Haunted House Etiquette.

[cabbagegirl28]

I thought the No Touch rule was a universal rule.

Two years ago, I took DS, then 10, to a really scary haunted house aimed for older kids and adults. He was really scared, so I kept telling him that they couldn't touch us. 30 seconds into the haunted house, and they grabbed our legs! He shouted out that I had lied to him. My bad.

Our haunted maze says, "We won't touch you unless you touch us. If you do, watch out." But they tell you that upfront, so if you don't like that thing, you don't have to put up with that.

[Thipu1]

I agree that no-touch rules are a good thing.  However, I did go to one in which visitors were gently touched. 

It was a scripted show.  Shows were every hour and visitors were led through in groups.  One of the actors was a 'Zombie Cop' whose job was to see that the group stayed together. 

In one of the rooms I was interested in a painting on the wall and fell a bit behind.  I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder and heard, 'Yes.  It's fine art, isn't it.  I can tell you have an excellent Braaaiiin'. 

I'm a terrible skairdy cat but I had to laugh at that one. 

[Hmmmmm]

We used to run a haunted house.  Mostly geared toward 8 to 13, but we had several adults completely freak out and have to be escorted out and the last year we ran it we had a HS football palyer friend of my DD's have to go home and change his clothes after only making it half way through. 

I worked the front door and no one was admitted without them repeating the rule "Touch NOTHING and NOTHING will touch you". 

I completely understand someone KNOWING that everything is fake but still freaking out.  Shoot, it was my house and there were a few times I was in there alone and got pretty spooked. 

So I can understand anyone's initial reaction is to fight back if touched, no matter what type of training they have.

For the people volunteering in our house, we always made sure they understood that if a guest was really freaking out, to drop out of character and help them out.  The reason I dislike commercial haunted houses is they train their people to almost pray on the most freaked out of a group (which is usually me) to up the fear factor.

[Onyx_TKD]

The reason I dislike commercial haunted houses is they train their people to almost pray on the most freaked out of a group (which is usually me) to up the fear factor.

Haunted house for the religio-phobic? "Don't fall behind, anyone. If you do, the whole congregation will converge on you to lay on hands and pray for your immortal soooouuuul."

And back to your regularly scheduled thread. That typo just brought a really funny picture to mind. 

[Jones]

I haven't been in a haunted house since I was about 7. I had on a pretty princess dress, and at some point during the walkthrough I was lightly sprayed with a liquid. My friend said it was blood and my dress was ruined. I cried and cried, even when the haunters took me to a lit room and showed me it was water it took me a while to calm down.

[cocacola35]

I also thought the "no touch" rule was universal in haunted houses.  It just seems common sense that from a safety (not to mention legal) standpoint to protect both actors and patrons.  I think haunted houses are asking for trouble if they allow the actors to touch the patrons.  However if a patron should not participate if they know they will assault someone for jumping out at them.

I've been to a few haunted houses- before we went in the rules were always laid out first (one of the first one being that you cannot touch the actors) and you had the opportunity to leave at that point.  I quickly learned not to act like the most freaked out person there- the actors tend to stalk that person throughout the haunted house! 

[Marisol]

No Touch is more universal now, but back in the 80-90s I remember there being a lot more contact.  I think that is why we have no touch rules now.  I distinctly remember hands grabbing my legs on hayrides. 

[Sharnita]

BTW, did anybody see this week's episode of New Girl, where a character who is terrified of haunted houses had to go into one to try to tell his friend who worked there something important?  It pretty much acted out the scenarios discussed here.