Does everyone remember their very first haunted house?

[markgordy39]

Does everyone remember their very first vist to a haunted attraction? What year, location, the name of it? etc.? Mine would've been around 1981 or 82 in Mt.Juliet,TN. It was located next door to the old high school and i believe it was called the old "Bass" house named after the person who's property it was on. And boy did it look the part, just like an old creepy classic looking haunted house. I don't remember much about the inside but i do remember after exiting out a side door saying something a 12 year old punk would say "hey this wasn't scary at all" lol and remembering someone who worked there saying "ok let's go down in the cellar and see if it's scary" . I declined the offer lol. Now there's a Sonic drive thru and Charlie Daniels park on that site. Anyone else?

Gordy
http://www.facebook.com/midsouthhaunts

[hauntedkimmy]

We had a bunch more haunted hayrides rather than haunted houses in our area. The earliest one I remember I was probably around 8 or 9 was set on a farm with a very old real graveyard on the land. The haywagon took you through a cornfield and stuff, but the part I remember most was coming up to the graveyard. It was a full moon that night so nothing in the graveyard was lit up. A witch stood in a few rows mumbling some incantations over a cauldron and out of nowhere came the headless horseman on his horse and his pumpkin head. It was amazing. So wish it was still in operation today to see it again!!!

[damon carson]

My first H.House

The first haunted house i ever went to was in an old mechanics shop not far from downtown. Kinda small and not the ideal place you would think to have a haunted house. I was only 6 and I imagine I begged my dad to take me. I dont remember alot of it. I do remember the old moving car gag with the headlighs and horn going off. It was put on by the Mexico Jaycee's. And I remember going every year after that. They had many better locations years following. From an old victorian house that sat on a large hill with an old rod iron fence surrounding the yard. It sat right in the center of town. And then the old Liberty Theater I was able to help with it. Some great memories! And kinda explains briefly what started all this madness. LOL!
Damon
Frightmasters
www.houseoffright.com

[Badger]

I was at summer camp, probably around 3rd grade when they had a 'haunted house' during 4th of July. I very distinctly remember they only let one person go through at a time. You went past a guy locked in a cage then a guy in an iron mask came out and 'led' you through the haunt pointing out all the things like the bottomless pit (he made you crawl though a pitch black tunnel), the forest of hands (gloves and fake body parts tied to trees and bushes but not all the hands were fake), and finally the big pop at the end where a guy in a gorilla suit would chase you out of the building.

Good times...

[Mad Wax Sculptor]

How about as a kid the first time( mid 70s) you saw an adult wearing an early don post mask and hands ? Thats no kid the wolfmans real !!! those were fun times.

[Jim Warfield]

I thought you Meant..

"My" first haunted house.I had never been to another haunted house before I made my own in my parent's basement and coal bin(empty)
The coal bin is a concrete bunker with a sloped floor a small door out into the basement , a large above ground removable hatch for shoveling coal in..
I saved my pennies and mail ordered a $2.98 poster of Zacherly, life-sized on sparkly white paper that looked like a real movie screen!
My "Show" was attempting to hypnotise some of the local little kids since I had sent away and recieved several small booklets explaining exactly how to hypnotise people.
Of the 3 kids I tried , 2 of them still send me $50 every week! (The other one has dropped off the radar but sends me pictures every so often of foreighn women he has for sale someplace just outside the country's boundries. (I think he actually hypnotised Them!)
Why give up your childhood if adulthood holds no excitement?
Pontiac builds excitement!
The 1964 GTO Good Til October!

