Sure, haunted houses at a halloween event are all frights, fun and games -- but it’s pure horror when you’re on the way home, and you see a place that looks eerily similar to the one that makes your jump out of your skin.

Concepts for haunted houses aren’t simply conjured out of thin air. There are always actual houses shrouded in urban legends and creepy rumours that fuel these…creations.

So if you’re a horror junkie who enjoys the adrenaline rush of letting your imagination run wild, this will be a treat for you.

Here’s the list of haunted houses at Universal Studios Singapore’s Halloween Horror Nights 6 and the real haunted houses that we think inspired them.

1. Old Changi Hospital: Inspired by itself.

Duh. There’s no reason why one of the top ranked haunted places in the world, which is also the most haunted in Singapore would not make an appearance. Because why not? It’s an abandoned, dilapidated hospital. All abandoned hospitals are creepy as hell.

Old Changi Hospital was a prison camp during WWII, and thus its blood-curdling reputation; it housed more than 50,000 prisoners-of-war, many of whom were brutally tortured in wards converted to torture chambers.

With that history of pain, and how it is after all a hospital where people die, it’s not surprising that there were unusual sightings even before the building became abandoned -- reportedly, of shadow people, erratic lights, the bloody sight of slaughtered troops and unexplained screams.

Brrr. Is it just me or did the room just get chilly.

2. Bodies of Work: Inspired by the house of Ed Gein, one of America’s most notorious serial killers

If you’ve never heard of Ed Gein, google him -- he’s known as one of America’s most infamous criminals, an antisocial psychopath who fashioned furniture and keepsakes from the skin and bones of his victims.

Giving you the creeps yet? This American psycho is the inspiration behind Damien Shipman of the Bodies of Work gallery.

Among the artifacts uncovered in Gein’s workshed and house in 1957 were leggings made from human leg skin, a corset made from skinning a woman from shoulders to waist and masks made from the skin of female heads.

Lonesome after his mother’s dead, he had wanted to create a ‘woman suit’ of human skin so that he could literally become his beloved mother. Ugh, we can already feel our goosebumps.

And that’s exactly what Damien Shipman wants as well -- driven to insanity by guilt and solitude, he mangles his victims to recreate his family, piece by human piece...

Hang on while we go puke.

3. Hu Li’s Inn: Inspired by 1930s Shanghai

Turning deserted old buildings into shiny nightclubs, Hu Li is the Chinese nine-tailed, silver fox spirit who disguises herself as a charming, svelte brunette. Men are unable to resist her feminine charms and she lures the beguiled in before devouring them as food. Hmm.

So behind that facade of glitz and glam, the inside of the Hu Li’s inn is actually just run down and plain spooky, with Hu Li’s fellow demoness spirits roaming the rooms…

While it is inspired by the debauchery of 1930s nightlife in Shanghai, the closest real life example to Hu Lin’s inn is probably the Nam Koo Terrace in Hong Kong, with it’s own history of indulgence, vice and horror.

Located in the raucous Wan Chai district, heart of Hong Kong’s nightlife scene since the 1940s, the place was a brothel during WWII, home to uncountable scenes of horror and sin.

Apparently, vengeful female spirits continue to dwell in the mysteriously peaceful looking European style building, bringing misfortune to those who dare enter through its doors.

Just like how nobody knows what lurks behind the closed doors in Hu Li’s inn.

Not only can Nam Koo Terrace inspire haunted houses, we bet it’s good enough for a horror movie of its own.

4. Hawker Centre Massacre: Inspired by local Singapore culture

An interesting haunted house this year is the Hawker Centre Massacre -- interesting simply because Singaporeans cannot do without their local hawker centre. For a full week after visiting the haunted house, we’re gonna be checking to make sure there aren’t gruesome zombies waiting to pounce as we eat our nasi padang at the hawker centre.

If you’re wondering “How can? Hawker centres always so lively what. How can it be scary?”, hold up for a moment.

Ever heard of Neo Tiew Market & Food Centre? It’s dingy and eerie, located in a long abandoned HDB estate in Lim Chu Kang. Yes, that one. Imagine this -- a victim, left gangrenous after eating tainted fish (Doesn’t that sound familiar?) is zombified, aggressive and vows to exact revenge on those who poisoned him.

Now multiply that and imagine the hawker centre being overrun by angry, flesh-eating and horrifically mutated zombies who were sabotaged… time to run for your lives.

Beware when you venture into the dark corners of your neighbourhood hawker centre. You never know what creatures could be waiting. And, watch out for that yu sheng dish too.

5. Salem’s Witch House: Inspired by the Amityville House in the US

Obviously, this haunted house is the namesake of the Salem Witch Trials. During the 17th century, women shunned by society were accused of being demonic and practitioners of witchcraft -- and were viciously hunted down.

Today, none of the houses of those involved remain, save for one “The Witch House”, which was home to a judge on the trials.

But when we talk about witchcraft, demons and the occult in America, how can we forget the Amityville House? In the 1970s, the Lutz family who lived there reported of alleged sightings of demon faces, strange sounds, objects moving on their own and demonic possession -- so terrorising was the experience that they moved out after only 28 days.

Rumor has it that a mass murder that took place in the house tainted it -- the murderer, Ronald DeFeo, had killed his family in cold blood and under extremely puzzling circumstances. Creepy.

You know what’s creepier? That the witch in Salem’s Witch House is also a DeFeo. Augusta DeFeo. Coincidence? We think not.

If you’ve always wanted to take a walk on the supernatural side by yet remain safe from actual beings from realms unknown, Universal Studios Singapore’s Halloween Horror Nights 6 might be your best bet yet.

Maybank is offering a fang-tastic buy 2 get 1 deal on event tickets right now and unlike other deals with the supernatural, the only clause would be owning a Maybank Card. Get your ticket to a hair-raising night at Halloween Horror Nights 6.

This post helps fuel Mothership’s writers who are tempted at upgrading their Halloween Horror Nights ticket to include an express pass.

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