When I was young, the term “Spook House” was quite common. The Wikipedia even has an entry for “Spook House” but it just redirects to the entry for “Haunted House.”
The term “spook” has many meanings. I hear it used often when referring to a “spy”. Unfortunately, it also is a racial slur. I had assumed that it was because of this slur that the term “spook house” had gone away. Yet, all over the internet the past few years I see references to “spooky season.” If the word is bad, it apparently becomes fine if we add a “y” to the end. (The same cannot be said for “gypsy.” Some consider that to be a slur as well, including using the term “gyp.” In that case, either form is considered wrong.)
Have you ever seen a “spook house?” If so, where and when? Please leave a comment.
Houses versus Attractions
The best way to make sure potential customers can find you is to have an easy to remember name. If they don’t know your name yet, having a descriptive name helps greatly. Thus, if you have a haunted house called “The Gates of Hell,” anyone searching for a good “haunted house” will only find you if you use that term somewhere on your site/pages.
Having a name that includes the word “haunted” certainly helps — folks looking for a “haunted house” might be shown places called “haunted woods,” “haunted trail,” “haunted forest” or “haunted car wash.”
So I ask … would anyone these days search for a “spook house?” Perhaps that is why everything (at least around here) has consolidated to be “haunted.”
And this also might be why The Slaughterhouse lists a longer name when you see it online: The Slaughterhouse haunted attraction. Ever try searching for “slaughterhouse iowa?” I have a news alert for that term, and about 95% of the results are for something happening at an actual animal slaughterhouse around here 😉
And that makes me wonder: Does anyone search for “haunted attraction?” In all my years running this site, I don’t know if I have ever seen that show up in a search term that led someone to my site.
Disney theme parks were famous for saying “we don’t have rides, we have attractions.” I think that makes them sound fancier, and maybe that’s why so many new haunted houses do it. Slaughterhouse certainly is fancier than any other haunted house around here.
But if I hear of a “haunted car wash attraction,” we might need to have a discussion…
Until next time…