Haunted house business getting frightfully hard

While financial hardships are nothing new for KC businesses, going broke is still a scary prospect.

But those in the business say haunted houses, a growth industry only five years ago, have reached their peak. Urban renewal in many of the nation’s bigger cities has cut off operators from cheap locations, safety regulations have driven up the cost of doing business and outfitting the haunted house with the latest animatronic zombies or computer controlled ghouls has become an expensive arms race few can keep up with. Haunts built into existing amusement parks also have put pressure on their unaffiliated brethren.