Columbine "Hell House"

If you don't know what a Hell House is, it's a Christian alternative to haunted houses. They show the gruesome consequences of turning away from God in graphic detail. I have personally heard accounts of my peers going to such attractions.

Anyways, some Hell Houses incorporated the "She Said Yes" story in their script. I'd guess that when Halloween comes, there will probably be some Hell House playing the exact same scene again, especially so soon after the I'm Not Ashamed movie.

In The Martyrs of Columbine: Faith and the Politics of Tragedy Justin Watson describes a Hell House in Pennsylvania in October 2001:

Quote :

The next scene begins with students sitting in a school library. From the dialogue, we learn that some are Christians and some are not. Two teenage boys, one named Eric, burst in the room with guns. The students panic and scream. Two of the Christian girls, named Cassie and Rachel, are asked if they believe in God. When they say "Yes!" they are each shot in the head. Then the two boys ritualistically kill each other. The demon-guide proclaims, "Once again I win!"

The following scene is in Hell, in which visitors meet Satan, who proudly proclaims credit for killing Cassie and Rachel, and see the damned in eternal torment. One of the damned cries out in regret, "Oh, why didn't I listen to Cassie?!" The final scene of the tour is in Heaven. Here visitors see a skit and hear a short sermon that make clear that the only way to avoid Hell is to accept salvation through Jesus Christ.

google books link

If anyone here has seen such a thing, I'd love to hear your input. Maybe you've even been to a secular haunted house that had a Columbine-inspired scene.

There's also a New York Times article on this phenomenon, but it describes a different Hell House (this one from 1999 is in Texas):

Quote :

In the Columbine scene, the girl who is shot after refusing to renounce God is led to Heaven by Jesus, while demons drag the two gunmen to hell.

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It wouldn't surprise me if "Columbine-style shooting" is still a stock scenario for these attractions.

Goddamn christians

I found a video of a Hell House-type production that includes a school shooter scene (WARNING: LOUD):



Proselytizing starts at 3:00, shooting starts at 4:10.

Not exactly Columbine, but definitely in response to what happened.

This one is long and boring, so I won't embed it:

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No explicit scenes, but it seems to get its premise from the 2012 movie theater shooting.

And apparently, one of these Hell Houses was going to depict the Pulse shooting and the Charleston Church shooting until Chicago Public Schools withdrew permission.

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Damn, this is one dark rabbit hole.

Still going with the trench coat style in 2015:

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Wtf... Parents actually send their kids to these things?! How's this not child abuse?

Method of carrots and stick)

Jbow89 wrote:

Wtf... Parents actually send their kids to these things?! How's this not child abuse?

These things are intended for teenagers. I think that most attendees want to be scared, so I don't disapprove of the concept in general.

However, I am an atheist, and I do object to lies told about abortion or LGBT people, which are common in these productions.