The Phenomenon of the "Hell House"

My guest today was a Ph.D. candidate in Theater. He researches new forms of theater that break barriers of what we normally expect theater to be. One of the primary areas of focus of his research is a remarkable type of theater put on by conservative churches: the Hell House.

A Hell House is not unlike the more benign Halloween haunted house. Often, the exhibits are put up around Halloween and the feature the familiar pattern of a guide moving the guests from one terrifying room to another. The Hell House, however, does not depict traditional evils, like witches, ghost, and the like. Instead, the Hell House depicts what the sponsoring church perceives to be sins being committed in the world today. Through his research of many Hell Houses around the United States, my guest has identified three “rooms” common to most Hell Houses: (1) the abortion, (2) the gay man dying of AIDS, and (3) the drunk driver.

The abortion room often features a botched abortion that kills the woman receiving the procedure. She often screams horrifically, dies on the table, and is carried out of the room by demons. Similar fates occur to the gay man and the drunk driver. Each dies as a result of his or her sins, and is taken offstage by demons. In some case, the guide is a demon who explains how Satan is using lies to deceive the world.

The end of the Hell House varies. Some Hell Houses feature a depiction of heaven. In some high-budget Hell Houses, the final room has a Plexiglas floor underneath which the audience can see all the people who “died” during the earlier scenes of the performance. These people are now being tormented in Hell for the sins that led to their deaths. Some Hell Houses feature a depiction of Christ on the Cross. One particular Hell House ended with imagery so graphic it almost made my guest vomit (I’ll spare you).

The common event at the end is that the participants are invited to accept Jesus Christ in order to receive salvation. Hell Houses keep careful track of how many people accept such invitations. My guest hypothesized that most of the “conversions” that occur at the end of Hell Houses are likely re-commitments by lapsed Christians. The language of “accepting Christ” and what someone actually has to do to accept Christ is likely only known by people familiar with contemporary non-denominational Christian services. Some Hell House even keep a tally of how many people cried, and how many people threw up while visiting the exhibit.

I can see why my guest is interested in studying these theatrical productions. Hell Houses in particular seem to use theater to affect their audience in a way that traditional theatrical productions do not. The immediacy of a Hell House is more intense than anything you can get in traditional settings.

This American Life also covered Hell Houses. Check it out here.