Legendary
At The Beast, “our applause comes in the form of screams,” says vice president Amber Arnett-Bequeaith. Referred to as “Scare Central” in Kansas City, Missouri’s historic West Bottoms neighborhood, The Beast is a haunted attraction operated by Full Moon Productions (a family business, not to be confused with the Charles Band company, that has expanded over the generations). The psychology of fear and phobias prevail over gore in this haunted house; your senses are affected by light and darkness, and the emphasis is on subtle psychological horrors—which Full Moon studies very closely, monitoring their guests’ reactions and doing year-long research into new methods of terrifying their customers.
“Scaring is not easy,” according to third-generation owner Arnett-Bequeaith. “It has to do with timing and being able to read body language.” Fear, she says, is biochemical and emotional; the sweating, adrenaline, and rapid heart rate all indicate that you are terrified, which is the goal of The Beast. It has a reputation for being one of the largest and absolute scariest haunts ever created.
Arnett-Bequeaith’s family began Full Moon’s legacy in 1975 with an attraction called The Edge of Hell, the longest-running haunt in the entire United States, which subjects customers to demonic consequences for their earthly transgressions. When The Beast was added in 1991, it was what she calls “a shakeup,” in that it has an open format; there is no straight line that all guests walk along. They instead wander through scenes without guidance or guardrails, and a creature, killer, or ghost (or just about anything else) can pop out at any time, from any direction, and there may be no other people nearby.