Dark Hour, located just off of Plano Parkway and highway 75 in Plano, is the fourth best haunted house in the country, according to USA Today. the haunted house is open year-round with eight different shows throughout the year.

According to CNBC, haunted house attractions worldwide have become a 300 million dollar industry.

Dark Hour artistic director Allen Hopps believes that the impact of haunted houses goes far beyond simply paying to get scared.

“Haunted houses are a public service; it’s okay to come here and scream and cry,” Dark Hour artistic director Allen Hopps said. “They don’t come to a haunted house to be afraid or to get scared; they come here already scared. They’re scared of traffic, they’re scared of work, they’re scared of things that it’s silly to be afraid of, but they’re modern constructs that our animal bodies are forced to do things like have a job. So they come here already scared and we put a face on that fear. The perfect scare in a haunted house is someone jumps out and scares them, they scream, they run three steps, and they laugh because it’s such a release of tension that they’ve already had built up inside of them.”

There are actors waiting in the parking lot to scare customers as well.

All actors at dark hour have a story unique to their character.

“Ages ago I used to work for the Chronomancers and their lord, but I defected centuries ago and i’ve sworn myself to the glorious witches of the coven of the Dark Hour,” Dark Hour character The Librarian said. “Since then I’ve been behold into their will, and I’ve dutifully filled any services they require.”

Actors enjoy working at Dark Hour because of the fulfillment they get from scaring others.

“It’s weird how much as humans we love to scare other people. But also, it’s even weirder that we love to be scared,” Dark Hour character The Jinn said. “I love working here! There’s nothing better than going to work everyday in a haunted house because you don’t have to do serious math or deal with normal people. You’re just doing stuff that makes people scared everyday.”

Because injuries – such as hyperventilation and unconsciousness – are common, there is an EMT on staff to deal with medical situations with one injury tied directly to the shoes that customers wear.

“My favorite haunted house injury: it’s called a tombstone.” Hopps said. “It’s when one person in the group is wearing sandals or flip flops and someone else in the group is wearing combat boots with a big, thick sole, and they get scared and backup over the person’s foot with the sandals and their big toenail peels back just like that, so it ends up looking like a tombstone.”

Along with the actual haunted house attraction, customers can purchase merchandise, access to a behind the scenes tour, tickets to a shorter haunted house called “Carl’s Playhouse”, and tarot card readings.

For more information on tickets and prices, visit the Dark Hour Haunted House website at darkhourhauntedhouse.com.

Reporting for Wingspan TV, I’m Marisa Uddin.