Halloween: Christianity Unmasked, Part 3

Part 3 - Tribulation Trail, Revelation Walk, Scaremare and More

In conclusion of this three-part series (part 1 here and part 2 here), the focus shifts from the fundamentalist Halloween 'alternatives' that are rapidly marching into every state of the union to three thus far localized, but very nationally-recognized, events. Not that that being in one spot prevents crowds of 30,000 or more making pilgrimages across the country to these events each year or anything. From what I've garnered in my research on these attractions, beyond attracting the unsuspecting visitor in the area looking for a good scare, the primary means of promoting and transporting crowds to these events are being organized through Christian youth groups around the nation. The mottos operandi generally is, starting through a word of mouth campaign among teens in their schools/communities, to attempt to load a busload with members of their group along with some of their more heathery friends on a Halloween 'field trip'; always with the hopes of bringing back a few newly saved souls on the return home. Actually, that's passé now...the new catch phrase is for saved people is soemone who has made the 'decision'. If you've done any follow-up to the web sites listed in this series, I'm sure you've see that euphemism in use a few times as well. And it's always important to stay 'hip' when talking about the fundamentalist movement, right?…ahem… Anyway, since I'm covering three spectacles in this final post, I'll keep my input below to short intros rather than additional exposition…

(Now complete with a Middle-Eastern Military scene)

Tribulation Trails

The Metro Heights Baptist Church near Stockbridge, GA started its "Tribulation Trail" in 1992. It was based on an event called 'The Chilling Fields' that a few churches in Georgia had done a few years previously. Metro Heights gets around 30,000 paid visitors (at $10.00/head) during the Halloween season each year. Visitors get to see a demonstration of what conservative Protestants call "The Tribulation"; a time when a wrathful God sends massive afflictions to humans.

Various scenes deal with:

- The exile of John, whom they believe wrote both the Gospel of John and book of Revelation.

- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, representing conquest, war, famine and plague.

- Movies of the attack on the World Trade Center.

- A classroom debate on the separation of church and state. It ends with a black-clad girl (presumably representing a Goth, Satanist or Neopagan) pulling out a gun and shooting a classmate. She shouts that she is "sick of hearing Jesus this and prayer that." (Note: It may be worth mentioning that no Goth, Satanist, Wiccan or other Neopagan student has ever been involved in a school shooting in North America)

(From the Baltimore Business Journal)

"You see, the Tribulation Trail is a big-time production, well known in the Atlanta area and beyond. And what people are slapping down their hard-earned cash to see isn't what many of us consider entertainment; on the contrary, it is a frightening vision of the last days of the world, based on the biblical Book of Revelation.

Many conservative Christians believe in an event called the Rapture, when Jesus Christ returns to take believers to heaven. Those left behind have to deal with seven years of tribulation, a time when the satanic "antichrist" takes over and forms a diabolical one-world government. This time of trouble, which some Christians believe is coming soon, is captured by convincing, volunteer actors on the Metro Heights church grounds.

Eventually, on the trail, Christ returns to defeat a shrieking Satan -- just behind the house where I was staying -- and rule the world.

Along the way, visitors are treated to an orgy of violence, including the antichrist's machine gunners mowing down people who refuse to get a computer chip implanted in their heads. Another scene features a girl who shoots a Christian classmate.

In one of the final scenes, a woman meets a guy playing Jesus and begs for mercy. The guy isn't buying it. He tells her, "I never knew you," and shoots her through a trap door, presumably to the fires of hell.

From a business perspective, it is a marketing phenomenon. Metro Heights gets about 30,000 visitors to its trail every year. At $10 a pop, that would be an additional $300,000 in church revenue. You can't do that selling peach pies at a bake sale.

I was sure of one thing after standing in line for an hour: The Tribulation Trail is one helluva business."

(From Creative Loafing, a Blog/News Site from Atlanta, GA)

"Last year's Tribulation Trail featured "evidence that the end is near" with a slide show montage that conflated Saddam Hussein, Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden with "Will & Grace." This year's montage replaced "Will & Grace" with images of the Asian tsunami and hurricane damage.

