Fundamentalists’ Haunted House Includes Mock Abortion, Fetal Images

Protestors on Saturday night picketed a Halloween haunted house in Spring Valley staged by a fundamentalist Christian church, which featured graphic skits showing images of aborted fetuses. The show angered parents, who said their children were terrified.

The church gave no warning about the pictures or the anti-abortion theme, parents said.

“I was appalled,” said 25-year-old Christine Cummins, who walked through the house with her 1-year-old son in her arms. “I can’t believe they’re showing this to small children. To push this kind of stuff on children is ridiculous.”

The haunted house, which opened Thursday and and was scheduled to end Saturday night, was sponsored by the 100-member Potter’s House Christian Fellowship. The skits were acted out by members of the congregation.

“Our primary objective is to teach the gospel,” said Pastor Alphy Fisher, the leader of Potter’s House. “We use the haunted house as a tool. These are real issues in life, and they have to be addressed. Drunk driving, abortion, premarital sex.”

Parent Mary McQueen said she took her 5-year-old daughter to the attraction Thursday night and spent the next 10 hours comforting her child. McQueen said her daughter has had repeated flashbacks of images of aborted fetuses.

“No one forewarned me,” she said. “It has ruined my daughter’s life.”

Thrill-seekers entering the haunted house Friday night were met by a man in red, horns on his head.

The first scene in the 10-minute tour depicts a party where drugs and alcohol are consumed by teen-agers. A boyfriend and girlfriend are shown having a fight, and the boy, drunk and high on drugs, gets into a car.

“Does this remind you of you?” the devil-guide asks.

A loud crash is heard and the tour group is taken to the scene of an auto accident. A boy lies dead next to a car. Fake blood covers his body and matter simulating his brain oozes out of his head.

“This is reality,” the guide says.

Those taking the tour then move to another room, where they are told the girl is pregnant with her dead boyfriend’s child. A new boyfriend tells her she must get an abortion if she wants to remain with him.

The next room features a stark white wall upon which are flashed graphic slides depicting aborted fetuses. A rock song called “Hell Is For Children,” by Pat Benatar, plays in the background.

On a small stage next to the slide show, the girlfriend gets an abortion from a gleeful doctor who claps bloodstained surgical gloves together and laughs, “The doctor is always in.”

The girl then screams, “You killed my baby! I hate you! I hate you!”

A funeral scene is then followed by church member Scott McLaren’s preaching. Another actor, portraying Jesus Christ, is mounted on a cross behind him.

Fisher said he sees nothing wrong with promoting the haunted house because children under 13 were not allowed in unless accompanied by parents. He said this is the third year the church has put on such a presentation.

He acknowledged that some people may be upset by the attraction’s contents.

“People react negatively to the gospel,” he said.