hell house
{{Other uses|Hell House (disambiguation){{!}}Hell House}}
{{short description|Evangelical Protestant haunted attraction}}
Hell houses are haunted attractions typically run by evangelical Protestant churches or parachurch organizations designed to act as moral instruction / guidelines. They depict acts which the organizers deem sinful and their consequences, including the torments of the damned in Hell, and usually conclude with a depiction of Heaven.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}} Scenes portrayed may include date rape,{{Cite web|url=https://www.deseret.com/1997/10/18/19340537/hell-house-to-include-sin-scene-of-date-rape|title='Hell House' to include sin scene of date rape|website=www.deseret.com|date=18 October 1997|access-date=18 May 2020|archive-date=20 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020020602/https://www.deseret.com/1997/10/18/19340537/hell-house-to-include-sin-scene-of-date-rape|url-status=live}} same-sex marriage, gambling, abortion, extramarital sex, raving, the use of alcoholic beverages and drugs, and teen suicide.{{Cite book|title=The God Delusion|last=Dawkins|first=Richard|publisher=Bantam Books|year=2006|isbn=0-618-68000-4|location=United Kingdom}}{{Rp|needed=y|date=May 2020}} Other hell houses focus on the theme of the seven deadly sins.{{cite web|last=Herman |first=Marc |title=Evangelical 'Hell Houses' Still a Thing This Year, Now With Additional Creepiness |url=https://psmag.com/news/evangelical-hell-houses-still-thing-year-now-additional-creepiness-69117 |publisher=Pacific Standard |access-date=27 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105011659/http://www.psmag.com/politics/evangelical-hell-houses-still-thing-year-now-additional-creepiness-69117 |archive-date=5 November 2013 }} Hell houses typically emphasize the belief that those who do not repent of their sins and choose to follow Christ are condemned to Hell.
A Hell house, like a conventional haunted-house attraction, is a space set aside for actors to frighten patrons with gruesome exhibits and scenes, presented as a series of short vignettes with a narrated guide. Unlike haunted houses, Hell houses focus on real-life situations and the effects of sin or the fate of unrepentant sinners in the afterlife. They are most typically operated in the days preceding Halloween.
History
The idea was first popularized by Jerry Falwell in the late 1970s.{{cite web|url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/hallo_he.htm|title=Hell houses, judgment houses etc.|access-date=2007-11-17|publisher=ReligiousTolerance.org|archive-date=2013-10-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022045617/http://www.religioustolerance.org/hallo_he.htm|url-status=live}} The first known hell house was set up in Lynchburg, Virginia, beginning production in 1972, and was called the "ScareMare".{{Cite news |last=Brulliard |first=Karin |date=30 October 2004 |title=Faith Through Fright; Depictions of Death and Hell Aim to Save |pages=A1 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/409744170 |id={{ProQuest|409744170}} |access-date=3 January 2023 |archive-date=19 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019115713/https://www.proquest.com/docview/409744170 |url-status=live }} Similar events began in several regions during that period.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}}
Trinity Assembly of God in Cedar Hill, Texas is known to have presented a hell house since 1990.{{Cite news |last=Yardley |first=Jim |date=1999-10-29 |title=Church's Haunted House Draws Fire |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/29/us/church-s-haunted-house-draws-fire.html |access-date=2023-01-03 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2023-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103084233/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/29/us/church-s-haunted-house-draws-fire.html |url-status=live }}
From 1995, the concept was promoted and adapted by Keenan Roberts, originally of Roswell, New Mexico, who started a Hell house in Arvada, Colorado. Since that time, Hell houses have become a regular fixture of the Halloween season in parts of the United States. Roberts remained active in the Hell house ministry by providing kits and directions to enable churches to perform their own attractions.{{cite web|url=http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/1996/october7/6tb87a.html|title='Hell House' Kits Selling Nationally|access-date=2007-11-17|date=1996-10-07|work=Christianity Today|archive-date=2007-11-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071120065332/http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/1996/october7/6tb87a.html|url-status=dead}} As of 16 January, 2017, the "Hell House Kit" was still available.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}} As of 2023, a package of hell house scripts and scenes was being sold for $479.{{Cite web |title=Judgement House {{!}} NEW OR RENEW PARTNERSHIP |url=http://judgementhouse.org/become-a-partner/new-or-renew-partnership |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=judgementhouse.org |archive-date=2023-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103090644/http://judgementhouse.org/become-a-partner/new-or-renew-partnership |url-status=live }}
In October 2000, documentary filmmaker George Ratliff filmed a production of a Hell house in Cedar Hill, Texas from scripting to the final night of the production.{{cite web|url=http://imdb.com/title/tt0301235/|title=Hell House (2001)|access-date=2007-11-17|work=IMDb|archive-date=2007-10-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020183118/http://imdb.com/title/tt0301235/|url-status=live}} The resulting documentary, Hell House,{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1148498|title=Documentary Focuses on Dallas 'Hell House'|date=17 August 2002|work=NPR|access-date=21 April 2010|archive-date=8 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070308113825/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1148498|url-status=live}} has inspired numerous live plays and hell-house performances, including one based on Pastor Roberts' production, which played for a month during the 2006 Halloween season in an off-Broadway production in Brooklyn, New York by Les Freres Corbusier.{{cite web|url=http://www.lesfreres.org/archives/06_hell.html |title=Hell House |access-date=2007-11-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014095410/http://lesfreres.org/archives/06_hell.html |archive-date=2007-10-14 }}{{cite web|url=http://hemi.nyu.edu/hemi/en/e-misferica-41/smalec/|title=Celebrate Like True Believers': Performing Evangelical Christianity in Les Freres Corbusier's Hell House|access-date=2009-07-17|author=Theresa Smalec|date=May 2007|archive-date=2011-07-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728081236/http://hemi.nyu.edu/hemi/en/e-misferica-41/smalec/|url-status=live}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Nixon, Elisabeth Ann (2006) Playing Devil's Advocate on the Path to Heaven: Evangelical Hell Houses and the Play of Politics, Fear and Faith (PhD dissertation).
External links
- [http://www.judgementhouse.org/ Judgement House]
{{Halloween|state=expanded}}
Category:Christian fundamentalism
Category:Halloween in the United States
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:1972 establishments in the United States
Category:Amusement park attractions introduced in 1972
Category:Protestant buildings and structures in North America