A viewer asks: “A friend of mine recounted how there was an annual “haunted house” that was so intense, people signed waivers to experience it. It was apparently so realistic that men used actual chain saws (without blades, but engines running) to terrify visitors. There was fake blood everywhere, blood-curdling screams, gore and slime and people dressed as ghosts and demons “grabbing” people in the dark and scaring them “senseless.” A man with a known heart condition signed the waiver, went in, and had a heart attack. He sued the city and won. The haunted house was permanently discontinued as a result. How hazardous to visitor’s mental and even physical health are such attractions?”

Aside from the occasional mishap of the kind you cite in your question, where someone is physically fragile and could succumb to the consequences of a stressful experience, there is not a physical risk with such undertakings. It is more a question of vulnerability of the soul and spirit by putting oneself in the harm’s way through enactment of a scenario where evil forces descend on them to harass and threaten. This menacing will trigger inner awareness of many other times and places when people have struggled with the darkness in a real-world sense, and it will stir up inner fear. It has a greater danger in putting someone in alignment with dark energy. Thoughts of ghoulish beings creates a certain kind of energetic signature that will be recognized by such beings. They will be drawn to anyone who has made their energy a match to the theirs in some way. It happens with those harboring anger and evil thoughts, but also to those harboring feelings of victimization. In a sense, it is sending off an aroma, much as they were a morsel that will be tempting to dark spirits looking for a victim. It is like being a loaf of bread fresh from the oven, and as the scent wafts forth, may draw all in the household for a fresh slice. This is what people do when they put themselves in the energy of evil through a simulation, let alone a real event orchestrated in earnest to commit evil. Even though this is pretend, it will trigger inner fear and the emotion is a match to the causal elements being simulated, and in that way the person will align themselves with the dark enterprise to be on the receiving end. And this can foster an attack that may well be successful in allowing spirit meddlers to penetrate the aura and take up residence. So the liability fostered by this experience, seemingly one of entertainment only, may create a lifelong impairment from spirit meddler possession or worsen one already in place by recruiting additional dark spirits to join a group already present within the person. This is a large price to pay for a few moments of an intense experience done solely for a kind of amusement, in experiencing something for shock value that feels like an accomplishment, as it helps people feel reassured they are strong and capable and safe after all when they survived the ordeal. The morbid fascination is part of human nature wanting always to see and absorb and learn about any dangers that are out and about. There is an inner awareness that evil is always lurking. This is old news for every human being on the part of the deep subconscious, because they will be reviewing the akashic records and seeing the many run-ins with tormenting figures, and many, many, examples of spirit meddler mischief in their own lives and the lives of others. This is what makes such a simulation hold fascination and to be titillating. It is sort of tickling the tiger, not with the conscious expectation they will leave with claw marks at a minimum, but an inner awareness there are evil forces to be reckoned with, and conquering these by living to tell the tale has a way of reassuring people that such things can at least be kept at arm’s length, and the more one knows about them, and experiences dealing with them and surviving, the better one will be. It is the same with the so-called gaper’s block in traffic as people creep by slowly looking at an accident scene. It is not they enjoy blood and suffering, it is that they want to see for themselves what may have happened as an object lesson and a warning, a caution to them in understanding the possibilities they may face themselves. That is the root cause of the phenomenon—not that people have a bloodlust—but it can get people into trouble as well. It is like the proverbial attraction of a moth to a flame, it can backfire and worsen things for the moth.