TAMPA, Fla. — Remember Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" movie? So whimsical, so fun.
Yeah, you'll want to forget all that when you wander into the Busch Gardens version of Wonderland at this year's Howl-O-Scream scare-tacular.
Considered by many, including staff, to be the scariest haunt at the theme's park's annual Halloween event (there are six houses total), "Shadows of Wonderland" is a twisted take on the Mad Hatter & Co.
WATCH: An 'eek' peek at this year's scariest Howl-O-Scream
Adam Amore and his fiendish creative team have retooled the haunt from previous years, with Alice doing a heel turn.
She's the villain now... and then some.
"She was kind of a bratty kid, so I really wanted to emphasize that," says Adam.
Alice delivers plenty of off-with-your-head scares, but the best jump scare comes courtesy of really freaky twins Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. But you'll have to discover that jolt on your own. Howl-O-Scream runs until Oct. 31.
After braving the Wonderland haunt, reporter Sean Daly talked with USF fear expert Tara Perreault about why we love haunted houses.
"Humans tend to have a penchant for benign masochism," says Tara. "That's why we love to eat spicy food. Being able to play with fear activates that for us."
For Howl-O-Scream tickets, times and more, go here.
For more Sean Daly shenanigans, go here.
Saudi flight from Tampa, secret FBI probe reveal possible Saudi support network for 9/11 hijackers
Twenty years after the Sept. 11 attacks, more than 80,000 records compiled by the Tampa FBI Field Office remain classified. Newly declassified documents are pointing to a possible secret Saudi support network for the hijackers. Soon after the attacks, the FBI uncovered that 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
