If you have the scratch, they have the scares

Chanthal Harris owns Long Dark House in Alexandria, Virginia. Ryan Benk/NPR News hide caption

The horror biz is booming, as recent Weekend Edition reporting has made clear. But not everyone wants to be up close and personal the with the IRL frights of a haunted house or spooky corn maze. Many would rather experience nightstalkers, goblins and witches that can't escape the theater or TV screen, or zombies and werewolves that won't lunge off the pages of a book.

Chanthal Harris owns Long Dark House in Alexandria, Va. It's a bookstore devoted exclusively to horror and the supernatural. It's been doing business for just over a month and Harris says she already has steady traffic from both genre stalwarts and first-timers.

"You know, I think people are looking for things that they wouldn't normally find in a lot of other places. I've had people comment about the curation and how they're finding something unexpected," Harris says. "And I'm also surprised at how many people are trying to dip their toe into horror."

Harris is no newbie herself: books and horror have been constant companions.

"My love of horror started from an early age. And I joke, but I do truly blame my parents because my dad was a[n] avid reader. He probably takes responsibility more for my fantasy/sci-fi love, but my mother always loved horror," Harris says.

"To me it was completely normal. I didn't think of it as a spooky thing."

So after a career in aviation, Harris decided to follow her passion and open Long Dark House.