It’s not so much escapism for him; it’s this sort of joy and love for making people uncomfortable that keeps his house, and others like it, alive.

“That I can scare people for a living makes me giggle,” Ed Terebus said. “To watch these people, the way they jump, is just great. Everyone experiences things differently. Listening to people talk about the experience forever after it happens just makes me smile.”

There’s a reason no other state in the country can sustain this sort of market. It may be that Michiganders use their agricultural and industrial backgrounds to create truly ghoulish adventures, but it’s that sense of escapism that lets Halloween really flourish here. From getting that little adrenaline rush to wanting to grab your date a little closer in the eyes of a man in a Freddy Krueger costume, haunted houses give people something they can’t get every day: a safe break from reality. And with so many attractions as evidence, that’s something everyone in Michigan could, and should, get behind.