People Are Taking Their Babies to Halloween Horror Nights and the Internet Is Divided

The new TikTok trend is apparently to share videos of taking your babies to Halloween Horror Nights to share their reactions.

Spooky season is on its way and a new up-and-coming trend is to share footage of babies and younger children attending the horror event, with the majority of footage posted from HHN 2022, as this year's Halloween Horror Nights doesn’t begin until Sept. 1, 2023.

From the videos posted, the babies are mostly in scare zones, which are the outdoor areas you use to walk to get to any ride, restaurant or haunted house. The scream zones do feature fog, strobe lights, jump scares, scare actors and loud noises; essentially a miniature version of a haunted house without a ceiling.

While some of the videos have been positive with the scare actors welcoming the babies as they are playing with them and not attempting to scare them, some people are still concerned with the effects on the baby. It’s important to note that some parents were thoughtful in having hearing protection for their child.

One video includes a scare actor becoming visibly frustrated that a couple brought their infant, who shook his head and hand questioning why they would bring them to this event. In the comments section, several apparent former scare actors commented on the increase in parents bringing their babies to the annual event.

"As a scare actor at a large establishment it’s genuinely ridiculous the amount of kids under the age of 5 that attend it’s hard for us to do our jobs," one person wrote. Another added, "As an ex-scare actor this is so frustrating because legally we cannot prevent or limit you but you are putting us in a bad spot."

One user shared a startling story, "I’m a scare actor and I’ve had someone bring a 8-week old baby though… I refused to act in character bc I won’t be responsible for someone dropping [the baby]."

"This happens all the time, I've had parents screaming at their kid to stop being scared when all the kid wanted was to leave," an additional performer pointed out.

A number of viewers stated that children could potentially sustain hearing damage, sensitivity to strobe lights and nightmares. Another concern is if someone reacts wrong to a scare while holding a baby.

Universal Studios official website states under a guideline that it recommends that this event should be for kids 13 and over.

What age do you think it's acceptable to bring a baby or child to a scary event?