Not Just A Haunted House,
But “A Journey Through
HELL”
By: Glen E. Dawursk, Jr.
www.yuthguy.com
This story took place during the fall of 1978 in
Lohren and I
had only been at the Ongoing Ambassadors for Christ office two days, when we
had this idea to make a Halloween haunted house. Only, we wanted this house to be different –
because, it would be a CHRISTIAN HAUNTED HOUSE!
Halloween, like Christmas and Easter, has become a
holiday filled with commercialism and un-Christian virtues. Its history dates back to the Old Testament
times, where people from
The Christian
church later adapted some of these pagan rituals into Christian worship. When the Roman Pantheon in
For several centuries, “All Saints Day” was the major
celebration held in the Pantheon. It was
traditionally held in May, until it was deliberately moved to the first of
November in order to coincide with the ancient celebration of Samhain, the Lord
of the Dead. The Catholic church was again adapting pagan rituals as Christian worship
in order to please newly conquered countries.
“All Saints Day and “Halloween” are deeply rooted
into the pagan rituals of worshiping the dead, placating evil spirits, honoring
Samhain, the Lord of the Dead, and the transferring to Mary, the pagan esteem
previously given to the goddess Cybele.
“Halloween” especially is a tool the Devil has built up and used
effectively to blind Christians into believing that it is okay to celebrate a
holiday, which formally gave worship to the Lord and goddess of the Dead. He has blinded Christians into believing that
His prime tools of “death” and “fear” of it are harmless and fun. Lohren and I knew that people of our country,
including Christians, were not about to just give up Halloween. Therefore, we thought of ways in which we
could share “resurrection in Jesus” on the celebration of death. This is why we decided to create a Christian
haunted house.
Lohren Meier (of
We decided to name the house, “A Journey through
Hell.” We wanted to show various
sections of Hell. Each would deal with
death and the real history of Halloween.
The final death shown would be Jesus on a cross. The Gospel message would be that Jesus has
given us victory over death and the powers of the Devil. We wanted to show what Paul said in Hebrews
2, verse 14 and 15. “He (Jesus) in the
same way took flesh and blood in order to die and so take away all the powers
of him who had the power of death that is, the devil, and to free those whom,
terrified by death, had to be slaves all their lives.” With Jesus, we don’t have to fear ANYTHING!
The “Journey through Hell” started on the far side of
the building at a gym entrance. The cost
was $1.00 per person with discount rates to church groups. The person taking the money allowed five
people in at a time. They were told to
have a seat in the first room. Upon
entering, the door slammed behind them.
The room was filled with several chairs, a desk and a skull-shaped
candle. A gentleman dressed in a three
piece suit entered the room and lit the candle.
“Welcome
(pause) to Hell. I hope your visit won’t
be a short one … stay as long as you want – maybe
forever? (Laugh) I would like to warn you though, be very
careful – anything can happen down here.
As you walk around, you will find a maze with five or six ways to get
in, but only one way to get out! If you
don’t find your way out, well, you may be here for quite a while. (Grin slyly) Come, (motions people toward library). I want to show you one of my
collections of famous souls.”
The gentleman would lead the visitors into the library,
an extremely warm room filled with shelves and a dim red light. On the shelves were different colored jars
with people’s names labeled on them.
Charles Manson, Son of Sam, Janis Joplin, Judas, the rock group KISS,
and Jesus were included on the shelves.
The jar with Jesus’ name on it was broken, stained with blood and lying
on its side. A blood-filled rag was next
to the jar as if someone had tried to wipe up the mess. An empty jar was also on the shelf.
“Look
around, see anyone you know? Notice the
rock group, KISS (professed Satanists), they’re going to Hell, too … they worship ME!
And, oh yes, over there (points to broken container) that WAS Jesus’
soul, but we couldn’t keep Him down here.
He broke loose. And that empty
one? That one is for your soul, if you
dare? … Come follow me.”
The people were led down a dark hallway to a
stairway. Here Satan would tell people
to “enjoy your journey through Hell.” He would laugh, and then disappear. As the people began to climb the steps, a flashing
strobe caused the steps to look as if they were moving and a “pullied” ghost
flies down on a stretched wire over their heads. When they finally get to the top of the
steps, they walk through a section where the ceiling lowers to only four feet
high. When they arrive at the maze, they
are completely on their own. This
conglomeration of cardboard walls, black lights, lowered ceilings; secret
rooms, dead ends and swinging doors had six possible entrances, but only one
exit. Many people spent 10 to 15 minutes
in this section of the house alone. If
someone was lost, a person sitting at the entrance to the maze might
assist. Throughout the maze, “haunted”
sounds could be heard through a sound system hidden above the lowered
ceilings. Whenever people entered the
maze, the words “ghosts and goblins beware, our guests have arrived,” gave
clues for the demons to be prepared.
