THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 28, 1995 TAG: 9510280333
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
A church-sponsored haunted house shows scenes that go beyond scary: a gay man with AIDS in a coffin, a woman covered with a blood-soaked towel having an abortion, a depressed teenager shooting himself in the head.
``The message is about the decisions people make, and the consequences,'' said Paul Veliquette, pastor of The Abundant Life Christian Center, a Pentecostal church in Arvada, Colo.
The scenes, criticized as outrageous and insensitive, were shown for the first time Thursday night to hundreds of people who waited an hour in line and paid $5 each.
The ``Hell House'' is one of several church-sponsored haunted houses around the country this Halloween that have grown from a project known as ``Scaremare'' run by the Center for Youth Ministries at Liberty University, the school founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell in Lynchburg.
And like other ``Hell Houses,'' the one in Arvada is disturbing audiences with its scenes, which are described on accompanying fliers and played out by church members.
``It was OK, but it was too real,'' said 15-year-old Shaun Gonzales. ``They're making fun of gay people. They shouldn't do that.''
In one of seven scenes shown at the church, the man with AIDS is taunted by Satan, who points to him and says, ``This is the terrible physical devastation brought on by his decision to lead that kind of lifestyle.''
Matt Patrick, director of the Boulder County AIDS Project, a counseling service, said churches should spend their time caring for people with AIDS. ``The ostracism they're fostering does no one any good,'' he said.
In another scene, a bloodied woman screams while having an abortion.
``It's frightening and needlessly terrifying teens, instead of providing real information on ways to avoid abortion and AIDS,'' said Ellen Brilliant, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood in Denver.
Veliquette said the AIDS scene wasn't meant as gay bashing and that the abortion scene is intended to show that abstention or adoption are alternatives for women.
``We in the church are very compassionate about people in pain and suffering, and want to depict what is happening now,'' he said.
Children under 12 are not allowed into the production, which runs nightly through Tuesday.
Troy Temple, director of the ``Scaremare'' project at Liberty University, said he had no specific knowledge of ``Hell House'' but knows of many Liberty alumni who have staged haunted houses based on ``Scaremare.''
The haunted house he runs at Liberty is in its 23rd year and has attracted 200,000 visitors since 1979, he said. Many are bused in by church youth groups around Virginia and other East Coast states.
`` `Scaremare' has a dual purpose,'' Temple said. ``It's a fun house, a scary house used for entertainment, but it also depicts scenes of death to confront people going through the house with their mortality.''
``We are an evangelistic organization,'' he said. ``We do have a message, and we don't pull any punches with it.''
``Scaremare'' doesn't deal with such topics as AIDS, homosexuality and abortion, Temple said.
``Abortion? I won't touch it with a 10-foot pole. Yes, we're on the side of the unborn baby, but we're also in the corner of the woman who has had an abortion. Ours is not a house that is a platform for political issues.''
``Scaremare'' does include two teen suicide scenes, he said. One shows a homecoming queen slitting her wrist in a bathroom; in the other, a boy has shot himself in the head in his bedroom.
``A lot of churches do a `Judgment House,' '' Temple said. ``They find out the names of people in line. Then they call out their names, say `It's time for judgment' and take them through different scenes.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Paul Veliquette, pastor of The Abundant Life Christian Center, in
Arvada, Colo., says the production ``is about the decisions people
make, and the consequences.''
by CNB