Are there Halloween church sponsored "Hell Houses" around you?

[Horse with no Name]

We have a couple around us and I have heard they are terrifying and people are mislead into thinking that they are haunted houses.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_house
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.

[Blue Owl]

1. Hell Houses and Purity Balls

They really have the bases covered in Fundyville...

[Panasonic]

2. Not that I went to.

I went to two different haunted houses two weeks ago. Being deaf, I wasn't frightened at all.

[bayareamike]

3. I'd be interested in going to one of these, just to see what the deal is. Craziness. nt

[bayareamike]

4. Found this 2001 documentary on fundamentalist Christians and hell houses..

These people are crazy. It's frightening.

[TlalocW]

5. In Tulsa

There's a pretty conservative church called - I kid you not - GUTS Church, and they have a Hell House every year, but you have to be pretty stupid to not know what it's going to be. I lived there up until last year and decided to finally go see it. It's pretty popular. I have to say that the hot dogs at the concession stand were some of the best I've ever had... but back to the Hell House...

They put a lot of money and effort into it. I remember there being a lot of anti-alcohol "scares," and there was one of a girl in a bathtub having committed suicide after getting depressed from having an abortion. At the end, you're in a big room, and there's the voice-over about the normal soul-saving stuff, and there's a kind of an open hall/room connected to it, and there's a guy in a suit changing back and forth into Satan and getting closer to the room you're in with every change. I loudly exclaimed, "Oh, my God! That's the Girl to Gorilla illusion! Cool!" and got shushed by workers in the room. (I'm a magician)

At the end, you leave the building, but they have a huge tent over the parking area that you exit to with people from church wanting to talk to you. One girl was pretty emotional from it, and about four of them had surrounded and were comforting her. A couple of them gave each other a smile and a sly look like, "We got another one." A young hipster came up to me and wanted to talk about my soul, and I said, "Before we do that, do you think Jesus would approve of this methodology to bring people to Him?" He wouldn't look in my eyes and meekly excused himself.

I got another hot dog before leaving.

TlalocW

[Are_grits_groceries]

6. I consider some of the churches

around here to be year long Hell Houses. The shite they spout sounds like hell to me.

[madrchsod]

7. there was one near here that was so bad....

the city forced it shut down. it was a church group that was so far over the top that enough parents had the city shut it down.

thankfully the nutball churches where i live don`t go that far.

[TlalocW]

8. Also...

This is a comic strip called, "Something Positive." This particular run of comics features the father of the main character going to a haunted house, expecting a normal one, and getting tricked into going into a Hell House. The scenes depicted (of the "attractions&quot have all appeared in the Hell Houses that the cartoonist researched. The humorous reactions to them are probably not typical.

It's a pretty good depiction of what goes on in them.

http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp10042006.shtml

TlalocW

[srichardson]

16. Thanks for the link.

Those comics pretty much say it all! It is good to see someone else sees the lunacy in Bible thumpers! I wrote my post below on Guts Church before reading the comments. Small world isn't it! I'm sure during this election time you are thrilled to have moved away from our very own brand of Okie tea partiers!

[TlalocW]

18. I'm in the KC area now

One of the things I like the most about the Halloween season here as compared to Tulsa is that I get hired (I'm a magician/balloon twister) for HALLOWEEN PARTIES! Not Harvest Celebrations, not Fall Festivals but HALLOWEEN PARTIES! Even one at a Baptist (*gasp*) Church this past Saturday.

I remember several calls from churches in Tulsa wanting to hire me in past years. They would always call their event a Harvest Celebration, but I would refer to it as Halloween Party in the conversation so they were something like this.

Church: Hi, we're looking to hire a balloon twister for our Harvest Party.
Me: Okay, I just need some info. What day is it going to be on, and what else do you have planned for it?
Church: The normal - games, treats, costumes. It will be this Saturday.
Me: Sounds like fun. I am available that day for your Halloween Party.
Church: Harvest Party. Great! What do you charge?
Me: For Halloween parties like yours I charge X amount per hour.
Church: Harvest Party. That fits into our budget nicely.
Me: Okay, I've got you down for 3 this Saturday for your Halloween Party. I'll see you then!
Church: Harvest Party. Sounds good! Bye.

TlalocW

[argiel1234]

9. Do they really have exhibits of abortion and suicide and sex and drug use?

Satanic ritual abuse? WTF


Truthfully, Ive never heard of one of these Hell Houses

Sounds like the people that like to hold up pictures of dismembered fetuses at intersections and knock on your door and tell you that youre going to hell if you if dont discuss their insane beliefs

[Horse with no Name]

10. Actually the odds of them being the same people are pretty good! n/t

[phylny]

11. Never seen one.

The churches around here (south central Virginia) do Trunk or Treat, because it's so rural, most kids don't have the opportunity to go trick or treating in a neighborhood. We expect between 300 - 500 kids and will be decorating our cars to hand out candy in the parking lot, and not one bit of proselytizing. It's done for our community as a service.

[opiate69]

15. Same here (suburban Olympia, Wa)

Not too bad of a deal, actually... As an outspoken atheist, I felt a little weird the first couple times we took our kids, but honestly, the neighborhood trick-or-treating is pretty much dead around here.

[Raine]

12. I'm in coastal Los Angeles County, there is a fundie church nearby but what

they have what they call a "Harvast Festival" on Halloween. They give out candy to (I assume) the members of their "church's" children.

[jackbenimble]

13. They used to have them in my area

Not sure if they still do though. Probably after a few years people catch on and stop going to them.

[srichardson]

14. Guts Church

in Tulsa Oklahoma sponsors one. I have went a few times. Gang violence was addressed w the "gang" members calling us bitches right in our faces; drunk driving incident where a car drove into a house killing a family in front of their Christmas tree. We walked through a drug house that smelled like pot with a pregnant lady laying on the ground bleeding from between her legs. There was also a guy on a toilet w his pants down during that scene. Hmmm....what else? A home where a teenager was on the back patio while his parents were beating and screaming at each other inside. Then the kid shot himself in the head. Very graphic. One guy had huge rats that he would lay on your shoulders. They could touch you but you couldn't touch or even speak to them. Then you took an elevator down to hell with moaning and screaming. Of course there was a very bloody cross scene at the end. As soon as you walked out the doors they asked if you died tonight would you go to heaven? If you said yes you had to explain why. Very surreal.

[Posteritatis]

17. They try them now and then around here, but they don't even warrant lukewarm receptions. (nt)