Throughout the US and Canada during the month of October, there are seasonal tourist attractions which carry a similar theme. October is the month for Halloween in much of the north american continent, and this time of year people go out of their way to get scared.

They pack up family and friends in a car or van, drive into the city or (more enjoyably in my experience) to the outskirts and the boonies to find anything from a warehouse to a hayride surrounded by startling constructs and strange people dressed up in costume. The fun starts after dark, when the world is at its spookiest, and all manner of vampires, witches, ghosts, dudes with severed body parts, and vaguely humanoid beasts of burden come out to roost.

This idea may have evolved from the theory that some old houses are literally haunted by the lost souls of dead people, or by demons and other evil spirits of the paranormal. Though this has largely been unproven scientifically, that does not deter the majority of humanity from believing in the possibility.

Admittedly, you sometimes have to suspend your disbelief. Many haunted houses are designed and implemented by organizations trying to raise money for charity, and don't have a lot of money to devote to creating the haunted house. Fortunately, the fact that it's best to get scared in the dark works to the advantage of those erecting these towers of terror. A seam in the back of a wolfman costume is harder to see at night, and paint jobs that aren't completed can easily be covered over by cheap red paint (to denote blood) or other creative spurts.

Types of Haunted Houses

The first kind is the original kind, where there are claims that a location is really honestly haunted and if you spend the night there you might see something move of its own accord or hear things that go bump in the night. Admittedly these don't always have lines going around the block, but they do attract sceptics and believers alike. Though very interesting, this guide entry is focusing on the fake kind of haunted house: the kind of places erected in order to scare the pants off people for fun and profit, or for a good cause.

And that's a good place to start the delineation of types of haunted houses. There are two general categories that all haunted houses fall into: commercial and benefit. Commercial haunted houses are intended solely for profit. A portion of the proceeds may go to a charity, but they pay their employees and invest their profits back into making the house scarier and more believable the following year (that is if they want to become successful). Benefit haunted houses are largely run by volunteers. The quality of the house is not as good as commercial venues because they're usually running on a shoestring budget. However, volunteers often amass together a wide assortment of useful materials, costumes, masks, and overall creativity. In some cases, benefit houses can surpass commercial houses due to the sheer ingenuity and enjoyment brought about by the people who put it together. They're not doing it for a paycheck; they sincerely enjoy frightening people! And it's all for a good cause.

Sometimes a haunted house is a little of both. For example, Lance Pope's Verdun Manor in Terrell Texas is perhaps one of the most successful and professional haunted houses in the United States. Lance Pope used to give a portion of his proceeds to an animal preservation society charity, because he loves animals especially wolves. However, I can't find proof that he still does that. Make no mistake though. Verdun Manor is definitely commercial, and very successful at it (also very good and scary).

Another way to categorize haunted houses is in the type of venue, which breaks down to indoor and outdoor and then can be further subclassed beyond that.

The classic indoor style is where an old house, barn, warehouse, or other structure is used. These indoor projects have their strengths and weaknesses. They usually require the patrons walk through the place on foot. This can be used to an advantage but does carry along with it security risks. A maze of some sort is required. Ideally, the indoor location chosen should already have several winding hallways with various sized rooms where different scenarios can be set up. If the house doesn't have enough halls, a large room can be converted into a maze with use of some hard wood, paint and elbow grease.

Indoor houses can often remain open even during inclement weather, and if it's thundering and raining outside that can only add to the overall experience. However they can't do some of the wilder and more extravagant effects inside the building, like have fire shoot out from strange places, or have a twenty spider hover over people with a crane hidden behind some trees. Sometimes a tent is erected and wooden walls are made inside to develop a maze of sorts, but though still indoor these have more weaknesses. It's harder to scare people when the outside of the place doesn't look very menacing.

Outdoor haunts don't technically fit the description of a haunted house, but the intention is the same, and they invoke very different pros and cons. If done outdoors, it's generally necessary to choose an area out of the way from most metropolitan cities or major highways. They're harder to find and must work harder at advertising in order to attract people. Also, inclement weather generally shuts them down for the night. However, they can be much more elaborate with lighting and sound effects.

One of the most dramatic and fun outdoor haunts is the haunted hayride. A flatbed trailer is utilized with a tractor pulling it, and large piles of hay are thrown in the back to give the experience a rustic feel and also to add comfort to the patron's hind quarters. The tractor pulls the flatbed through a predecided route through a wooded area (often unused farm fields or privately owned forests) with twenty or thirty potential victums on board. Throughout the several acres of darkened landscape are positioned dozens of volunteers or hired hands for the haunt. Some operate equiptment engineered to cause anything from timed explosions to loudspeakers to car sirens to elaborate things falling from trees or dilapidated old buildings to whatever the designers of the haunt can cook up.

Sometimes an outdoor haunt can be a simple beaten trail into some woods. These attempts often have the advantages and disadvantages of both the indoor and outdoor venues. The patrons must take the trail on foot which is a weakness of the indoor haunts which can be turned into a strength with some work. The freedom of the use of the already scary environment allows much leeway, but the lack of walls and ceilings means the patrons may see too much behind the scenes aspects of the haunt, and haunted trails are also suceptible to the elements.

And finally there are the actual theme park types, which often contain more than one haunted house as well as several other related attractions like souveneir shops, face, painting, fortune tellers, and I've even been to one that had a disco dance hall and a kareoke stage. Now that's scary!

Theme houses are often outdoor venues with one or more indoor structures created in order to take advantage of the full spectrum of types of houses available. A fine example is Screams Halloween Theme Park in Waxahachie Texas. Screams boasts to be ''the world's largest halloween theme park'' and covers fifty acres with eight main attractions. They even have live bands on most Saturday nights.

Your Turn

This guide entry is far from over, and is being implemented into h2g2.com to solicit your grey matter. Rather than get your zombie friend to rip open your skull and smear some grey matter on your keyboard, simply select the link(s) below for the forums to this guide entry. Hopefully, we'll have the penultimate description of a haunted house here in this guide entry, by next Halloween. :-)

First off, as you might have noticed, my expertise in haunted houses is limited to those available in the southwest, because of where I live. Do you know about haunted house attractions in your area? Could you describe them to us? Do they have a web address?

What, in your opinion, would make the ideal haunted house? Have you gone to a haunted house before and saw certain things that you believe are requirements for a good haunted house or things that should be avoided to make a house better? Do you prefer houses to really scare you, or are you more interested in hokey and melodramatic haunted houses that make you laugh? Do you like it when they make references to horror films, television, classic literature, or do you like haunted houses that offer more creativity and go out on a limb? What differences do you notice between commercial haunted houses designed to turn a profit and those intended to collect funds for charity organizations?

If you've personally participated in the behind the scenes aspects of a haunted house, please feel free to share your experiences in the forums provided below. What are some things people visiting a haunted house should keep in mind? How might someone go about putting on their own haunted house for their community? If you're not from North America, do you have haunted houses near where you live? If not, would you go to one if it was there? How do you celebrate Halloween in your part of the world?

What scares you? I'll see you in the forums.

The following links will take you out of h2g2.com

• Haunted House dot com
• Verdun Manor
• Screams Halloween Theme Park
• [this space will be filled by links provided by people like you in the forums below.]