Haunted House Association Announces the Beginning of 2008 Halloween Season; Halloween Attractions Now a One Billion Dollar Industry

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 6 MO-HauntedHouseAssoc


Halloween attractions open across the country and signify the start of a frightening fall season that will redefine how people face their fears

 

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- As night falls earlier across the country and a chill creeps into the air, the Haunted House Association is reminding people that the haunting season has begun and has announced today that Halloween attractions have now evolved into a big business, with big returns.



Gone are the old haunted houses with fake blood and cheap thrills. Halloween attractions this season are as expertly produced as the rides at mega-theme parks, with behind-the-scenes teams comprised of master Hollywood special effects technicians, make-up artists, set designers, and talented actors whose sole job it is to make you scream, yet keep you coming back for more. Set everywhere from cornfields and graveyards to industrial warehouses, these new Halloween attractions are born out of our own personal nightmares and then re-created in real life. 



"To best describe the Halloween attraction experience, we ask people to imagine their greatest fear and then consider that there is a group of expertly trained professionals, with millions of dollars in funding, whose main goal it is to make that fear a reality," said Larry Kirchner, chairman of the Haunted House Association. "People have a preconceived notion that haunted houses are a gimmick put on by neighbors to scare kids and few realize that Halloween has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry with haunted houses evolving into intense experiences. Visiting a haunted attraction is a great way to get into the Halloween spirit and have a fun, safe evening that's entertaining for people of all ages."



The haunted house industry has had steady growth over the past five years and the 2008 Halloween season will showcase over 2,200 haunted houses across the country.  The combination of the haunted attraction industry and the family-fun Halloween attraction industry has resulted in a market valued at over $1 billion.  



A recent study conducted in September 2008 by BIGresearch* showed that 18.1 percent of Americans will celebrate Halloween by visiting a haunted house (up 2 percent from last year), 50 percent will decorate their yards, and 50 percent will carve a pumpkin.  In 2008, the study shows that over 50 percent of Americans will celebrate the Halloween season with a visit to some sort of Halloween Attraction: a haunted house, a corn maze, a hay maze or a pumpkin patch event. The highest percentage of visitors will be 18-24 year olds, who make up approximately 42 percent of the audience.



See below for a list of notable Halloween attractions across the country:



7 Floors of Hell, Cleveland, OH -- www.7floorsofhell.com 
13th Gate Haunted House, Baton Rouge, LA -- www.midnightproduction.com/the13thgate.htm 
Nightmare on 13th, Salt Lake City, UT -- www.nightmareon13th.com 
Nightmare on the Bayou, Houston, TX -- www.nightmareonthebayou.com 
Cutting Edge, Fort Worth, TX -- www.cuttingedgehauntedhouse.com 
The Bates Motel, Philadelphia, PA -- www.thebatesmotel.com 
The Darkness, St. Louis, MO -- www.scarefest.com 
Dreamreapers Haunted House, Chicago, IL -- www.dreamreapers.com 
Erebus Four Story Haunted Attraction, Pontiac, MI -- www.hauntedpontiac.com 
The Haunted Hotel, San Diego, CA -- www.hauntedhotel.com 
Headless Horseman Hayrides and Haunted Houses, Ulster Park, NY -- www.headlesshorseman.com 
Kersey Valley SpookyWoods and Maize Adventure, Greensboro, NC -- www.spookywoods.com 
NETHERWORLD Haunted House, Atlanta, GA -- www.Fearworld.com






For more information about the Haunted House Association and listings of more haunted attractions nationwide, visit www.hauntedhouseassociation.org. 



* The 2008 BIGresearch study was taken from a polling of 8,000 respondents across the country.



About the Haunted House Association

The Haunted House Association (HHA) was established to assist and advance the haunted house industry through communication, education, and information. Through HHA, haunt owners can access a worldwide network in order to exchange ideas, information, experiences and concerns. As the Halloween industry has grown over the past decade and haunted houses become full-scale, Hollywood-quality productions, HHA has served as a comprehensive resource for haunt producers as well as those interested in the industry as a whole. For more information, visit www.hauntedhouseassociation.org. 





SOURCE  Haunted House Association