Recent Colorado State University Ph.D. graduate Riana Slyter’s process for her dissertation, “Live-Mediated Horror Entertainment: The Culture, History, Industry and Experiences of Haunted Attractions,” follows the words of Anne Lamott’s 1994 novel “Bird by Bird.”
“She says, bird by bird, … you only complete these massive projects, these things that might be forever away, step by step,” Slyter said.
For Slyter, the process of looking into the genre of horror and what she calls “haunts” in academia has taken place bird by bird, step by step. Before her time as a doctoral student at CSU, Slyter pursued communication studies at Gonzaga University, where she completed her thesis on horror films.
The topic continued to follow her to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, where Slyter studied Communication and Media Studies and completed her thesis on vampires in television.
Slyter also worked for the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, curating an exhibit titled, “Scared to Death: The Thrill of Horror Film.” Slyter has also spoken at a number of conferences worldwide, including the 2024 Comic Arts Conference at Comic Con in San Diego.
“I was always curious about horror,” Slyter said. “I just found our society was attracted and repulsed. … How do you feel those two things almost simultaneously? How do you scream and laugh in the same breath? Why are we so interested in this? … I kept returning to horror because it’s an unending paradox. It’s two things at once.”
Originally, Slyter said she wasn’t certain about what she would study while pursuing her doctorate. However, her history and interest in horror and haunted attractions became “paramount” to her work, as she said there is little work written about haunted attractions and the fear they impose.
Slyter’s work centers on Live-Mediated Horror Entertainment, which she defines as the creation of horror through combined live performance and mediated artistic choices. According to her dissertation, Slyter argued LMHE is used to “actively engage audiences in controlled environments of fear and excitement.”
Her dissertation is split into four main chapters: The Evolution of Fear, The Genre of Fear, The Business of Fear and The Art of Fear. Ultimately, Slyter investigated the experiences of fear and excitement visitors have when visiting haunted attractions from a production standpoint. Slyter combined empirical and empiricist research methods, traveled to top haunted attractions worldwide, visited sites and interviewed scare actors and haunt operators.
A key finding from her process was that a lot of workers at the haunted attractions Slyter visited were minorities who, as she said, “found a home in the oddities of society … and felt connected. And they felt like they had control and power in a space and in a world where they don’t.”
Slyter also discovered throughout her research process that haunted houses do not exist in one form but rather in an ever-moving form.
“Haunted attractions are not simply commercialized or static forms of horror, but rather dynamic, hybridized experiences that engage audiences in participatory, embodied and paradoxical ways,” Slyter’s dissertation reads.
While these findings are the core of what Slyter did in her dissertation, taking the journey bird by bird, step by step also led to her own personal growth.
“I think for me, I can do anything,” Slyter said. “If you asked me a year ago if I could write 388 somewhat cohesive pages, I would’ve said ‘No way.’ … How did I write that thing? I wrote one word at a time. I did one sentence at a time.”
Personal growth is also something Slyter’s mentors and dissertation committee members noticed. This included Evan Elkins, an associate professor of communication studies who collaborated with Slyter in the later phases of her process.
“I was always really excited to talk to her about her project because she was always so excited about the project and really cared a lot about it,” Elkins said. “(Slyter) really took on a lot and was always really eager to dive in.”
Associate Professor Kit Hughes served as an inside reader on Slyter’s dissertation and uttered similar sentiments.
“(Slyter is) a dream to work with,” Hughes said. “She is curious, tenacious, diligent and ambitious — attributes that can be invaluable in completing a dissertation. She is also thoughtful and kind, which should be prerequisites for anything.”
Scott Diffrient, who served as Slyter’s dissertation adviser, reflected on the first time he met Slyter and noted how he was impressed “with the breadth and depth of Riana’s knowledge and the high level of her commitment to the communication studies department.”
“Not until I met (Slyter) in person, though, did her self-deprecating humor, kindness, grace and generosity become apparent,” Diffrient said. “The rigor of her thinking and writing is matched only by the professionalism and inventiveness with which she approaches her own classes as a teacher. She consistently inspires me and reminds me why horror — my favorite genre — matters. … She’s one in a million.”
While balancing teaching and completing her dissertation, Slyter said she struggled with stress and faced financial struggles as well, as she paid for the majority of her travel herself. However, she was also awarded CSU’s 2025 Summer Dissertation Fellowship to further her work.
Slyter has since stepped away from academia and is now working as a program lead for DaVita Kidney Care’s talent development and training team — a decision that came from prioritizing her work-life balance. In the future, Slyter mentioned that she would like to develop a space similar to The Lyric to continue teaching film and horror.
“I just need almost, like, a detox from thinking so hard for so long,” Slyter said. “I’m just like Dracula taking a little nap, just so I can heal because it was a grueling six years of grad school and four years at CSU, and I’m doing better.”
Reach Chloe Rios at science@collegian.com or on social media @CSUCollegian.
