Today we celebrate a staple of Spooky Season — the Haunted House
[click on coloring page image of choice to expand, download, and print]
Where exactly did this home of scares come from? The interesting history is far too lengthy to list here. Fortunately, Smithsonian.org has a spooktacular article about it. Here's an excerpt:
Halloween-themed haunted houses first emerged during the Great Depression as American parents schemed up ways to distract young tricksters, whose holiday pranks had escalated to property damage, vandalism and harassment of strangers. "They came in about the same time as trick-or-treat did ... Cities looked for ways to buy these kids off, essentially."