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Get grabbed restrained and dragged away at Utah' s haunted houses

A woman is dragged through a corridor of Castle of Chaos. Photo courtesy of Castle of Chaos. Utah haunted houses have added another level to the jump scare: human touch. What's happening: Most professional haunts are now offering "touch" ticket upgrades.Because just having someone chase you around with a chainsaw isn't scary enough. How it works: Guests who pay a premium wear a glowing necklace or bracelet that lets actors know they agree to physical contact.Contact can range from taps and elbow grabs to having a bag pulled over your head as you're carried away from your group, or even . What they're saying: Castle of Chaos owner James Bernard told Axios he began experimenting with "touch" upgrades in 2007 when only one other major haunt in the country was offering it.Customers consistently asked for "more scares, more intensity," Bernard said. "Putting our hands on the customers really changed the intensity more than anything else I could do."Now and Asylum 49 in Tooele also have touch options. Threat level: Castle of Chaos offers multiple levels of contact at varying ticket prices, so visitors can match their experience to their fear threshold. A regular ticket is $25, but for another $4, actors could briefly grab your shoulders or leg, or touch your hair. For $7, they might carry you away. A $50 "Level 5" ticket guarantees the most extreme version of every hands-on encounter, and guests are taken (possibly dragged) to extra rooms. Yes, but: Actors still need a lot of training to read visitors' reactions and dial it back — or even break character — if the participants aren't having fun.At least a year of experience is required for Castle of Chaos actors to touch guests, only longtime staff do the higher levels, and there are training sessions all summer. The latest: After years of escalating frights, some haunts are focusing on less scary options, Bernard said — a process that began at Castle of Chaos when visitors were literally wetting themselves."We got too scary," Bernard said. "At first we were like, 'This is great. We're the scariest ever.' And then I went, 'Look, guys, that's really not fun for the person pissing their pants.'"Now visitors can get a "Monsters be gone" ticket, with a wand that cues the cast to act afraid of them — "so you have the power to lower the intensity," Bernard said. Get more local stories in your inbox with .Subscribe Support local journalism by becoming a member.

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