Exit
CULTURE
HUFFINGTON
10.28.12
Knock-Knock-Knocking
on Hell’s Door
BY LILA SHAPIRO
EENAN ROBERTS
didn’t invent the idea of
scaring Christian youth
into salvation, but he
has done more than anyone else to
turn it into an industry. For $299—
and with the Denver-based pastor’s
approval—you can build your own
“Hell House,” complete with theatrical scenes of teen suicides and gay
marriages gone wrong.
Staged by Evangelical churches
predominantly in the South and
REUTERS/JESSICA RINALDI
K
Midwest, Hell Houses share some
of the tropes of classic haunted
houses and are most active in the
run-up to Halloween, when Americans are most primed for scaremongering. But if haunted house
directors generally aim to entertain,
Roberts has very a different goal.
“The number one priority is
reaching people with the message that sin destroys and Jesus
saves,” he explained to Huffington by phone from his church.
Trinity Church
members
dressed as
demons take
a breather
while awaiting
the next tour
group to come
through the
Hell House
in Cedar Hill,
Texas, on Oct.
30, 2006.