Full-contact chaos: A scare actor takes us inside the haunted house industry

It’s officially haunted house season. And, like Spirit Halloween stores, these spooky immersive experiences just seem to pop up overnight, leaving us asking, was there always an abandoned hospital in that cornfield, or am I crazy? But how do haunted houses come to life? As with all successful activations, guests never see the method behind the madness — like the months of planning, how the actors navigate the space and the logistics of creating a “great” horror experience. I spoke with writer, horror fan, and haunted house scare actor Danielle Look for a behind-the-scenes peek at the haunt industry, including her favorite experiences across the country and how chaos fuels her craft. Samantha Stallard: Tell us a bit about your professional experience and background. Danielle Look: I’m a lifelong writer who makes a living as a digital marketer. After a few years on the shop floor of a large-format screen printing company, I took a position at a hyper-local media outlet called Do317 in Indianapolis, part of the DoStuff Network. Around that same time, I started scare acting and marketing for Nightmare on Edgewood, a full-contact haunted house in Indianapolis. In 2018, I moved to Colorado, where I cover Denver’s...