23 Scary Facts About Haunted Houses: You Should Know About!

Haunted houses have existed since time immemorial, but of course, they gained their reputation years later.

Dating back to the 18th century, a haunted house came into being when people started reporting things that could not be explained logically. Sighting apparitions and hearing sounds that were beyond human perception became the primary feature of haunted houses.

The legacy of real-life haunted houses has remained popular even today, like the Perron family's infamous haunted mansion, the Conjuring house investigated by the well-known paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren that even inspired mega-blockbuster films.

The Amityville Horror haunted house is an example that was once a famous attraction but is now just a regular house with a normal family.

While there are tons of inexplicable occurring and innumerable haunted attractions all over the world (you'll know which sites to follow if you're into real-life hauntings), these very real happenings inspired businesses that boomed worldwide, which were obviously luring people.

Thus the haunted house industry came into being and became popular as a way to get spooked but still have fun.

If this got your interest, be sure to check out facts about the history of haunted houses and what would you find in a haunted house!

History Of Haunted Houses

If we owe anyone the tradition of haunted houses as an attraction, ranging from some ghost house to a haunted castle, then we owe it to Disney, who popularized this.

The very first haunted house built as an attraction for the general public was the Orton and Spooner ghost house. This opened way back in 1915.

One of the most popular haunted attractions was a display called "Chamber of Horrors" by Marie Tussaud, which consisted of the decollated wax figurines of notable French figures such as Marie Antoinette, King Louis XVI, Robespierre, and Marat. Moving to France, Max Maurey developed a sort of horror theatre designed to primarily scare the audience.

In the USA, home to the Halloween tradition, this first came into being when parents decided to add a spooky touch to their houses to keep their children from going out in the times when the Great Depression hit.

There are, needless to say, two types of haunted houses that attract visitors.

One is where reported paranormal sightings have taken place, maybe even that creepy house in your neighborhood that people keep hearing footsteps in.

The famous ones would be, thus, the Conjuring House in the United States, the Haunted Mansion of the Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, the Château de Brissac in France, the infamous Stanley Hotel in the USA that inspired Stephen Kings's much-celebrated novel "The Shining" and the Bhangarh Fort in India.

Being home to "real spirits" these spooky spots gain an obvious fan-following with curious souls looking for adventure.

The other type is the setup of the haunted house, which is an attraction at an amusement park or an arcade that you'll come across, designed with fake scary elements to induce fear but very obviously lacking any real ghostly presence.

Not for the faint-hearted, haunted houses are a load of fun for anyone looking for a cheery scare; they have developed into a number of things like a haunted house-themed zombie escapade or some haunted house-themed mystery houses that allow you to play games while battling jump-scares.

What would you find in a haunted house?

As an attraction designed only for entertainment, the most basic things in a haunted house you can find are eerie decorations and jump-scares.

But to say, if you're looking for a real haunted house which is also an entertainment escapade as a haunted house-themed attraction, then it is quite difficult to find your suit. As of now, there are no simulated haunted attractions that also harbor unrested souls wandering about.

Some haunted houses have a theme to them like if it's a zombie-themed house, you're sure to encounter baseball bats as props, some blood on the wall, a tricky way to the end as well as people dressed as zombies who act there as a job to harmlessly scare you.

If it's based on some famous haunted houses like the Lizzy Borden House in Massachusetts, then you can have the exact replicas and cosplays based on that very real incident.

Lost in Melbourne is a haunted house cum escape room in Australia that bases its theme on the creepy encounters of the notorious Annabelle doll.

The question of what the most haunted house can be is quite debatable because there is no correct answer to that; it will always remain subjective based on people's varied experiences.

But generally, one of the most haunted houses, the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, is your destination if you're looking for the real deal.

Caricatured in a strange way with doors opening into walls and stairs that lead you to the ceiling, there have been reports of unexplained voices, footsteps, and even cold spots throughout the haunted mansion by various people and investigators as well as the mention of a "Wheelbarrow Ghost"- the apparent spirit that haunts this ghost house.

