the haunt played out sextual assault on the men who entered and as you can see no one here who has spoke yet thinks this belongs in a "average" american haunt. it brings up feelings to close to those of us affected which unfortunately is allot of us. but then where is the line? what about all those people who have had emotional trauma over the death of a loved one? some people cry at the sight of a coffin. am i being heartless if i use a coffin or are they being too sensitive or is it some of both? there are so many lines so many different people.
I think if you asked the average person on the street what would they expect to see in a haunt attraction they would list:
cobwebs
skeletons
zombies
gore (blood & guts)
guys with chainsaws
ghosts
vampires
coffins
axes
knives
dead bodies
In my opinion rape scenes would not be on the list.
A scene of a woman chained or caged most people would imagine sexual assault as being part of her torture. That is what we have been conditioned to expect from these types of scenes. Whether through movie scenes depicting this type of abuse or news reports describing, even showing, the conditions a woman had undergone during imprisonment by a "suspect" it has been engrained into our memory. The scene depicting a man in the same situation does not evoke those images. On average, sexual assault of a man is not even hinted at in movies and very rarely is it seen or heard of in the news.
A person who has been traumatized by a death, funeral, or physical assault would probably not consider going through a haunt attraction because of what most people would expect to see there. Add the possiblity of being grabbed by someone would further add to their decision not to attend. A person who has been traumatized by a sexual assault would probably not consider it either, depending on the circumstances of their assault.
Putting previous trauma aside, imo a woman's greatest fear is being sexually assaulted. Now you put a woman in the position of a mock sexual assault and that woman has now had her worst fear realised. The people who put this on have no idea how each woman or man is going to react or what kind of trauma they have caused. Are they going to pay for the psychiatric treatment these people may require now or in the future? Are they going to plead guilty to accessory to a sexual crime if someone leaves and goes out a commits one of these crimes?
If someone was to commit a crime and say that they were pushed over the edge by going to haunt attractions don't think for a minute that every haunt attraction, even yard haunts, would be immediately shut down. If ever the religious communities needed an excuse to put an end to Halloween all together that would be it.
Yes as a society we have become overly sensitive to every possible scenario that could be offensive to someone to the point of being apprehensive about anything we do. And yes where do you draw the line? Do you really want to have to draw up a 30 page contract for people to sign just to cover all your bases? Common sense should be the number 1 concern when inviting the public into your haunt, whether it be a professional haunt or your own yard haunt. I think the questions you should ask yourself when considering scenes for your haunt should be "would I want to see this? would I want my child or young adult to see this? how would I feel is this happened to me?"
No matter how sick or twisted we consider ourselves, there is a level of maturity and common sense that imo most haunt operators have reached that obviously these people have not.
I can say one thing. If I went into a place expecting the normal policy of no touchy, and someone tried to grab and drag away my wife, the gloves come off real quick like. And there aint no door going to be stopping me. Or wall. Or person.
But I digress.
Haunts have certain expectations. Cheif among them. You are not touched, and you do not touch.
One of the primary reasons for this is that it is essential for the patrons to feel they have control over this, and that while they certainly willingly participate in the illusion they are in danger, no real danger exists.
Removing the no touching policy is nothing new.
The first one I went through, you signed a waiver, it took 3 hours to go through, cost an atrocious price, but you got (most) your money back if you made it through. This was some 20 years ago (man I'm getting old). There were clear exits every 5 minutes or so, so the patron was still in control, there was still that safety net. The Patrons were still in control.
The second one, I'm convinced happened to be actors crossing the line without the owner's knowledge. It was...interesting. But the cops came in before we got very far in as there was an incident.
Which, brings us to the line, in my mind.
When you start placing yourself, your actors, or patrons in actual physical harm, you have crossed that line. A Haunt is meant to be a show. And, like any stage show, the audience must willingly provide suspension of disbelief. Physically assaulting them (as grabbing and dragging against their will would be), restraining them, or otherwise purposely causing harm is a line where you stop being a show, and you start placing all people in danger both mentally and physically.
All content aside, the patron must be allowed the choice of participation. Period. Anything less is crossing the line.
Personally, I don't put anything in my haunt that would scare the average 8 year old. No gore, no startle no threats. It's supposed to be fun after all.
The reason there's a no touching law throughout the haunt world is not only to protect the rights of the TOT's but the safety of the actors/haunters. Had one of the patrons been social phobic or a true bi-polar the actors could have put themselves in real harms way. Imagine being an actor and finding yourself straddling a sexual preditore. I'm more surprised there wasn't anything said about actors being hit or harmed. I was repeatedly struck by a kid one year. All I did was walk up behind him. He turned and started to swing. All I could do was cover the family jewels and back away. ( no harm done and he later apologized ) People can react badly to a sudden scare. I can see why they were only open one night. For my book, one night to many.
