Misty Keasler’s Haunt Looks at What Goes In To a Good Scare

Dallas photographer Misty Keasler knows a bit about haunted houses. No, not the kind that brings out the Discovery Channel camera crews and the infrared cameras, but the kind where people pay to be scared.

Keasler has been documenting haunted houses since 2015 when she shot Thrillvania in Terrell for D Magazine. Her solo exhibition at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, as well as an accompanying book from local imprint Archon Projects (which is helmed by Keasler’s gallerist husband, Brian Gibb), takes pains to show what the eye sees even in the periphery when it takes in a tableau at a haunted house.

“When I started on this, I would make sure I would say ‘commercial haunted houses’,” Keasler said. “People would assume I was talking about ghosts.”

While working on Haunt, Keasler photographed 13 haunted houses throughout the United States. But her visits to haunted houses began long before — thanks to her husband, whose family considers a trip to the haunted house a Halloween tradition.

“My husband went to his first haunted house at six,” she said.

A trip to Thrillvania made her really notice the art involved in a really good haunted house.

“There are a lot of really bad haunted houses,” she said. “Plywood mazes painted black, people popping out — I’m not photographing that.”

What makes a good haunted house? Details, Keasler said.

For instance, take a trip through Sam Hain’s Trail of Torment at Thrillvania, which is a great example of what goes on to make a haunted house a multi-sensory experience.

“We were going through the trail, and we were just talking and following the trail, and suddenly we realized we passed this pretty nondescript building that looked like it might be part of the park, but maybe not,” Keasler recalled. “Then we noticed that the music — which had been present with all the other parts of the park, was absent. It was completely silent and eery.”

“We began wondering whether we had taken a wrong turn — if we were on the correct path, that sort of thing, and then a few minutes later someone pops out to scare us.”

Keasler’s photos are both an appreciation of the work that goes into things the average haunted house patron might not immediately notice but definitely add to the ambiance and fear level one encounters.

“I think what many don’t know is that these haunted houses are held to the same safety standards as an amusement park, but there is this incredible level of illusion,” Keasler said. “It’s a testament to how elaborate the artifice is.”

Most of the haunted houses Keasler photographed even had monitored cameras to make sure the participants and actors were safe.

A lot of detail work goes into scaring people that know they’ve paid to be frightened.

“It helps you suspend your disbelief,” Keasler said. “If you were really in fear for your life, that would be nothing but terror.”

“But you know in the back of your mind you’re safe, you know you’ve paid for this experience,” she added. “And the more detailed the scenes are, the easier it is to suspend your disbelief.”

“The imagery in Haunt is both beautiful and horrific, but moreover, the series magnifies the strangeness of the existence of such places, where fantasies are manifested,” Andrea Karnes, senior curator at The Modern said. “People desire, and will pay for, the sensation of fear, and that is a surprising and provocative revelation that comes out in these works.”

Current events even came into play while Keasler was shooting the book after clown attacks were reported across the country and gained national attention.

“Last year was all that weird clown stuff, and that was when I was shooting the book,” Keasler said, who, by the way, says she is firmly in the camp that finds clowns terrifying, and not benign children’s party entertainment.

“It was really funny to me to see the reaction of some of the haunts about the clown thing,” she said. “Some asked them to pull back, and others let them really run with it.”
“Some of the clown characters really got into it, and began telling people that they didn’t work at the haunted house,” she said, chuckling.

And despite finding clowns terrifying, you’ll find them in the exhibit and in the book. “We were laying out all the photos and I realized I had a lot of clowns,” she said. “I actually had to cull out some of my clown photos.”

While often when it comes to film, for instance, there are three strong camps when it comes to fright — the “nope, not gonna do it,” the auteurs who appreciate the artistry involved, and then the people that value a gore count.  

That isn’t so true for haunted house fans, Keasler said.

“I think the haunted house audience is a little more forgiving than the audience for films,” she said. “This is a real special treat. It only comes around once a year.”

“We consume films all the time, we’re pretty savvy as a culture,” she added. “But if you go to haunted houses once or twice a year, it’s the experience.”

And because it’s a once-a-year experience, it’s also something that is often experienced with friends.

“It’s such an adventure and bonding experience with friends,” Keasler said. “A really good, scary one, they really are an experience. There’s camaraderie.”

“The majority of the haunted house participants, really love going through them,” she said. Her husband belongs to that group.

“My husband would never go first, he gets so worked up even in line,” Keasler said, laughing. “Even when I was eight months pregnant and working on this book, he would at some point move behind me in line, using me as a human shield.”

Haunt, 2015-2017, which features 40 photos of haunted houses and another 15 photos of the haunted house actors in costume,  will be on exhibit at The Modern through Nov. 27. You can purchase Keasler’s book, which also features essays by Margee Kerr and Andrea Karnes, here.