Haunted House : Communication Space and A Construction of Fear

Abstract

This research studied how to simulate cultural capital from fear through storytelling and specific communication techniques in haunted houses, while analyzing relationships and differences in decoding meaning of fear among haunted house participants, those claiming or not claiming direct past experience with ghost. Qualitative research was done by 1) textual analysis (haunted houses) with samples Ripley's Haunted Adventure Pattaya and Baan Mae Nak; and 2) in-depth interviews with ten participants per haunted house to analyze decoding of the fear occurring after participation. The main theoretical conceptual framework included narrative theory and Stuart Hall's audience theory and encoding system.

Results were that the haunted house simulated hyperrealistic fear through narrative elements intertextually with historical ghosts to formulate stories, communicate through characters, places and specific haunted house techniques to make participants feel like they had experienced a ghost, retroactively, nocturnally, and with simultaneous anguish and delight.

In decoding the meaning of participants, those claiming or not claiming direct past experience with spirits decoded haunted house fears no different. Participants decoded the hegemonic significance position of fear in Baan Mae Nak more than Ripley's Haunted Adventure Pattaya, claiming that Thai-style haunted houses are scarier than Western ones, possibly because Thai ghosts were innate lore for them. Certain symbols potentially trigger memories, employing intertextual techniques based on culture and local myths, for easily decoded significance.