Web Watch loves – and hates – haunted house attractions.
We love the concept, we love the designs. We love the insane creativity that goes on in putting on a successful Haunted House year after year.
But we wouldn’t be caught dead going to one as a guest. We don’t find running through a scare zone all that much fun.
We know, we’re in the minority on this, as Haunted Houses are multi-million dollar businesses these days.
So You Want to be a Haunt Entrepreneur
But there are some people who take huge amounts of pride in what they do, and it’s about that time of year that haunted houses begin receiving accolades in the press for the work that they do each year.
We’ll start with the 2012 TOP HAUNTED HOUSESfrom HAUNTWORLD magazine, the magazine for Haunted House professionals:
- The 13th Gate in Baton Rouge, LA
- Netherworld Haunted House in Atlanta, GA
- Headless Horseman in New York
- Cutting Edge Haunted House in Dallas, Texas
- House of Torment in Austin TX
- Erebus Haunted Attraction in Pontiac, MI
- The Asylum Haunted House in Denver, CO
- The Dent Schoolhouse in Cinncinati, OH
- The Darkness Haunted House in St. Louis, MO
- The Beast & Edge of Hell in Kansas City, MO
- The Bates Motel in Philadelphia, PA
- 13th Floor Haunted House offering 3 locations: San Antonio, TX, Denver, CO and Phoenix, AZ
- Nightmare on the Bayou in Houston, TX
Here are the TOP 10 HAUNTED HOUSES according to HAUNTED HOUSE RATINGS‘s list of the TOP 31 HAUNTS in the country. They didn’t provide any guidance as to why these are at the top of the list, but considering that Web Watch sees these same attractions on other Best Of lists, we’re willing to give HHR the benefit of the doubt here:
- Spookywoods, High Point, North Carolina
- The Darkness & Creepy World, St. Louis, Missouri
- Thrillvania’s Verdun Manor, Terrell, Texas
- Headless Horseman, Ulster Park, New York
- Cutting Edge Haunted House, Fort Worth, Texas
- The Beast & Edge of Hell, Kansas City, Missouri
- Scarehouse, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Erebus Haunted House, Pontiac, Michigan
- Wisconsin Feargrounds, Waukesha, Wisconsin
- Netherworld, Atlanta area, Georgia