Everybody Lives Forever Somewhere: Judgement Houses as Folk Drama

Judgement Houses have been becoming increasingly popular as Christian alternative to Halloween haunted houses. Across the US, evangelical Christian churches stage the interactive folk dramas, intended to educate people of how their choices in life affect their destination after they die. Judgement Houses have evolved from the controversial Hell Houses, Christian haunted houses that depict scenes of extremely graphic violence and suffering. This ethnographic study explores how the Judgement Houses play a role in educating both those inside and outside the church and why these churches chose the more public-friendly Judgement House over the extreme scare tactics of the Hell House model.