Other than that, everything's pretty much the same. God speaks with lots of reverb. The grim reaper drawls. The United Nations and the European Union are still tokens of Satan. The various Jesuses still look like the king from the Burger King commercials, and the River of Life is still lined with plastic."

Revelation Walk

In essence, this is another of the Rapture's-Coming-'Round-the-Corner melodies. It was started in 1999 by the Eden Westside Baptist Church in Pell City, Alabama, and is now drawing thousands of visitors each year. It consists of 12 scenes involving over 180 members of the congregation in its construction and operation. It describes "an outdoor drama that will show what the end times will be like for those who are left behind when Jesus 'raptures' the church." Just for those who don't know (seriously), the rapture is a conservative Christian belief that Jesus will literally appear in the sky and call all saved Christians onto himself. Those who have died will have their bodies reconstructed, and will leave the grave, rising towards Christ in the sky. Saved Christians who are alive at the time of the second coming of Jesus will rise bodily into the sky to join Jesus as well. Look at the large version of the picture above this section if you won't take my word for it…

(From Eden Westside Baptist Church's Web Site for the Event)

"Revelation Walk is an interactive outdoor drama based on the Biblical book of Revelation. The drama is portrayed by several outdoor scenes.. Walking shoes are recommended. You will be guided through the walk in groups of 25-50 people with some parts of the walk stepped with cross ties. No child care is provided.

What you will see.

The Word From John - This dramatization is based on John’s personal account of the vision God gave him. This provides the setting for our Walk.

Do You Hear It? - Meet our Pastor, Rev Jacky Connell hear his message and watch the video.

Tunnel Of Despair - A mother deals with a tragic event, drop in on a family at home and then meet the unexpected.

John meets with his Pastor - Listen in to this vital conversation as John seeks explanations to the events happening in his life Why do bad things happen to good people?

Chaos at the Warehouse - Two men milling around a warehouse are about to experience an explosive event. Where will they end up?

Camping can be Creepy - Hear people being freaked out at this campsite. Where are Jeff and Tracy?

The Wreck - You will be met by an officer. Listen carefully to the instructions and be aware of your surroundings. Experience the intense panic as a family is separated.

Sharing Regrets - Listen as two people share some poor decisions taken up to this point. Will you make the same mistake?

Demon Central - Hear about the plotting of evil and how Satan works to organize a plan to destroy lives. This is a world of chaos, confusion and intense assault as evil reigns.

An Audience - You will meet and hear the plan of a promise, safety, security, food and water in return for.........

The Horseman of the Apocalypse - These four horseman have a message for you. Murder, Mayhem, Famine and Death. Will you survive their threats.

The Execution - What happens when you refuse the mark that promises food, medicine..the very essentials needed for life. What sacrificies will have to be made just to survive?

The Great Divide - Be still, in this place, if you can and you may hear our Lord of Peace. Who is the final victor?

The Tunnel - As you walk, enter the tunnel but listen carefully.

The Great White Throne - Watch and hear Jesus speak to those who stand before His throne. Knowing about Jesus does not mean you accept him or that you will go to Heaven. Understand the truth once and for all.

Counseling - You have by now seen and heard the messages, now is an opportunity for you to make a decision for Christ based on what you have seen in Revelation Walk.

There is a simple way to accept Christ in your own life. One of our trained counselors will be available for you to talk to tonight."

(This is from a Quasi-Religious Group Called 'Universists' - It's Their Group's Rules for Behaving During the Show)

"Please note that we WILL NOT DISRUPT the event. We're going for our own genuine entertainment and education about evangelical Christian culture. There will be no heckling and an absolute minimum of laughing at the natives! Remember, opposing Christians peaceably attended our movie premiere. There is an opportunity to be "saved" after the Revelation Walk is over - at that point I think it's perfectly fine, if you are itching to respond, to engage the counselors in discussion."

