NORFOLK, Va. — Halloween celebrations are already underway and for a lot of people, that means haunted houses and scary movies.
What is it about the haunting holiday that fascinates us so much and why do some people enjoy getting scared?
"Oh yeah, I love haunted houses," 8-year-old Molly Miles said at the Masquerade in Ghent party Friday night.
Nina Stallings said she not only likes to get scared, but she also gets a kick out of scaring other people.
"I think it’s the thrill, the adrenaline, the quick screams."
Dr. Jason Parker, a senior lecturer in the Psychology Department at Old Dominion University, said there are a lot of reasons why we enjoy Halloween so much.
"I think we’re fascinated with it on many levels."
He said first and foremost, it’s the excitement of facing your fears in a controlled environment, like a haunted house.
"They raise adrenaline, they raise your endorphins," he said. "After you get out, it’s bonding for the group."
Parker also said haunted houses and scary movies hit the sweet spot in our brains.
"We see something that in other terms would not be scary, but is scary, we get that physical response and afterwards that accomplishment of 'I overcame that fear.' Then, we get the laugh out of it because the parts of our brain, believe it or not, that laugh and cry are in your amygdala and they're inside your brain, like way deep in your brain," he said. "One side is more emotion... one is more happy, one's more sad. What's really fascinating is you can be really really happy and start crying so hard that you laugh and Halloween hits that. So, it stimulates your entire emotions system."
Halloween also offers the chance to dress up as someone else and relieve some baggage you might be carrying around in your day-to-day life.
"You can drop everything else of who you are and try on a new persona," he said.
Not only that, he said dressing up can drop boundaries.
"It helps us cross religious boundaries, political boundaries, and boundaries based on your class and socio-economic," said Parker. "You can be a character that lets us bond as people."
Parker believes there is a therapeutic element to the holiday when it comes to facing your fears.
"Something scary, something controlled, we overcome it, we feel better. Plus, we get all of those nice endorphins and then we bond with our friends. It’s a win-win."
That bonding element is something a lot of people look forward to, no matter their age.
"It’s all about family," said Jared Otto, aka Beetlejuice, Friday night.
Vickie Berry's family agrees.
"Something that we can do and enjoy together," said Berry.
On a deeper level, Parker said he believes getting scared could also help people struggling with PTSD, especially in an area with so many veterans.
"When you work with PTSD, again imaginal exposure, so you're exposed to something scary in a controlled environment. Halloween is something scary in a controlled environment."
On yet another level, Halloween, despite being a gory holiday, can bring a sense of safety to a neighborhood. In many neighborhoods, it's one of the few times during the year people get out, meet their neighbors and learn who lives around them.
It's a sentiment we've heard time and time again when talking about gun violence. People complain that some of that violence is due to everyone being closed off from each other and not forming relationships with their neighbors.
"We see so much about what the dangers are out there, but in reality, the majority of your neighbors, if not all of them, really aren't scary or dangerous," said Parker.