You know that split second when someone jumps out at you unexpectedly, and your brain forgets how to behave like a normal human being? Now imagine that happening in a haunted house , surrounded by monsters just waiting to scare the living daylights out of you. The reactions can be absolutely priceless.

Haunted house actors shared the funniest things they’ve witnessed while trying to scare people, and some of these reactions deserve their own horror-comedy movie. From visitors doing unexpected things to actors struggling not to burst out laughing, these stories prove the scariest part of the job might be keeping a straight face.

Get ready to laugh, because the monsters aren’t the only ones causing a scene.

I was a talking head on a table. A group of five people led by a girl comes into my room and when the get close to me I say "Hello" fairly nonchalantly. The girl in front screams and falls backwards with a domino effect taking everyone else in her group with her.

I was working at Halloween horror nights. It was around 2am and the houses were starting to shut down, and only a few stragglers were going through the house. Then the final guy goes through. it was some Japanese Businessman in a full suit and carrying a briefcase. His clothes and hair were rumpled like he had just gotten off some red-eye flight. He was just ambling through and had such a look of child-like wonder and joy on his face as he took everything in.

My costume was vaguely like the girl from The Ring, a year or two after the movie came out. Pink little girl's dress, long black wig over my face. I was pretty tiny back then and quite flexible, so I could contort myself in pretty creepy ways. Add a strobe light and you've got some terrifying movements. Without fail, it was always the huge football players in letter jackets who would absolutely lose their minds in my room--screaming, trying to climb the walls to get away, breaking and running, the whole works. Usually their girlfriends would be standing by calmly. One guy's reaction was especially delicious. Once he saw me in the corner, contorted but slowly uncurling to drag myself across the floor, he screamed "Oh HELL no!" and ran *through* the nearest wall. Just took it right out (made of plywood, plaster, and some dry wall). Someone else ended up having to take him to first aid because because even once I was out of character he still couldn't stand to be near me. I won an award that year for Best Scarer.

For some people, a relaxing night out means dinner and a movie. For others, it means paying to enter a dark building where someone in a scary mask waits to chase them down a hallway. The appeal is getting a taste of fear without facing any real danger.

Psychologists studying why people enjoy frightening experiences found that knowing the threat is part of an experience they chose can make fear exciting rather than unpleasant. After all, it's easier to enjoy being chased by a monster when you know you can walk out the front door.