Boner Candidate #1: I DON’T GO TO THESE THINGS TO BE SCARED.
On October 15, 2011, Scott Griffin and friends went to the Haunted Trail in San Diego, a Halloween attraction run by the Haunted Hotel, Inc. Printed on tickets was a warning that the trail had ‘high-impact scares.’ Visitors walked a mile-long path along which actors dressed in ghoulish costumes and carrying prop weapons jumped out to frighten—and even chase—them. Griffin, then 44, and his friends completed the trail and walked through what appeared to be the exit. They were laughing about how much fun they’d had, when suddenly an actor with a revving chain saw came toward them. The Haunted Hotel calls this the Carrie effect, referring to the last scene in the 1976 horror movie, when the audience, believing the film is over, is surprised by one final scare. Griffin tried to back away, but the actor followed him closely. Griffin yelled, ‘Stop!’ He couldn’t tell whether the chain saw was real. ‘He was pointing [the chain saw] right at me … You could literally smell the gas,’ Griffin said in a deposition. ‘He was literally running after me … I was fearful for my safety big-time.’ While being chased, Griffin fell. He severely injured both wrists, which were in casts for four months.