While real haunted houses can be exciting to visit, if you're not up for the task and just looking for some simulated scare that you know isn't real, then you can visit the Statesville Haunted Prison in Illinois to get a specially designed fright.

Where is the scariest haunted house?

There are, in fact, not one but several spooky houses that are dubbed as the scariest haunted mansion you'll ever come across. But among others, some steal the top spots like the Château De Brissac in France, the Monte Cristo Homestead in Australia, and the Bhangarh Fort in India.

If you're looking for the eeriest creepy houses to have the experience of your lifetime in a haunted simulation, then we've got you covered as well. From the scariest thing in reality to the scariest fake ghost one will ever see, all the information is set.

Beginning with the very real Château De Brissac, a chilling apparition of a "Green Lady" is often encountered in its grounds frightening guests and visitors alike, the identity of the ghost ranging back to King Charles VII.

The Bed-and-Breakfast that operates at the Monte Cristo Homestead is not only haunted by several different ghosts of people who tragically lost their lives ages ago, but this haunted attraction also offers tourists a tour of the grounds where one is led through the spooky spots as well as given all the information about the ghastly past of this monument.

Constructed in the 17th century, the legends of the Bhangarh Fort in India have reached far and wide because of the ill-famed happenings, so much so that not a single soul is allowed to enter it after sunset till sunrise, and tourists are only allowed to visit when there's daylight.

Perhaps the Myrtles Plantation in the USA also deserves mention because of the fact that the "ghosts" that lurk there have actually been photographed - a little "ghost girl" and the famous green turban-wearing Chloe.

The fact that 10 people were murdered on the premise of this building might scare your wits too!

Now, if you're looking for the scariest eerie simulations, we've got that covered as well. The haunted house industry is evolving all over the world with scary houses and spooky mansions connected to a theme like a haunted hospital or an asylum or a haunted escape room decorated with jump-scares.

They can be considered just as good as the real deal.

Haunted House Attractions

There are, of course, two types of haunted house attractions, one being the real haunted houses and the other being a haunted house simulation.

Any simulated haunted attraction firstly requires a lot of hard work and creativity and secondly is often preferred to the real ones because of the fact that the latter won't always guarantee you a ghostly experience, but the former will always let you go with a great ordeal.

While not for the faint-hearted, sometimes a haunted attraction can be a really thrilling experience that will always be remembered, and moreover, it mostly always includes fun games and likable activities with a spooky touch.

Much like Halloween is celebrated extensively throughout the world now, haunted simulations have been stepping up their game.

While we talked about the scariest real haunted houses, these simulations will really give you the heebie-jeebies. The Fear Overload Scream Park in California is considered one of the scariest haunted houses in the US and consists of two haunted houses that are known to petrify anyone who dares to venture in.

The Statesville Haunted Prison in Illinois is themed in a prison-break sort of way and offers the visitors mad and villainous criminals ready to scare their wits.

The Darkness in Missouri holds a special record.

As a zombie-run themed haunted house, it includes the widest variety of special effects you'll come across. The uniqueness of The Blackout Experience in New York is that the adventurers are left alone, unaware of what awaits them, and that is a truly nerve-wracking experience.

Georgetown Morgue in Seattle, Washington, like many other haunted house attractions, make up their own horror story of two killer janitors and their victims as the tourists are taken on a tour inside the sewers with the dead on display as well as the scary murderers lurking about.

Besides these, there is also the acclaimed The 13th Gate in Louisiana that offers several types of horrifying attractions, from primitive ice caves to swamps filled with snakes.

In Kansas, the third Street Asylum was once a real, torturous hospital, housing vicious patients and closed down in 1983 for good. But to keep up a scary tradition, it is now opened every year as a haunted house attraction on Halloween for people to venture into the dark walls of this place.

So whether it's a real ghost or a scary artificial set-up to get your heart racing, you can take choose from the several real and simulated haunted attractions and enjoy up to your heart's content.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 23 scary facts about haunted houses: you should know about! then why not take a look at facts about Venezuela history facts or Alfred Hitchcock facts?