Many students on campus either embrace their fears on Halloween or are warming up to its chilling charm.
Others want nothing to do with it, steering clear of the fright at all costs.
Junior health administration major LeeAnn Conrad plans to visit several haunted houses this season.
“They’re something you don’t get to see all year round, and it’s fun to get spooked. It’s a form of adrenaline, like an amusement park in October,” she said.
Although Conrad enjoys horror movies, she can only watch them in her living room and not her bedroom, which she says makes them less scary.
Senior accounting major Alyssa Elsloo has a different perspective, saying that while she loves horror movies like “As Above,” “So Below” and “Abigail,” she can’t stand haunted houses.
“I can freak out at a movie because in the back of my head, I know it’s all acting,” she said. “But I can’t do things like haunted houses because I don’t like my personal space invaded.”
Social psychologist and UMKC professor Kym Bennett said that some people are likely to be drawn to thrill-seeking activities due to differences in personality or disposition, but the experience of fear is complicated.
“Fearful things create physiological arousal, and really if you step back and you think about fear, in its purest form it’s quite adaptive. Because fear often signals the fight or flight response in us,” she said.
Dr. Bennett further explains that stress can elicit predictable psychological responses akin to survival instincts.
“The body doesn’t really know the difference between being chased on the savanna by a lion and modern-day stressors,” she said. “That physiological arousal can take a toll on us. Some people might tolerate and enjoy those higher psychological stress levels, but others may find it triggering if it connects to past traumatic experiences.”
Sophomore exploratory student Lili Kuttenkuler says she’s proud of her timidity. She loves Halloween because her birthday is close to it, but she avoids anything genuinely frightening.
“I love “Hocus Pocus,” pumpkins, and trick-or-treating, but things that really scare me are not my favorite. I hate realistic horror the most,” she said.
One of her most frightening experiences at UMKC was watching the 1968 horror film “Rosemary’s Baby” for her intro to film class.
“That was pretty scary,” Kuttenkuler said. “I had to walk back to my car alone at night after watching it, and I had to call my friend to talk to me afterward.”
Her go-to solution to avoid being scared? Simply closing her eyes.
Dr. Bennett recommends managing minor scares through distracting and calming techniques like counting backward or visualizing a calm place. She also finds music helpful for easing fear.
For those with intense phobias surrounding Halloween, however, she advises against seasonal exposure therapy and suggests seeking professional support instead.
