"I have learned that you should never give up on your opposition because if you're persistent and you present your case then they will come your way. So Rick I appreciate it..." Ron Paul at the ABC Iowa GOP Debate.
"My wrists are tied, I'm in total darkness and a man very close to my face is shouting: "Get on your knees, bitch!"
I do what he says. It's when he puts a cold, wet hood over my head, tips my head back and pours water into my face and I start hyperventilating. The cloth clings to my mouth and nose and panic sends my heart hammering and my lungs heaving.
"Scream, bitch!" roars the voice. "Scream louder! You're not ******* getting out of here until you scream as loud as I want!"
This, I will tell my friends, is how I spent my Monday night: on my knees, being waterboarded and having paid US$60 ($76) for the displeasure.
This is Blackout, a sold-out attraction deemed the most terrifying of the United States' estimated 3000 Haunted Houses, which make up an industry thought to be worth an extraordinary US$500 million.
This year, for example, New Yorkers could opt for the shlocky - such as Blood Manor with its 150 litres of fake blood a night; or the artsy, including the Steampunk Haunted House in the hipster-heavy Lower East Side; or, indeed, just the confoundingly expensive: Nightmare, which bills itself as "America's #1 Haunted House" and is now in its seventh year, offering "Super VIP" tickets for an alarming US$100."
Source: Terror worth paying for
