Americans are expected to spend more than $13 billion celebrating this season, with $300 – $500 million of that spending coming from attending a haunt, according to the National Retail Federation. Behind that seasonal expenditure lies a simple psychological paradox: millions of people willingly pay hard-earned cash to be terrified.
Inside Markoff’s Haunted Forest
The search for why fear feels so rewarding leads to Markoff’s Haunted Forest in Dickerson, Maryland, one of the largest haunted attractions in the country. Operating since 1992, the venue spans more than a mile of trails and dozens of themed haunted houses, employing hundreds of engineers, retail attendants, makeup artists, and actors.
Towering skull-emblazoned wooden gates reminiscent of folk horror classics like The Wicker Man welcome visitors into the attraction. Director of operations Paul Brubacher oversees the network, managing everything from safety procedures to the Van Helsing vampire-village aesthetic alongside art director and makeup manager Chris Knowles.
In the makeup barn, Knowles and his team rely on pressurized airbrushes to transform about 100 people in a two-hour window. Actors like Robert Doyle, a 38-year-old playing a Nosferatu-style vampire with sharp fangs and pupils as dark as coal, embrace the chaos.
I love Halloween. I love going out and interacting with people, entertaining them, making them laugh. Giving them a good scare, you know, giving them a good dopamine rush, Doyle said.
Fellow scare-actor Jermaine Hoes, who looks like a cross between a straw and hair covered zombie and hoodoo shaman, shares that enthusiasm. I like scaring people. I like to make you run and scream and holler everywhere,
Hoes said.
The Science of Scares and Recreational Inoculation
That rush has a distinct biological footprint. Nouchine Hadjikhani, an associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, studies how the human brain processes fear using computer screens and brain-monitoring equipment.
Fear is extremely fast,
Hadjikhani said, noting that exposing subjects to brief, 30-millisecond flashes of threatening imagery immediately triggers the amygdala. That activation quickens the heart rate, induces sweating, and dilates pupils, making jump scares exceptionally effective.
Yet understanding the physical mechanism of fear leaves open the question of why people enjoy it. Matthias Clausen notes that while horror fandom spans diverse personality profiles, the desire for recreational fear is surprisingly universal.
When you engage in recreational activities, you’re essentially administering a fear vaccine,
Clausen said, describing the process as a “fear inoculation” that helps prepare the human body for real-world stress without actual harm. Marc Andersen has also interviewed subjects who use horror media to cope with clinical anxiety, a counterintuitive strategy that many fans report helps them manage psychological distress.
Beyond individual coping mechanisms, recreational fear serves a powerful social function.
