NPR Explores the Science of Fear at Markoff's Haunted Forest in Maryland
This year, Halloween spending in the United States is expected to exceed $13 billion, with haunted attractions accounting for $300–$500 million, according to the National Retail Federation. Since 1992, Markoff's Haunted Forest in Dickerson, Maryland, has offered over a mile of eerie trails and themed houses. Operations are managed by Director Paul Brubacher, while art director Chris Knowles prepares around 100 scare-actors in just two hours. Scare-actor Robert Doyle, 38, emphasizes the excitement of confronting fears, and Jermaine Hoes relishes in provoking screams. The trail features snakes, ghosts, and ghouls. Research by Harvard's Nouchine Hadjikhani indicates that fear triggers the amygdala, while Clausen and Andersen from Aarhus University explore how recreational fear strengthens social connections. Next week, the series will delve into horror's economic effects.
Key facts
- Americans are expected to spend more than $13 billion on Halloween celebrations, per the National Retail Federation.
- Haunted attractions account for $300–$500 million of that spending, with tens of millions of attendees annually.
- Markoff's Haunted Forest in Dickerson, Maryland, has operated since 1992 and features over a mile of trails and dozens of haunted houses.
- The attraction employs hundreds of engineers, retail attendants, makeup artists, and actors.
- Makeup manager Chris Knowles and his team use airbrushes to do makeup for about 100 actors in two hours, roughly seven minutes each.
- Harvard's Nouchine Hadjikhani found that 30-millisecond exposure to snakes or spiders activates the amygdala.
- Aarhus University's Recreational Fear Lab, co-directed by Matthias Clausen and Marc Andersen, studies why people enjoy fear.
- The lab's research suggests recreational fear acts as a "fear vaccine" or "fear inoculation" and is surprisingly universal.
Entities
Artists
- Paul Brubacher
- Chris Knowles
- Robert Doyle
- Jermaine Hoes
- Nouchine Hadjikhani
- Matthias Clausen
- Marc Andersen
- Ayesha Rascoe
Institutions
- NPR
- National Retail Federation
- Markoff's Haunted Forest
- Harvard Medical School
- Aarhus University
- Recreational Fear Lab
Locations
- Dickerson
- Maryland
- United States
- Denmark
- Aarhus