[damon carson]

Jim that basement sounds like the old psycho house in its description. And Im not poking fun. Remember in psycho 2 where Norman kills his real mother and burys her in the coal. Zacherly was he an old horror movie host? I used to have a video of him. I thought it was funny and somewhat entertaining in a strange way. Dont remember where I ever found that tape? I think I bought an old vcr and it was in it. LOL! Gave it to a friend once as a joke. Now Im no longer friends with this guy and dont have the video. He was kinda strange Im sure he still watches it lol!
Damon
Frightmasters
www.houseoffright.com

[screamforadream]

Wayne, this one goes to you, here in Connecticut, I was maybe 8 or so and I went to Wayne Barneschi's Trail of Terror here in Connecticut. It was my first ever time going to a haunt, it was back at the old location in some very grungy backyard of an old house near a tattoo parlor and there was no parking, but it still had a crazy couple hour wait time by the time we got there. Thankfully some guy saw me with my parents, and gave my mom a free VIP token and we all ended up going to the front of the line for some reason and were the second group in.

I remember acting very tough in line, like no one could scare me, (I was THAT kid), until halfway through when some crazy lady was behind bars and she bent the bars and lunged at me. I was convinced she couldn't get me, and that just made me almost crap myself. I started crying. We reached a slide, I thought it was going to be fun, my mom went before me and told the actor at the bottom of the slide my name, I got down the slide and the actor starting screaming my name and I was BAWLING. Like a total baby. We reached the end, I was crying, and it was the night the news was there interviewing people, and I walked past a camera crying, which only made me cry more because people saw me crying.

I look back at it and laugh. I was petrified man! And now it's one of my favorite places to go. This past October I went with my girlfriend, and the plastic surgeon at the end told me I was just on time for my penis implant that my girlfriend called ahead for, and I was laughing as I said "that's fine as long as she's still on time for her boob job." Good times, good times. Love it Wayne!

[Johnny Thunder]

Brigantine Castle or Castle Dracula in Wildwood.

R.I.P. to both.

[MDKing]

Johnny Thunder,

I feel your pain! I loved the old Dracula's castle that's one of the reasons why I love doing a castle themed haunt today I was definitely inspired by it. It had the best castle facade for a haunted house I've ever seen, judging it by a true medieval castle. I think that was my first ever haunted house as well. I never got to see Brigantine unfortunately....


Allan

[Lochness]

Haunted Graveyard

Haunted Graveyard at Lake Compounce. Ernie if your reading this, its me Ethan, remember that kid that was like "whats your name" after the graveyard? Idk but... It was fun.

[drfrightner]

Very first was in the basement of the four family flat I lived in... walls made from sheets but we did a pretty good job all in all. Then did another one in forth grade at the apt complex rec center, thousands of people walked thru in one night. I remember I was a werewolf made from a fuzzy purse. LOL

Larry

[Dark Tiki Studios]

As a child, my parents took me to the Jaycee's Haunted Forest in our home town. It was at the local park. They tried really hard, and I remember they had one or two animated props, which seemed like a really big deal to me at the time. I loved it!

[badlander2000]

As with Larry, I didn't attend a haunt before making my own. It was 2000 and I was 7. My twin sister, our next door neighbors and I (all between 5 in Kindergarten and 10 in 5th grade) were to do it more like a series of small plays than a haunt as we would run now. I had no resources whatsoever and the lack of intervention for AS made it absolutely impossible to communicate what I wanted to do with my family at all. However, my dad and I came to a compromise to light a curving path of tea lights in paper bags through the backyard to our perennial bonfire pile. The big scare ended up being my sister and neighbors abandoning the original plan to go hide in the tool shed and bust out as screaming zombies when the rest of the community members passed by. I called this first venture: The Cirrincione Haunted Fall Festival.

Fast forward 3 years and all the currently well-established professional haunt groups in Erie County had already been open for at least two years. The first of these events to catch my eye was Frightworld. It was the opening weekend of their Insanity/Toxic Terror in 3D/Reaper's Revenge/Mummy's Curse/Castle of Fear season. I am still absolutely in love with the ideas of those houses and the original House of the Dead. This year: Ron, Jay, Steve and crew tried to resurrect Insanity but, I don't think there will ever be a maze equal to it. That first jaunt into professional haunts was the spark that lead my family to finally accept the idea of my dream to haunt our house. Hah. I don't think there's a chance in the world that they'll remember this...My dad, sister and I went through the five houses three times each that night. You guys really were my first live inspiration. Thanks Frightworld!!!