Greater Houston Weekly - Top Of The Week
Haunted Houston
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| Eleven-year-old Ben Berg gives a yell as he walks through a scene at Scream World. |
By Marene Gustin
Boo! Did that scare you? Probably not, but if you like to feel the hair raise on the back of your neck, then this is the season for you because Houston’s haunted house attractions are opening their frightful doors to thousands.
“In the United States Halloween has become a $7 billion industry and 15 percent of all Americans will attend a Halloween event this fall,” said Timothy Gavinski, president of the International Association of Haunted Attractions (yes, there is such a thing).
“As you get older, you can’t really trick or treat anymore, and sometimes Halloween parties are lame so you go to haunted houses,” said Michael Edwards.
At least that was what Edwards and his brother Joseph, who have loved Halloween since they were kids, were thinking one October several years ago. But when they looked on the Internet, they couldn’t find a lot of information.
So they created www.houston haunts.com, a website dedicated to Houston’s haunted houses and other Halloween fun. The brothers try to visit all of the spooky attractions and update the information on the site.
“I’ve probably been to 60 haunted houses,” said Joseph Edwards. “It’s fun but sometimes by the fifth or sixth one you get all scared out.”
Of course they have some favorites, like Phobia, which has two locations, the 288 Scare Factory in Pearland and Nightmare on the Bayou, which has both a Halloween shop on site and, apparently, real ghosts.
But when it comes to getting your fright on, there’s one attraction that is legend in Houston – Jim Fetterly’s ScreamWorld.
“I started back in 1989,” Fetterly said. “We had the Nightmare on Fannin, the Haunted Hotel and Fear Factory.”
Fetterly, who gave up a real job to sleep on a friend’s couch and work at a haunted house for $5 an hour just to learn the ropes, got into the business to make money, but he’s stayed for 20 years.
“It’s come a long way from dark hallways and dripping blood,” he said. “In the mid 90s animatronic monsters came in. Before that you could only see them at places like Disney, but suddenly they were affordable for haunted houses. That was a big change and the business just exploded from there.”
Which was right about the time that Midtown rents also began to explode. Fetterly saw the bloody handwriting on the wall and started looking for another location. What he found was a 4.5-acre site on Sam Houston Parkway. And — this is what a big business scaring people is — he actually had two banks bidding to loan him half a million dollars to buy the land and build his 12,000-square-foot building. In 2001 ScreamWorld opened its doors and the screaming hasn’t stopped since.
The building has multiple attractions inside: The Haunted Hotel, Edge of Darkness, Movie Monsters in 3D, The Haunted Woods, The Sewer, Dungeon of Dome, The Demented Farmhouse, Alien Autopsy, The Torture Chamber and Tomb of Terror. There’s also a Maze of Maniacs and The Tobias Strange Family Cemetery outdoors.
How spooky is this place? Well, it routinely wins best haunted house category in the local media and is again on the list of America’s Best Haunts.
“Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves because people pay us to scare them!” Fetterly, who scares 30,000 annually, said. “People want to feel safe, but they like to have some part of their life that’s on the edge. It’s the element of surprise. I love it, I love scaring people!”
A Haunting We Will Go
Check out area haunted houses on www.HoustonHaunts.com for addresses and info. Be sure to check out the attractions’ websites for specials and coupons. Most attractions offer a speedpass for a higher fee that allows you to jump to the head of the line. And look for attractions that offer entertainment (movies and such) if you are waiting in line and those with paved parking. Wear comfortable clothes, go with friends and, most importantly, said Michael Edwards, have fun.
“In the United States Halloween has become a $7 billion industry and 15 percent of all Americans will attend a Halloween event this fall,” said Timothy Gavinski, president of the International Association of Haunted Attractions (yes, there is such a thing).
“As you get older, you can’t really trick or treat anymore, and sometimes Halloween parties are lame so you go to haunted houses,” said Michael Edwards.
At least that was what Edwards and his brother Joseph, who have loved Halloween since they were kids, were thinking one October several years ago. But when they looked on the Internet, they couldn’t find a lot of information.
So they created www.houston haunts.com, a website dedicated to Houston’s haunted houses and other Halloween fun. The brothers try to visit all of the spooky attractions and update the information on the site.
“I’ve probably been to 60 haunted houses,” said Joseph Edwards. “It’s fun but sometimes by the fifth or sixth one you get all scared out.”
Of course they have some favorites, like Phobia, which has two locations, the 288 Scare Factory in Pearland and Nightmare on the Bayou, which has both a Halloween shop on site and, apparently, real ghosts.
But when it comes to getting your fright on, there’s one attraction that is legend in Houston – Jim Fetterly’s ScreamWorld.
“I started back in 1989,” Fetterly said. “We had the Nightmare on Fannin, the Haunted Hotel and Fear Factory.”
Fetterly, who gave up a real job to sleep on a friend’s couch and work at a haunted house for $5 an hour just to learn the ropes, got into the business to make money, but he’s stayed for 20 years.
“It’s come a long way from dark hallways and dripping blood,” he said. “In the mid 90s animatronic monsters came in. Before that you could only see them at places like Disney, but suddenly they were affordable for haunted houses. That was a big change and the business just exploded from there.”
Which was right about the time that Midtown rents also began to explode. Fetterly saw the bloody handwriting on the wall and started looking for another location. What he found was a 4.5-acre site on Sam Houston Parkway. And — this is what a big business scaring people is — he actually had two banks bidding to loan him half a million dollars to buy the land and build his 12,000-square-foot building. In 2001 ScreamWorld opened its doors and the screaming hasn’t stopped since.
The building has multiple attractions inside: The Haunted Hotel, Edge of Darkness, Movie Monsters in 3D, The Haunted Woods, The Sewer, Dungeon of Dome, The Demented Farmhouse, Alien Autopsy, The Torture Chamber and Tomb of Terror. There’s also a Maze of Maniacs and The Tobias Strange Family Cemetery outdoors.
How spooky is this place? Well, it routinely wins best haunted house category in the local media and is again on the list of America’s Best Haunts.
“Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves because people pay us to scare them!” Fetterly, who scares 30,000 annually, said. “People want to feel safe, but they like to have some part of their life that’s on the edge. It’s the element of surprise. I love it, I love scaring people!”
A Haunting We Will Go
Check out area haunted houses on www.HoustonHaunts.com for addresses and info. Be sure to check out the attractions’ websites for specials and coupons. Most attractions offer a speedpass for a higher fee that allows you to jump to the head of the line. And look for attractions that offer entertainment (movies and such) if you are waiting in line and those with paved parking. Wear comfortable clothes, go with friends and, most importantly, said Michael Edwards, have fun.
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