Horror movies, ghosts or anything spooky was something I was always interested in. Despite the fact that I grew up watching horror and learning all about the ghost stories around me and such, I have never been to a haunted house for Halloween. At the ripe age of 18 that all changed.
Over the weekend I decided to go to my first "Haunted House / Attraction" when a friend from work invited me. This haunted house happened to be at the PennHurst Asylum. I may love horror, but I always had a huge phobia of asylums. I had trouble watching horror movies relating to asylums, matter of fact one of my least favorite AHS (American Horror Story) seasons was the one that involved the insane Asylum.
I know what you're thinking, "Why the hell would you go to an Asylum when you have a huge phobia of them?". Well, I saw it two ways. Going to an asylum will either help me conquer my phobia and fears of asylums or cause my phobia to go into a full blown nightmare and spiral down into a crippling depression. Being the person I am, I took my chances. Needless to say, I'm glad I did.
The first attraction at PennHurst Asylum is through the actual Asylum and in all honestly it was really unique. Despite the Haunted House, it was really cool to explore the building itself. It was almost like you were part of the history and believe me when I tell you that asylum has a lot of history. I never thought I would visit an Asylum especially when the actors are acting out all the terrible things that happened to these people before it was just fun for Halloween. It's one thing to visit an abandoned asylum, but it's a whole other experience to visit an asylum at night and watching the torture that once happened.
Going to this asylum was probably one of the best decisions I ever made. It's without a doubt that I conquered my fear of Asylums and I can honestly say that horror movies and tv-shows relating to insane asylums won't freak me out like they used to. Going to PennHurst truly helped me overcome a hurdle in my life that always prevented me from certain shows or films and now I can truly be fearless when it comes to asylums. I count that as a win in my book.
All in all, I can't take all the credit. I'm not going to sit here and act like I went through this whole ordeal alone. If it wasn't for my friend from work inviting me and other friends tagging along I don't know if I would have overcome my fear. What I once feared I can look back on as a spooky, but a fun memory with a great group of people, so, thanks to everyone who went and made it that much better. You know who you are.
Sometimes your fear can be overcome with some good old fun and a great group of friends.
