Hell House
Hell houses are haunted attractions typically run by American, fundamentalist Christian churches or parachurch organizations. 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 theme 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, use of alcoholic beverages 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. They are notable for their use of hyperbole, for example, the short clips seen of a Hell House rehearsal in the Documentary The Root of All Evil?, presented by Richard Dawkins.
Read more about Hell House: History
Famous quotes containing the words hell and/or house:
“The Schofield Kid: It don’t seem real, how he ain’t gonna never breathe again, ever. How he’s dead, and the other one, too. All on account of pulling a trigger.
Will Munny: It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away all he’s got and all he’s ever gonna have.”
—David Webb Peoples, screenwriter. The Schofield Kid (Jaimz Woolvett)
“Somewhere between the overly intrusive parent and the parent who forgets about us after we’re out of the house is the ideally empathetic parent who recognizes the relativity of choice, the errors of his or her own way, and our need to find our own way and who can stay with us at a respectful distance while we do it.”
—Roger Gould (20th century)