Insurer seeks to take the fear out of haunted house losses

‘Tis the season: ghosts, goblins, candy and insurance.

Specialty Insurance Group announced recently it plans to make haunted house risks less scary for those who operate spooky houses that aim to frighten visitors with such novelties as creaky floors, zombies and vampires that come out of nowhere, pitch-dark rooms and cobwebs and rubber bats galore. What could go wrong? 

“After much internal discussion, it has been decided that we will be accepting haunted houses in the SIG special event portal!,” the announcement reads.

And now for the fine print.

Specialty Insurance says to provide coverage it will need a diagram of the facility indicating the paths taken by participants as well as where actors will be stationed; locations of where emergency light switches are located; confirmation that actors are not allowed to touch patrons; information on whether the structure is temporary or permanent and how many stories and whether there are any ramps, slides, trap doors or moving floors; and the minimum age with or without parent or adult.