Last year in Los Angeles, a mysterious cult began recruiting people through emails, phone calls, and one-on-one consultations. For nine months individuals were drawn into the group's web of intrigue, discovering that a young woman from Ohio had been taken in and brainwashed. In September, the cult finally opened its doors, and people had the chance to walk its halls and try to find the young woman inside - or die trying.

The only thing was, none of it was real.

The Tension Experience represented a key moment in the evolution of immersive entertainment. Combining alternate reality gaming, haunted house techniques, and a two-hour immersive t …

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Last week I stood in front of a warehouse outside downtown Los Angeles, its exterior lit by errant street lamps and the glow of a supermoon. It was my fifth trip to the place, and over the past two months I'd been able to sit down for lengthy conversations with the alleged cult members inside. Some were people I was on a first-name basis with; others I'd chatted with on the phone, or taken brief rides with in their cars. I guess I considered them friends.

The front door opened and I stepped forward, passing a group of young women to my right - splattered with blood from head to toe. As I would soon find out, all of my friends inside were de …

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Audiences associate the word "horror" with scary movies or terrifying novels. But over the past half-decade, live theater and haunted house exhibits have merged, bringing new life to the genre with interactive, real-world experiences that let audiences step through the screen and into their own personal tales of terror. In The Future of Fear, we're talking to the creators of some of the most striking, immersive horror experiences to see how they're taking the genre in directions it's never gone before.

It was a standoff.

I was in a decaying foyer, my siblings and I bathed in sunlight from the window above. That night we'd discovered our lo …

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Audiences associate the word "horror" with scary movies or terrifying novels. But over the past half-decade, live theater and haunted house exhibits have merged, bringing new life to the genre with interactive, real-world experiences that let audiences step through the screen and into their own personal tales of terror. For October, we're introducing The Future of Fear. We'll talk to the creators of some of the most striking, immersive horror experiences to see how they're inventing a new artistic medium to take the genre in directions it's never gone before.

"Hold on, my agent's about to get naked."

I'm in the bowels of a dingy warehouse …

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