In honor of all the National Holidays in our calendar,
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What is a Haunted House?
A haunted house is defined as a house that is believed to be a center for supernatural occurrences or paranormal phenomena. A haunted house may allegedly contain ghosts, poltergeists, or even malevolent entities.
Haunted houses are often regarded to contain the spirits of deceased beings who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property. Supernatural activity inside homes is said to be mainly associated with violent or tragic events in the building's past such as murder, accidental death, or suicide — sometimes in the recent or ancient past. Amongst many cultures and religions it is believed that the essence of a being such as the 'soul' continues to exist. Some philosophical and religious views argue that the 'spirits' of those who have died have not 'passed over' and are trapped inside the property where their memories and energy is strong. Entities which are said to 'haunt' homes are often believed to make noises, appear as apparitions, and shift or launch physical objects. This is sometimes manifested into 'poltergeist activity'; poltergeist meaning 'noisy spirit'. Traditionally an exorcism is the method used to remove unwelcome spirits from the property.
Legends about haunted houses have long appeared in literature. Haunting is used as a plot device in gothic or horror fiction or, more lately, paranormal-based fiction. Roman-era authors Plautus, Pliny the Younger, and Lucian wrote stories about haunted houses, and more modern authors from Henry James to Stephen King have featured them in their writings. Haunted castles and mansions are common in gothic literature such as Dracula.
see List of alleged Haunted Locations
Haunted Houses for Entertainment
The actual structure of a fictional haunted house can be anything from a decaying European feudal castle to a newly occupied suburban ranch-style house of fairly recent construction, although older buildings tend to be more commonly used. A haunted house may also refer to a haunted attraction usually open around the season of Halloween for entertainment purposes.
Haunted House Virtual Tours
Another form of entertainment is Haunted House Virtual Tours over the Internet. Websites come up with some neat ways to walk you through haunted houses and graveyards for the virtual fun of it.
There is a popular dark ride at Disney theme parks called Haunted Mansion.
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