014 . But their adventure was cut scant after she and her daughter were assaulted and verbally chivvy in the attracter ’s parking lot by two men dress as clowns manage sex toys .
According to Jacinto , the men pound her girl with a sexual practice toy dog and also used the plaything to model a sex number . One of the clown , Robert Keller , repeatedly made lewd remarks to the two women . They leave without expire inside the haunted planetary house [ reservoir : Keller ] .
later , traumatized by their experience , Janito and her girl filed suit of clothes , alleging the intentional infliction of emotional hurt , violation and carelessness . Keller eventually pleaded hangdog to infringement assault and battery and was break water $ 500 and placed on probation for one yr . He was also govern to perform 30 hr of community of interests service .
Massacre Haunted House pass on a confidential liquidation with Jacinto and her daughter . The only thing known about it is that Massacre did not admit wrongdoing [ germ : Hitzeman ] .
1. Real Human Corpses Mistaken for Halloween Décor
Hopefully people are not using real remains as Halloween décor . But sometimes corpse cease up out in the open for passersby to see . And when this happen around Halloween , multitude may unfortunately assume it ’s just a really good prop .
In October 2005 , residents of Frederica , Delaware , noticed a char ’s consistence hanging from a tree about 15 feet ( 4.5 meters ) above the ground alongside a moderately busy route . It took three minute before someone call police ; most people assumed it was a Halloween joke . It was n’t . The corpse was a 42 - yr - erstwhile cleaning lady who apparently committed suicide [ rootage : NBC News ] .
likewise , four eld later in October 2009 , a California humans belt down himself on his apartment balcony , law consider , by shooting himself through the eye . His lifeless consistency then slumped over his patio furniture . Those who spied the man thought it was a dummy set out for Halloween . It was five day before mass realized the " dummy " was a corpse [ reservoir : Cathcart ] .
More recently , in October 2015 , a Chillicothe , Ohio , woman was murdered and allow for hanging on a strand - link fence , her remaining hand hold fast up . A neighbour who spotted the body mean it was a holiday ornament — a zombi . Luckily she took a closer look and discovered the scarey true statement [ source : ABC13 ] .
This Halloween , give close tending to any corpse you spot .
Lots More Information
As someone who hates shuddery movies and taken up houses , and who has the earth ’s strongest jump instinctive reflex , this clause further reassert my aversion to everything and anything scary . And to wandering around in dark-skinned , confined outer space , where you could get hurt in any number of ways .
But the most chilling part of search this history was discover out about the world of such billet as McKamey Manor . With all of the people in the world suffering from PTSD , why in the world would people voluntarily subjugate themselves to this ? The hoi polloi behind the creation of these " attractiveness " freely allow they love scaring people senseless — it gives them a rush . That , alone , is creepy enough for me .
