Do videos from previous Black Fridays scare you? Videos of shoppers milling about before the store opens like zombies in a George Romero movie or fighting each other like in a segment of Jerry Springer?

You only have to do a casual search of YouTube to find some pretty terrifying stuff about the Black Friday madness that seems to descend on normal shoppers that day.

It wasn’t so long ago that the idea of getting trampled to death was a good enough reason to stay away from any event–but then the economy crashed. Now getting trampled to death for the sake of being able to afford some of life’s niceties again doesn’t sound so bad. Sure, you don’t want to die, but is life without being able to watch football in HD really worth living?

If you’re going to brave the hordes of shoppers, experts agree on one thing: Go in Prepared.

There are sites specifically dedicated to Black Friday shopping that have some tips on how to come out unscathed. This one touts itself as “Black Friday’s Official Site“. You can also get some great general tips compiled from sites all over the internet here. Here is a brief video overview of those tips you might find useful:

Now you should be a Black Friday expert: able to handle all the insanity the shopping blitz has to offer…or sane enough to stay home and do your Black Friday shopping online.

So what’ll it be? Are you going to be out doing your Black Friday shopping in-store or online?