With Halloween just around the corner, it’s everyone’s favorite time for all things spooky and haunted. Scary movies, spooky costumes and haunted houses are all part of the Halloween fun.
But what happens when that scare factor becomes a little too real?
At the beginning of this month a woman in Omaha, Nebraska reported that an employee at haunted house ‘Mystery Manor’ assaulted her –grabbing and smashing her head onto a table inside the haunted house.
The victim, 23, said that while it was against the rules to touch her, the employee ran his fingers through her hair and pinned her up against a wall to separate her from her group before slamming her head down.
“I was terrified. I just wanted to get out. I couldn’t talk. I didn’t have a voice. I was shaking,” Nikki said in an interview with the local news station.
The employee then followed Nikki and her friends out into the parking lot to their car.
There Nikki recalls he threatened her saying, “you’re lucky I didn’t drive you off by your pretty little cowgirl boots. I kidnap little girls like you.”
Nikki said the employee finally retreated back to the haunted house when she threatened to take a photo of him.
While the haunted house said that they do not allow actors to touch patrons at Mystery Manor, the managers themselves are not in there walking through with their actors.
“It makes me question if they do background checks,” said Nikki. “I wonder if they really know who is working for them because this man touched me and it wasn’t allowed, and I had a feeling he knew it wasn’t allowed.”
This is not the first or only case of people being assaulted by haunted house employees this year.
Nearly every year similar reports are made concerning haunted house actors, yet many haunted houses continue to not require background checks for their employees.
Some things to consider to keep this from happening to you:
- Call ahead and ask about their hiring policy for employees or if employees are required to go through a background check
- Ask about the rules for employees: if they are allowed to touch you, separate you from your group, etc.
- Stay with your group