Haunted House Attractions the Focus of New Coffee Table Book

The decrepit Victorian facade of the Terror on the Fox haunted house in Green Bay graces the cover of a new coffee table book featuring photos of haunted houses by Misty Keasler.

Keasler was given unprecedented access to photograph 13 haunts across the US, from long exposures shots of their spooky and highly detailed interiors, to portraits of haunt actors in their makeup and costumes.

Haunt features 146 photos, but Wisconsin’s own Terror on the Fox was chosen for the cover.

“Keasler said she chose Terror on the Fox for the cover because of its ‘iconic facade’ that references classic haunted houses,” the Green Bay Press-Gazette writes.

“Haunt is a portrait of our culture and the study of fear as entertainment in commercial haunted houses,” the book description says. “This work took Keasler to 13 haunts throughout the United States over the course of 2 years, where she was given unprecedented access to each location, shooting lengthy time exposures of uninhabited interiors and their facades on film, while additionally shooting formal portraits of their actors in costume. The resulting efforts yielded 146 vividly colorful, yet chilling photographs, that provide the viewer the space to experience the immense detail the proprietors of these haunts pour into them. In her essay, curator Andrea Karnes contextualizes this body of work within the conversation of contemporary photography as well as exploring its ties to the history of painting. An essay by sociologist and author Margee Kerr, provides an insider’s glimpse of everything that makes up a great haunt, from the props to the psychological foundation of a good scare.”