Things That Go Bump In The Lab: Halloween And The Science Of Fear

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The ScareHouse in Pittsburgh is curated in part by sociologist Margee Kerr. Rachellyn Schoen/ScareHouse hide caption

itoggle caption Rachellyn Schoen/ScareHouse

The ScareHouse in Pittsburgh is curated in part by sociologist Margee Kerr.

Rachellyn Schoen/ScareHouse

This week, for Halloween, the Hidden Brain podcast gets spooky.

Producer Maggie Penman visits a haunted house in Pittsburgh called The ScareHouse, curated in part by sociologist Margee Kerr.

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Margee Kerr Rachellynn Schoen /ScareHouse hide caption

itoggle caption Rachellynn Schoen /ScareHouse

Margee Kerr

Rachellynn Schoen /ScareHouse

Kerr teaches at the University of Pittsburgh and is the author of a new book called Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear.

Kerr and her colleague, neuroscientist Greg Siegle, are working on a paper about the upside of fear, collecting data on guests who visit ScareHouse before, after and during their experience. Through Maggie's visit, and the data Kerr and Siegle have been collecting, we learn a little bit about what scares us, and why some people enjoy this sensation enough to seek it out.

Subscribe to the podcast and download this week's episode ... if you dare!

The Hidden Brain podcast is produced by Kara McGuirk-Alison and Maggie Penman. Follow us on Twitter @hiddenbrain, @karamcguirk and @maggiepenman, and listen for Hidden Brain stories every week on your local public radio station. We're also on Facebook and Instagram @hiddenbrain.