A parallel between immersive haunted houses and magic?

[erdnasephile]

In honor of Halloween, I note this article:
"New Immersive Haunted Houses Mean More Thrills for Guests--More Rules for Zombies" (WSJ, Oct 27-28).
The article describes a new fad where some haunted houses allow more than a little physical contact between guests and ghouls.
(If you google "Haunted house rules WSJ", it'll get you there)

From the article:

In the real world, courts are willing to give leeway to people who operate haunted houses, said Daniel Moar, an assistant U.S. Attorney in Buffalo, N.Y., who previously wrote a legal article, “Case Law from the Crypt."...The law generally says that if a person goes somewhere to be scared, gets scared, runs away and trips in the dark, it is that person’s responsibility, Mr. Moar said. Adding physical contact shouldn’t change that, he said, especially if the person signaled consent.

Sadly, it took a multi-million dollar lawsuit for a jury to come to a similar conclusion about one famous magic show in particular.