Happy “scary season”! For the start of October, we’re reposting one of our all-time favorite Halloween-themed interviews. Enjoy!

“BOO!”

“Ohhh, you scared me!” (Laughter.)

What just happened. scientifically speaking? And how might that experience help you deal with things that really scare you, in daily life?

Sociologist, author, educator and haunt consultant Dr. Margee Kerr can explain all of the above.

Margee has done extensive research on the science of fear. For two years, she traveled the world, seeking experiences she’d consider “scary’–and exhilarating–as research for her book, Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear.

A faculty lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh, Margee has also served as haunt consultant for museums and the ScareHouse haunt, in the Pittsburgh area.

But that’s only one aspect of her expertise.

Margee’s research is ongoing, as she uses what she’s learned, about fear, to help others overcome fear in daily life. She is the creator of the “Understanding and Overcoming Fear” course on the Great Courses website, and explores the subject in her sociology classes at the University of Pittsburgh.

She is also the co-author of a second book, “Ouch!: Why Pain Hurts, and Why It Doesn’t Have To,” on which she collaborated with Linda Rodriguez McRobbie.

Margee explained the science behind a good scare, shared some of the stories of her experiences while researching Scream and offered some ways that science can work to create an effective, yet enjoyable, Halloween experience.

On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:

• How Margee first became interested in haunts and the science of fear;

• How her book, Scream, ultimately resulted from her research and her work with a popular Pittsburgh haunt;

• Some of her creative challenges, as an artist designing haunt experiences;

• A closer look at some of the scientific reasons we enjoy Halloween scares;

• How being alone, or with others, will affect the ways we experience a scare;

• An important point to remember, about “fun” fear experiences;

• How to use the science of fear, as explored in Scream, to create a compelling haunt experience;

• The haunt that scared Margee the most during her research, and why she found it effective;

• Her experience “ghost hunting”, in the allegedly most-haunted location in the U.S.;

• How real-life fear can be used to create haunt experiences, based on the three types of fear which Margee outlines in Scream;

• Why something that scares us can be empowering;

• Margee’s takeaways for daily life, from her research findings on fear.