Once the five people found their way through the maze, a person draped
in a black cape met them – this was the demon.
The demons were responsible fore leading people through Hell. Each section had a least one.
“Come. Let us
visit sections of Hell. Follow me. Enter quietly, you are about to witness a
pagan ritual.”
The demon would lead the people into the first of three
rooms on the maze side of the house. The
demon closed the door, and the light went on.
In the room, a large black structure on the top of a small table forms
the first tool of death – the guillotine.
Before us stood someone with a hood over his head and the victim stood
in the corner behind the guillotine.
“Tonight you
will witness a blood offering to the goddess Cybele. As we cut off the victim’s head, may his
blood cry to our goddess of the soul – Cybele. Let us test the guillotine. (The blade is dropped) We are ready.
(He grabs the victim by the arm and puts the victim’s head into the
guillotine. As he looks up) Oh, goddess
of Souls, (the lights go out) this blood cries to you.”
The blade drops, the victim screams, and the lights
are turned back on. Before the people,
the head of the victim lay in blood in a basket below the guillotine.
“The sacrifice is complete, who will be
next?”
HOW IS IT DONE?
The basket has a hole
on one side of it. As the lights go out,
the victim screams as he is putting his head under the table, and into the
basket below the guillotine. A curtain
draped under the table hides the rest of the victim’s body from the visitors’
sight. Blood paint on one side of the
victims’ face gives an effect that the head has been cut off.
The demon leads the people out of the room. A second demon leads the five into the second
room or section of hell. As the people
enter, the demon motions them away from the door. Behind the door stands an old man, the
“victim of death.” The room is dim, but
a casket made from cardboard and plywood is visible. It is set upon a table. The room resembles a funeral parlor. Before the casket stands a weeping old
woman. The demon directs the attention
of the visitors to the casket.
“Hallow’s Eve is the celebration of honor to
Samhain, our Lord of the Dead. Come
closer; let us see one of his latest victims!”
As the casket is opened, the old woman screams.
“He’s gone,
the body’s gone!”
The lights go out, and the demon attempts to lead the
visitors out of the room. The final room
is dimly lit, and cluttered with scientific books, papers, and test tubes. A table with a covered body is before the
people. The scientist describes his
experiments.
“Welcome to my experiment. My name is Dr. Lind field. I am a scientist. You are just in time for my greatest
experiment. I am about to create
artificial life within this dead corpse.
While my tools may seem primitive, I have produced an instrument, which
will send electricity throughout the body of this dead creature. Observe as I produce life.”
As the
scientist switches on the strobe and red spot above the head of the body, the
creature begins to move violently.
Suddenly all the lights go out.
The scientist begins to yell.
“What is
happening? Something has gone wrong!”
After a few seconds, the dim light is turned back
only to find the creature standing directly in front of the visitors. The light does off again as the creature
attacks. The demon leads the visitors
out. They are led to a door, where they
are told …
“Follow the
florescent arrows on the floor. They
lead to a door on the other side of the hallway.”
The demon enters the hallway behind the
visitors. The demon slams the door and
proceeds to the other door. As the visitors
cross the hallway, a wall of nails begins to roll down the hallway towards
them. A strobe causes the movement of
the wall to look staggered.
The door on the opposite side of the hallway is
locked, and the wall is getting closer.
The visitors are at a dead end, with a wall of nails heading in their
direction. The wall suddenly stops about
three feet away. A loud band is heard,
and the door is opened. The people enter
quickly.
HOW IS IT DONE?
A wooden frame
supports the entire wall. It’s on four
wheels, and leans slightly to the back.
The nails were pounded through cardboard, and taped from the back of the
structure. The nails were painted with
yellow florescent paint, and a black light was put in the hallway ceiling. The strobe was controlled from begin the wall
with a long extension cord. The strobe
faced into the wall. The arrows on the
floor were made of making tape and painted with florescent paint. The door slam was the code for the wall to
start moving. The bang on the wall by
the person pushing the wall was a code for the demon in the next room to open
the door.
The
next room is the first of four on this side of the house. It is filled with several chairs and a huge
structure used for hanging. The victim, standing
on a box, is about to be hung. A person
wearing a white KKK robe and hood stands next to him.
KKK “The Ku Klux Klan is devoted to one
cause – to further Satan’s work here on earth.
You shall die because of your efforts to stop us.
Victim No, I didn’t please don’t …
KKK Jump!
Victim No.
I won’t. Never!
KKK I
said jump!
