How haunted attractions turn history into nightmares

Academic and media designer Joel Zika talks at IAAPA 2019, on horror entertainments unique ability to translate community fears into frightful entertainment.

IAAPA is the world’s biggest convention for the themed attraction industry, with over 30,000 industry operators, manufacturers, and suppliers attending each year. With everything from full-size rides, the latest in new technologies and key education for safety, success and creativity in the industry.

For the second year running the convention will be concluded with a day-long academic symposium, discussing the ideas, theories and education programs that will invigorate the industry in the coming decades.

Amongst the day of incredible speakers from around the world is Australia academic from Deakin University, Joel Zika. Joel is a world expert on haunted attractions, the founder of The Dark Ride Project, a virtual reality archive of historic haunted and spooky rides and the first archive of its kind. He has been exploring the history of haunted entertainment for decades, speaking around the world on the importance of exploring this lesser-known but important media tradition.

Dark rides and haunted houses are some of the most innovative multimedia experiences that people engage with. Although you might not think of it that way, for over a century they’ve led the way in immersion and interactive storytelling.

It’s been long established that horror films reflect the things we’re scared about as a community, from politics to disease. We’ve seen these themes in big-budget films since the drive-in era. Joel suggests that this history of horror reflecting real life actually comes from the first haunted attractions, from the tunnel of love and old mill rides of the early 1900s. His paper, title Dark themed attractions and local histories, explains the connection between long lost industries, forgotten spaces and the themes of haunted entertainment.

When people lost their jobs from the close of mines and milling, you see the immergence of these types of spaces at the amusement park. It’s a precursor to cinemas obsession with the cold war which can be seen in movies like 1950s classics like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

In a world where the haunted attraction industry is set to earn 8 billion dollars in profit in 2019, this type of research could help guide the creative choices that scare audiences in the USA and around the globe.

The TEAAS academic symposium will be held at the Orange County Exhibition Center on Friday 22nd from 8:45 AM-3:45 PM in room 230CDE. Registration to the convention is not required for entry but people are asked to register here: https://web.cvent.com/event/df873aae-7129-4939-9d6a-bd5cae3f70ab/regProcessStep1

IAAPA convention runs November 18-22,  contact [email protected] for further details