Halloween has grown into a $11 billion industry, and each year, the competition in the thrill-and-chill business is only getting scarier.
Travel Channel's list of this year's spookiest attractions was chosen by a team of spooky experts that included Zak Bagans of TV's "Ghost Adventures"; paranormal investigatior Jeff Belander; and Larry Kirchner, editor of HauntWorld, a trade publication.
Here are their choices in no apparent order. If you don't agree with them, feel free to make like a ghost and say, "Boooo!"
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Fright Dome (Las Vegas)
Courtesy of Travel Channel
Located at Circus Circus's Adventuredome theme park, the Fright Dome is a pitch-black, lights-out, haunted spectacle that culminates with something called the Clown Overload Zone, where hordes of creepy clowns with glowing eyes surround visitors. "Ghost Adventures" star Zak Bagans recommends the Fright Dome by saying it gave him the "worst panic attack."
Netherworld (Atlanta, Ga.)
Courtesy of Travel Channel
Netherworld in Atlanta has more than 200 animated monsters and 100 live actors, and has been featured in movies like "Zombieland." The creeps begin in the parking lot where costumed characters try to scare away patrons from even buying tickets.
ScareHouse (Pittsburgh)
Courtesy of Travel Channel
The ScareHouse in Pittsburgh rates high with famed director Guillermo del Toro, who said, “With the sound design and the atmospherics, it is beautiful. I could live here!”
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13th Floor Haunted House (Denver)
Courtesy of Travel Channel
The 13th Floor Haunted House in Denver may be the most technologically advanced haunted attraction thanks to state-of-the-art technology such as Microsoft Kinect to make sure the robotic monsters frighten anyone who dares to visit.
13th Gate (Baton Rouge, La.)
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Considered to be one of America's most elaborately detailed haunted houses, the 13th Gate not only has more than 100 professional actors, but also live animals, like snakes and alligators.
Bennett’s Curse (Jessup, Md.)
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Bennett's Curse in Jessup, Maryland, is usually an automatic selection on haunted house lists, thanks to three terrifying haunted houses: Medieval Underworld, Inferno 3D and Sanctuary of Insanity. New monsters and effects are added often to keep repeat visitors on their toes -- or on their knees begging for mercy.
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Festival of the Dead (Salem, Mass.)
Courtesy of Travel Channel
Salem is a popular spook destination thanks to its famous witch trials. The Festival of the Dead capitalizes on this by including two weeks of events and parties designed to bring out your inner-witch, including seances, ghost hunting seminars and lectures of weird death rituals.
Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights (Orlando, Fla.)
Courtesy of Travel Channel
Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando is the place for big budget scares thanks to movie industry experts who craft haunted houses so loaded with detail that visitors walk through and feel like they’ve been dropped into an episode of “The Walking Dead” or the movie “From Dusk Till Dawn.”
Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor (Long Beach, Calif.)
Courtesy of Travel Channel
In the 1930s, the Queen Mary was a luxury trans-Atlantic ocean liner. It was pressed into military service to carry troops during World War II where hundreds died in and around the ship. These days, it's turned into a haunted house that has the unique distinction of having real spooks intermingling with the pretend ones.
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Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum Haunted House (Weston, W.V.)
Courtesy of Travel Channel
This former mental institution has been turned into a haunted attraction. Zak Bagans, who completed a live, seven-hour investigation with the "Ghost Adventures" crew, said the spirits that roam the asylum’s halls are still extremely active. “It is undeniably the scariest overall haunted attraction that I’ve been to in the U.S.,” he said.
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