Victim No!”
The KKK member violently kicks the box out from under
the victim. The victim gives a
bloodcurdling scream, then dies.
KKK “Who will dare to stop us next? Will it be you?”
HOW WE DO IT?
A
chain forms a swing set in which a metal pipe is the seat. The victim wears a pair of cutoffs in which
another pair of long tight pants is put over.
The pipe is inserted between the shorts and the tight pants. The arms of the victim are put in back of the
chains, while the head still sticks out front.
Foam padding is put in front of the chains where they touch the victim’s
body. A second shirt is put on over the
chains. The rope around the victim’s
neck is not attached to anything. It
should be draped over the top brace.
When the victim has the box kicked out from under him, he will swing on
the bar as if sitting on the very edge of a sing set. The KKK should stop the victim from swinging
too much. (There is no possibility of
the person getting hung literally.)
The demon will next lead the visitors past two
monkeys chained to a wall. These monkeys
tear the chains off the wall and attack the visitors as they are entering the
second room, on this side of the house.
HOW DO WE DO IT?
The chains are nailed
to wooden blocks, which are attached to the wall with Velcro. The Velcro allows the chain blocks to be put
back on after each set of visitors.
The second room is dark as the visitors enter. A girl draped in a black cape tells her
visitors to sit quietly. The light is
turned on, and before the people is an altar with the numbers “666” and the
witches’ “crow’s feet” painted on the front.
A young child lay on the altar.
“Hallow’s
eve is a celebration of death. It honors
the god of the dead and the wicked spirits of the dead. It is believed that on this particular night,
the souls of the dead return to their former homes. If an acceptable sacrifice is not given, the
evil spirits will haunt and torment the living … a trick if no treat! Witness this live sacrifice to the spirits of
the dead.
(She raises her hands before the altar. A knife is in one hand.)
Oh, god of the dead in the fires of hell, hear our mournful
cry. We beckon thee to accept this
sacrifice.”
The witch bows before the altar and then stabs the
young child. The child screams, as the
witch turns to the visitors.
“Now, depart
from Satan’s presence.”
As she directs the visitors to the next room, she
points to the door and says,
“Hell can go no further, depart!”
The next room is filled with thorn bushes and is
draped in black. There is no
movement. A small bridge leads the
visitors past a cross. A young man is
hanging from the cross. His hands, feet,
and side are blood stained. A crown of
thorns pierces his head. The cross is
lit up in red. It is completely
silent. Only the visitors make any
sounds. There is no other light in the
room.
The visitors open the door at the end of the
bridge. Several spotlights from the next
room blind them. No longer is the room
with the cross dark. This final room
contains a real water fountain splashing below a mural that says, “He is risen.” Soft
Christian music is heard, and a smiling girl waits in the room. She hands each visitor a tract entitled, “The
Assurance of Heaven.” She points out the
end purpose of the house written on another wall. It says, “For God so loved you, that He gave
His only begotten Son to suffer and die on a cross for you, that if you believe
in Jesus as your Savior from sin, you will not perish, but you will have
everlasting life.” John 3:16. A second sign above it, painted in brightly
colored red and green says, “With Jesus, we don’t have to fear anything!” A final sign bids them farewell – “Thank you,
and may God bless you!” The visitors
exit the room; go down the steps, and out of the house. Their journey is complete.
The Haunted House took over 200 man-hours to
build and 30 people to operate effectively.
Lohren and I built the entire structure during our free time, with the
technical assistance from Richard Meyer, the OAFC business manager.
The cost of the materials was relatively low because
OAFC had several piles of lumber that they had never used. Originally, OAFC had plans to repair a
section of the building. This saved us
at least a hundred dollars in lumber.
The walls were made of cardboard which we got free from a local railroad
salvage dealer. Friends and local
businesses donated other materials for our use in the house. We bought nails, material for the black capes
worn by the demons and with, and white sheets for the hoods of the KKK, three
masks, florescent pain, black lights, ropes, chains, and sound effect
records. These materials cost us about $80.00. We also purchased 2,000 pamphlets telling of
the house for an additional $20.00. The
entire house cost us about $100.00 total.
When the
house ended from a five-day run, over 450 people had walked through, and we had
made over $300.00 profit! For the first
year, and a lack of advertising, we felt this was a very successful venture.
The house took between 20 and 30 minutes to walk
through depending on how long a person was lost in the maze. Many people commented that this house was far
better than the seven other haunted houses in the city. Several pastors were excited to see such an
effective outreach taking place in
1 (Quote and Historical Source) “What Is Happy
About Halloween” by John W. Howe. The
Lutheran Digest, Fall, 1978.