History
The earliest hell house is thought to been created by Trinity Assembly of God in Dallas, but it was first popularized by Jerry Falwell in the late 1970s. Falwell's "Scaremare" event of 1972 included a mixture of haunted house frights, a crucifixion scene, and a distribution of literature pertaining to the Christian Gospel. 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. 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. The resulting documentary, Hell House, 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.
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