Visitors caused to question their eternal destiny at annual October event, Scaremare

With  Halloween just around the corner and the month of October as the time for haunted houses and candy, Liberty University hosts Scaremare to top off the season. Scaremare takes students through spooky trails and a haunted house, but it is not the average haunted house experience. It incorporates a biblical message and confronts participants with one question: what happens after
I die? 

According to Josh Coldren, director of Scaremare, the experience is a “House of Death, depicting real scenes of death while focusing on your fears. These fears cause you to think about your future and where you will go after death. Students don’t want to miss this 45-minute experience.”

Scaremare requires lots of hard work from volunteers to happen each night. It takes about 300 Liberty students to operate the house every night, and many volunteers use Scaremare as an opportunity to fulfill their CSER requirement. It has been held at four different locations over time, and this year it is being held at 2300 Carroll Ave. in Lynchburg. 

“Working Scaremare is a definitely a lot of work,” student volunteer Faith Hubbard said. “You have to deal with some rude people and there are some crazy folks. But you get to meet a lot of great people who you work with, so it is a lot of fun.”

Scaremare is held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night starting October 10 until October 26. It starts at 7:30 p.m. each evening. Tickets are $10 per individual but are $5 every Thursday for military personnel and college students with proper IDs. Groups of 15 or more people must pre-register before going to secure a discounted rate of $8 per person. 

 “If you’re into scary stuff, I recommend going and having fun,” Hubbard said. “Even if you’re scared, I recommend going with a group of friends because you’ll have fun regardless. It’s October, so you’re supposed to be a little scared.” 

Scaremare provides students the opportunity to step outside comfort zones and experience intriguing questions. While it may be scary, it allows confrontation and a new look on death with the biblical turn it takes. 

 “Scaremare is unique in that we focus on our fears, including a fear of death,” Coldren said. “We use the season of Halloween to show people that we don’t need to fear because there is hope found in Jesus.”

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