Fear is the secret to happy marriages, lasting friendships, and the final ingredient in numerous madman-created serums. Pepper in a dash of terror with today's Groupon: for $9, you get one adult ticket (a $19 value) to Ripley's Haunted Adventure, located on Alamo Plaza. This haunted attraction operates daily, year-round, with some added seasonal thrills running through October 31; doors open each evening at 7 p.m.

Filled with extra scares for Halloween 2010, this ninth-annual Ripley's Haunted Adventure, PHOBIA, is a multi-tiered experience that forces visitors to face their worst fears. Situated directly across from the Alamo, especially appropriate if your worst fear is having your bicycle stolen, phobia-phobes can enter this haunted habitat validly a-quiver as they ride an old coffin cage to the top floor. Returning to the outside world is simple, if one doesn’t mind facing off with stygian darkness, undead actors, creepy insects, suffocating spaces, dizzying heights, and family-unfriendly clowns. Actual people in gory makeup, startling animatronics, and high-quality special effects combine to permeate the senses with terror, a sensation the senses rarely admit to enjoying. Bring along a stuffed, squeaky pal for squeezing or go it stoically alone with a bloodcurdling and marrow-wheying trip courtesy of Ripley's.

Reviews

Ripley's Haunted Adventure has a 3.5-star average from Yahoo! Locals and a 4.5-star average from three Yelpers:

• I went there and the actors were terrific. As soon as you walk up there is this man (or woman i don't know) waiting for you. I really cant tell you anything else because I had my eyes shut while I was holding onto my freind's [sic] shirt. – peanutrich101, Yahoo! Local
• This ride was quite an amazing one. The effects were entertaining enough and surprisingly scary. – Tammi, Yahoo! Local