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'''Hell houses''' |
'''Hell houses''' are [[haunted attraction]]s typically run by [[United States|American]], [[fundamentalist Christianity|fundamentalist Christian]] churches or [[parachurch]] groups. These depict [[sin]], the torments of the damned in [[Hell]], and usually conclude with a depiction of [[heaven]]. They are most typically operated in the days preceding [[Halloween]]. |
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A hell house, like a conventional haunted-house attraction, is a space set aside for actors attempting 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 occasions and effects of sin or the fate of unrepentant sinners in the [[afterlife]]. They occur during the month of October to capitalize on the similarities between hell houses and haunted attractions. |
A hell house, like a conventional haunted-house attraction, is a space set aside for actors attempting 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 occasions and effects of sin or the fate of unrepentant sinners in the [[afterlife]]. They occur during the month of October to capitalize on the similarities between hell houses and haunted attractions. |
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Revision as of 22:26, 15 October 2010
Hell houses are haunted attractions typically run by American, fundamentalist Christian churches or parachurch groups. These depict sin, the torments of the damned in Hell, and usually conclude with a depiction of heaven. They are most typically operated in the days preceding Halloween.
A hell house, like a conventional haunted-house attraction, is a space set aside for actors attempting 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 occasions and effects of sin or the fate of unrepentant sinners in the afterlife. They occur during the month of October to capitalize on the similarities between hell houses and haunted attractions.
The exhibits at a hell house often have a controversial tone focusing on issues of concern to evangelicals in the United States. Hell houses frequently feature exhibits depicting sin and its consequences. Common examples include abortion, suicide,[1] use of alcoholic beverage and other recreational drugs, adultery and pre-marital sex, occultism, homosexuality, and Satanic ritual abuse. Hell houses typically emphasize the belief that anyone who does not accept Christ as their personal savior is condemned to Hell.
History
The first hell house, Scaremare (still presented each October) was created by Jerry Falwell in the late 1970s.[2] Similar events began in several regions during that period. More recently, the concept has been promoted and adapted by Keenan Roberts, originally of Roswell, New Mexico, who started a hell house in Arvada, Colorado in 1995. Since that time, hell houses have become a regular fixture of the Halloween season in parts of the United States. Roberts remains active in the hell house ministry by providing kits and directions to enable churches to perform their own attractions.[3] He is now the senior pastor of Destiny Church of the Assemblies of God where Hell House is usually performed each year during the month of October.
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.[4] The resulting documentary, Hell House,[5] 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.[6][7]
In October 2003 Bethel Church in Temple, Texas began "Temple Hell House". Bethel continues to conduct a hell house every year under the direction of youth pastor Matt Baumgartner and hosts around 3,000 people every year from the Central Texas area.[citation needed]
Criticism
Hell houses have been criticized for misleading potential patrons that they are a conventional Halloween attraction rather than an evangelistic presentation.[citation needed]
References
- ^ http://www.hellhouse.us/index-2.html
- ^ "Hell houses, judgment houses etc". ReligiousTolerance.org. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ "'Hell House' Kits Selling Nationally". Christianity Today. 1996-10-07. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ "Hell House (2001)". IMDb. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ "'Hell House' Film Depicts a Church That Wants to Scare the Hell out of You". NPR. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ "Hell House". Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ Theresa Smalec (2007). "Celebrate Like True Believers': Performing Evangelical Christianity in Les Freres Corbusier's Hell House". Retrieved 2009-07-17.
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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)