On Saturday, September 28th, my boyfriend, James, and I made my our way into the dark and confined parking lot of The Thirteenth Hour Haunted attraction, located on the Southside of Indianapolis.  In recent years, haunted attractions have become more and more popular.   Easily frightened as I am, I still cannot stop myself from wanting to join in on this Autumn tradition.

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The prototypical image of a haunted house to me has always been of one deep in a dark, ominous forest, away from all of civilization.  However, when I pulled in the haphazard, construction zone-like parking lot of the Thirteen House, my image was dispelled.  The lot was covered in bright orange traffic cones and “road work ahead” signs covering the side of a run-down barn.  This was not what I expected of “Indy’s Most Immersive Experience” as claimed by The Thirteenth Hour Haunted House’s website.  There was a small queue for those waiting to start their haunting experience.  This line was also created by orange construction cones tied together with rope. 

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James and I have known one another for over two years and in that time I have learned that we are polar opposites of each other.  James looks danger straight in the face and laughs, and he is a seasoned thrill-seeker.  It was not uncommon to find him running along the roofs of buildings and jumping off of them for enjoyment and riding his motorcycle at breakneck speed for the thrill of it.  I, on the other hand, like to play it safe.  The most dangerous thing I have ever done was to ride a rollercoaster, and that took me thirteen years to accomplish.  

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We waded our way through the sea of cones and found our spot in line.  Quickly, we were surrounded by the nervous and excited chatter of fellow haunt-goers.  Nerves wracked my stomach at the thought of going in.  As I bounced on the balls of my feet in anticipation, James looked over at me and laughed. 

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"Are you nervous?", he said with a smirk.

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"Of course I am.  You know how easily I get scared", I responded.

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"Oh, I know.  You make me close the closet every night 'just in case anything is in there", he laughs.

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After quite a while, we were herded into a corral-like structure made out of iron bars where we waited. Until, finally, we were led into the dark, ominous haunted house with only a singular candle to light our path.

 

Chapter One: Cathedral of Souls

The first room we were led into housed a pew, a woman with makeup that created the vision of her being a clock, and two ghoul-like creatures that at first look like statues.  We were quickly ushered to sit in the pew by the woman.  This clock-like woman gave us our first insight into the horrors that had occurred at this cathedral. 

 

“Tick Tok.  Tick Tok.  It is almost time; it is almost time for the Thirteenth Hour to be upon us.  Where the living and the dead can walk amongst each other.  If you want to make it out alive you must listen to the Minister,” the clock-like woman said.       

 

She delved further into the “history” of the Cathedral.  The Minister made a deal with The Master to give his congregation immortal life.  Throughout our journey, we would learn what was truly sacrificed to achieve this immortality.  With a firm grasp on James' arm, I continuously surveyed my surroundings, making sure that nothing was going to sneak up on me.  I soon noticed that one of the ghoul statues was not a statue at all.  It was starting to move.  One by one, the ghoul stretched out its fingers and started reaching toward us.  We had to quickly move into the next room before it reached us. 

           

In the next room, we met a disciple of The Minister.  He slowly ushered us toward him.  We had to wind around the toppled-over pews stung across the floor.  The disciple was dressed as a Deacon, wearing pale golden robes.  Coal-rimmed eyes bore into us.  When we finally reached him, he enlightened us a bit more about what it took for the Minister’s congregation to become immortally undead.  The Minister made a great sacrifice to The Master, and now, we would have to do the same.  I jokingly gave up James as the one to be sacrificed, stating that he was the stronger one.  However, the disciple of the Minister took me completely seriously.  He made James step forward and place his hand on a Bible and swear an Oath.  Calm and collected as always, James sai the oath with a little smirk on his face.  The oath was a parody of Psalm 23:4 from the New American Standard Bible, changing a few of the words to “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear the evil, for you are with me.” 

           

We were then directed into the hallway to make our way to speak with the Minister.  As we sped our way through the darkened corridors of the Cathedral, ghouls and nun randomly sprung out at us from their hiding spots.  At this point in time, I was starting to become more than a little scared, fearing what was coming next.  James and I reached a dead end and it looked as though there was nowhere to go.  After a few seconds of banging around and trying to find a door, a slat slid open on the wall next to us.  I jumped and squealed, clinging on to the arm of James.  "Ouch", James said, "It's not that scary".  I, however, did not agree in the slightest.  A very haunting nun poked her head out of the slat saying in a low voice, “The Minister will be with you in a moment.”