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The cold winter air lets me know I'm still alive. I feel it as I breath in and see it as it leaves me. It's the point in-between I'm not sure about.....
i've been reading all the posts above, and there are some real good points made. but i just want to add, if you are walking down the street and you pass someone you don't know, you will probably just pass each other. but if you call them a name? what are they going to do? call you a name back, get mad. that is why there is a no touch rule. once you touch them, you just opened the door for them to touch you. a lot of you have made comment to someone being traumatized if they have had an experience before, as far as i am concerned, experience prior or not, they are now being violated. this would have scared the daylights out of me. not a normal haunt! i would have thought we were all getting it and there would have been some blood drawn. this is just wrong. and as old as my daughter is, if i knew this was going on to her, i would have really hurt them. i don't believe this haunt made it without some incidents. no way could they get away with this. when there is a rape victum they try to keep it quiet for the victums safety, well i don't think it all is being told. if they are saying they are going to tone it down, that is an admission right there. otherwise, why would they feel the need to tone down. the bottom line, what they did was wrong. as far as gore in a haunted house, don't count me in. i go for the scare, not the gore. so this has really crossed the line.
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? coulrophobia ?
don't laugh, this fear is contagious
I thought I should write a reply to this forum considering as I was the creator of this haunt.
Asylum Hill was a student production with invited invited friends and family from my university who all knew what was going to happen within the haunt,.
All the actors were 18 - 20 and so was the majority of the audience and the most of the audience knew the actors. The only male in the haunt was 18 years old.
There was no referance to rape or sexual assult and if there had of been I personally would have stopped the haunt immediatley as I was at the entrance to the haunt at all time and there was a saftey marshal inside aswell.
I just wanted to clarifly that to you all as I would not want any of you to think that my company would find this type of behaivour acceptable.
Please remember that you are simply reading a review and did not actually encouter the haunt which was described by many as a very fun and entertaining experience. And it was just a one night event.
However after hearing peoples resonses I do intend to possibley tone down some of the 'in your face' scares for my next attraction in the Summer.
I hope that has cleared up some of you worries and concerns.
The whole sex thing is way out of line. I believe the grabbing of patrons is ok, IF a waver is signed prior to the beginning. Not dragging them by themselves though. I have been in a few haunts, and we modified according to the patons. We did not scare the hell out of anyone under 16. I was a half-eaten victim in one. I just didn't move at all if the person was scared by the witch in the room before mine. I am charge nurse of an 18 bed ER. I like the gore thing. Alot of people are scared of blood in general. But, there are limits. An 8 year old should not be around a person blowing their head off. It's just bad taste, and it ruins the fun of Halloween for them. And pitch black rooms= not ok.
Hey there America and everyone who has posted on this forum
I thought I should reply to you all as I am the creator of Asylum Hill.
I am a design student in London and am breaking into the scare attraction industry and wanted to put on a horror house while still doing my studies. This attraction was an invited audience only of the actors friends and family. This was not really open to the public.
All the actors were onlt from 18 - 20 and the audience knew most of the actors in there so there was no danger at all for the actors. The actors were 7 girls and one boy.
Also just to clear some things up - there was no signs of rape or sexual violence - I was at the event all night and so was a saftey marshal who was inside the haunt. All the actors are students at my college and are actors in training. If I thought there was any sign of them 'going to far' or acting out scenes of rape then I would have stopped the haunt. As this was not the case the event carried on and receieved rave reviews from all audience members. Every person who came out fo the haunt loved it and thought it was fun, exciting and very unique! I even had people going through thr haunt 3 or 4 times because they enjoyed it so much.
As a haunt designer I am not way inclined to put women or men alike through anything that they may percieve as real danger.
I am very pleased with Aslyum Hill and think that it was a great success!
However for my new attraction in the Summer I do intend to tone down some of the too intense 'in your face' scares.
Please also remember that you are reading a review and I am sure that your imaginations are far more worse than what actually happened!
Thanks anyway for the comments and I will take all on board. But please do not think that this haunt was as bad as it sounds as it wasnt.
They certainly did focus on a lot of actual fears for that haunt (being alone, being raped, being lost, etc)... but it seemed like that haunt crossed the "scare" line and went into "terrorizing and psychological trauma" zone. Sex doesn't belong in haunted houses... PERIOD.
I do like their non-linear idea and their idea to separate a crowd, but separating people so they're alone is a bit much-- what happens if you get an actor in there who doesn't respect certain boundaries? What if they really try to pull a stunt and it's just you and the actor? Breaking people into groups of 2-3 would be better. If something bad happened, it'd be easier to get assistance without people thinking they're just doing a really good job of scaring you.
... and touching, I believe, should only be allowed if you know at some point that it will happen. Otherwise... you risk getting hurt or hurting the haunt's actors by reflexively responding to a scare. I think, in cases of older patrons, a "you touch me, I touch you" rule would be okay-- especially for those brazen smart alecs. In a haunt for kids, there's no reason for physical contact to be established.
So I would have to say the line depends on the audience you're developing the haunt for... but there's no sex in the champaign room.... or whatever.
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