Photo by Jessica Stewart / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

Freddy Krueger and the Grim Reaper attack the dead bride.

When Allan LaFave channels his inner Freddy Krueger, he becomes a nightmare to those brave enough to venture into Krug Park after dark.

Mr. LaFave has portrayed the horror icon during the Kreepy Krug Halloween event for several years now, and he knows how to get a good scare. He doesn’t even have to show his face to do it.

“You actually hear the clicking of the metal gloves,” he says, making reference to Freddy’s trademark metal claws.

The first year he became Krueger, Mr. LaFave scared some girls so badly they ran down a hill at the park, off the designated trail.

“I went down to help them,” he says, “and they wouldn’t let me help them.”

The girls just screamed louder and ran faster.

It’s that fear factor that propels attendance at haunted houses and horror movies. In essence, people go to be scared, hoping to be scared — all the while trying not to act scared. But why do they like to be scared?

Katie Jones, a St. Joseph resident who loves haunted houses, provides an answer to that question.

“I just like the thrill I find there,” she says. “It’s fun.”

The thrill is one reason that people like to be scared, says Dr. Larina Kase, an author and psychologist who specializes in anxiety and fear.

“Fear is the physiological, adrenaline-based response that occurs in the brain when faced with a serious threat or danger. This is the fight-or-flight response. Many people enjoy this response because it is a surge of energy ...”

She adds that experiencing fear is the same as experiencing extreme excitement. Fear, she says, “results if we interpret danger. Excitement results if we interpret pleasure.”

“Most people realize that a scary movie or haunted house are not truly dangerous, so they have a reaction in the middle of fear and excitement,” Dr. Kase says.

In other words, it’s a “safe” scare, says Carolyn Kaufman, clinical psychologist and assistant professor at Columbus State Community College in Ohio.

“It’s a safe, uncomplicated kind of fear, one that we can choose our exposure in,” she says.

And it’s the kind of fear that those who create haunted houses and produce horror movies know to manipulate, despite the fact that haunted house “monsters” are not allowed to touch the patrons who venture into the attraction.

“You can normally tell who you can get the best scream from,” says John Rasdall of St. Joseph, who also has been a part of Kreepy Krug for several years. He has wielded a chainsaw and has embodied one Michael Myers, the creepy killer from the “Halloween” movies.

Those prime for scaring tend to cluster together, are nervous and not focusing on one thing, constantly looking around, seeking the danger. Women are easier to scare than men, and teens, especially the guys, can be a the hardest to scare.

“They try to be cool,” Mr. Rasdall says.

Of course, some people are harder to scare than others, and Chillicothe, Mo., resident Roxanne Miller is one of those. She loves Halloween, but the fear factor?

“No, not really,” she says, “It takes a lot to scare me.”

But others do scare easily, and Dr. Kase says that often those people don’t like the physical response that being scared elicits — the increased heart and breathing rates and the sweating. They find these responses unpleasant and even can be scared of them.

“They continue to think of the feared situation afterwards and experience fear outside of the situation, when it no longer feels controllable,” Dr. Kase says.

Stephanie Files of St. Joseph says her family doesn’t really care for “ghoulish” scares. They prefer “PG-rated” scares.

“She freaks out on a Ferris wheel,” says son Nathan Files, 6.

But Nathan says he likes being scared — he sat through the movie “Monster House.” Nathan says he knows that the scary stuff isn’t real.

And even people who like the haunted house horrors know the fear isn’t real, experts say. That’s what makes them turn around and go back right back in, whether it’s the movie theater or a haunted house.

“Our goal,” says Mike Krausert, director of the International Association of Haunted Attractions, “if only for a moment, is to take you out of reality and catch you with your guard down.”

Lifestyles reporter Cathy Woolridge can be reached at cathyw@npgco.com