What's Scarier Than a Haunted House? A Factory Farm

Every Halloween, countless people visit haunted houses to be “spooked” by make-believe ghosts, goblins, and ghouls. Meanwhile, real horrors are taking place in factory farms and slaughterhouse.

Billions of terrified animals are confined to filthy, crowded warehouses, cages, and crates. Chickens and turkeys have parts of their sensitive beaks seared off with hot blades. Piglets’ teeth and ears are cut, their tails are chopped off, and males have their testicles ripped out. Cows are castrated, branded, and dehorned. All of these agonizing procedures are done without painkillers.

At the slaughterhouse, the frantic animals are often scalded alive or dismembered while they’re still conscious.

If you plan to watch scary videos this Halloween, than watch the footage from PETA’s shocking undercover investigations of various factory farms and slaughterhouses. But be warned; the horrifying scenes will give you nightmares. Animals feel pain every bit as much as we do, are haunted by the sights and smells of the slaughterhouse, and are afraid to die.

They wouldn’t have to fear knife-wielding killers and maniacal farm workers if everyone went vegetarian. (And people wouldn’t have to fear animal-borne diseases and other diet-related illnesses if we stopped raising and killing so many animals for food.)

Along with a selection of vegan Halloween candy, many PETA staffers and other caring individuals give trick-or-treaters and party-goers stickers or literature to help them adopt a blood-free diet. Only a real creep would support real pain and terror, after all.