Haunted houses not so cost efficient

This archived article was written by: Cj Jelsma

Halloween is here again. It is, of course, everyone’s favorite time of year. Who needs Christmas when there is Halloween to scare the crap out of you?
Every year Halloween comes around, it is so exciting. What’s not to love about a holiday where you can actually dress up and run around scaring people? Not to mention all of the treats, scary movies, games and so many other things.
The best things out there for Halloween are haunted houses. I used to go to one every year to help get into the spirit of the greatest holiday ever invented, even if it was invented by the candy companies just to sell candy to people.
Haunted houses are the greatest inventions in history, a place to go just to be scared by some stranger you have never met. What a great job to have, being paid to play shenanigans and run around scaring people who pay them to do so. This is incredible to me.
On a recent birthday trip up to Salt Lake, I talked my friends into going to a haunted house for my birthday celebration. We drove all the way there to be told that admittance was the outrageous amount of $15. I couldn’t believe this, $15 dollars is a lot of money to a college student and even though I had enough money to pay to get in, I couldn’t bring myself to spend it on one of my most favorite events in life.
Now in the mood to be scared, we decided to go to a movie instead. The Exorcism of Emily Rose was our best substitution for our scare fix. This was a good movie but it didn’t quite take the place of blood-curdling screams and bloody fiends scaring you at a haunted house, leaving me wanting more.
Though craving gore and bloody scenes, I still felt the $15 admittance fee was ridiculous and gave up on the night.
I just wonder how these haunted houses can open year after year and keep charging outrageous amounts of money. Not too long ago, when I was a child, they were only $5, now they have nearly tripled in price. How many other products have tripled in price in the last ten or so years? How many people incomes have tripled to where they can afford the outrageous fees for fun nowadays?
Most importantly, how do businesses like these haunted houses stay in business when their prices keep increasing and the amount of people visiting to a fraction of what it once was? Years ago, I remember standing in lines that curled clear around the buildings 10 people thick. Nowadays, there isn’t even a five-minute wait to get in. That seems like a big difference.
It seems like only affluent people can afford to even go to haunted houses today. I hope they understand the amount of business they are losing to these incredibly large fees. If this is all right to the haunted houses, I guess it’s OK for me. But I certainly do not plan on visiting one again for a long time, even if it is my favorite Halloween pastime.