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From Haunted Houses To Death Lore, Explore These Cool, Freaky Halloween Things

Romolo Tavani
/
Shutterstock.com

Boo! Did we scare you? Happy Halloween, y’all! Little ghosts and goblins will be robbing you of candy soon. But, once your kiddos go to sleep, you can always pick through their loot.

To get you in the mood, here’s a frightening Halloween roundup. (OK, it’s not too scary – we are public media, after all …)

Take a haunted house tour! Everyone loves a good scare, especially this time of year. Internationally-known photojournalist Misty Keasler got a behind-the-scenes look at one of the largest haunted house attractions in North Texas, a place called Thrillvania, which is east of Dallas in Terrell and a perennial favorite. Keasler talks about her photos, which appeared in the October 2015 issue of D Magazine. It's still scary. Get more North Texas haunted house ideas – if you dare!

Why are haunted houses so scary? Did you know professional haunted houses use high-tech scare methods to make you scream? Even neuroscientist Christa McIntyre-Rodriguez, who works at the University of Texas at Dallas, is spooked out by the strange growls. She says that gut reaction is your flight-or-fight response kicking in, which is controlled by a part of the brain called the amygdala. Learn more – if you can handle it!

Ready to get your spook on? It's prime time to take tours of dirty, dark haunted houses, filled with cobwebs, ghosts, mysterious noises, bloodcurdling screams and kooky creatures. But remember — you might not get out alive. And if you do, the hair-raising experience could haunt your dreams for years to come. Take a blood-curdling tour of other haunted houses.

Forget ghosts and goblins. Nothing strikes fear quite like death, which is why there are a lot of superstitions about it. Those superstitions are the focus of a book called Death Lore: Texas Rituals, Superstitions, and Legends of the Hereafter. Author Ken Untiedt is a professor at Stephen F. Austin University and he’s with the Texas Folklore Society. He talks about coffins, why we wear black at funerals and why we’re so freaked out about death. Are you scared stiff yet? Explore!

Even nursery rhymes are frightening! Themes in many child-like rhymes can range from infanticide to political treachery. When you find out what most of these poems are really about, it can be downright scary. We’ve decoded these six nursery rhymes — so spooky!

Ready for Día de los Muertos? Texas Standard reports: “It's been a recent switch, but Día de los Muertos (at least in Texas) is no longer what it once was: a solemn remembrance of those who've left us. For better or worse, nowadays it's a pop-culture extravaganza.” Watch Laura Rice transform from a Texas Standard producer into La Catrina — freaky!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tSPZkuE-Ok

KERA's Jeff Whittington, Lauren Silverman, Courtney Collins, Therese Powell and Krystina Martinez contributed to this roundup.

Eric Aasen is KERA’s managing editor. He helps lead the station's news department, including radio and digital reporters, producers and newscasters. He also oversees keranews.org, the station’s news website, and manages the station's digital news projects. He reports and writes stories for the website and contributes pieces to KERA radio. He's discussed breaking news live on various public radio programs, including The Takeaway, Here & Now and Texas Standard, as well as radio and TV programs in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.