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We waited for a time and the wall opened up.  The first thing I saw was the daunting, undead figure of what I presumed to be the Minister pacing around what looked to be his study.   His ragged, dull, green robes swamped his gaunt figure.  Shadows lined his face as he called us forward and began the tale of his dealings with The Master.  The Master had come to him promising him immortal life if he gave up a great sacrifice.  The Minister chose to give up his wife and son so that he and his congregation could have immortal life.  However, their immortal life was not as they expected.  They are immortally undead. Living between the worlds of the living and the dead, unable to make contact with either of the worlds until the Thirteenth Hour.  Now that we have entered, we must give up one sacrifice from our group so that the other could get out alive.  He asked us if we would be able to go through with it when the time came.  We said, “yes."

 

"Now that we have entered, we must give up one sacrifice from our group so that the other could get out alive."

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We were led into another hallway scattered with ungodly nuns, begging for our help.  Every turn in the hallway, we passed upside-down crucifixes and toppled over prayer candles.  The nuns and ghouls became to block our path.  They would not allow us to pass.  James and I saw the bright night sky at the end of the corridor, tension started to build inside of me in anticipation of finally being free.  We skirted past the horrendous creatures, reached the end of the tunnel, and took a breath of relief.  However, this was not the end.  We still had two more chapters to go.

 

The preparation behind haunted houses is extensive.  From constructing the set-pieces and decorations to designing the costumes, it takes a lot of time and effort.  The most important part of a haunted house, in my opinion, is the actors.  For a haunt to be truly scary and entertaining, the actors must be able to portray the story skillfully.  In a particular NPR article, “A Look Behind the Scenes as Haunted Houses Try to Get the Perfect Scream”, Adelina Lancianese goes behind the scenes of a haunted attraction and witnesses the extensive training that the actors go through the be able to perform the ultimate scare.  She says, “Haunted attractions can spend money on great, gory props, but when it comes to being scary, nothing beats properly trained employees”.   The Thirteenth Hour is more dependent on the story and submerging the customers into the story than scaring them with mindless props and gore.  We are meant to feel as though our lives are truly at stake.  The actors are trained on how to perfectly scare the customers and I will say, at this point, the actors are doing an incredible job.

 

Reaper’s Hollow

Before we entered the Reaper’s Hollow, we had to wait a few minutes for the group before us to come out.  There was an attendant helping direct people standing at the entrance of Chapter Two.  We began talking and she told us that she helped design all of the costumes of the actors and even she could not tell the difference between a prop ghoul and a real person in costume when she went through the haunted house.  This conversation helped to ease my fears and grounded me.  It brought me back to the reality that what we were going through was for entertainment and not actually dangerous.

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Something that has always interested me is the question of “Why?"  Why do we enjoy going to haunted houses?  Why do we want to feel fear in these situations? In writing about why humans enjoy being scared, Christopher Dwyer, researcher, and Doctorate of Psychology states, “When we get scared, we experience a rush of adrenaline and a release of endorphins and dopamine. The biochemical rush can result in a pleasure-filled, opioid-like sense of euphoria” (5 Reasons We Enjoy Being Scared).  Dwyer claims that the chemicals released during occasions of fear create a pleasurable feeling in the human, which coupled with the safeness of a haunted house leads to an enjoyable experience.  Pulitzer Prize nominee and scholar, Rush W Dozier Jr, agrees with Christopher Dwyer that being scared in safe situations or overcoming a fear can be a highly enjoyable experience, as he says in his book, Fear Itself, “Successfully overcoming a fear or emerging from a fearful situation unscathed can be a highly pleasurable experience, for surviving a scare often triggers the release of a flood of opiatelike neurochemicals” (Dozier 159).  According to Dozier, this can explain why people enjoy taking part in fear-inducing activities like amusement parks, haunted houses, skydiving, and more.  These authors support the idea that humans derive pleasure from fear when they are in situations where they are not actually at risk or when they come out of a risky situation safely. 

