Can You Be Scared to Death at a Halloween Haunted House?

This Halloween season raises the question, can a person be literally scared to death? INSIDE EDITION reports.

It's now prime time for haunted houses all over America. But one family is in mourning after a teenager collapsed and died inside a haunted house.

It happened at the "Land of Illusions" in Middletown, Ohio. Christian Faith Benge was laid to rest yesterday. Her mother Jean spoke to INSIDE EDITION.

The mother told INSIDE EDITION, “Today we buried our daughter, Christain Faith Benge."

Headlines suggested that Benge was literally scared to death, and when you see what's going on in haunted houses around the country you can understand people thinking that.

INSIDE EDITION’s Steven Fabian ­­­­ went to a haunted house in New York City and no doubt about it: the place was scary.

One girl told INSIDE EDITION, "That was the most terrifying thing I've ever done."

Fabian asked, "How about when they put that hood on your head?"

"I loved that part because then I didn't have to see anything," another girl answered.

Each room was scarier than the next.

"It's terrifying. They put a hood over me, I couldn't see where I was going. I had to hold onto a rope," recalled Fabian.

So, can experiencing these haunted houses really scare you to death?

In the case of 16-year-old Christian, her mother wants America to know it's more complicated than all those headlines suggested. Her mother was with Christian when she collapsed and says that Christian wasn't scared to death but had a pre-existing heart condition.

Christian’s mother called 911. The 911 operator asked, “911, What's the address of your emergency?”

“My daughter passed out. I don't know if she had a seizure or if she is totally knocked out,” answered the mother.

“It's not fair to us and the family to read the awful articles that she was scared to death," her mother told INSIDE EDITION.

But Christian, it turns out, was born with a hole in her diaphragm and just one lung. The autopsy also revealed something her mother says she never knew; Christian had an enlarged heart.

INSIDE EDITION asked Dr. Steven Reisman, director of the New York Cardiac Diagnostic Center, whether people should be concerned about stepping into one of these haunted houses.

Dr. Reisman told INSIDE EDITION, “People of a heart condition need to be concerned about sudden fear and psychological stresses that can precipitate a heart attack.”

At the haunted house Fabian experienced, there was a clear warning posted at the entrance, "We do not recommend it for people with heart conditions."

So, a word of warning to everyone. Those haunted houses can be memorable this Halloween. Just make sure your heart can handle it.