Scaremare

This brain-child comes from the gut of one of my old buddies: Reverend Jerry Falwell and his Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Jerry and I have had a hate-hate relationship continuing since the last good old Christian conservative days with the Gipper. Putting that long running angst aside for the purposes of this story, this probably is the least controversial of the popular Christian Halloween alternative festivals. Or let me put it this way, the central focus with this house-o-heathen-horrors is on death and gore and, though they verbally espouse their views on abortion, even Falwell wouldn't let them depict an abortion scene as the others in the field of fundamentalist frights are doing. So, it's that kind of less controversial, if you understand the fine point. Still, the pressure tactics used by the 'counselors' on visitors at the end of the show seem to be a tad aggressive. Darn those enthusiastic collegiate Christians! Click here for the official 'Scaremare' web site.

(From the Washington Post)

"Compared with some of its offshoots, Scaremare -- a $50,000 production -- is fairly light on the hell but heavy on the death. Some years, it features scenes of drug overdoses and teen suicide, Vandegriff said. It scrapped a school shooting scene a few years ago after receiving complaints, he said.

After his message last week, Cashman asked those who were accepting Christ for the first time to make eye contact with him. In the first two weekends of Scaremare 2004, about 10 percent of visitors made that commitment, Vandegriff said.

Vandegriff said some students have suggested an abortion scene, which he has vetoed. Even Falwell -- never one to shy away from controversy -- said he supports that decision.

"We don't try to push the envelope," Falwell said in a telephone interview. The Baptist television evangelist attends Scaremare each year.

Last weekend, Scaremare seemed to make its point well enough. Descending a dark set of stairs, a group of adolescent girls gripped hands and chanted, "I like Jesus. I like Jesus. I like Jesus."' (Now that sent shivers up my arms! - Jage)

(From a Blog Where Liberty University is Located)

"Every year about 20,000 souls descend upon Jerry Falwell's Liberty University to attend Scaremare.

Scaremare, produced by Liberty University (LU) students for over three decades, is part cheap thrills and part hokey sermon that graphically depicts the fundamentalist college's views concerning issues like abortion and homosexuality.

Thrill seekers are ushered around the grounds of a building where bodies spill out of the wreckage of a grisly car crash, a young girl is laid to rest and a bloody Jesus hangs on a cross.

The innocent pilgrims are then brought to white tents, where LU students attempt to persuade them to turn to Jesus Christ. What ever happened to employing logic and reason to convince others to accept your views? Why do religious fanatics like Mel Gibson and Jerry Falwell feel it's necessary to scare us into converting to their brand of fundamentalist Christianity?

I live in Lynchburg and I can testify that LU students with their vacant eyes, clean-cut appearance and uncontrollable exclamations of "Praise The Lord" are scarier than a bunch of zombies. I can't think of anything more terrifying than becoming a fundamentalist Christian, I'd rather turn into a Reality TV contestant or a punching bag for Mike Tyson."

Heaven's Gates & Hell's Flames

Honorable mention goes out to this act as it's quite a hit as well. In essence, they use the same scene formats as seen in Judgement Houses (discussed in part 2 of this series) except it's all performed on a single stage that the audience watches from either a seated or standing viewpoint. A central link to these events is below if you're curious.

http://mze.com/heavensgates/

In Summary

All I can say in conclusion is that the sane and rational in this nation need to wake up and smell the Inquisition burning down the street before it's our own front lawns that are on fire. The fundamentalist movement is ever-growing and really itching for a showdown with non-believers in both the political and social arenas in the near future. And don't kid yourself that these are attributable to harmless holiday fun - whether it's a Hell House, Judgement House, Tribulation Trail, Revelation Walk or whatever it may be called…these atrocities are a breeding ground of prejudice and hatred that's cunningly capturing the clutched fears of thousands of citizens each and every year. As the philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell so concisely put it, "Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom." Oh well…Happy Damned Halloween anyway!… Jage