 

Our time to enter the hollows soon came and we made our way through the gates.  We entered what looked to be a cemetery, with a dirt-smudged woman standing by a headstone.  The headstone read “Agatha”, the name of the Minister’s wife.  When the woman saw us, she began shrieking, “Where is my husband!? Where is he? Help me find him!”.  I skirted past her into a mausoleum filled with more of the undead.  Nuns laid on slabs, lying still until we passed, jolting up and reaching for us.  Even though I had expected this to happen, it still surprised me and heightened my anxiety again.

 

We came back into the center of the cemetery again and the wife continued after us.  Limping and shrieking as she came, “Where is my husband? Help me!”.  We entered yet another mausoleum.  Yet this time it was a different scene on the inside.  On one of the slabs laid a young boy, looking to be around six or seven years old.  He was, like the nuns, still until we passed him.  He sat up jolt and started hissing and reaching toward us.  His hand brushed lightly across my sleeve as I walked past.  I grab James by the arm and practically drug him to the exit of the structure and we found ourselves outside back again at the point where we came into the Reapers Hollow.  This section of the haunt was a circle and we were now back at the beginning. 

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Mine No. 13

Following the path to the entrance of the next chapter, we were surprised by a man creeping out from behind a headstone.  I scurried past hoping to not make contact with him, but he called after us saying, “Come back and listen to me if you want to make it out alive." So, of course, we went back and listen to what he had to say.  He asked us who the sacrifice of our group was and James raised his hand indicating that it was him.  The unknown man took out a pencil from nowhere and drew a cross on James’ forehead.  He said that we may now proceed into the mine, but when we reach the elevator we must wait for instruction.

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The entrance to the mine was very similar to an actual mine entrance.  Wooden beams held up stone walls.  We stepped through the portal and were submerged in shadows.  At this point, things were a blur of darkness and the undead.  The labyrinth of mine tunnels was unnerving and ghouls were at every turn, screeching and banging on the walls. 

 

We reached the end of the maze and pushed open the door we found there.  White moonlight filled our eyes as we were greeted by the fresh air once again.  I was relieved to be outside.  The relief did not last long when I finally looked up and across the small clearing we had entered.  A creature standing at least twelve feet tall, cloaked in long obsidian robes floated before us.  It was flanked by two ghouls each standing beside a door.  We have reached the Master. 

           

The Master spoke to us in a deep gravelly voice that echoed across the clearing.  He demanded, “The one who will be sacrificed must way their way those the door to the left."  While I, the one who would live, was to go through the other.  Panic seized me.  We were going to be separated. I did not know if I could go through the rest of the attraction alone, no matter how unreal the dangers were.  James, sure of himself as always, promptly walked through his door, while I stood frozen still.  Once James was out of sight I looked to The Master.  He gestured towards my door and one of the ghouls opened it.  I still stood frozen by fear.  The Master let out an angered breath and said, “Go now or I will not let you leave either”.  That sent me scurrying towards the door.

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"We were going to be separated."

 

As I walked through the doorway, dense fog clouding my view, the sound of a heartbeat thumping away in time with mine from the loud speakers.  It seemed as if I had walked for miles, trying to find my way out of the tunnel.  When I finally reached the end, I sighed with relief as the fresh night air filled my lungs.  But still, James was nowhere in sight.

 

 

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Works Cited

Dozier, Rush W. Fear Itself: the Origin and Nature of the Powerful Emotion That Shapes                Our Lives and Our World. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martins Griffin, 1999.

 

Dwyer, Christopher. “5 Reasons We Enjoy Being Scared.” Psychology Today, Sussex               mnPublishers, 19 Oct. 2018, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/thoughts-         mm              thinking/201810/5-reasons-we-enjoy-being-scared.

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Lancianese, Adelina. “A Look Behind The Scenes As Haunted Houses Try To Get The mmmPerfect Scream.” NPR, NPR, 27 Oct. 2017, mmmhttps://www.npr.org/2017/10/27/560484068/a-look-behind-the-scenes-as-haunted-mmmhouses-try-to-get-the-perfect-scream.

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“The Thirteenth Hour Haunted Attraction.” The Thirteenth Hour, mmmhttps://www.thirteenthhourindy.com/.